History Literature / DreambloodDuology

* AntimagicalFaction: The nation of Kisua forbids narcomancy on pain of death and exiles any Kisuati who receives magical healing in Gujaareh. Although this attitude deprives them of the miraculous life-saving PsychicSurgery that narcomancy can provide, it [[spoiler:is implied to have its roots in Gujaareh's war of independence, since a narcomancer gone DrunkOnTheDarkSide can become a SoulEating PersonOfMassDestruction, which the {{Founder|OfTheKingdom}} Inunru might have taken advantage of]].

* BrokenAce: Ehiru is introduced as Hananja's favourite and the best Gatherer currently alive. However, messing up only once eats almost all of his confidence away and his lauded incorruptibility and devotion to Hananja's law make him susceptible to being manipulated, creating a downward spiral of insecurity about his abilities and worth.

* CreepyGood: The Gatherers are DreamWeaver priests of Hananja charged with ushering the dying into the afterlife -- which usually means sneaking into their target's house, creating a beautiful DyingDream for them, and [[TouchOfDeath severing their soul's link to their body]]. Even Hananja's faithful tend to be creeped out by this, not least because the Gatherers are both implacable and utterly compassionate -- and because Gathering doubles as a method of execution. To the rival Kisuati, they're TheDreaded.

* CulturalPosturing: Kisuati are quick to remind the Gujaareen that Gujaareh is a daughter-state of Kisua that's become corrupted in the eyes of the Kisuati.

* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: Sharers enter the minds of those they are healing and rummage around to find the cause of their ailment as well as working their healing from within the patient's mind.
* IChooseToStay: [[spoiler: Hanani chooses to live amongst the Banbarra, allowing her to live as a woman and a Sharer]]
* IKnowYourTrueName: Downplayed, but knowing someone's Soulname grants a greater measure of power over them in dreams, so the Gujareen are very careful about sharing them. [[spoiler:When they face the Wild Dreamer, Wana helps Hanani recover her mind by calling her by her Soulname.]]

%%* LaResistance: Through book two.
%%* LesCollaborateurs: The Hetawa has been cooperating with the invaders in book two.

%%* RoyallyScrewedUp / RoyalMess: The royal family has a strong dreaming gift that veers into straight-up crazy.

%%* StepfordSmiler

* TheUnsmile:
** Sonta-i has never experienced emotion in his life and is usually TheStoic. When he's not, well...
---> ''"To his utter shock, Sonta-i smiled. It was a horrible expression beneath his [[EmptyEyes dead gray eyes]], lacking the slightest touch of amusement or pleasure, and the sight of it sent a shiver down Nijiri's every nerve."''
** Tiaanet is an utterly BrokenBird who usually plays the part of Sanfi's demure, beautiful daughter so well that she has a horde of suitors. When she goes through the motions of affecting a smile, they quickly find somewhere else to be.

%%* GoingNative: Wanahomen and [[spoiler:Hanani]] among the Banbarra.

* MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial: Thoroughly explored for both its positives and its negatives. On the one hand, men in Gujareeh are genuinely invested in the happiness and pleasure of their women. On the other hand, women are denied certain roles in society that they may want to take part in just because women are considered goddesses and ordinary things like working are beneath them.

* SimpleYetOpulent: The uniforms of the Hetawa. Hanani's uniform is simple but revealed to be incredibly expensive, dyed with expensive dye normally used by royalty.

** The Reaper was [[spoiler:Una-une, a good and moral Gatherer who wanted a dignified death after serving his city and his goddess faithfully all his life; instead he was kidnapped and DrivenToMadness due to [[AddictiveMagic magic deprivation]], making him more animal than man, only trying to fulfill his neverending desire.]]

%%* WarriorMonk: Sentinels. Gatherers to a slightly lesser extent.

* SuperBreedingProgram: [[spoiler: The Sunset Lineage might be this. All Princes are required to have some Dreaming ability and are also required to have 256 wives. The Hetawa speculate that this might be to keep an unbroken line of powerful dreamers with the ultimate goal of creating human weapons like Wild Dreamers or Reapers. This also explains the expectionally powerful gifts of both Ehiru and Wanahomen.]]

%%* EmpireWithADarkSecret

* PowerPerversionPotential:
** Gatherers who become addicted to dreamblood and don't catch that in time can end up gathering someone against their will and becoming a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Reaper]].
** Sharers are meant to use their power for healing, but the potential to use it for the opposite also exists.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Sunset Lineage tends towards this as the Prince is requiered to have 256 wives, and succession is decided by who can best the others whether by murder or clever schemes. [[spoiler:One of Eninket's reasons to do what he does is to change that situation and allow every member of his family to live free from this.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Eninket]] doesn't actually want to live forever and wage war until the world is united under his rule, he just sees it as the only way peace is actually possible. He could also just be really, really crazy, but the people who knew him best stick with this one.

* BathhouseBlitz: a rival clan assassin attacks Wana in the bathing pools, expecting to cause a NakedFreakOut. However, Wana was raised in a culture with no nudity taboo, so he dishes out a brutal FullFrontalAssault instead.

* CrossingTheDesert: Ehiru, Nijiri amd Sunandi have to join a caravan to cross the desert outside Gujaareh so they can safely reach Kisua.

* BadDreams:
** In the sequel, Wana is troubled by nightmares of his dead father talking to him while his body putrefies and rots. [[spoiler:Made worse by the knowledge that they're true visions of his father's soul eternally trapped in nightmares for his crimes in life.]]
** The nightmare curse {{Mind Rape}}s people with these until they die. [[spoiler:Specifically, it traps them in the nightmares of its source, a horrifically tormented child.]]

* MentorShip: In ''The Shadowed Sun'', Hanani's perspective reveals everyone thinks Ehiru and Nijiri were lovers. Considering Nijiri is truly in love with Ehiru during ''The Killing Moon'' and is doing his utmost to make the latter understand that without outright confessing, that's not too far off, but Ehiru never sees Nijiri as more than his apprentice whom he is very fond of.

* ChurchPolice: The Sentinels, those of hananja's chosen who are best suited to the path of the soldier, act as the Hetawa's elite guards. An enemy Kisuati has an OhCrap moment when he's told that the Sentinels are the ones who train and regulate TheDreaded Gatherers.

* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Gatherers are well trained and educated priest capable of killing people in their dreams and making them enjoy it. [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Reapers]] are Gatherers who have lost control and become addicted to the [[FantasticDrug dreamblood]] they collect as their job. Those are capable of killing hundreds or thousands of people at the same time just to get their desired dreamblood.

* {{Sarashi}}: Hanani binds her breasts and wears men's clothing to downplay her status as the first female Sharer. Once she realizes that she's making herself unhappy, that it's not doing anything to mollify the people who feel threatened by her, and that she's setting precedent for future female priests, she switches to unapologetically feminine garb.

* GoOutWithASmile: Generally, Gatherers facilitate it for their clients to go peacefully by [[DreamWeaver weaving pleasant dreams]] for those who are about to depart to [[DreamLand Ina-Karekh]]. It's the only way to gain the dying person's agreement to gather their dreamblood. [[spoiler:Nijiri makes sure Ehiru goes out with a smile, too]].