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* AdultFear: Serena O’Malley. [[spoiler: the evil personality of Juma O’Malley’s mother, she is willing to murder friends and slaughter children—including her own son, while he’s screaming and pleading with her to wake up to her “good” self]].



* AwesomeMcCoolName: They settle on “The Die Horribly Debate Club.” The other alternatives were even worse.



* TheBeautifulElite: Most of the students, being of supernatural descent, are gorgeous (though some are stunningly ugly).

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* TheBeautifulElite: Most of the students, being of supernatural descent, are gorgeous (though some are stunningly ugly). A theory is that it's because they are often descended from gods or elves. (or trolls).



** In Book 3: [[spoiler: the Raven]] saving Rachel and Gaius from being run down by the Wild Hunt.
** The climax of Book 3 has a rolling series of them, as Ambrose Griffin, then the rest of the Wisecraft, then the rapid response team from Ourouboros Industries arrive to the rescue.



* BlueBlood: Rachel. She is, indeed, as close to the royals as she could be without having royal blood.

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* BloodBrothers: Rachel and Sigfried swear a blood oath to each other in Book 3. Both of them take great pride in announcing their siblingship.
* BlueBlood: Rachel.Rachel's father is a duke. She is, indeed, as close to the royals as she could be without having royal blood.



** TheCavalryArrivesLate: Finn [=MacDannan=] arrives ''just'' after Rachel has managed to shut down [[spoiler: Azrael]].



* ChekovsGun: Rachel’s new wand, inherited from her grandmother, contains three charges of the Eternal Flame. One of them gets used in the finale.



* TheChosenOne: Joy and Nastasia are (perhaps) the subjects of a prophecy.

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* TheChosenOne: Joy and Nastasia are (perhaps) the subjects of a prophecy. Book 3 reveals that Nastasia and Sigfried are two (out of seven) Keybearers.



* HeroicSacrifice: Many gallant charges into danger to save lives occur. Also, the story of how the musicians on the Titanic did not even try to get off but went on playing to help keep calm is recounted at a significant point.

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* HeroicSacrifice: Many gallant charges into danger to save lives occur. Also, the story of how the Performing one means that your ghost will retain free will.
** The
musicians on the Titanic did not even try to get off but who went on playing to help keep calm is recounted at a significant point.point.
** Despite knowing that she will die if another person finds out her identity, [[spoiler: Ilondria]] meets with and helps Zoe, which contributes to her death several chapters later.



** Rachel doesn’t know what a starship looks like, and imagines them as looking like flying galleons, instead of rockets. (She doesn’t even recognize it when Gaius draws one earlier.)



* MysteriousPast: Rachel realizes that Cassandra March, the only created person to become fully real (a process which involves being exposed to moonlight, every month of the year, for eight years), resembles her mother both physically, in stress-coping mechanisms and in their perfect recall.



* PostDramaticStressDisorder: by book 3, Rachel is developing a nasty case of PTSD, worsened by her inability to seek help.



* RetiredMonster: Book 3 reveals [[spoiler: Magdalene Chase]] was formerly a lamia.



* RevealingTic: Sandra Griffin’s tension is betrayed (to Rachel), by her pinkie finger going rigid. [[spoiler: the Griffins share this characteristic with Cassandra March, the Grand Inquisitor’s wife.]].



* RunningGag: Gaius was turned into a sheep—I mean, [[InsistentTerminology a ram.]]



** In ''Dreamland'', Gaius explains to Rachel that one idea she had to stop the jet, while brave, not only would have killed her and Siggy but not affected the jet in the least; only her utter ignorance of jets keeps it from being a StupidSacrifice.
* SettleForSibling: Inverted. [[spoiler:When Rachel realizes that Vladimir wants to marry her sister Sandra, she switches from romantic interest herself to shipping the two of them.]]

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** In ''Dreamland'', Gaius explains to Rachel that one her idea she had to stop for stopping the jet, while brave, not only jet by slamming into the tail, would have killed her and Siggy but not affected the jet in the least; only required them to be traveling at space shuttle speeds to work. Only her utter ignorance of jets keeps it the idea as a whole from being a StupidSacrifice.
* SettleForSibling: Inverted. [[spoiler:When Rachel realizes that Vladimir wants to marry her sister Sandra, she switches from romantic interest herself to shipping the two of them.them...mostly.]]



* SpareToTheThrone: discussed -- as a duke and duchess, Rachel's parents should have an heir and a spare -- but have only the heir.

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* ShownTheirWork: Zoe mentions that you can’t actually read in the dreamworld. This is quite true and actually used as a test by lucid dreamers.
* SpareToTheThrone: discussed -- as a duke and duchess, Rachel's parents should have an heir and a spare -- but have only the heir.heir, and three "useless" girls.



* ThrillSeeker: Rachel is developing into one as a coping mechanism for the intense stresses she’s been going through during the past three books’ worth of adventures.



* UnreliableNarrator: Rachel’s point of view is limited by her age and inexperience—not to mention that there are some things she believes that she flat-out doesn’t know are wrong (such as believing herself to be 1/8th Korean when she is actualy 1/4th).



* AWomanScorned: discussed: one character's grandmother talked about Odin as if she had been scorned by him.
* [[spoiler: WorldTree: --is located just off of the Roanoake Campus grounds.]]

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* AWomanScorned: WomanScorned: discussed: one character's grandmother talked about Odin as if she had been scorned by him.
* WorldTree: [[spoiler: WorldTree: --is it's located just off of the Roanoake Campus grounds.]]
** Book 3 reveals that [[spoiler: ''The'' World Tree, Yggdrasil, was destroyed, and that the ones remaining are merely seedlings from it.
]]
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* DuetoTheDead: Gaius tells a ghost, [[spoiler:one of the musicians of the Titanic,]] about the momument raised in their honor, and he is pleased and honored by it.

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* DuetoTheDead: Halloween is filled with death-honoring rituals. Also, Gaius tells a ghost, [[spoiler:one of the musicians of the Titanic,]] about the momument raised in their honor, and he is pleased and honored by it.

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* DuetoTheDead: Gaius tells a ghost, [[spoiler:one of the musicians of the Titanic,]] about the momument raised in their honor, and he is pleased and honored by it.



* HeroicSacrifice

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* HeroicSacrificeHeroicSacrifice: Many gallant charges into danger to save lives occur. Also, the story of how the musicians on the Titanic did not even try to get off but went on playing to help keep calm is recounted at a significant point.



** In ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel'', Rachel produces evidence that two princes were involved with the plot -- for the [[spoiler: price that the ringleader would kill their brother for them]]. In ''Dreamland'', their sister mournfully wishes her father had not made her and her siblings watch something, and Siggy points out that the event probably related to her dream they saw, of [[spoiler:a hanging]]. Rachel never does figure it out; [[spoiler:the ghost of one of the executed princes]] tells her.

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** In ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel'', Rachel produces evidence that two princes were involved with the plot that occurred in ''Enlightenment'' -- for the [[spoiler: price that the ringleader would kill their brother for them]]. In ''Dreamland'', their sister mournfully wishes her father had not made her and her siblings watch something, and Siggy points out that the event probably related to her dream they saw, of [[spoiler:a hanging]]. Rachel never does figure it out; [[spoiler:the ghost of one of the executed princes]] tells her.



* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Most seemed to bound by UnfinishedBusiness, but a wide variety of it, and they also range from could pass for human were it not for the glow and the translucency, to "a collection of mist and dried leaves blowing in the shape of a woman". It appears that the more aware you are that you are dead, and the more heroic your motive to be a ghost, the more human



* SettleForSibling: Inverted. [[spoiler:When Rachel realizes that Vladimir wants to marry her sister Sandra, she switches from romantic interest
herself to shipping the two of them.]]

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* SettleForSibling: Inverted. [[spoiler:When Rachel realizes that Vladimir wants to marry her sister Sandra, she switches from romantic interest
interest herself to shipping the two of them.]]


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* UnfinishedBusiness: Ghosts seemly mostly bound by this.

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** In ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel,'' none of the adults are willing to share information, and are alternately demanding whatever Rachel and her friends do know, and completely dismissing them.

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** In ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel,'' none of the adults are willing to share information, and are alternately demanding whatever Rachel and her friends do know, and completely dismissing them. Even the adults who had had to save the world as adolescents.


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* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: When a divination game involving roasting chestnuts predicts trouble for Nastasia and Rachel, both girls are distressed, though Rachel tries to assure Nastasia it's just a game.


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* WeaksauceWeakness: Poppy seeds. [[spoiler: How to stop hoards of animated skeletons -- just sprinkle a few in their path.]]

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* SettleForSibling: Inverted. [[spoiler:When Rachel realizes that Vladimir wants to marry her sister Sandra, she switches from romantic interest herself to shipping the two of them.]]

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* SettleForSibling: Inverted. [[spoiler:When Rachel realizes that Vladimir wants to marry her sister Sandra, she switches from romantic interest interest
herself to shipping the two of them.]]]]
* SevenDeadlySins: the children are told that demons are often obsessed with one, which can be an exploitable flaw.

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* FoodChains: Downplayed. Conjured -- and possibly dream -- food vanishes twenty-four hours later, giving you cramps, and of course, not nourishing you.

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* FoodChains: Downplayed. FoodChains:
**Downplayed.
Conjured -- and possibly dream -- food vanishes twenty-four hours later, giving you cramps, and of course, not nourishing you.you.
** also [[spoiler:Illondria]] specifically assures Rachel that her tea will not cause a distaste for mortal food.

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* VillainousVidowsPeak: Dr. Mordeau.
* VirginPower: The Vestal Virgins must preserve the Eternal Flame.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: The Starkadders, princes of Magical Romania, can turn into wolves.
* TheVonTropeFamily: Vladimir Von Dread, prince of Bavaria, president of the Knights of Walpurgis dueling club.
* VowOfCelibacy: It turns out that [[spoiler: the title character's grandmother]] was under vows but broke them. This has an actual negative effect due to VirginPower, and causes something of a BrokenPedestal.



* WizardingSchool

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* WizardingSchoolWizardingSchool: The only one in the world to teach every school of magic.
*AWomanScorned: discussed: one character's grandmother talked about Odin as if she had been scorned by him.



* VillainousVidowsPeak: Dr. Mordeau.
* VirginPower: The Vestal Virgins must preserve the Eternal Flame.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: The Starkadders, princes of Magical Romania, can turn into wolves.
* TheVonTropeFamily: Vladimir Von Dread, prince of Bavaria, president of the Knights of Walpurgis dueling club.
* VowOfCelibacy: It turns out that [[spoiler: the title character's grandmother]] was under vows but broke them. This has an actual negative effect due to VirginPower, and causes something of a BrokenPedestal.
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* TheBeautifulElite: Most of the students, being of supernatural descent, are gorgeous (though some are stunningly ugly).
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* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Nastasia's father once punished a thief by covering him in peanut butter, rolling him in birdseed, and putting him outside to feed the birds.


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* GreatBigLibraryOfEverything: The Library of all Worlds. Rachel is assured she can found it.


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* IGaveMyWord: Rachel carefully manipulates one incident to avoid this, so she won't have to break it.
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* WeatherManipulation: use to ensure moonlight when the moon is full.
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* {{Unicorn}}: Rachel encounters one in Dreamland. [[spoiler:It later proves to have the power to change shapes.]]
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* OurGodsAreDifferent: Rachel and Gaius get into theological questions while [[spoiler:researching the worship of Moloch. Since Moloch is a demon, and was worshipped as a god -- what do they know about the other gods?]]
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* BlackMagic: Thaumaturgy does not sacrifice human beings. Doing that is black magic.
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* SpareToTheThrone: discussed -- as a duke and duchess, Rachel's parents should have an heir and a spare -- but have only the heir.

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* SenselessSacrifice: In the princess's vision, [[spoiler:Vladimir von Dread, Gaius Valiant, and William Locke]] break into the room where [[spoiler:Dr. Moreau is geasing students to kill other students]], but are killed almost at once.

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* SenselessSacrifice: SenselessSacrifice:
**
In the princess's vision, [[spoiler:Vladimir von Dread, Gaius Valiant, and William Locke]] break into the room where [[spoiler:Dr. Moreau is geasing students to kill other students]], but are killed almost at once.once.
** In ''Dreamland'', Gaius explains to Rachel that one idea she had to stop the jet, while brave, not only would have killed her and Siggy but not affected the jet in the least; only her utter ignorance of jets keeps it from being a StupidSacrifice.
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* SpeakOfTheDevil: Rachel is interrupted in the middle of recounting the story of a demon summoning so she won't.
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* LightIsGood: At one point, things are changed for the better in Dreamland by using a ''camera's flash.''

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* CrapsackWorld: Some villains justify working toward destroying the world on the grounds it's this. (Citing the abuse of children to justify their sacrificing children to end the world -- and all those children's lives.)



* FirstNameBasis: Rachel asks if she can call von Dread, "Vlad."
* ForgotICouldFly: In the climax of ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel,'' Sigfried starts to charge into battle with his Bowie knife, then stops and remembers he knows magic.



* FirstNameBasis: Rachel asks if she can call von Dread, "Vlad."
* ForgotICouldFly: In the climax of ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel,'' Sigfried starts to charge into battle with his Bowie knife, then stops and remembers he knows magic.

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* FirstNameBasis: Rachel asks if she can call von Dread, "Vlad."
* ForgotICouldFly: In the climax of ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel,'' Sigfried starts
{{Hypocrite}}: citing child abuse as a reason to charge into battle with his Bowie knife, then stops and remembers he knows magic.practice child sacrifice.
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* CelestialDeadline: [[spoiler:Moloch]] will arise on his feast day. First step: figure out what day that is.
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** Actual mirrors appear, having been enchanted for all sort of magic. Including as portals -- Rachel points out that a descendant of Alice in Wonderland is at the school.


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* PowerGlows: Spells produce glows and sparks.
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* NotAGame: Used by Zoe to complain of Nastasia's rigid rule-keeping; they are not playing a game of D&D and the princess is not LawfulGood.

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* [[spoiler: {{Hell}}: One of the downsides of a demo boss is that he really can send you there.]]



* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: If you fall out of Dreamland into a foreign country, all but one of you could escape in the dreams if one of you fell asleep, but the dreamer could not, so it's not feasible.



* SettleForSibling: Inverted. [[spoiler:When Rachel realizes that Vladimir wants to marry her sister Sandra, she switches from romantic interest herself to shipping the two of them.]]



* ShipperOnDeck: Rachel ships Prince Ivan of Magical Australia/Her sister Laurel; but over the course of the second book, stops shipping Nastasia/Vladimir Von Dread.

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* ShipperOnDeck: Rachel ships Prince Ivan of Magical Australia/Her sister Laurel; but over the course of the second book, stops shipping Nastasia/Vladimir Von Dread. In the third, she [[spoiler:learns Vladimir wants to marry her sister Sandra and ships them]].
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* BadDreams: Frejya has nightmares after [[spoiler:her brothers' execution]].
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* FoodChains: Downplayed. Conjured -- and possibly dream -- food vanishes twenty-four hours later, giving you cramps, and of course, not nourishing you.
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* {{Dreamland}}: Rachel and her friends spend a lot of time in one, hopping about and (both in and out of it) working out how it works.


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* {{Lunacy}}: Moonlight is necessary for degossamerization-- making certain spells permanent .

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* CainAndAbel: Two of the villains are part of the plot in ''Enlightment''. Their price? that their older brother be killed.



* ChildrenAreInnocent: It ads a particular horror to [[spoiler:fighting animated skeletons]] that they are all those of babies.



* InnocentInaccurate: Lucky, a juvenile dragon, describes one character as "petting" another; his similarly juvenile master misses the implications as well.

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* InnocentInaccurate: InnocentInaccurate:
**
Lucky, a juvenile dragon, describes one character as "petting" another; his similarly juvenile master misses the implications as well. well.
** In ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel'', Rachel produces evidence that two princes were involved with the plot -- for the [[spoiler: price that the ringleader would kill their brother for them]]. In ''Dreamland'', their sister mournfully wishes her father had not made her and her siblings watch something, and Siggy points out that the event probably related to her dream they saw, of [[spoiler:a hanging]]. Rachel never does figure it out; [[spoiler:the ghost of one of the executed princes]] tells her.


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* OffingTheOffspring: Parental participation is required in the child sacrifice. [[spoiler:There's also a king who executes two sons, admittedly for capital crimes; their sister merely wishes he hadn't made them ''watch''.]]
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** Rachel, seeking help for Magdalene, appeals not to the teachers or any other adult, but to von Dread.

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''The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin'' is a 2013 YA novel by Creator/LJagiLamplighter (author of the ''Literature/ProsperosDaughter'' trilogy), followed by ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel''. These are the first in a projected series of novels about the eponymous heroine's adventures at school and beyond. Although they have been delayed by a switch in publishers, the third is to be ''Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland''.

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''The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin'' is a 2013 YA novel by Creator/LJagiLamplighter (author of the ''Literature/ProsperosDaughter'' trilogy), followed by ''The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel''.Rachel'' and ''Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland''. These are the first in a projected series of novels about the eponymous heroine's adventures at school and beyond. Although they have been delayed by a switch in publishers, the third is to be ''Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland''.\n



* DistressedDude: The princess's vision showed [[spoiler:Vladimir von Dread, Gaius Valiant, and William Locke]] intervening against the villains, and the BigDamnHeroes moment is to save them. Giving a very disorienting moment for [[spoiler:Gaius]] when he's told of his unwitting peril -- he has to collect his wits to thank

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* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler:The Raven]] turns out to be good, if stern.
* TheDeadCanDance: Rachel and Gaius visit the ghosts' ball on Halloween.
* DistressedDude: The princess's vision showed [[spoiler:Vladimir von Dread, Gaius Valiant, and William Locke]] intervening against the villains, and the BigDamnHeroes moment is to save them. Giving a very disorienting moment for [[spoiler:Gaius]] when he's told of his unwitting peril -- he has to collect his wits to thank Rachel.
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* AristocratsAreEvil: In the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Knights of Walpurgis]], Rachel notes that a lot of the members come from good -- noble -- '{{Blue Blood}}ed'' families with dicey reputations.

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* AristocratsAreEvil: In the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Knights of Walpurgis]], Rachel notes that a lot of the members come from good -- noble -- '{{Blue ''{{Blue Blood}}ed'' families with dicey reputations.
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* AristocratsAreEvil: In the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Knights of Walpurgis]], Rachel notes that a lot of the members come from good -- noble -- '{{Blue Bloo}}ed'' families with dicey reputations.

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* AristocratsAreEvil: In the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Knights of Walpurgis]], Rachel notes that a lot of the members come from good -- noble -- '{{Blue Bloo}}ed'' Blood}}ed'' families with dicey reputations.

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