Line #33 DarthWiki/TheBookOfRavens


1	->''"What ails humanity is itself. You can cure that."''
2	-->--'''Arageth the Thousand-Faced'''
3
4	''This is a dystopian fantasy currently under construction by '' anonzeta ''and takes place in the fictional world called Dagon. Part of a collaborative work.''
5
6	Five years ago, the enigmatic Queen Irene [[TheVonTropeFamily von Eule]] of the kingdom of Ultor had mysteriously vanished into nowhere--along with her illegitimate son--after a revolution staged by her very military commander and aide [[TheStarscream Alchezar Svalrik]]. The government was then seized by the militaristic [[WellIntentionedExtremist Inquisition]], who aims to [[CulturePolice erase all former influence of the fallen dynasty]], rounding up loyalists and political threats to their rule. Those who refused to relinquish their allegiance to the Queen were killed, while those who did were forcibly conscripted into military service as Hounds.
7
8	"Quislings," "fools," "cowards"--most of society dismisses the Hounds as being mere prisoners being punished to do grunt work for the new government, but what they actually do is more complicated and dangerous. As Hounds, they are being sent to the outskirts of Ultor to hunt down the vicious, man-eating monsters called the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Accursed]] currently terrorizing the land. However, due to their lack of training, [[RedShirt Hounds]] are often killed in action-- which the Inquisition is fully aware of, and which is what they actually intended.
9
10	However, this all changes when [[{{Yandere}} Andrea]], the Queen's adopted daughter and one of the Hounds, in the course of investigating the royal family's disappearance, finds her adoptive brother [[SociopathicHero Mordred]]--now for some reason turned into one of the Accursed, but one less focused on eating humans and more about hunting down the [[TheManBehindTheMonsters mastermind behind the monsters plaguing Ultor: Arageth]].
11
12	The story slowly unfolds to reveal the true nature of the Accursed and their creator, the murky circumstances surrounding the usurpation of the Ultorian throne, and the secret of the grim world they're locked in.
13
14
15	-----
16	!!Tropes ''The Book of Ravens'' might contain if the author actually gets to write it:
17
18	%%* ActionGirl: Andrea being the prime example.
19	* AnachronicOrder: The story follows three timelines. The first was five years ago during the revolution that dethroned Irene, the second being three years ago when Mordred [[spoiler:strikes the deal with Arageth]] and finally the present day.
20	%%* AnimalMotifs: [[CaptainObvious Ravens.]]
21	* BadassAdorable: Andrea, when she's not in {{Yandere}} mode. She's beautiful, cheerful and kind to her fellow Hounds, but [[BerserkButton do not insult Mordred or imply he's dead already if you prefer to keep your head intact]]. [[LongLostRelative Kyris]], on the other hand, is a cute 12-year old girl with [[MindOverMatter telekinetic]] abilities.
22	%%* BadassFamily: Mordred, Andrea, Kyris, and [[spoiler: Alchezar]].
23	* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Steinstrifes. There are hundreds of them even excluding [[spoiler: the {{Child Soldier}}s they engineered]]. They are also downright bonkers. All of them.
24	* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler: Mordred's reason for accepting Arageth's deal is to punish those responsible for his mother's dethronement. He's shocked to the core to learn that his mother didn't actually give a shit about him.]]
25	* ChildSoldier: [[spoiler: Cana Steinstrife and all the other DesignerBabies created by the Steinstrifes. They were raised purely to fight, discouraged from having emotional attachments to anything, and ConditionedToAcceptHorror. They kill as soon as they reach ten years old. This training was what made Andrea TheAce that she is now.]]
26	* ClingyJealousGirl: Andrea. [[NoGuyWantsToBeChased Mordred is not amused]]. [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther For the most part, anyway.]]
27	* ConLang: Two rudimentary ones, Ultoric and Mithranese.
28	%%* CrapsackWorld
29	* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: The Accursed are created this way. Arageth chooses those who are so drowned in their desire for power that they are willing to abandon their humanity.]]
30	* DarknessVonGothickname: Mordred von Eule.
31	%%* DeathByOriginStory: Queen Irene and [[spoiler: the real "Andrea."]]
32	* DefectorFromDecadence: Eudoxia, [[spoiler: tired of her clan's corrupt ways and their maltreatment of the Red Knights,]] renounces her Steinstrife lineage. She was then brutally murdered for her troubles.
33	* DesignerBabies: [[spoiler: Andrea/Cana and the Red Knights, having been created on the Queen's behest to battle Arageth.]]
34	* EldritchAbomination: [[BigBad Arageth.]] [[spoiler: And, to a greater extent, [[GreaterScopeVillain The Creator]], who's still [[SealedEvilInACan slumbering in his prison in the Underworld.]]]]
35	* EmotionlessGirl: Cana, [[spoiler: Andrea's [[ThatManIsDead former identity]], during her stint with the Steinstrifes]]
36	%%* ForceAndFinesse: Mordred is Force, while Andrea is Finesse.
37	%%* GoodAllAlong: Mordred, for a certain value of good. [[spoiler: Alchezar too.]]
38	* GovernmentConspiracy: The Inquisition will stop at nothing to make sure all civilians are LockedOutOfTheLoop.
39	* HumanityIsInfectious: After spending time with her first-ever friend [[spoiler: "Andrea"]], Cana begins to learn how to feel human emotions, including love. [[spoiler: It can be said that "Andrea" saved her from the emotionless wreck that she was and made her the genuinely kind and cheerful, if rather obsessive, Andrea von Eule.]]
40	* KillAllHumans: The underlying goal in creating the Accursed. [[spoiler: Arageth has to clear the world of humans before freeing the [[MadGod Creator]] from the other world.]]
41	%%* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Mordred is this to Andrea [[spoiler: as the original "Andrea" was to Cana.]]
42	%%* LovableCoward: Lionel Frost.
43	* LukeIAmYourFather:[[spoiler: Prime Inquisitor Alchezar is Mordred's dad.]]
44	* MadGod:[[spoiler: Arageth is trying to exterminate mankind to pave the way for summoning the [[SealedEvilInACan Creator]], who used to rule over Earth millions of years ago.]]
45	* MadScientist: Eudoxia Steinstrife. She was the one who thought up the whole [[spoiler: [[DesignerBabies Red Knight]] project]].
46	* MeaningfulRename: [[spoiler: Cana Steinstrife, after the gruesome murder of her first ever friend "Andrea" at the hands of the former's creators, decides to leave behind the identity "Cana" and adopt the latter's name to honor her.]]
47	* TheMole [[spoiler: [[FriendsWithBenefits With Benefits]]]]: Reagon Petrel, Alchezar's friend [[spoiler: and Irene's lover (thus fathering Kyris von Eule)]] relayed insider information from within the Inquisition to the Queen, allowing her to escape the castle at the day the Inquisition's revolt begins.
48	* NomDeMom: Mordred and Kyris use "von Eule," their mother's family name [[spoiler: instead of Svalrik and Petrel, their fathers' respective names.]]
49	%%* NotBloodSiblings: Mordred and Andrea.
50	%%* OfficialCouple: Mordred and Andrea at the end of the first book.
51	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The Accursed can [[[ParanoiaFuel mix in with normal humans]] in broad daylight and think rationally--and they also have {{Lovecraftian Superpower}}s and a lust for human flesh. The only telltale sign is their ability to regenerate (but you can't just go ripping people's limbs off to test your theories), so the Hounds could only fight when the Accursed actually demonstrates his powers.
52	%%* RescueRomance: Irene and [[spoiler: Alchezar, albeit actually one-sided]].
53	%%* TallDarkAndSnarky: Mordred.
54	* {{Tsundere}}: Present day Mordred is a Type A. He genuinely loves Andrea, but conducts himself roughly around her so as to not encourage her obsession toward him.
55	%%* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Arageth's main power and MO.
56	* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Inquisition. [[spoiler: Also, Irene, seeing as she was willing to sanction mass human experimentation to perfect the recipe for her genetically-engineered army.]]
57	%%* {{Yandere}}: Andrea.

Context DarthWiki / TheBookOfRavens