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* SeeingThroughAnothersEyes: There is magic that can do this, specifically [[spoiler:The Beast through the eyes of its thralls. Janus]] finds a way around this by writing and sealing orders without looking at the paper.
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* RealNameAsAnAlias: Raesinia uses her own name for an alias while posing as a schoolgirl revolutionary, on the logic that since there tended to be a fad for naming one's child after a recently born royal, there are literally thousands of girls approximately her age named Raesinia in the area around Vordan City. It also means she doesn't have to train herself to respond to a false name and not her real one.
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* RealNameAsAnAlias: Raesinia uses her own name for an alias (with a false surname) while posing as a schoolgirl revolutionary, on the logic that since there tended to be a fad for naming one's child after a recently born royal, there are literally thousands of girls approximately her age named Raesinia in the area around Vordan City.Vordan. It also means she doesn't have to train herself to respond to a false name and not her real one.
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* TouchOfDeath: Winter's touch has this effect on the demonhosts - the Infernivore obliterates the demon, sending the host into a coma that has so far always ended in death.
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* TouchOfDeath: Winter's touch has this effect on the demonhosts - the Infernivore obliterates the demon, sending the host into a coma that has so far always ended usually ends in death.death. [[spoiler:If the host surrenders the demon voluntarily, then the host stands a good chance of recovering.]]
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* WhiteCollarCrime: Raesinia's revolutionary group gets its funding through a combination of one member being very good at playing the stock market and the inside information that Raesinia brings out of the palace. At one point they make a fortune on advance knowledge of Janus winning the war in Khandar, causing a drop in the price of Khandar trade goods. At another they crash a Borel bank by giving away thousands of bank drafts, causing a run on their holdings - and actually ''make'' money on the plot, because they also ran a short sell on the bank's stock simultaneously. Then in the final book, Cora [[spoiler:uses her financial acumen and Raesinia's contacts to construct a fraud capable of ''collapsing the entire Borel economy'' if exposed in a matter of days, which the queen uses as leverage to extract concessions from their government.]]
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* WhiteCollarCrime: Raesinia's revolutionary group gets its funding through a combination of one a member named Cora being very good at playing the stock market and the inside information that Raesinia brings out of the palace. At one point they make a fortune on advance knowledge of Janus winning the war in Khandar, causing a drop in the price of Khandar trade goods. At another they crash a Borel bank by giving away thousands of bank drafts, causing a run on their holdings - and actually ''make'' money on the plot, because they also ran a short sell on the bank's stock simultaneously. Then in the final book, Cora [[spoiler:uses her financial acumen and Raesinia's contacts to construct a fraud capable of ''collapsing the entire Borel economy'' if exposed in a matter of days, which the queen uses as leverage to extract concessions from their government.]]
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* HollywoodDensity: Averted. The Thousand Names are engraved on steel plates that are eight feet high and roughly six feet wide, which would weigh about one ton each. The fact that moving that much weight is not a trivial exercise gets mentioned on multiple occasions. In fact, part of the reason ''why'' they were engraved on steel plates in the first place was to make them too heavy to easily steal.
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* HollywoodDensity: Averted.
** The Thousand Names are engraved on steel plates that are eight feet high and roughly six feet wide, which would weigh about one ton each. The fact that moving that much weight is not a trivial exercise gets mentioned on multiple occasions. In fact, part of the reason ''why'' they were engraved on steel plates in the first place was to make them too heavy to easily steal.
** The Preacher has some of his artillery students work out exactly how much powder would be needed to create the blast that destroyed a public square in the third book. Then looks at their figures and points out that that if their math was right, the bomb contained more powder than could possibly fit into the space where the bomb was planted. This turns out to be a clue - the explosive was a special, more powerful type of gunpowder that most powder mills in the area couldn't make, providing the first lead into tracking down who planted the bomb.
** The Thousand Names are engraved on steel plates that are eight feet high and roughly six feet wide, which would weigh about one ton each. The fact that moving that much weight is not a trivial exercise gets mentioned on multiple occasions. In fact, part of the reason ''why'' they were engraved on steel plates in the first place was to make them too heavy to easily steal.
** The Preacher has some of his artillery students work out exactly how much powder would be needed to create the blast that destroyed a public square in the third book. Then looks at their figures and points out that that if their math was right, the bomb contained more powder than could possibly fit into the space where the bomb was planted. This turns out to be a clue - the explosive was a special, more powerful type of gunpowder that most powder mills in the area couldn't make, providing the first lead into tracking down who planted the bomb.
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* MacGuffin: The Thousand Names are usually used as an object to be found, defended or recovered. They only get used once, when Winter gained Infernivore at the climax of the first book.
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* MacGuffin: The Thousand Names are usually used serve as an object to be found, defended or recovered. They only get used once, when Winter gained Infernivore at the climax of the first book.
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* CorruptChurch: The Sworn Church, which routinely interferes with temporal affairs, is [[TheManBehindTheMan the power behind the throne]] to the series' BigBad Duke Orlanko, and has no problem deploying demon-hosting secret agents to places it deems in need of "salvation." [[spoiler:Most of the Black Order eventually gets wiped out by the Beast, leaving the more benevolent White and Red Orders in control.]]
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* CorruptChurch: The Black Order of the Sworn Church, which routinely interferes with temporal affairs, is [[TheManBehindTheMan the power behind the throne]] to the series' BigBad Duke Orlanko, and has no problem deploying demon-hosting secret agents to places it deems in need of "salvation." [[spoiler:Most of the Black Order eventually gets wiped out by the Beast, leaving the more benevolent White and Red Orders in control.]]
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* TheExile: [[spoiler:Janus]] at the end of the series. Everyone in the know about what was really going on knew that he didn't deserve it, as he had been instrumental in stopping the war, but since he had been the face of the enemy while simultaneously undermining it, he had to be visibly punished, so it was exile or execution and they didn't want to kill him.
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* KeystoneArmy: Few souls can survive contact with [[spoiler:the Beast]] for long, which means that the bodies of those possessed by it are dependent on its continued presence to remain functional.[[spoiler:Janus uses this against the Beast after being possessed, managing to find a way to help Winter get back to Vordan City while convincing the Beast to have its primary body take the field while fighting to take it. This provides Winter an opportunity to fight her way to the Beast and feed it to Infernivore, reducing almost the entire invading army to mindless husks.]]
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* LegendFadesToMyth: Part of the argument the Mages tried to use against Ligamenti's agenda was that if all magic was suppressed, people would forget about it, and thus forget how important it was to keep the demons that absolutely could not be controlled sealed away. True enough, by the story's present day (nine centuries later), only a handful of people outside the Black Priests knew that the Beast of Judgement was anything but an allegory for sin.
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* LegendFadesToMyth: Part of the argument the Mages tried to use against Ligamenti's agenda was that if all magic was suppressed, people would forget about it, and thus forget how important it was to keep the demons that absolutely could not be controlled sealed away. True Sure enough, by the story's present day (nine centuries later), only a handful of people outside the Black Priests knew that the Beast of Judgement was anything but an allegory for sin.
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* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Janus felt this way in regards to [[spoiler:his older sister, Mya]].
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* AmbiguouslyEvil: A number of antagonists claim that Vhalnich isn't the servant of the people he claims, and that he's only doing so because it helps him gain more and more political power. Whether or not his allegedly true colors will be shown now that [[spoiler:he's effectively ruling Vordan]] has yet to be seen, but one interesting thing to note is that his first focus chapter is the ''final'' chapter of book four, so his motives and goals are rather murky. In the end, all that is revealed about them is that they have something to do with a woman named Mya (who Janus considered to be even more brilliant and charismatic than him) and the Pontifex of the Black.
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* AmbiguouslyEvil: A number of antagonists claim that Vhalnich isn't the servant of the people he claims, and that he's only doing so because it helps him gain more and more political power. Whether or not his allegedly true colors will be shown now that [[spoiler:he's effectively ruling Vordan]] has yet to be seen, but one interesting thing to note is that his first focus chapter is the ''final'' chapter of book four, so his motives and goals are rather murky. In the end, it turns out that [[spoiler:he doesn't care about all that power, except as a means to an end. His real goal is revealed about them is that they have something to do with a woman named Mya (who Janus considered to be even more brilliant and charismatic than him) claim all the magical lore held by the Mages and the Pontifex Black Priests, so that he can see if one of the Black.demons known by either can allow him to resurrect his sister Mya.]]
* ArrangedMarriage: Orlanko and the Black Priests plotted to marry Raesinia to a prince from a Sworn Church country so that Elysium could regain influence in Vordan. The King of Borel tries to marry Raesinia to one of his sons for his own reasons in the last book.
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** This is a major problem for the Vordan monarchy. With the king on his death bed, Duke Orlanko essentially runs the country and it is clear that when Raesinia will become queen she will have no say in how the country is run. When Orlanko is overthrown, Raesinia becomes queen but most of her power is taken by the Deputies General, until Janus steps in after the Deputies General launch a ReignOfTerror. By book four a major source of conflict is whether Raesinia or Janus really rules the county.
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** This is a major problem for the Vordan monarchy. With the king on his death bed, Duke Orlanko essentially runs the country and it is clear that when Raesinia will become queen she will have no say in how the country is run. When Orlanko is overthrown, Raesinia becomes queen but most of her power is taken by the Deputies General, until Janus steps in after the Deputies General launch a ReignOfTerror. By book four a major source Which results in him being absolute head of conflict is whether Raesinia or Janus really rules the county.military, and potentially in a position to overrule the Queen through force of arms, a matter which causes problems in the fourth book.
** The King of Borel has very little direct power, with most actual authority being wielded by a coalition of nobles and powerful merchants who he owes money to.
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* TheChessmaster: Janus is a fairly benevolent example, though he doesn't particularly care for the game itself. It's notable that the first time he stops scheming is in the fourth book, and then only because he's too ill to move.
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* TheChessmaster: Janus is a fairly benevolent example, though he doesn't particularly care for the game itself. It's notable that the first time he stops scheming is in the fourth book, and then only because he's too ill to move. [[spoiler:He even manages to manipulate the Beast after being possessed.]]
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* CorruptChurch: The Sworn Church, which routinely interferes with temporal affairs, is [[TheManBehindTheMan the power behind the throne]] to the series' BigBad Duke Orlanko, and has no problem deploying demon-hosting secret agents to places it deems in need of "salvation."
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* CorruptChurch: The Sworn Church, which routinely interferes with temporal affairs, is [[TheManBehindTheMan the power behind the throne]] to the series' BigBad Duke Orlanko, and has no problem deploying demon-hosting secret agents to places it deems in need of "salvation."" [[spoiler:Most of the Black Order eventually gets wiped out by the Beast, leaving the more benevolent White and Red Orders in control.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Sothe was the greatest black ops agent the Concordat had until she realized that her missions were not being done to help the kingdom, but to help the private agenda of Duke Mallus Orlanko. So she defected to Raesinia. However, she openly admits that this doesn't make her a better person, just a bad person in the service of a better master.
* TheHeretic: The Mages are a schismatic branch of the Karisian church. Where Saint Ligamenti sought to suppress all knowledge of magic, the Mages felt that this was only necessary if the demons and magic users wielded their power to do harm, and that those who used their powers for the people should be encouraged. Ironically, generations later, the Black Priests created the Penitent Damned, magic users who used their powers to advance the goals of the church hierarchy, often at the expense of the people, something Ligamenti would ''never'' have approved of in life (even his enemies admitted that whatever his faults, he was not a hypocrite).
* TheHeretic: The Mages are a schismatic branch of the Karisian church. Where Saint Ligamenti sought to suppress all knowledge of magic, the Mages felt that this was only necessary if the demons and magic users wielded their power to do harm, and that those who used their powers for the people should be encouraged. Ironically, generations later, the Black Priests created the Penitent Damned, magic users who used their powers to advance the goals of the church hierarchy, often at the expense of the people, something Ligamenti would ''never'' have approved of in life (even his enemies admitted that whatever his faults, he was not a hypocrite).
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* HiddenDepths: Janus displays a lot of this when he's rambling in fever in ''Guns of the Empire''. Among others, he has a dead loved one, Mya (though the precise nature of what kind of loved one she is remains unclear), [[spoiler:most of his actions might be a plot to bring her back]], and heavily implies that he feigns a lot of his eccentricity to make himself more likeable to people.
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* HiddenDepths: Janus displays a lot of this when he's rambling in fever in ''Guns of the Empire''. Among others, he has a dead loved one, Mya (though the precise nature of what kind of loved one she is remains unclear), ([[spoiler:his older sister]]), [[spoiler:most of his actions might be a plot to bring her back]], and heavily implies that he feigns a lot of his eccentricity to make himself more likeable to people.
* LegendFadesToMyth: Part of the argument the Mages tried to use against Ligamenti's agenda was that if all magic was suppressed, people would forget about it, and thus forget how important it was to keep the demons that absolutely could not be controlled sealed away. True enough, by the story's present day (nine centuries later), only a handful of people outside the Black Priests knew that the Beast of Judgement was anything but an allegory for sin.
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* MacGuffin: The Thousand Names are usually used as an object to be found, defended or recovered. They've only actually been used once, in the climax of the first book.
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* MacGuffin: The Thousand Names are usually used as an object to be found, defended or recovered. They've They only actually been get used once, in when Winter gained Infernivore at the climax of the first book.
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** Demons are bound to humans by reading the demon's name aloud. Once bound, the demon is stuck with that human for the rest of the human's life; the only known method of removing a demon from a person without killing the host are to feed the demon to the Infernivore, which generally reduces the host to a mindless vegetable (This tends to be eventually fatal as well) or [[spoiler:being taken over by the Beast of Judgement, which is basically replacing the original demon with a much nastier one]].
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** Demons are bound to humans by reading the demon's name aloud. Once bound, the demon is stuck with that human for the rest of the human's life; the only known method of removing a demon from a person without killing the host are to feed the demon to the Infernivore, which generally reduces the host to a mindless vegetable (This tends to be eventually fatal as well) [[spoiler:unless the host freely surrenders the demon and doesn't resist]] or [[spoiler:being taken over by the Beast of Judgement, which is basically replacing the original demon with a much nastier one]].
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* TheMasquerade: Thanks to the Sworn Church murdering or kidnapping every magic user they can get their hands on, the general public is unaware of magic being real, and demonhosts hide their powers from them. Becomes more and more broken as the story goes on.
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* TheMasquerade: Thanks to the Sworn Church murdering or kidnapping every magic user they can get their hands on, the general public is unaware of magic being real, and demonhosts hide their powers from them. Becomes more and more broken as the story goes on.on, [[spoiler:to the point of Winter being chosen to head a government ministry for the control of magic when the war is over]].
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* RagsToRoyalty: Marcus goes from a captain commanding an understrength regiment in the proverbial end of the world to [[spoiler:the fiancé of the Queen of Vordan, and by implication the future king.]]
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* RagsToRoyalty: RagsToRoyalty:
** Marcus goes from a captain commanding an understrength regiment in the proverbial end of the world to [[spoiler:thefiancé king of Vordan by marriage.]]
** Winter goes from an orphan who enlisted in the army and shipped out to said regiment at the end of theQueen of Vordan, world in order to escape the orphanage to a general, [[spoiler:a government minister, and by implication the future king.queen's sister-in-law.]]
** Marcus goes from a captain commanding an understrength regiment in the proverbial end of the world to [[spoiler:the
** Winter goes from an orphan who enlisted in the army and shipped out to said regiment at the end of the
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Anyone possessed by [[spoiler:the Beast.]]
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* WhiteCollarCrime: Raesinia's revolutionary group gets its funding through a combination of one member being very good at playing the stock market and the inside information that Raesinia brings out of the palace. At one point they make a fortune on advance knowledge of Janus winning the war in Khandar, causing a drop in the price of Khandar trade goods. At another they crash a Borel bank by giving away thousands of bank drafts, causing a run on their holdings - and actually ''make'' money on the plot, because they also ran a short sell on the bank's stock simultaneously.
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* WhiteCollarCrime: Raesinia's revolutionary group gets its funding through a combination of one member being very good at playing the stock market and the inside information that Raesinia brings out of the palace. At one point they make a fortune on advance knowledge of Janus winning the war in Khandar, causing a drop in the price of Khandar trade goods. At another they crash a Borel bank by giving away thousands of bank drafts, causing a run on their holdings - and actually ''make'' money on the plot, because they also ran a short sell on the bank's stock simultaneously. Then in the final book, Cora [[spoiler:uses her financial acumen and Raesinia's contacts to construct a fraud capable of ''collapsing the entire Borel economy'' if exposed in a matter of days, which the queen uses as leverage to extract concessions from their government.]]
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* YouKilledMyFather: [[spoiler:Sothe]] was the Concordat agent that Orlanko sent to murder Marcus' parents for unspecified reasons (the records don't say, and the assassin never asked). He refrains from killing the agent upon learning this due to previous times they had been of use to each other and the EnemyMine circumstances of the moment, but there's no guarantee he'd make the same decision should they meet again.
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* YouKilledMyFather: [[spoiler:Sothe]] was the Concordat agent that Orlanko sent to murder Marcus' parents for unspecified reasons (the records don't say, and the assassin never asked).because they refused to sell some of their business interests to him. He refrains from killing the agent upon learning this due to previous times they had been of use to each other and the EnemyMine circumstances of the moment, but there's no guarantee he'd make the same decision should they meet again. [[spoiler:In the end, she ends up making a HeroicSacrifice before the matter comes up.]]
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* SnowMeansCold: The sudden drop of temperature in Vordan is signalled by snow starting to fall.
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* SnowMeansCold: The sudden drop of temperature in Vordan Murnsk is signalled by snow starting to fall.
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* AristocratsAreEvil: Played straight and played with. It's probably easier to list the members of the Vordanai court who aren't this, but their ostensibly democratically elected (many members - including the most bloodthirsty - appointed themselves as they visible members of the various revolutionary groups that stormed the Vendre) replacements are arguably worse.
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* AristocratsAreEvil: Played straight and played with. It's probably easier to list the members of the Vordanai court who aren't this, but their ostensibly democratically elected (many members - including the most bloodthirsty - appointed themselves as they were visible members of the various revolutionary groups that stormed the Vendre) replacements are arguably worse.
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* CatchPhrase: Ahdon ivahnt vi, ignahta sempria (God bless us, the Penitent Damned).
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* AristocratsAreEvil: Played straight and played with. It's probably easier to list the members of the Vordanai court who aren't this, but their democratically elected replacements are arguably worse.
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* AristocratsAreEvil: Played straight and played with. It's probably easier to list the members of the Vordanai court who aren't this, but their ostensibly democratically elected (many members - including the most bloodthirsty - appointed themselves as they visible members of the various revolutionary groups that stormed the Vendre) replacements are arguably worse.
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** This is a major problem for the Vordan monarchy. With the king on his death bed, Duke Orlanko essentially runs the country and it is clear that when Raesinia will become queen she will have no say in how the country is run. When Orlanko is overthrown, Raesinia becomes queen but most of her power is taken by the Deputies General. By book four a major source of conflict is whether Raesinia or Janus really rules the county.
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** This is a major problem for the Vordan monarchy. With the king on his death bed, Duke Orlanko essentially runs the country and it is clear that when Raesinia will become queen she will have no say in how the country is run. When Orlanko is overthrown, Raesinia becomes queen but most of her power is taken by the Deputies General.General, until Janus steps in after the Deputies General launch a ReignOfTerror. By book four a major source of conflict is whether Raesinia or Janus really rules the county.
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** After [[spoiler: Maurisk's]] coup is stopped, the position he held in the government is maintained but is now occupied by an elderly politician who is respected but not very effectual. He is a figurehead without any real power.
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** After [[spoiler: Maurisk's]] coup is stopped, the position he held in the government is maintained but is now occupied by an elderly politician priest who is respected but not very effectual. He is a figurehead without any real power.
* FalseFlagOperation: [[spoiler:Maurisk]] uses a terrorist bombing [[spoiler:that he ordered himself]] as grounds to seize control of the government and launch a ReignOfTerror against everyone he doesn't like.
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* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Concordat agents wear floor-length black leather greatcoats. And everyone knows this. This actually makes it easier for the Concordat to spy on people, as it means that all they have to do to stop looking like Concordat spies is hang up their greatcoats.
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* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Concordat agents wear floor-length black leather greatcoats. And everyone knows this. This actually makes it easier for the Concordat to spy on people, as it means that all they have to do to stop looking like Concordat spies is hang up their greatcoats.greatcoats, and can swell their apparent numbers by having clerks put on some extra coats they have in storage.
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** Through a combination of luck[[note]]When asked to select soldiers for a "special assignment", her Sergeant assumed that meant a highly unpleasant task and picked Winter because he didn't like her, not knowing the assignment was actually a promotion to fill the empty NCO slots in the newly arrived companies[[/note]], skill, and coming into the orbit of the greatest general of the age, Winter goes from common Ranker to Division (one star) General before the age of twenty-five. [[note]]Somewhat mitigated by the fact that the series is based on the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, where such things did really happen - UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte was only one year older when he was given command of the entire Italian theatre, for example.[[/note]] What makes Winter remarkable is that she went from Ranker (Private) to Division-General (the third-highest rank in the army) in ''one year'', partly though proximity to Janus, partly through that proximity letting her display her competence. And she has yet to be shown as having reached the limits of her abilities - she's only lost one battle, and that was to the greatest general of the previous generation (a defeat that was due to the other general's extreme competence and a subordinate screwing the pooch rather than any mistake she made herself).
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** Through a combination of luck[[note]]When asked to select soldiers for a "special assignment", her Sergeant assumed that meant a highly unpleasant task and picked Winter because he didn't like her, not knowing the assignment was actually a promotion to fill the empty NCO slots in the newly arrived companies[[/note]], skill, and coming into the orbit of the greatest general of the age, Winter goes from common Ranker to Division (one star) General before the age of twenty-five. at twenty-three. [[note]]Somewhat mitigated by the fact that the series is based on the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, where such things did really happen - UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte was only one year wasn't much older when he was given command of the entire Italian theatre, for example.[[/note]] What makes Winter remarkable is that she went from Ranker (Private) to Division-General (the third-highest rank in the army) in ''one year'', partly though proximity to Janus, partly through that proximity letting her display her competence. And she has yet to be shown as having reached the limits of her abilities - she's only lost one battle, and that was to the greatest general of the previous generation (a defeat that was due to the other general's extreme competence and a subordinate screwing the pooch rather than any mistake she made herself).
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* WhiteCollarCrime: Raesinia's revolutionary group gets its funding through a combination of one member being very good at playing the stock market and the inside information that Raesinia brings out of the palace. At one point they make a fortune on advance knowledge of Janus winning the war in Khandar, causing a drop in the price of Khandar trade goods. At another they crash a Borel bank by giving away thousands of bank drafts, causing a run on their holdings - and actually ''make'' money on the plot, because they also ran a short sell on the bank's stock simultaneously.
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** Through a combination of luck, skill, and coming into the orbit of the greatest general of the age, Winter goes from common Ranker to Division (one star) General before the age of twenty-five. [[note]]Somewhat mitigated by the fact that the series is based on the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, where such things did really happen - UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte was only one year older when he was given command of the entire Italian theatre, for example.[[/note]] What makes Winter remarkable is that she went from Ranker (Private) to Division-General (the third-highest rank in the army) in ''one year'', partly though proximity to Janus, partly through that proximity letting her display her competence. And she has yet to be shown as having reached the limits of her abilities - she's only lost one battle, and that was to the greatest general of the previous generation (a defeat that was due to the other general's extreme competence and a subordinate screwing the pooch rather than any mistake she made herself).
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** Through a combination of luck, luck[[note]]When asked to select soldiers for a "special assignment", her Sergeant assumed that meant a highly unpleasant task and picked Winter because he didn't like her, not knowing the assignment was actually a promotion to fill the empty NCO slots in the newly arrived companies[[/note]], skill, and coming into the orbit of the greatest general of the age, Winter goes from common Ranker to Division (one star) General before the age of twenty-five. [[note]]Somewhat mitigated by the fact that the series is based on the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, where such things did really happen - UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte was only one year older when he was given command of the entire Italian theatre, for example.[[/note]] What makes Winter remarkable is that she went from Ranker (Private) to Division-General (the third-highest rank in the army) in ''one year'', partly though proximity to Janus, partly through that proximity letting her display her competence. And she has yet to be shown as having reached the limits of her abilities - she's only lost one battle, and that was to the greatest general of the previous generation (a defeat that was due to the other general's extreme competence and a subordinate screwing the pooch rather than any mistake she made herself).
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* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Concordat agents wear floor-length black leather greatcoats. And everyone knows this. This actually makes it easier for the Concordat to spy on people, as it means that all they have to do to stop looking like Concordat spies is hang up their greatcoats.
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* MotiveDecay: The Priests of the Black were originally only supposed to be containing dangerous demons. Then Saint Ligamenti brought about the doctrinal change that all use of magic is inherently evil, and they started imprisoning every mage they could capture. Then once they started running out of demons to imprison, they started meddling in politics.
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* MotiveDecay: The Priests of the Black were originally only supposed to be containing dangerous demons. Then Saint Ligamenti brought about the doctrinal change that all use of magic is inherently evil, and they started imprisoning every mage they could capture. Then once they started running out of demons to imprison, they started meddling in politics.politics - and using the demons they were supposed to be locking away for the public good as tools to advance their private agenda.
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* RedHerring: Throughout the chapters in the first book from the viewpoint of the natives, there are repeated mentions that a naathem (local term for a demonhost) among the Vordan troops that arrived. They think its Janus. Everything in the story implies that its Janus. Its [[spoiler:Jen, the clerk.]]
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"Flintlock fantasy" series by Django Wexler, covering four full-length novels thus far (''The Thousand Names,'' ''The Shadow Throne,'' ''The Price of Valor'' and ''The Guns of Empire'') and three novellas (''The Penitent Damned'', ''The Shadow of Elysium'', and ''The First Kill''), with a fifth novel, ''The Infernal Battalion'', scheduled to come out in 2018.
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"Flintlock fantasy" series by Django Wexler, covering four five full-length novels thus far (''The Thousand Names,'' ''The Shadow Throne,'' ''The Price of Valor'' and Valor'', ''The Guns of Empire'') Empire'', and ''The Infernal Battalion'') and three novellas (''The Penitent Damned'', ''The Shadow of Elysium'', and ''The First Kill''), with a fifth novel, ''The Infernal Battalion'', scheduled to come out in 2018.Kill'').
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* RealNameAsAnAlias: Raesinia uses her own name for an alias while posing as a schoolgirl revolutionary, on the logic that since there tended to be a fad for naming one's child after a recently born royal, there are literally thousands of girls approximately her age named Raesinia in the area around Vordan City. It also means she doesn't have to train herself to respond to a false name and not her real one.
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* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: For Janus, it does. The final lines of the series, after Janus is exiled, of a mysterious gray-eyed foreigner in the southern kingdoms, leading a revolution to free the slaves from their cruel overlords, questing for the lost city of the gods.]]
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* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: For Janus, it does. The final lines of the series, after Janus is exiled, are of a mysterious gray-eyed foreigner in the southern kingdoms, leading a revolution to free the slaves from their cruel overlords, questing for the lost city of the gods.]]
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* LongLostRelative: In the fourth book it was revealed that Marcus' sister Ellie was removed from his family home before the Concordat burned it down, though her present whereabouts are currently unknown.
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* LongLostRelative: In the fourth book it was revealed that Marcus' sister Ellie was removed from his family home before the Concordat burned it down, though her present whereabouts are currently unknown. [[spoiler: The fifth book reveals that Ellie D'Ivoire remembered nothing after the fire that killed her family and it has been Winter this entire time.]]
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* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler: For Janus, it does. The final lines of the series, after Janus is exiled, of a mysterious gray-eyed foreigner in the southern kingdoms, leading a revolution to free the slaves from their cruel overlords, questing for the lost city of the gods.]]
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* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Winter ends up as the top military officer in Vordan and in a public, committed relationship with Cyte. Raesinia is freed of her demon and HappilyMarried to Marcus, expecting their first child. The Beast is defeated and even the exiled Janus has, on his own, raised an army to start a revolution to free the slaves of the southern kingdoms.]]
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* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Sothe allows herself to be used as a host for a Naath to fight through to the Beast so Winter can use the Infernivore, giving her life against the last of the Penitent Damned.]]
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** Through a combination of luck, skill, and coming into the orbit of the greatest general of the age, Winter goes from common Ranker to Division (one star) General before the age of twenty-five. [[note]]Somewhat mitigated by the fact that the series is based on the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, where such things did really happen - UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte was only one year older when he was given command of the entire Italian theatre, for example.[[/note]] What makes Winter remarkable is that she went from Ranker (Private) to Division-General (the third-highest rank in the army) in ''one year'', partly though proximity to Janus, partly through that proximity letting her display her competence. And she has yet to be shown as having reached the limits of her abilities - she's only lost one battle, and that was to the greatest general of the previous generation.
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** Through a combination of luck, skill, and coming into the orbit of the greatest general of the age, Winter goes from common Ranker to Division (one star) General before the age of twenty-five. [[note]]Somewhat mitigated by the fact that the series is based on the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, where such things did really happen - UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte was only one year older when he was given command of the entire Italian theatre, for example.[[/note]] What makes Winter remarkable is that she went from Ranker (Private) to Division-General (the third-highest rank in the army) in ''one year'', partly though proximity to Janus, partly through that proximity letting her display her competence. And she has yet to be shown as having reached the limits of her abilities - she's only lost one battle, and that was to the greatest general of the previous generation.generation (a defeat that was due to the other general's extreme competence and a subordinate screwing the pooch rather than any mistake she made herself).
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* YouAreInCommandNow: Winter's first experience with command is when her [[TheNeidermeyer useless lieutenant]] has the company wander too far away from the army's main body while on patrol, then panic and get himself killed when he actually finds the enemy he was looking for. After rallying the troops and getting most of them back to camp alive, Vhalnich officially puts her in charge of the survivors and promotes her to the rank of the job she'll be doing.
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* YouAreInCommandNow: YouAreInCommandNow:
** Marcus started the first book as de facto commander of the First Colonial because their Colonel was dead and he had ten minutes seniority over the next ranking Captain (the difference in time it took to get from D to R when reading out the names at the Academy graduation ceremony). Then Janus arrives and relieves him.
** Winter's first experience with command is when her [[TheNeidermeyer useless lieutenant]] has the company wander too far away from the army's main body while on patrol, then panic and get himself killed when he actually finds the enemy he was looking for. After rallying the troops and getting most of them back to camp alive, Vhalnich officially puts her in charge of the survivors and promotes her to the rank of the job she'll be doing.
** Marcus started the first book as de facto commander of the First Colonial because their Colonel was dead and he had ten minutes seniority over the next ranking Captain (the difference in time it took to get from D to R when reading out the names at the Academy graduation ceremony). Then Janus arrives and relieves him.
** Winter's first experience with command is when her [[TheNeidermeyer useless lieutenant]] has the company wander too far away from the army's main body while on patrol, then panic and get himself killed when he actually finds the enemy he was looking for. After rallying the troops and getting most of them back to camp alive, Vhalnich officially puts her in charge of the survivors and promotes her to the rank of the job she'll be doing.
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* StupidSacrifice: Raesinia's immortal, thanks to her demon. Since this is a closely-guarded secret, she's the princess, and people like her, however, people regularly fling themselves into mortal danger for her anyways. She's so sick of it that she finally tells Marcus, because that way he'll her go into danger instead of letting more people sacrifice themselves for her.
* SurvivorGuilt: Raesinia gets hit with a particularly acute version of this, because she will *always* survive, and any HeroicSacrifice made for her is automatically a StupidSacrifice.
* SurvivorGuilt: Raesinia gets hit with a particularly acute version of this, because she will *always* survive, and any HeroicSacrifice made for her is automatically a StupidSacrifice.
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* StupidSacrifice: Raesinia's immortal, thanks to her demon. Since this is a closely-guarded secret, she's the princess, and people like her, however, people regularly fling themselves into mortal danger for her anyways. She's so sick of it that she finally tells Marcus, because that way he'll let her go into danger directly instead of letting having more people sacrifice themselves for her.
* SurvivorGuilt: Raesinia gets hit with a particularly acute version of this, because she will*always* ''always'' survive, and any HeroicSacrifice made for her is automatically a StupidSacrifice.
* SurvivorGuilt: Raesinia gets hit with a particularly acute version of this, because she will
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* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The below-mentioned antitheft mechanism of the Names being ''really heavy'' also makes it very hard to protect them should the enemy take the place they're being kept in. [[spoiler: Our heroes briefly lose them this way.]]
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nevermind, apparently that trope is slightly broader now
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** [[spoiler:Bobby]] turns into crystalline humanoid [[spoiler:with wings]] after she's damaged too severely, and manages to save the day (or salvage what little can be salvaged) in this form [[spoiler:before succumbing to the crystal and freezing forever.]]
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* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Bobby]] turns into crystalline humanoid [[spoiler:with wings]] after she's damaged too severely, and manages to save the day (or salvage what little can be salvaged) in this form [[spoiler:before succumbing to the crystal and freezing forever.]]
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That is not what that trope is about. One Winged Angel is about a particular kind of boss transformation
** [[spoiler:Bobby]] turns into crystalline humanoid [[spoiler:with wings]] after she's damaged too severely, and manages to save the day (or salvage what little can be salvaged) in this form [[spoiler:before succumbing to the crystal and freezing forever.]]
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* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Bobby]] turns into crystalline humanoid [[spoiler:with wings]] after she's damaged too severely, and manages to save the day (or salvage what little can be salvaged) in this form [[spoiler:before succumbing to the crystal and freezing forever.]]
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* WholesomeCrossdresser: When Winter could legitimately drop the disguise after becoming CO of the Girls' Own, she chooses not to, as by that point she'd spent almost half her life passing as male. Plus, due to the sexism of the army, it helps their credibility to have a male commander.
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* WholesomeCrossdresser: When Winter could legitimately drop the disguise after becoming CO of the Girls' Own, she chooses not to, as by that point she'd spent almost half her life passing as male.male, and she's worried that the female soldiers will all be cashiered after the crisis has passed. Plus, due to the sexism of the army, it helps their credibility to have a male commander.
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* TheChessmaster: Janus is a fairly benevolent example, though he doesn't particularly care for the game itself. It's notable that the first time he stops scheming is because he's too ill to move.
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* TheChessmaster: Janus is a fairly benevolent example, though he doesn't particularly care for the game itself. It's notable that the first time he stops scheming is in the fourth book, and then only because he's too ill to move.
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** Through a combination of luck, skill, and coming into the orbit of the greatest general of the age, Winter goes from common Ranker to Division (one star) General before the age of twenty-five. [[note]]Somewhat mitigated by the fact that the series is based on the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, where such things did really happen - NapoleonBonaparte was only one year older when he was given command of the entire Italian theatre, for example.[[/note]] What makes Winter remarkable is that she went from Ranker (Private) to Division-General (the third-highest rank in the army) in ''one year'', partly though proximity to Janus, partly through that proximity letting her display her competence. And she has yet to be shown as having reached the limits of her abilities - she's only lost one battle, and that was to the greatest general of the previous generation.
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** Through a combination of luck, skill, and coming into the orbit of the greatest general of the age, Winter goes from common Ranker to Division (one star) General before the age of twenty-five. [[note]]Somewhat mitigated by the fact that the series is based on the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, where such things did really happen - NapoleonBonaparte UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte was only one year older when he was given command of the entire Italian theatre, for example.[[/note]] What makes Winter remarkable is that she went from Ranker (Private) to Division-General (the third-highest rank in the army) in ''one year'', partly though proximity to Janus, partly through that proximity letting her display her competence. And she has yet to be shown as having reached the limits of her abilities - she's only lost one battle, and that was to the greatest general of the previous generation.
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* SurvivorGuilt: Raesinia gets hit with a particularly acute version of this, as any HeroicSacrifice made for her is automatically a StupidSacrifice due to her immortality demon.
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* StupidSacrifice: Raesinia's immortal, thanks to her demon. Since this is a closely-guarded secret, she's the princess, and people like her, however, people regularly fling themselves into mortal danger for her anyways. She's so sick of it that she finally tells Marcus, because that way he'll her go into danger instead of letting more people sacrifice themselves for her.
* SurvivorGuilt: Raesinia gets hit with a particularly acute version of this,as because she will *always* survive, and any HeroicSacrifice made for her is automatically a StupidSacrifice due to her immortality demon.StupidSacrifice.
* SurvivorGuilt: Raesinia gets hit with a particularly acute version of this,
