History Literature / ThePillarsOfReality

* [[spoiler: ColonyShip: The Demeter is still in orbit, although mostly stripped. It's the reason the Mechanics Guild forbids astronomy]]

** In ''The Fate of the Free Lands'', the prisoners Jules liberates and works alongside of while she's separated from her crew prove to be reliable, resourceful, and lucky enough to avoid dying at the hands of multiple threats. * MilitaryMage: Mages with combat orientated magic like Alain are mercenaries under the control of the guild.

* WrittenByTheWinners: Mechanic's Guild history bares little resemblance to what actually happened. [[spoiler: From a long history of purges reducing their technical level, to a series of civil wars, to the true nature of their guild as Crew on the Demeter]]

* DungeonBypass: When [[spoiler:Mari is captured and locked up, Alain]] breaks into the dungeon simply by walking right through the walls with magic. However, he then lacks the strength to do the same for their escape, leaving him stuck in the dungeon too. He admits that he didn't think it through properly. Fortunately, [[spoiler:he does have enough strength to create a hole big enough for Mari to tamper with the lock]].

* MilitaryMage: Mages with combat orientated magic like Alain are mercenaries under the control of the guild.

* CultDefector: An interesting case where the "Cults" are the forces that govern the world. Both the Mage and Mechanics Guild (mainly the later) impress a mindset of superiority and caring for no one outside their Guilds upon the children they forcibly take in (along with plenty of other messed up philosophies for the Mage Guild), and the series begins with Mechanic Mari and Mage Alain beginning to resist that mindset and conditioning, [[spoiler:eventually rallying others to do so as well and outright login to war with the Guilds they came from]].

* CultDefector: An interesting case where the "Cults" are the forces that govern the world. Both the Mage and Mechanics Guild (mainly the later) impress a mindset of superiority and caring for no one outside their Guilds upon the children they forcibly take in (along with plenty of other messed up philosophies for the Mage Guild), and the series begins with Mechanic Mari and Mage Alain beginning to resist that mindset and conditioning, [[[spoiler:eventually rallying others to do so as well and outright login to war with the Guilds they came from]].

* StarCrossedLovers: Alain and Mari

* AntiMutiny: [[spoiler:The Librarians]]

* LostColony: [[spoiler:The Demeter project]]

* PirateGirl: [[spoiler:Mari in book 4]]

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Asha
* TheSociopath: Prince Tien.

* StartMyOwn: [[spoiler: The New Dawn]]

* ChosenOne: The Daughter of Jules, who is prophesied to break the Great Guilds. Of course, since the prophecy was made during Jules' lifetime, all of her children were raised in obscurity to prevent the Guilds from finding them. Between that and the fact that she died centuries ago, it's impossible to prove or disprove the theory that anyone is a descendant of Jules.

* NotSoDifferent: For all of their posturing about being supreme forces miles above each other and the commons, there's isn't much difference between the Great Guilfs. Both are absurdly in denial that the other can do anything important, treat the commons like dirt and have trouble adapting in the face of adversity.

* FamousLastWords: The dying Mages Jules talks to in the first and second prequel novels both go out with a memorable quote.
--> '''Mage from The Pirate of the Prophecy:''' The shadow asks many questions. The shadow seeks wisdom given. Others can show the path. But only that one can walk the path and find what lies....at the end
--> '''Mage from Explorer of the Endless Sea:''' [[IDieFree Over...at....last....]]. Ha...ppiness....Illusion.

'''''The Pillars of Reality''''' is a series of {{Fantasy}}-ish (perhaps ScienceFantasy) novels by Creator/JohnHemry (aka Jack Campbell). They mark a departure from his more normal straight ScienceFiction work (such as ''Literature/TheLostFleet''). So far, there are twelve books set in this world — the original series had six books, and a follow-up series called ''The Legacy Of Dragons'' had three, and the ''Empress of the Endless Sea'' prequel series also has three.

* CruelMercy: Happens to enemies on multiple occasions. In ''The Wrath of the Great Guilds'', when [[spoiler:Deciding not to request the execution of the Mechanics Guild leaders from the Emperor's emissary]] Mari notes:

* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: Mages, due to having their emotions mostly drummed out of them. This is lampshades when Alain ha an encounter with another former Mage [[DefectorFromDecadence who fled the order as an acolyte and made a new life with the commons.]]

** In the prequel books Jules is briefly aided by a man who reveals the he is the son of a mechanic who was disowned by his father for failing the Mechanic aptitude tests and is thus eager to contribute to something that will hurt the Guilds.

** In the third book Asha tells Alain that there was one Mage Acolyte powerful enough to become a full Mage at ''12'' and another who did so at sixteen) but both died in mysterious "accidents" after the Mage leaders felt that they were youngg and inquisitive enough to challenge the elders.

* StealingFromTheTill: In ''The Pirate of the Prophecy'', Jules kills the captain of another pirate ship when first he tries to bribe her into having sex with him (and making him the ancestor of the descendant in the prophecy) and then tries to force himself on her when she says no. An ugly confrontation with the man's crew is averted when Jules reveals that he had a pouch of gems (enough to buy two new ships) that he's used to try to bribe her. Gems that the captain had taken from the ships treasury to keep for himself rather than divide them with the rest of the crew. This makes their desire to avenge their captain fizzle out quickly.

* StealingFromTheTill: In ''The Pirate of the Prophecy'', Jules kills the captain of another pirate ship when first he tries to bribe her into having sex with him (and making him the ancestor of the descendant in the prophecy) and then tries to force himself on her when she says no. An ugly connotation with the man's crew is averted when Jules reveals that he had a pouch of gems (enough to buy two new ships) that he's used to try to bribe her. Gems that the captain had taken from the ships treasury to keep for himself rather than divide them with the rest of the crew. This makes their desire to avenge their captain fizzle out quickly.

* FakeDefector: The mechanics try this a few times as Mari begins forming an army but due to the LivingLieDetector Mages working with her it never gets very far.