History Literature / TheNightsDawnTrilogy

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: [[spoiler: Many of the Possessed suffer this, being ignorant on both technology and cultural customs. Most notably occurs with the two Possessed that attack the Valisk habitat]], unaware that without Dariat’s interference, [[BigBrotherIsWatching the living habitat would be able to see them wherever they went]].

* FishOutOfTemporalWater: [[spoiler: many of the Possessed suffer this, being ignorant on both technology and cultural customs.]]

* OrganicTechnology- The Edenists base most of their technology on living creatures; they have sentient {{Living Ship}}s, sentient living space stations, and organic computers and servitors. They aren't entirely organic though; most common technology is still inorganic/non-living (They use electric jeeps in their habitats), and their ships/stations use non-living technology (like fusion reactors) when using living versions would be impractical or impossible.

* DarkSkinnedBlonde / DarkSkinnedRedHead: It's actually quite common in the 27th century to have people born this way thanks to genetic engineering and fashion trends.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: In [[ZeroGSpot Free fall cages]]. Bad people have devil worshipping rape-sex.

* SmugSnake: too many to name.

* SpaceAmish : Recently colonized worlds, and pastoral worlds such as Norfolk, where most technology past the 20st century is banned. (though there is a basic phone network and power grid)
* SpaceIsAnOcean: Played with.

* PlanetOfHats: The Confederation practices what they call "Ethnic Streaming"; planets are specifically stated to be Christian-ethnic, Islamic-ethnic, Jewish-ethnic, Hindi-ethnic, etc. At first, Earth's government sponsored extrasolar colonization on a cosmopolitan basis; immigration was controlled so numerous ethnic groups were represented equally. This experiment came to a crashing end when these colonies erupted into religious conflicts, which were only solved when the minorities immigrated to planets where they were the majority. Nyvan -- the closest terracompatible world to Earth -- is the worst case; the planet has been ravaged by nonstop holy wars right up until the Possessed showed up and conquered the whole planet. After those initial failures, colonies were sponsored by specific nations and corporations, which limited colonization to their own ethnic groups. These were much more successful, and by the time the trilogy begins it's commonly accepted that only an idiot would expect multiple ethnic groups to share a planet peacefully. A [[UnfortunateImplications similar idea]] would be "separateness" AKA ''"[[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra Apartheid]]".''

* SealedEvilInACan: Sacrificing that dude in an alien jungle while being watched by a nosy EnergyBeing was probably a bad idea, Dexter.

* MadDoctor: Banneth [[UpToEleven is a particularly perverted example.]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

The dense and multi-threaded plot follows too many characters to note here, but runs the gamut from simple, pre-industrial settlers to the obligatory starship captains, through onto kings of interstellar empires and even the sentient bitek minds of orbital habitats. The story concerns humanity's trials and tribulations when... get this: ''the souls of the dead'' begin forcefully possessing the bodies of the living. The premise, while fantastic, is actually treated as a natural (albeit poorly understood) phenomenon, and oddly does not shift this series' place on MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness. As for the novels' SF hardness, space is treated like space while retaining some elements of SpaceIsAnOcean (like navies and pirates and so forth), and most futuristic technologies are described in believable detail.

* CrapsackWorld - Earth.
** Also, Nyvan, both before and ''after'' Quinn Dexter has his way with it. Before it was divided into rabidly nationalistic and xenophobic nation states that where openly hostile to one another, and went out of their way to destroy each other's economies, rendering the entire planet impoverished. About 50,000 people a year leave the planet with next to nobody immigrating to replace them, and since the only people who can afford to leave are middle class professionals, the planet as a whole also suffers from a constant brain drain, further retarding economic development. So intense is the mistrust between the different countries, that Nyvan doesn't even have a single global internet, with each nation maintaining it's own communications network, and not even attempting link with their neighbors. There isn't even a pretense of planetary government, no UN type body, and only three of the planet's over 20 nations are even members of the Confederation, instead the planet is dominated by a complex and shifting system of alliances lead by the "big four" planetary powers, Tonala, (the wealthiest and most developed nation, officially a democracy, but [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny in actual fact a single party state dominated by wealthy industrialists]]) Isfahan, (A fundamentalist Muslim Theocracy that's already conquered three other nations) Nazareth, (A fundamentalist Christian Theocracy) and New Georgia, (A federal republic based on the model of the old United States, and the only one of the "big four" nations that's actually a full democracy.) The lack of a centralised planetary government, and the constant threat of war made the planet a magnet for [[WretchedHive organised crime, pirates, and mercenaries.]] Afterwards [[spoiler: it became literally uninhabitable.]]

* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: not as much as you'd expect. The Kulu Kingdom (actually a benign interstellar empire) is the second most powerful Adamist faction (after Earth) and behaves with [[GenreSavvy remarkable competence]] in handling possession outbreaks on their planets. It [[spoiler: doesn't really help them; see the bit about a peninsula vanishing into another dimension]].

* GreenAesop: A CentralTheme, although it's only implied until the very end; Earth has become uninhabitable outside domed cities. It's not even due to air or water pollution; fusion reactors have made fissionables -- let alone burning carbon fuels -- as quaint as knapping flint, and purifying water is just a matter of energy. The catch is that there's no solution for ''heat'' pollution save to ''not'' use energy. Between choosing to live in picturesque squalor and maintaining an industrial lifestyle, humans decided to move to cities and fortify them against weather that has become so fierce it is capable of stripping topsoil down to bedrock. This process is repeating itself on every world humans colonize. Eventually, [[spoiler:the Kiint point out that this is part of the reason they are refusing to aid in the possession crisis; ''they'' cracked {{Matter Replicator}}s ''millennia'' ago, enabling them to return their blighted homeworld to pastoral splendor while maintaining their quality of life, terraform barren worlds to their desires and basically live a "post urban" existence wherever they please. As a result, their encounter with the Beyond was as simple as cloning new bodies for their Possessed to live in until they were psychologically stable enough to GoIntoTheLight. Calvert - realizing that humans would never do the same as long as there are terracompatible planets to exploit - thus uses the powers of the Sleeping God to teleport every human planet and habitat to an isolated area in intergalactic space, forcing them to make the discovery themselves or die trying]].

* GreenAesop: A CentralTheme, although it's only implied until the very end; Earth has become uninhabitable outside domed cities. It's not even due to air or water pollution; fusion reactors have made fissionables -- let alone burning carbon fuels -- as quaint as knapping flint, and purifying water is just a matter of energy. The catch is that there's no solution for ''heat'' pollution save to ''not'' use energy. Between choosing to live in picturesque squalor and maintaining an industrial lifestyle, humans decided to move to cities and fortify them against weather that has become so fierce it is capable of stripping topsoil down to bedrock. This process is repeating itself on every world humans colonize. Eventually, [[spoiler:the Kiint point out that this is part of the reason they are refusing to aid in the possession crisis; ''they'' cracked {{Matter Replicator}}s ''millennia'' ago, enabling them to return their blighted homeworld to pastoral splendor, terraform barren worlds to their desires and basically live a "post urban" existence wherever they please. As a result, their encounter with the Beyond was as simple as cloning new bodies for their Possessed to live in until they were psychologically stable enough to GoIntoTheLight. Calvert - realizing that humans would never do the same as long as there are terracompatible planets to exploit - thus uses the powers of the Sleeping God to teleport every human planet and habitat to an isolated area in intergalactic space, forcing them to make the discovery themselves or die trying]].

* GeniusLoci Edenist habitats are living sentient space stations. Voidhawks and Blackhawks, are living, sentient starships.

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: subverted, in that many characters are quite religious, practicing faiths more-or-less indistinguishable from modern religions, including pioneer-style Protestantism, Sunni Islam and, largely for purposes of [[KickTheDog kicking the dog]], heavy metal-style Satanism. Edenists are overwhelmingly atheist, however. They don't enforce atheist or any other beliefs, but Edenists definitely lay a mild stigma on believers.

** Deconstructed in that despite having practiced this policy for centuries, the overcrowding is ''still'' an apocalyptic issue - especially since the selection pressure has made most Earthers so meek and hidebound they're more likely to commit suicide than any other crime. [[spoiler:So Govcentral is ''sponsoring'' organized crime - in the form of the ultra-violent "[[HollywoodSatanism Light Bringer]]" cults - simply to ''corrupt'' the [[TeensAreMonsters younger generation into criminals]] that can then be deported]].

* BornLucky: Joshua "Lagrange" Calvert. His father, Marcus, features in a side story set some years prior, and he's even ''luckyer''.

* GreenAesop: A CentralTheme, although it's only implied until the very end; Earth has become uninhabitable outside domed cities. It's not even due to air or water pollution; fusion reactors have made fissionables -- let alone burning carbon fuels -- as quaint as knapping flint, and purifying water is just a matter of energy. The catch is that there's no solution for ''heat'' pollution save to ''not'' use energy. Between choosing to live in picturesque squalor and maintaining an industrial lifestyle, humans decided to move to cities and fortify them against weather that has become so fierce it is capable of stripping topsoil down to bedrock. This process is repeating itself on every world humans colonize. Eventually, [[spoiler:the Kiint point out that this is part of the reason they are refusing to aid in the possession crisis; ''they'' cracked {{Matter Replicator}}s ''millennia'' ago, enabling them to return their blighted homeworld to pastoral splendor, terraform barren worlds to their desires and basically live a "post urban" existence wherever they please. As a result, their encounter with the Beyond was as simple as cloning new bodies for their Possessed to live in until they were psychologically stable enough to GoIntoTheLight. Calvert takes this to heart, and uses the powers of the Sleeping God to teleport every human planet and habitat to an isolated area in intergalactic space, forcing them to make those discoveries themselves or die trying]].

* HollywoodSatanism: The "Light Bringer" cults of Earth. Notably, [[spoiler:they're an InvokedTrope; sponsored by Govcentral to entrap at-risk youths so a yearly quota can be ''[[SentencedToDownUnder deported]]'', they were '''purposefully designed''' to be ridiculously over-the-top sources of violent crime, so as to prevent courts from sympathizing with them. One of these indoctrinated is '''''[[BigBad Quinn Dexter]]''''' - and discovering that his faith was engineered by the government solely to give them the excuse to throw him off the planet pisses him off so much he dedicates all his efforts into not only yanking Earth out of reality, but ''[[RealityBreakingParadox breaking]]'' reality out of sheer nihilistic rage]].

* CorruptCorporateExecutive [[spoiler: The rulers of Earth, the "B7 Security Council". The Adamist/Edenist split was actually an unintended consequence of trying to monopolize Affinity technology as a form of immortality - the bitek habitats being able to cheaply extract precious metals from asteroid ore was surprising enough, but Dr. Wing Tsit-Chong figuring out a ''superior'' method to their own BodySurf technique - the neural strata of bitek habitats - created an entire civilization out of nothing]].

** Deconstructed in that despite having practiced this policy for centuries, the overcrowding is ''still'' an apocalyptic issue - especially since the selection pressure has made most Earthers so meek and hidebound they're more likely to commit suicide than any other crime. [[spoiler:So Govcentral is ''sponsoring'' organized crime - in the form of the ultra-violent "[[HollywoodSatanism Light Bringer]]" cults - simply to ''corrupt'' the [[TeensAreMonsters younger generation into criminals]] that can then be deported. Quinn Dexter is one such cultist, and discovering this pisses him off so much he dedicates all his efforts into not only yanking Earth out of reality, but ''[[RealityBreakingParadox breaking]]'' reality out of sheer nihilistic rage]].

* HollywoodSatanism: The "Light Bringer" cults of Earth. Notably, [[spoiler:they're an InvokedTrope; sponsored by Govcentral to entrap at-risk youths so a yearly quota can be ''[[SentencedToDownUnder deported]]'', they're '''designed''' to be ridiculously over-the-top executors of violent crime, so as to prevent courts from sympathizing with them. One of these indoctrinated is '''''[[BigBad Quinn Dexter]]''''' - and he's apocalyptically unhappy that his faith was engineered by the government solely to give them the excuse to throw him off the planet]].

** Deconstructed in that despite having practiced this policy for centuries, the overcrowding is ''still'' an apocalyptic issue - especially since the selection pressure has made most Earthers so meek and hidebound they're more likely to commit suicide than any other crime. [[spoiler:So Govcentral is ''sponsoring'' organized crime - in the form of the vice- and violence-worshipping "God's Brother" cults - simply to ''corrupt'' the [[TeensAreMonsters younger generation into criminals]] that can then be deported. Quinn Dexter is one such cultist, and discovering this pisses him off so much he dedicates all his efforts into not only yanking Earth out of reality, but ''[[RealityBreakingParadox breaking]]'' reality out of sheer nihilistic rage]].

** To a lesser degree, the Alchemist- see ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill below.

* SentencedToDownUnder: The Involuntary Transportees AKA "IVETs". Earth is ''ridiculously'' overpopulated, so getting shipped off to any world willing to accept the tax credit is the punishment for ''[[AllCrimesAreEqual any]]'' conviction.

* SolarCPR: the Alchemist's "Violent" setting is used to [[spoiler: turn a gas-giant planet into a nascent star]].
* SpheroidDropship: The series features a lot of spherical spacecraft (e. g. ''The Lady Macbeth''). They are mostly used by the Adamists.

** Also, the Alchemist. It can [[spoiler: create a black hole]] on the "humane" setting. Or, of course, you can use the more [[EarthShatteringKaboom destructive]] setting.

* GreenAesop: A CentralTheme, although it's only implied until the very end; Earth has become uninhabitable outside domed cities. It's not even due to air or water pollution; fusion reactors have made burning carbon fuels as quaint as knapping flint, and purifying water is just a matter of energy. The catch is that there's no solution for ''heat'' pollution save to ''not'' use energy. Between choosing to live in picturesque squalor and maintaining an industrial lifestyle, humans decided to move to cities and fortify them against weather that has become so fierce it is capable of stripping topsoil down to bedrock. This process is repeating itself on every world humans colonize. Eventually, [[spoiler:the Kiint point out that this is part of the reason they are refusing to aid in the possession crisis; ''they'' cracked {{Matter Replicator}}s ''millennia'' ago, enabling them to return their blighted homeworld to pastoral splendor, terraform barren worlds to their desires and basically live a "post urban" existence wherever they please. As a result, their encounter with the Beyond was as simple as cloning new bodies for their Possessed to live in until they were psychologically stable enough to GoIntoTheLight. Calvert takes this to heart, and uses the powers of the Sleeping God to teleport every human planet and habitat to an isolated area in intergalactic space, forcing them to make those discoveries themselves or die trying]].

* AllCrimesAreEqual: Earth's population is so huge, and its cities so desperately overcrowded, any and all crimes with a guilty verdict tend to result in the convict being sent off to be used as manual labor on colony worlds that have just been established.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler: Pretty much every sentient being transcends into energy form upon death (exactly like your priest/guru/rabbi has been saying all along). What happens ''afterwards'', however, is species-dependent. The Ly-cilph hang around, collecting information about everything, while most species go to the Omega Point, or the beyond. Some unlucky ones end up as ghosts or fall into the dark Continuum]].

* CorruptCorporateExecutive [[spoiler: The rulers of Earth, the "B7 Security Council".]]

* CorruptCorporateExecutive [[spoiler: The rulers of Earth, the 'B7 Security council']]

* GreenAesop : Numerous:
** Having Earth become uninhabitable outside domed cities.
** How humanity, seeing a large number of inhabitable worlds within reach, has, on every planet it has discovered with life, has continued the same process of environmental destruction, overpopulation, and expansion to new habitable worlds.
** [[spoiler: Having the Kiint, thanks to their technology, be able build new worlds, and can now live a "post urban" existence on their own home worlds.]]

--> "'''Panic. Alarm. Incredulity. Thing has not enough legs. Topple walk. Fall over not. Why why why? What is it?'''"
--> "'''It communicates! Alive think'''"