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* FantasyGunControl: Averted; the Bellegerins have developed not just gunpowder but clip-loaded rifles. The Amikans, meanwhile, make use of grenades.
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* FantasyGunControl: Averted; the Bellegerins have developed not just gunpowder but clip-loaded rifles. The Amikans, meanwhile, make use of grenades. Later, cannons become available.
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The kingdoms of Belleger and Amika have spent several centuries in a ForeverWar that has left them both in ruins. The original reasons for the conflict are only dimly remembered, but the Amikans seem determined to fight to the bitter end and the Bellegerins have no choice but to oblige them or be destroyed. Battles are made especially horrific through the presence of sorcerers, using the six Decimates of Fire, Lightning, Draught, Earthquake, Pestilence and Wind to deadly effect.
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The kingdoms of Belleger and Amika have spent several centuries in a ForeverWar that has left them both in ruins. The original reasons for the conflict are only dimly remembered, but the Amikans seem determined to fight to the bitter end and the Bellegerins have no choice but to oblige them or be destroyed. Battles are made especially horrific through the presence of sorcerers, using the six Decimates of Fire, Lightning, [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[ShockAndAwe Lightning]], Draught, Earthquake, [[DishingOutDirt Earthquake]], Pestilence and Wind [[BlowYouAway Wind]] to deadly effect.
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[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/seventh_decimate.jpg]]
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* BrokenAce: Two thirds of ''The War Within'' is spent having various people gush over how strong, wise and generally awesome King Bifalt is. Then we finally get some chapters from his point of view and it turns out that beneath it all, he's still the same messed-up kid he was in the first book, with an extra helping of trauma from how that one ended - he's just gotten a lot better at thinking before he talks.
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* HiddenDepths: Estie spent the first sixteen years of her life thinking her mother was an airhead. She eventually found out that Queen Rubia is actually pretty smart, and that the reason she occupied herself with meaningless things because she was disgusted with her husband's policies but also knew he wouldn't suffer her to oppose him.
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* HiddenDepths: Estie spent the first sixteen years of her life thinking her mother was an airhead. She eventually found out that Queen Rubia is actually pretty smart, and that the reason she occupied herself with meaningless things is because she was disgusted with her husband's policies but also knew he wouldn't suffer her to oppose him.
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* MeaningfulName: While Smegin [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender brought his oldest daughter Estie up as his heir,]] he named his two younger daughters Demure and Immure as a not-too-subtle hint of [[StayInTheKitchen what he expected of them.]]
* TheMedic: Nowel serves as the squad's "stitcher and bonesetter." This is also one of the reasons Slack is sent with the squad - they're supposed to cross a desert, meaning that they will suffer sunburn, and as a former [[PlayingWithFire Magister of Fire]] he's had a lot of practical experience with tending to burns.
* TheMedic: Nowel serves as the squad's "stitcher and bonesetter." This is also one of the reasons Slack is sent with the squad - they're supposed to cross a desert, meaning that they will suffer sunburn, and as a former [[PlayingWithFire Magister of Fire]] he's had a lot of practical experience with tending to burns.
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* MeaningfulName: While Smegin [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender brought his oldest daughter Estie up as his heir,]] he named his two younger daughters Demure and Immure as a not-too-subtle hint of [[StayInTheKitchen what he expected of them.]]
]] [[note]]For those who can't parse Donaldson's SesquipedalianLoquaciousness, Smegin essentially named one daughter "Shut Up" and the other one "Stay Out Of The Way"...[[/note]]
* TheMedic: In the first novel, Nowel serves as the squad's "stitcher and bonesetter." This is also one of the reasons Slack is sent with the squad - they're supposed to cross a desert, meaning that they will suffer sunburn, and as a former [[PlayingWithFire Magister of Fire]] he's had a lot of practical experience with tending to burns.
* TheMedic: In the first novel, Nowel serves as the squad's "stitcher and bonesetter." This is also one of the reasons Slack is sent with the squad - they're supposed to cross a desert, meaning that they will suffer sunburn, and as a former [[PlayingWithFire Magister of Fire]] he's had a lot of practical experience with tending to burns.
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* SmugSnake: King Smegin in the second book thinks that he's an unstoppable force of nature and a credible threat to the Last Repository, and he kills, tortures and enslaves people on the general principle of [[TheUnfettered "well, who's gonna stop me?"]] [[spoiler: He gets DrivenToSuicide after a single Last Repository sorcerer takes away his magic practically with a snap of her fingers. You'd think he'd remember they could do that, especially since that was why he hated them so much so much to start with, but, apparently...]]
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* SmugSnake: [[spoiler: King Smegin Smegin]] in the second book thinks that he's an unstoppable force of nature and a credible threat to the Last Repository, and he kills, tortures and enslaves people on the general principle of [[TheUnfettered "well, who's gonna stop me?"]] [[spoiler: He gets DrivenToSuicide after a single Last Repository sorcerer takes away his magic practically with a snap of her fingers. You'd think he'd remember they could do that, especially since that was why he hated them so much so much to start with, but, apparently...]]
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* BlackAndWhiteMorality: The second book has a much clearer divide between good and evil than the first, with Bifalt and his allies firmly good and the so-far-nameless BigBad [[spoiler: and King Smegin]] firmly evil. [[spoiler: Marrow]] and his allies remain a bit on the grey side, though.
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* AlasPoorVillain: Estie is surprised when [[spoiler: Rubia]] actually weeps for [[spoiler: Smegin's]] death in the second novel, since he'd never given her any reason to care for her. Though as another character points out, he ''was'' the father of her children.
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* AlasPoorVillain: Estie is surprised when [[spoiler: Rubia]] actually weeps for [[spoiler: Smegin's]] death in the second novel, since he'd never given her any reason to care for her.him. Though as another character points out, he ''was'' the father of her children.
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* AlasPoorVillain: Estie is surprised when [[spoiler: Rubia]] actually weeps for [[spoiler: Smegin's]] death in the second novel, since he'd never given her any reason to care for her. Though as another character points out, he ''was'' the father of her children.
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* TheAlcoholic: Bifalt's younger brother Lome spends all his time drinking and feeling sorry for himself. At one point, Bifalt asks him what his inner-most desire is and Lome can't come up with (or at least not admit to) a better answer than, "I want a drink."
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* ForeverWar: One exists between Amika and Belleger. It supposedly started when the King of Amika murdered the woman who chose to marry his brother the King of Belleger instead of him, but at this point no one is even sure anymore, or much cares.
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* ForeverWar: One exists between Amika and Belleger. It supposedly started when the King of Amika murdered the woman who chose to marry his brother the King of Belleger instead of him, but at him. Or possibly it was the other way around. At this point no one is even sure anymore, or much cares.
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* HarmonyVersusDiscipline: The teachings of the Great God Rile state that practical knowledge of the outside world is inherently suspect and that the pursuit of it leads to strife, whereas Truth (understanding and acceptance of your own inner nature) is holy and leads to true peace.
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* SinisterMinister: Archpriest Makh, leader of the Church of the Great God Rile, preaches a [[ScienceIsBad suspect philosophy]] and has political aspirations towards some unknown goal. He also seems to wield (or at least channel) some sort of OutsideContextMagic that no one has ever heard of. His subordinate priests also have shades of this trope, though they seem to be JustFollowingOrders and may or may not be in on whatever it is Makh is planning.
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* ChastityCouple: At the start of the second book, Bifalt and Estie have married for nineteen years without touching each other, since Bifalt thinks he'd become unable to govern if they did anything.
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* TinyGuyHugeGirl:
** The standard among the Nuuri, whose women are massive bruisers with BoobsOfSteel, each of whom commands a minor army of tiny husbands.
** Magister Pillion and his wife.
** The standard among the Nuuri, whose women are massive bruisers with BoobsOfSteel, each of whom commands a minor army of tiny husbands.
** Magister Pillion and his wife.
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* DesignatedGirlFight: The duel between [[DarkActionGirl Lylin]] and the Nuuri's Keeper in the second book is this InUniverse. [[MasterSwordsman Jaspid]] wants to fight in Lylin's stead, but is told that the matriarchal Nuuri see single combat as a female domain.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: King Smegin]] hangs himself after [[BroughtDownToNormal being stripped of his sorcery]] again in the second book.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: King Smegin]] hangs himself after [[BroughtDownToNormal being stripped of his sorcery]] again in the second book.
* ExactWords: At one point Estie berates Facile (who's known to be a sorceress, but whose Decimate is unknown) for not using sorcery to help her. Facile irritably explains why each Decimate would have been unsuitable to the task, except maybe Lightning, and she doesn't have that one - leaving a startled Estie with the impression that Facile has ''[[TheArchmage all the other five.]]'' Of course, Facile never said that, only that she ''didn't'' have Lightning - it's eventually revealed that [[spoiler: Facile has the [[AntiMagic Seventh Decimate]], but she doesn't want anyone to know that since she prefers people to think that she could defend herself from physical violence if necessary.]]
* HeroicSeductress: The devotees of the Flesh see themselves as this, using the skills of a courtesan in service of what they think is right. Whether they are this or the TheVamp of course depends on whether you agree with them on what is right.
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* TheMole: [[spoiler: Slack.]]
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* TheMole: TheMole:
** [[spoiler:Slack.]]Slack]] in the first book.
** [[spoiler: Prince Lome]] in the second.
** [[spoiler:
** [[spoiler: Prince Lome]] in the second.
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* OhMyGods: The phrase actually gets invented in the second book. Estie, who grew up with no knowledge that religion was even a thing but has now been hearing about it from missionaries, notes that saying "gods!" when you're upset is weirdly satisfying.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Inverted. Belleger and Amika never developed even the ''concept'' of religion, and many people are bemused when missionaries turn up using strange words like "gods" and "priests." Others take to it in a big way, though.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Inverted. Belleger and Amika never developed even the ''concept'' of religion, and many people are bemused when missionaries turn up using strange words like "gods" and "priests." Others take to it in a big way, though.
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* SmugSnake: King Smegin in the second book thinks that he's an unstoppable force of nature and a credible threat to the Last Repository, and he kills, tortures and enslaves people on the general principle of [[TheUnfettered "well, who's gonna stop me?"]] [[spoiler: He gets DrivenToSuicide after a single Last Repository sorcerer takes away his magic practically with a snap of her fingers. You'd think he'd remember they could do that, especially since that was why he hated them so much so much to start with, but, apparently...]]
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* ResurrectiveImmortality: Bifalt has it, courtesy of [[spoiler: the sorcerers of the Last Repository needing him alive for now.]] Every time he should die, he just wakes up more or less unharmed.
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* ResurrectiveImmortality: Bifalt has it, it in the first book, courtesy of [[spoiler: the sorcerers of the Last Repository needing him alive for now.]] Every time he should die, he just wakes up more or less unharmed.
* TheSpymaster: In the second book, Elgart has been appointed Belleger's Captain of Spies and spends his time watching for conspiracies and unrest.
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* WhatTheHellHero: Prince Bifalt seems to spend most of the second half of the book getting this treatment from every other characters. Whether any of them are any better than him is hard to say, though.
* XanatosGambit: After being somewhat of an IdiotHero throughout the book, Bifalt actually comes up with one of these in the end. [[spoiler: If he wins the duel, Marrow has promised to give him ''The Seventh Decimate'', which he will then bring back to Belleger. If he loses, Third Father will be honour-bound to obey his last wish, which is that he brings ''A Treatise on the Fabrication of Cannon Using Primitive Means'' back to Belleger. As possessing either of those books will give Belleger an unstoppable tactical advantage, he can't lose as long as Marrow and Third Father both honour their word.]]
* XanatosGambit: After being somewhat of an IdiotHero throughout the book, Bifalt actually comes up with one of these in the end. [[spoiler: If he wins the duel, Marrow has promised to give him ''The Seventh Decimate'', which he will then bring back to Belleger. If he loses, Third Father will be honour-bound to obey his last wish, which is that he brings ''A Treatise on the Fabrication of Cannon Using Primitive Means'' back to Belleger. As possessing either of those books will give Belleger an unstoppable tactical advantage, he can't lose as long as Marrow and Third Father both honour their word.]]
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* WhatTheHellHero: Prince Bifalt seems to spend most of the second half of the first book getting this treatment from every other characters. Whether any of them are any better than him is hard to say, though.
* XanatosGambit: After being somewhat of an IdiotHero throughout the book, Bifalt actually comes up with one of these in theend.end of ''The Seventh Decimate''. [[spoiler: If he wins the duel, Marrow has promised to give him ''The Seventh Decimate'', which he will then bring back to Belleger. If he loses, Third Father will be honour-bound to obey his last wish, which is that he brings ''A Treatise on the Fabrication of Cannon Using Primitive Means'' back to Belleger. As possessing either of those books will give Belleger an unstoppable tactical advantage, he can't lose as long as Marrow and Third Father both honour their word.]]
* XanatosGambit: After being somewhat of an IdiotHero throughout the book, Bifalt actually comes up with one of these in the
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* MeaningfulName: While Smegin [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender brought his oldest daughter Estie up as his heir,]] he named his two younger daughters Demure and Immure as a not-too-subtle hint of [[StayInTheKitchen what he expected of them.]]
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''The Great God's War'' is a LowFantasy series by Creator/StephenRDonaldson, planned to consist of three books. The first, ''The Seventh Decimate'', was published in 2017.
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''The Great God's War'' is a LowFantasy series by Creator/StephenRDonaldson, planned to consist of three books. The first, ''The Seventh Decimate'', was published in 2017.
2017, while the second, ''The War Within'', followed in 2019.
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* BrokenPedestal: Estie grew up thinking that her father King Smegin was a great man doing harsh but necessary things for his country. The pedestal got thoroughly shattered when he proved willing to end the supposedly-necessary ForeverWar with Belleger and even marry her off to Prince Bifalt ''not'' to save lives or even to prepare for a foreign invasion to come, but just because he absolutely had to get his sorcery back.
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* BrokenPedestal: Estie grew up thinking that her father King Smegin was a great man [[WellIntentionedExtremist doing harsh but necessary things for his country. country.]] The pedestal got thoroughly shattered when he proved willing to end the supposedly-necessary ForeverWar with Belleger and even marry her off to Prince Bifalt ''not'' to save lives or even to prepare for a foreign invasion to come, but just because [[ItsAllAboutMe he absolutely had to get his sorcery back.]]
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* BrokenPedestal: Estie grew up thinking that her father King Smegin was a great man doing harsh but necessary things for his country. The pedestal got thoroughly shattered when he proved willing to end the supposedly-necessary ForeverWar with Belleger and even marry her off to Prince Bifalt ''not'' to save lives or even to prepare for a foreign invasion to come, but just because he absolutely had to get his sorcery back.
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* HiddenDepths: Estie spent the first sixteen years of her life thinking her mother was an airhead. She eventually found out that Queen Rubia is actually pretty smart, and that the reason she occupied herself with meaningless things because she was disgusted with her husband's policies but also knew he wouldn't suffer her to oppose him.
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* SorcerousOverlord: King Smegin was, for most of his reign, both the ruler of Amika and a Magister of Lightning.
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The Bellegerin are hoping to finally turn the tide through their recent invention of rifles, but before they can capitalise on their advantage, [[TheMagicGoesAway all sorcery in Belleger suddenly ceases to work]] - and new rifles can only be forged with the aid of the Decimate of Fire. Expecting a devestating attack at any time, the King of Belleger sends his son, Prince Bifalt, on a desperate mission for a [[GreatBigLibraryOfEverything legendary library]] said to contain the knowledge of the Seventh Decimate, a lost art that can [[AntiMagic nullify other sorcery.]]
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The Bellegerin are hoping to finally turn the tide through their recent invention of rifles, but before they can capitalise on their advantage, [[TheMagicGoesAway all sorcery in Belleger suddenly ceases to work]] - and new rifles can only be forged with the aid of the Decimate of Fire. Expecting a devestating devastating attack at any time, the King of Belleger sends his son, Prince Bifalt, on a desperate mission for a [[GreatBigLibraryOfEverything legendary library]] said to contain the knowledge of the Seventh Decimate, a lost art that can [[AntiMagic nullify other sorcery.]]
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* FeeFiFauxPas: Bifalt offends several of his hosts throughout the second half of the first book, starting with Set Ungabwey and his servants (who had just saved Bifalt and his remaining companions from certain death). Partly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] given that Bellegerin are complete strangers to the world outside of their own small country, but also [[DoubleSubversion not]] in that Bifalt almost always manages to go the extra mile in pissing people off while his companions do just fine.
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* FeeFiFauxPas: Bifalt offends several of his hosts throughout the second half of the first book, starting with Set Ungabwey and his servants (who had just saved Bifalt and his remaining companions from certain death). Partly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] given that Bellegerin are complete strangers to the world outside of their own small country, but also [[DoubleSubversion not]] in that Bifalt almost always manages to go the extra mile in pissing people off while his companions do just fine. PlayedForDrama.
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* FeeFiFauxPas: Bifalt offends several of his hosts throughout the second half of the first book, starting with Set Ungabwey and his servants (who had just saved Bifalt and his remaining companions from certain death). Partly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] given that Bellegerin are complete strangers to the world outside of their own small country, but also [[DoubleSubversion not]] in that Bifalt almost always manages to go the extra mile in pissing people off while his companions do just fine.
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* KnightInSourArmor: Prince Bifalt, a jaded veteran who nevertheless genuinely wants to do what is best for his people, no matter what it may cost him.
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* GoodShepherd: Third Father is consistently calm and kind and tries to understand people and see to their emotional needs. He also [[spoiler: agrees to deliver a book on guncrafting to Belleger if Bifalt should die, even though he clearly thinks it's a terrible idea and even though it puts him at considerable risk, because it's part of his duties to deliver final messages from people about to die to their loved ones, and [[LoopholeAbuse this technically counts as one.]]]]
* LoopholeAbuse: Monks of the Cult of the Many offer, among their other spiritual services, to deliver final messages from people who are about to die to their loved ones. Said messages are usually verbal, but can also be written down. [[spoiler: Bifalt asks Third Father to deliver Estervault's ''A Treatise on the Fabrication of Cannon Using Primitive Means'' to King Abbator if he should fall in the duel he's about to fight. Despite knowing that this would give Belleger the ability to complete destroy Amika, entirely against his own ideals and deisres, Third Father reluctantly agrees, because there's not actually any rule that specifies the length or content of a final message.]]
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* WhatTheHellHero: Prince Bifalt seems to spend most of the second half of the book getting this treatment from every other characters. Whether any of them are any better than him is hard to say, though.
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* WhatTheHellHero: Prince Bifalt seems to spend most of the second half of the book getting this treatment from every other characters. Whether any of them are any better than him is hard to say, though.though.
* XanatosGambit: After being somewhat of an IdiotHero throughout the book, Bifalt actually comes up with one of these in the end. [[spoiler: If he wins the duel, Marrow has promised to give him ''The Seventh Decimate'', which he will then bring back to Belleger. If he loses, Third Father will be honour-bound to obey his last wish, which is that he brings ''A Treatise on the Fabrication of Cannon Using Primitive Means'' back to Belleger. As possessing either of those books will give Belleger an unstoppable tactical advantage, he can't lose as long as Marrow and Third Father both honour their word.]]
* XanatosGambit: After being somewhat of an IdiotHero throughout the book, Bifalt actually comes up with one of these in the end. [[spoiler: If he wins the duel, Marrow has promised to give him ''The Seventh Decimate'', which he will then bring back to Belleger. If he loses, Third Father will be honour-bound to obey his last wish, which is that he brings ''A Treatise on the Fabrication of Cannon Using Primitive Means'' back to Belleger. As possessing either of those books will give Belleger an unstoppable tactical advantage, he can't lose as long as Marrow and Third Father both honour their word.]]
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* MilitaryMage: Amikan and Bellegerin sorcerers in get drafted en masse into the army whenever it's time for another battle in the ForeverWar between the two kingdoms. Their use falls pretty squarely into the Artillery category, with sorcerers being placed high up over the battlefield behind the lines so that they can rain down destruction on the enemy.
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* MilitaryMage: Amikan and Bellegerin sorcerers in get drafted en masse into the army whenever it's time for another battle in the ForeverWar between the two kingdoms. Their use falls pretty squarely into the Artillery category, with sorcerers being placed high up over the battlefield behind the lines so that they can rain down destruction on the enemy.
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* MilitaryMage: Amikan and Bellegerin sorcerers in get drafted en masse into the army whenever it's time for another battle in the ForeverWar between the two kingdoms. Their use falls pretty squarely into the Artillery category, with sorcerers being placed high up over the battlefield behind the lines so that they can rain down destruction on the enemy.
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* TheMedic: Nowel serves as the squad's "stitcher and bonesetter." This is also one of the reasons Slack is sent with the squad - they're supposed to cross a desert, meaning that they will suffer sunburn, and as a former [[PlayingWithFire Magister of Fire]] he's had a lot of practical experience with tending to burns.
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* DarkActionGirl: Amandis, devotee of the Spirit and self-proclaimed assassin. Her temper is unpleasant, [[AmbiguouslyEvil her morals are uncertain,]] and she's very, very quick with a knife, to the point that Bifalt admits that if she decided to kill him, he'd have no way of stopping her.
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The Bellegerin are hoping to finally turn the tide through their recent invention of rifles, but before they can capitalise on their advantage, [[TheMagicGoesAway all sorcery in Belleger suddenly ceases to work]] - and new rifles can only be forged with the aid of the Decimate of Fire. Expecting a devestating attack at any time, the King of Belleger sends his son, Prince Bifalt, on a desperate mission for a legendary library said to contain the knowledge of the Seventh Decimate, a lost art that can nullify other sorcery.
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The Bellegerin are hoping to finally turn the tide through their recent invention of rifles, but before they can capitalise on their advantage, [[TheMagicGoesAway all sorcery in Belleger suddenly ceases to work]] - and new rifles can only be forged with the aid of the Decimate of Fire. Expecting a devestating attack at any time, the King of Belleger sends his son, Prince Bifalt, on a desperate mission for a [[GreatBigLibraryOfEverything legendary library library]] said to contain the knowledge of the Seventh Decimate, a lost art that can [[AntiMagic nullify other sorcery.
sorcery.]]
* BroughtDownToNormal: Every Bellegerin sorcerer. Most do not take it well - Altimar has sunk into senility from the shock of it, and Slack claims that he's simply not a man anymore now that parts of his nature are denied to him.
* TheCorrupter: [[DarkActionGirl Amandis]] and [[TheVamp Flamora]] team up on Elgart to be this. At least, that's how Bifalt sees it - the two women naturally have a different perspective.
-->'''Amandis:''' I teach him to choose. She teaches him to love his life. Together, we teach him that only a man who loves his life can [[HeroicSuicide choose an honourable death.]]
* TheCorrupter: [[DarkActionGirl Amandis]] and [[TheVamp Flamora]] team up on Elgart to be this. At least, that's how Bifalt sees it - the two women naturally have a different perspective.
-->'''Amandis:''' I teach him to choose. She teaches him to love his life. Together, we teach him that only a man who loves his life can [[HeroicSuicide choose an honourable death.]]
* CunningLinguist: Tchwee's innate understanding of language is so advanced that he only needs to hear a language spoken for a while to become able to speak it fluently himself. Or at least that's how he explains being able to speak the Bellegerin language despite claiming never to have heard of the country itself - it's not exactly clear how honest he is.
* TheGoodKing: King Abbator seems to be highly respected by his people, and Prince Bifalt practically worships his father.
* GrayAndGreyMorality: Bifalt just wants to save his kingdom from Amika, but is willing to do things he considers dishonourable to succeed. The Amikans, meanwhile, are hinted to think of themselves as fighting a GuiltFreeExterminationWar against a race of remorseless butchers. [[spoiler: Marrow and the other Last Repository sorcerers]] want to end the war, but only so that Belleger and Amika can get ready to fight for ''them'' when the time comes - and they, too, consider their goal to be so inherently just that it makes any methods permissible.
* GrayAndGreyMorality: Bifalt just wants to save his kingdom from Amika, but is willing to do things he considers dishonourable to succeed. The Amikans, meanwhile, are hinted to think of themselves as fighting a GuiltFreeExterminationWar against a race of remorseless butchers. [[spoiler: Marrow and the other Last Repository sorcerers]] want to end the war, but only so that Belleger and Amika can get ready to fight for ''them'' when the time comes - and they, too, consider their goal to be so inherently just that it makes any methods permissible.
* HandicappedBadass: Magister Rummage is a hunchback, and mute as well. That doesn't stop him from, with casual ease, [[spoiler: injuring Bifalt so badly that he would have been crippled had he not received magical healing.]]
* TooImportantToWalk: Set Ungabwey the caravan master does not leave his wagon, but sends Tchwee to speak for him outside of it. Bifalt's guess upon seeing him is that he's so fat that he actually ''can't'' walk anymore.
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* WarIsHell: Oh yes. The Bellegerins even call major battles against Amika "hells."
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* WarIsHell: Oh yes. The Bellegerins even call major battles against Amika "hells.""
* WhatTheHellHero: Prince Bifalt seems to spend most of the second half of the book getting this treatment from every other characters. Whether any of them are any better than him is hard to say, though.
* WhatTheHellHero: Prince Bifalt seems to spend most of the second half of the book getting this treatment from every other characters. Whether any of them are any better than him is hard to say, though.
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* FailureHero: Bifalt spends the first book making the exact wrong choice at pretty much every single turn, something that he is bitterly aware of.
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* FightingYourFriend: [[spoiler: Marrow chooses Elgart as his champion against Bifalt. Bifalt surrenders and agrees to go along with Marrow's wishes rather than going through with this trope.]]
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* GreatBigLibraryOfEverything: The Last Repository, the goal for Prince Bifalt's quest in the first book.
* HeManWomanHater: Bartin has nothing but loathing for women. The theory among the rest of his squad is that [[AbusiveParents his mother used to beat him too much.]]
* HeManWomanHater: Bartin has nothing but loathing for women. The theory among the rest of his squad is that [[AbusiveParents his mother used to beat him too much.]]
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* MercyKill: [[spoiler: The Amikans consider their practice of killing their own wounded with long-range sorcery to be this, assuming that the Bellegerins would submit them to ColdBloodedTorture if they were ever captured.]]
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* NewMeat: Flisk is untested in war but was added to a squad of veterans for his talent with a rifle.
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* UnequalRites: The Decimates turn out to be just one possible form of magic, with others existing elsewhere.
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* UnequalRites: The Decimates turn out to be just one possible form of magic, with others existing elsewhere.elsewhere.
* WarIsHell: Oh yes. The Bellegerins even call major battles against Amika "hells."
* WarIsHell: Oh yes. The Bellegerins even call major battles against Amika "hells."
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The kingdoms of Belleger and Amika have spent several centuries in a ForeverWar that has left them both in ruins. The original reasons for the conflict are only dimly remembered, but the Amikans seem determined to fight to the bitter end and the Bellegerins have no choice but to oblige them or be destroyed. Battles are made especially horrific through the presence of sorcerers, using the six Decimates of Fire, Lightning, Draught, Earthquake, Pestilence and Wind to deadly effect.
The Bellegerin are hoping to finally turn the tide through their recent invention of rifles, but before they can capitalise on their advantage, [[TheMagicGoesAway all sorcery in Belleger suddenly ceases to work]] - and new rifles can only be forged with the aid of the Decimate of Fire. Expecting a devestating attack at any time, the King of Belleger sends his son, Prince Bifalt, on a desperate mission for a legendary library said to contain the knowledge of the Seventh Decimate, a lost art that can nullify other sorcery.
''The Great God's War'' is a LowFantasy series by Creator/StephenRDonaldson, planned to consist of three books. The first, ''The Seventh Decimate'', was published in 2017.
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!! This series contains examples of:
* AntiHero: Bifalt is angry, self-righteous and hates sorcery and Amikans to a downright psychotic extent. What still makes him somewhat sympathetic is how devoted he is to saving his people.
* AntiMagic: The Seventh Decimate is used to block the other Decimates.
* ArcWords: '''Are you ready?'''
* BothSidesHaveAPoint: It's easy to see why [[spoiler: the sorcerers of the Last Repository]] find Bifalt so frustrating to deal with, and his opinion of them is strongly coloured by his hatred and pride. At the same time, Bifalt is not actually wrong in accusing them of being heavy-handed, arrogant and acting like they have an OmniscientMoralityLicense.
* CrapsackWorld: Belleger seems to consist almost solely of shell-shocked veterans and starving peasants. There are hints that Amika is no better off. Subverted as it turns out that the wider world is actually doing pretty well - it's just those two kingdoms that are suffering.
* DwindlingParty: Bifalt's original crew goes through a brutal process of attrition over the course of the first novel.
* FantasyGunControl: Averted; the Bellegerins have developed not just gunpowder but clip-loaded rifles. The Amikans, meanwhile, make use of grenades.
* ForeverWar: One exists between Amika and Belleger. It supposedly started when the King of Amika murdered the woman who chose to marry his brother the King of Belleger instead of him, but at this point no one is even sure anymore, or much cares.
* TheMagicGoesAway: The first chapter proper starts with all sorcery having ceased to function in all of Belleger.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Slack.]]
* MundaneUtility: While sorcery is seen mainly as a weapon of war, in peacetime sorcerers put their talents to peaceful uses. For example, the Decimate of Pestilence can be used to cure disease rather than inflict it.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Bifalt has it, courtesy of [[spoiler: the sorcerers of the Last Repository needing him alive for now.]] Every time he should die, he just wakes up more or less unharmed.
* SequelHook: The first book ends on a hopeful note but without entirely providing closure, and with Bifalt [[spoiler: vowing that one day he will humble the sorcerers of the Last Repository for their treatment of him.]] Also, there are apparently at least two more Decimates that no one has ever heard of.
* SmallSecludedWorld: The Bellegerins are theoretically aware that the whole world does not consist of just them and the Amikans, but that's the only part they know anything about. The second half of the first novel deals heavily with the culture shock of Bifalt realising just ''how huge'' the world is, and how little his kingdom counts for in it.
* UnequalRites: The Decimates turn out to be just one possible form of magic, with others existing elsewhere.
The Bellegerin are hoping to finally turn the tide through their recent invention of rifles, but before they can capitalise on their advantage, [[TheMagicGoesAway all sorcery in Belleger suddenly ceases to work]] - and new rifles can only be forged with the aid of the Decimate of Fire. Expecting a devestating attack at any time, the King of Belleger sends his son, Prince Bifalt, on a desperate mission for a legendary library said to contain the knowledge of the Seventh Decimate, a lost art that can nullify other sorcery.
''The Great God's War'' is a LowFantasy series by Creator/StephenRDonaldson, planned to consist of three books. The first, ''The Seventh Decimate'', was published in 2017.
----
!! This series contains examples of:
* AntiHero: Bifalt is angry, self-righteous and hates sorcery and Amikans to a downright psychotic extent. What still makes him somewhat sympathetic is how devoted he is to saving his people.
* AntiMagic: The Seventh Decimate is used to block the other Decimates.
* ArcWords: '''Are you ready?'''
* BothSidesHaveAPoint: It's easy to see why [[spoiler: the sorcerers of the Last Repository]] find Bifalt so frustrating to deal with, and his opinion of them is strongly coloured by his hatred and pride. At the same time, Bifalt is not actually wrong in accusing them of being heavy-handed, arrogant and acting like they have an OmniscientMoralityLicense.
* CrapsackWorld: Belleger seems to consist almost solely of shell-shocked veterans and starving peasants. There are hints that Amika is no better off. Subverted as it turns out that the wider world is actually doing pretty well - it's just those two kingdoms that are suffering.
* DwindlingParty: Bifalt's original crew goes through a brutal process of attrition over the course of the first novel.
* FantasyGunControl: Averted; the Bellegerins have developed not just gunpowder but clip-loaded rifles. The Amikans, meanwhile, make use of grenades.
* ForeverWar: One exists between Amika and Belleger. It supposedly started when the King of Amika murdered the woman who chose to marry his brother the King of Belleger instead of him, but at this point no one is even sure anymore, or much cares.
* TheMagicGoesAway: The first chapter proper starts with all sorcery having ceased to function in all of Belleger.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Slack.]]
* MundaneUtility: While sorcery is seen mainly as a weapon of war, in peacetime sorcerers put their talents to peaceful uses. For example, the Decimate of Pestilence can be used to cure disease rather than inflict it.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Bifalt has it, courtesy of [[spoiler: the sorcerers of the Last Repository needing him alive for now.]] Every time he should die, he just wakes up more or less unharmed.
* SequelHook: The first book ends on a hopeful note but without entirely providing closure, and with Bifalt [[spoiler: vowing that one day he will humble the sorcerers of the Last Repository for their treatment of him.]] Also, there are apparently at least two more Decimates that no one has ever heard of.
* SmallSecludedWorld: The Bellegerins are theoretically aware that the whole world does not consist of just them and the Amikans, but that's the only part they know anything about. The second half of the first novel deals heavily with the culture shock of Bifalt realising just ''how huge'' the world is, and how little his kingdom counts for in it.
* UnequalRites: The Decimates turn out to be just one possible form of magic, with others existing elsewhere.
