History Literature / TheStoneDanceOfTheChameleon

%%* PteroSoarer: The briefly mentioned "sky saurians".

* StraightGay / CampGay: Zig Zagged. the Masters as a class are described as prone to homosexuality and have some serious SissyVillain vibes. They are frequently described wearing silky clothing, full body makeup, and floral scents while engaging in a lot of passive cruelty. That being said not all the gay or bisexual men depicted in the books are Masters and individual Masters are shown acting both rougher and softer than their counterparts.

%%* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Prehistoric flora and fauna abound.

* StockDinosaurs:
** [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeCeratopsids Ceratopsids]] ("huimur")
** [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeSauropods Sauropods]] ("heaveners")
** [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeBirdlikeTheropods Raptors or Mimus]] ("aquar")
** [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeLargeTheropods Carnosaurs]] ("raveners")
** [[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeNonDinosaurianReptiles Pterosaurs]] ("sky saurians")

* EveryoneIsBi: Sexuality is pretty much discarded as a point of interest, where straight and gay relationships are equally common-place. The problem comes where you have the Chosen (who are the undisputed [[MasterRace "supreme race"]] so to speak) and the other races (who act as their slaves and who aren't even allowed to look at their faces). Considering that all subservient races are completely oppressed by the Chosen and horrifically bound by The Law, there tends to be a ''lot'' of sexual abuse, rape, and subjugation of both genders of those races... and some of the stuff the more sadistically-minded Chosen are into crosses the line of "torture" and becomes BrainBleach incarnate (UpToEleven). In fact, when the main character (who is a Chosen, but brought up away from their culture), finds out that another Chosen has raped his half-slave brother, said Chosen can't understand why he's so upset and is genuinely shocked that he cares so much.

* IncestIsRelative: And ''extremely'' common in the House of the Masks, usually in the form of BrotherSisterIncest and ParentalIncest pairings.
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: While this trope is usually averted (see DeathOfAChild above), it is played straight close to the end of the series. [[spoiler:Thousands of flesh-tithe children and Ykoriana's young daughter Ykorenthe escape from Osrakum along with Carnelian and his friends, surviving the whole escape and later being spared by the sartlar led by Kor.]]

** According to the family trees, Aurum's son from his first marriage died before the births of his daughters with Sardian's sister.

* PosthumousSibling: [[spoiler:Ykorenthe]] is this to the late Flama Ykoria.

%%* ChildByRape:
%%** Fern.
%%** [[spoiler:Carnelian]] as well.[[note]]Not addressed in the series proper but confirmed by supplementary material and WordOfGod[[/note]]

--> '''The Song to the Earth'''

->''Flesh, knit bone to bone\\
Your withered earth\\
Oh ancient Mother\\
Scorched tearless You await\\
The Sky Lord come to thunder\\
Rumbling His stormy belly\\
Withholding His urgent seed\\
Until He shall pierce You with His shafts\\
Quench the burning air\\
Rill and pool Your dusts\\
Fill Your wombs with spiralling jades\\
Until Your flesh swells up\\
In the midst of breaking waters\\
Clenching for release\\
\\
Thrust forth the Green Child\\

* LowFantasy: So low, in fact, that there is no magic at all.

* MightyWhitey: Deconstructed in the second book with [[spoiler:Osidian amongst the Ochre]].
* MixedAncestry: Children of Masters and common people are called Muramaga. They're technically slightly higher in the hierarchy than common people, but it doesn't matter all that much.

* RaptorAttack or ''Tyrannosaurus rex'': The raveners

* BodyHorror: Loads and loads of it. The Masters' civilization is obsessed with ritual mutilation. [[spoiler:Also, the followers of the Darkness Under the Trees. ''Brr''.]]

* ChildByRape:
** Fern.
** [[spoiler:Carnelian]] as well.[[note]]Not addressed in the series proper but confirmed by supplementary material and WordOfGod[[/note]]

* CrapsackWorld
* DecadentCourt: ''And how''.
* DeathByChildbirth: Carnelian's mother.

* [[DinosaursAreDragons Dinosaurs]] [-[[DinosaursAreDragons WITH FLAMETHROWERS]]-] [[DinosaursAreDragons Are Dragons]]

* EncyclopediaExposita: The writings of the Wise are occasionaly quoted.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: Prehistoric flora and fauna abound.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Carnelian is fully prepared to do this at the end of the story, but fortunately doesn't actually have to go through with it.]]
* HorseOfADifferentColor: The aquar, some sort of theropod dinosaur.

* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler:What do you think is in the render?]]

* MalevolentMaskedMen: An entire race of them.
* MasterRace: One of the purest examples in all fiction.

* {{Precursors}}: The Quyans.
* PteroSoarer: The briefly mentioned "sky saurians".

* RoyalBlood
* RoyalInbreeding

* SlaveRace: The sartlar.
* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:Fern becomes this after Osidian's massacre of the Ochre tribe.]]

* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: [[spoiler:Nephron and Osidian, actually Osidian Nephron]] in the first book.

* RaptorAttack or TyrannosaurusRex: The raveners

** Osidian (13 years old at the time going by the aforementioned trees) briefly mentions his sybling sons at one point.