Line #1 Literature/CityOfNoEnd


1	[[quoteright:999:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cone_cover_official_8.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:999:''"Into the Cloud, may our consciousness Ascend."'']]
3
4	[[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVH52PFS City of No End]] is a 2024 ScienceFiction novel by Nathan Karnes and the first of a planned series. Set millions of years into a FeudalFuture, in the ruins of a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin endless city]] that was once so advanced that mankind lost control of its technology, the book follows the schemes and ambitions of six noble houses who are trying to control the election of a new Receiver -- an ElectiveMonarchy which is the only institution that has succeeded at maintaining at least some peace among the squabbling remnants of humanity.
5
6	The six Great Houses are:
7
8	* House '''Norn''', the house of the most recent Receiver. They rule [[UndergroundCity the Depths]] below the crust of the City, living in massive fortresses amidst vast caverns. They maintain the hydraulic systems that facilitate transportation and keep everyone alive and oppose the Ascensionist religion of the surface peoples in favor of traditional hydraulic shamanism. However, Aldrich Norn, heir to the Seer's Throne, has recently converted to Ascensionism, alarming his family...
9	* House '''Kendar''', who rules the vast and imposing [[{{Arcology}} arcologies]] of [[StarScraper Hab Spire Rise]], the only part of the City known to be both well-lit and well-fed. They have the most powerful army and are known for brutal aggression against the Norns... but recently, a feud has broken out between Lord Odham Kendar and his idealistic heir apparent.
10	* House '''Leibowitz''', who rules the protruding shard known as Dorith's End, a section of broken infrastructure that juts into the howling winds of a malfunctioning gravitational field. Dorith's End is the holy land of Ascensionism, an ascetic religion that commands that humanity restrict its material pleasures in favor of ensuring that every human mind has the chance of salvation through BrainUploading. Lord Setheus, the head of House Leibowitz, is also the head of the Ascensionist Church, leading many to wonder: is this a corrupt union of faith and power, or is he the only leader with the interests of all humanity at heart?
11	* House '''Djevak''', who rules the toxic land of [[SwampsAreEvil Mold Marsh]], a region afflicted by chemical spills and fungal infestations so potent that only highly evolved mutants can venture outside without protection. From their hidden lair in the uncharted mists of the Marsh, House Djevak has built a reputation for espionage and blackmail, and their hidden hand is suspected in most affairs throughout the Realm.
12	* House '''Arktentek,''' the guardians of Fibre Tower, the last known repository of the ancient advanced technologies. Their guilds of [[SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology Sorcerers]] keep many carefully guarded trade secrets which make the Arktenteks critical allies in any conflict between the other houses.
13	* House '''Redmond''', the newest of the Great Houses. Once mere mercenary nomads, they made their name and were granted nobility for pacifying the eastern [[EndlessWinter frozen]] Wastelands and annexing that region under the Receiver. Experts in defeating mutant barbarians, they have recently been contracted by House Djevak against a mysterious threat emerging in Mold Marsh.
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15	----
16	!! ''City of No End'' contains examples of:
17
18	* AboveGoodAndEvil: A subtle but integral part of Ascensionist philosophy, particularly emphasized by Setheus in his encyclical ''Niriseb Vaha''.
19	* AbsentAliens: The only known distinction among sapient lifeforms is between pureblooded humans and various kinds of mutant humans.
20	* ActionPrologue
21	* AerithAndBob
22	* AffablyEvil: Avram Djevak.
23	* AlienSky: There’s no sun. Only an unexplained Ambience that lights the City.
24	* AltarDiplomacy: A frequent trope given the FeudalFuture setting.
25	* TheAlternet: House Arkentek has been developing a prototype internet called the Datalink, which so far is a simple videocall system. Its spread throughout the Realm is a major subplot of the series.
26	* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: The Enders are black, but with a greyish tint. Some of the mutants in Mold Marsh have green skin.
27	* AmbiguousRobots: It’s unclear whether [[spoiler:the King of the Depths]] is completely robotic or is organic somewhere beneath the machinery.
28	* AmmunitionConservation: Guns in general are considered rare and high-tech in this world, so they are used only when necessary.
29	* AntiHumanAlliance: The Lowlands Horde is a union of several diverse tribes of mutants who are organized against pureblood humans in revenge for centuries of FantasticRacism.
30	* TheAntiNihilist: Setheus, as demonstrated in his encyclical ''Niriseb Vaha''.
31	* {{Arcology}}: Hab Spire Rise.
32	* ArmsDealer: House Arkentek. It’s not their only purview, but it’s one aspect of their role as a source of advanced technology for the Realm.
33	* ArrangedMarriage: As to be expected in a feudal culture, this happens in this world sometimes, such as when [[spoiler:Setheus drops by at Smelted Keep to arrange a marriage for Sibyla.]]
34	* ArtificialAfterlife: What Ascensionism believes in. It’s unclear if this belief is true.
35	* ArtificialLimbsAreStronger: Reconstructed. The Men of Iron are only immensely strong because most of their flesh has been replaced with augments.
36	* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: The goal of Ascensionism, especially the Augmentinian school of thought.
37	* BadassPreacher: Fraedrik counts because most of the Ascensionist clergy stays out of direct conflict, despite their Church Militant tendencies. (The Men of Iron are its military wing.)
38	* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Setheus. Also his Castellan, Chandler Pa.
39	* BaldMystic: Setheus.
40	* BaldOfAuthority: Setheus and Pa.
41	* BarbarianTribe: The Lowlands Horde.
42	* TheBeforetimes: The City once had an extremely advanced Golden Age. It’s unclear what exactly befell it.
43	* TheBerserker: How Fraedrik fights.
44	* BigBadDuumvirate: The plot of book 1 starts off with Lord Kendar and Lord Djevak teaming up to ramp up food prices to gain power over the Realm. It’s an uneasy alliance, however, and both houses try to subvert the other.
45	* BigFancySword: The Men of Iron wield massive, thirty-pound swords. Justified in that, being mostly machine, the Men of Iron are significantly stronger than a normal human and can wield weapons that un-augmented humans could not.
46	* BloodKnight: Sark Leviticus. Fraedrik does not count, despite his enthusiasm in combat; he fights fanatically in any battle he believes is righteous but loathes the idea of fighting for any secular reason.
47	* BloodFromTheMouth: Part of how [[spoiler:Ywain dies at the end of Book 1.]]
48	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Ascensionist morality tries to maximize the number of minds that can be saved from entropy and uploaded into the Cloud. So in that regard, it’s a fairly straightforward form of utilitarianism that tries to minimize death. Where it becomes truly blue-and-orange is its philosophy of facilitating this transfer by encouraging detachment from the material realm and by manipulating society to help guide humanity towards Ascension.
49	* BrainUploading: What the religion of Ascensionism is built around. It’s unclear if this actually works or if it’s a sham.
50	* BookEnds: The first and last chapters of book 1 are [[RecycledTitle both titled]] "The Funeral," as both of them cover a funeral [[spoiler:of a Norn.]]
51	* BreachOfPromiseOfMarriage: In the backstory, this was the catalyst that started the Wedding War. Kendar and Norn were going to resolve their rivalry through a dynastic union between Ywain and Alicia, whose legitimately affectionate romance could have finally ended a centuries-long blood feud. Then Kavin overrode his sister’s engagement, sparking the war.
52	* CargoCult: The religion of the Depths follows animistic traditions around maintaining the pipe systems. These superstitions do have the benefit of keeping the City alive.
53	* CaringGardener: Ywain. [[spoiler:Subverted in that, despite caring about them in his conscience, he never does quite bring himself to intervene to protect Roman or Kavin.]]
54	* ChastityDagger: Beatrix Maison pulls one out when startled.
55	* ChemicalMessiah: The Sacrament.
56	* CharacterFilibuster: Setheus and Quine both tend to do this. Justified in that these characters are major religious leaders and thus have a natural tendency to being preachy.
57	* ChurchMilitant
58	* CodeName: Blue Root.
59	* CommonTongue: Civic. It’s even spoken beyond the Realm.
60	* ContraceptionDeception: A subplot of Book 1 is that Layna is secretly taking contraceptives, and Ywain and Maud want to put a stop to that so that Ywain can produce an alternate heir.
61	* CoolUncle: Their relationship isn’t perfect, but Roman gets along much better with Ywain than with Odham.
62	* CourtPhysician: Odham keeps one around at all times.
63	* CrapsackWorld
64	* CreepyUncle: Celvyn has made advances on Sibyla in the past, to the point of her becoming automatically uncomfortable at the mention of his name.
65	* TheCreon: Maud Atlee.
66	* CrystalDragonJesus: Ascensionism is a weird example, mostly functioning as an atheistic, scientific-materialist mimicry of Catholicism. However, a major faction has turned to theism and worships Jacob Crom as a god.
67	* {{Cuckold}}: Ywain. He’s aware that Layna is cheating on him, and is generally resigned to that fact, but still has the affair investigated for political reasons.
68	* CuckooSnarker: Sammael Animus.
69	* CulturedWarrior: Asa Janus is both the Captain of the Tunnheld Guard and the author of an acclaimed prose rendition of the Narosek, the national epic of the Depths.
70	* CyanidePill: [[spoiler: Dane Perrick poisons himself upon capture.]]
71	* DaysOfFuturePast
72	* DeadPersonConversation: [[spoiler:The Norns use an arcane device to question the corpse of Roman Kendar on who killed him. It appears to function by accessing the corpse’s memories instead of actually bringing the person back.]]
73	* DeathOrGloryAttack: [[spoiler:Sark Leviticus tries one in the climactic battle of Book 1, by motorcycle-jumping with a sword into Kavin Norn’s face as the latter pilots a Mini Mecha. He succeeds.]]
74	* DefectorFromDecadence: Roman becomes one against the Spiremen.
75	* DeusEstMachina: [[spoiler:The King of the Depths.]]
76	* DomesticatedDinosaurs: The Tyrannics aren’t explicitly dinosaurs, since this setting is millions of years in the future instead of the past, but they’re basically raptors. Zvarak and [[spoiler:House Edirne]] keep them as pets.
77	* DrGenericius: A particularly common naming convention in Fibre Tower, a culture dominated by scientists who deliberately act like mages. This is also a trend among the Ascensionist clergy, fitting their “Gospel of Science,” and also applies to House Animus, the Mad Scientist vassals of House Norn.
78	* EarAche: [[spoiler:Sark Leviticus loses an ear in the final battle of book 1.]]
79	* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: The signature look of House Norn and most other Depths nobles.
80	* ElectiveMonarchy: The office of Receiver.
81	* EmperorScientist: Pontius Arkentek, and nearly all past Lords of House Arkentek.
82	* EncyclopediaExposita
83	* EndlessWinter: The Wastes have constant icy winds, and massive glaciers caused by broken pipes leaking onto the surface. It never snows, however. Dorith’s End has the same freezing wind but has to import its water.
84	* EndingMemorialService: [[spoiler:For Kavin Norn at the end of Book 1.]]
85	* EnsembleCast: The characters who get at least one POV scene in Book 1 are Welund, Ywain, Piyra, Aldrich, Quine, Beatrix, Roman, Yene, Setheus, Carston, Davion, Avitus, Lebbik, Saloth, Pa, Janus, Kavin, Leviticus, Odham, Maud, and Dakku. And there are plenty more characters, some of which are equally or even more important than those who get [=POVs=].
86	* EvilIsNotWellLit: [[spoiler:The throne room of the King of the Depths is described as quite dark, lit only by a few braziers of blue flame, with most of the place shrouded in shadows.]] Averted, however, with House Kendar, who conduct their business under bright electric lamps as befits their LightIsNotGood theme.
87	* EvilTowerOfOminousness: House Kendar lives in the skyscraper variant.
88	* EvolutionaryStasis: Averted. There are many different kinds of mutants and even purebloods have some interesting variations.
89	* EyelessFace: Altun Greybourne, the Blind Knight, and Kifos the Sniffer. Both are Wellborn, mutants without eyes.
90	* FantasticFlora: The few plants that do exist in the city aren’t really anything an Earthling would recognize.
91	* FantasticRacism
92	* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Largely averted by the extremely distinct and unique cultures of [=CoNE=]. However, there are some clear influences and parallels. The Wastes are very Scottish, for example.
93	* FantasyCounterpartReligion: The Church of Ascension is based heavily on the Catholic Church in several ways. However, its philosophy derives much more from Gnosticism.
94	* FeudalFuture
95	* FeudingFamilies: House Norn and House Kendar have been rivals for centuries.
96	* FingerInTheMail: [[spoiler:Djevak informs Norn of Dreir’s capture by this method, with no further elaboration. Dreir himself is never mutilated, however, so perhaps the finger comes from Tawad’s corpse.]]
97	* FirstChurchOfMecha: [[spoiler:The King of the Depths is a massive robot worshipped by his people as a God Emperor.]]
98	* FounderOfTheKingdom: Jacob Crom.
99	* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: House Norn has this dynamic in Book 1, with Kavin as the Optimist, Aldrich as the Cynic, Yene as the Realist, and Ulrich as the Apathetic.
100	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: In House Kendar, Odham is the Choleric, Ywain is the Phlegmatic, Roman is the Melancholic, and Layna is the Sanguine.
101	* FreakyFuneralForms: Spiremen bury the dead in their greenhouses to feed their plants. Pale Ones send corpses into the pipes to be recycled into food, and ritually drown criminals to send as heralds for deceased nobles. Enders throw corpses into the Abyss as a final casting away of sinful flesh.
102	* FullConversionCyborg: The Men of Iron.
103	* TheFundamentalist: Fraedrik.
104	* FutureFoodIsArtificial: In Dorith’s End, the most devout Ascensionists shed the fleshly act of eating in favor of nutrient injections.
105	* FuturePrimitive: The mutant barbarians.
106	* GambitPileup: There are a lot of characters with a lot of schemes and hidden agendas, and the plot consists of their interplay.
107	* GaiasLament: Assuming nature ever existed to start with, that is...
108	* GenericanEmpire: The Realm is simply… the Realm.
109	* GentlemanWizard: Pontius Arkentek has this kind of aura, although his type of Sorcery is of the SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology type.
110	* GentleTouchVsFirmHand: The Kendar brothers disagree over how to handle Roman. Odham is solidly the Firm Hand while Ywain tries to influence him more towards Gentle Touch. [[spoiler:However, since Ywain is never particularly assertive or confident, he doesn’t have much success before Roman turns on House Kendar and gets himself killed.]]
111	* GilliganCut: From Chandler Pa [[spoiler:being confident that a heretic ringleader will give up his secrets during interrogation to Setheus lamenting that the heretic killed himself before interrogation.]]
112	* GodEmperor: [[spoiler:The King of the Depths.]]
113	* GratuitousLatin: Briefly spoken, somewhat inexplicably, [[spoiler:by Aldrich as he burns his hand to swear allegiance to the King.]]
114	* GravityScrew: The Abyss has a malfunctioning artificial gravity field, allowing ships to sail in it and harvest floating chunks of metal and concrete.
115	* HatesTheirParent: Roman hates Odham. The feeling is mutual.
116	* HauntedTechnology: Davion thinks his armor is this, as he can hear “ghosts” whisper from its electronics.
117	* {{Heavyworlder}}: Enders have generally evolved to become short and squat, to deal with the fluctuations in the gravity field.
118	* TheHeretic: There’s a small cell of heretics who are up to mysterious business in Dorith’s End.
119	* HiddenAgendaVillain: What exactly is House Djevak up to? No one knows in-universe, and neither of the brothers get POV chapters in the first book.
120	* HidingTheHandicap: Odham keeps his epilepsy under tight wraps since he does not believe in showing any kind of weakness.
121	* HighPriest: The office of High Partaker.
122	* HobblingTheGiant: How the MiniMecha warrior Nikkail Raven was defeated in the backstory of the Wedding War.
123	* HolyCity: Dorith’s End, particularly Dredmor, functions as such for Ascensionism.
124	* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:The Norns’ decision to burn the documents that Roman brings them.]]
125	* TheHorde
126	* HordesFromTheEast: The Wraiths in House Redmond’s backstory are a literal example. Zvarak’s horde, which features much more prominently in the books, is an aversion since it comes from the west. However, the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Fantasy Counterpart Cultures]] of the Realm have a bit of an east-west inversion going on: the Wastes are a kind of WildWest populated by [[ViolentGlaswegian Violent Glaswegians]], and Mold Marsh draws on Japan, Vietnam, and the Middle East; so this would make the [[TheHorde Lowlands Horde]] fits squarely into the “Asia” of this world. Zvarak’s lieutenant Saloth is even named after Pol Pot’s real name.
127	* HumanSubspecies: The various kinds of mutants qualify, although even pureblooded humans in the Depths or Dorith’s End have evolved certain environmental adaptations. In two of the epigraphs, Saint Augmentine explains why the mutant-pureblood distinction is a bit of an arbitrary social construct.
128	* HumanResources: The nutrients produced and consumed by the Depths are extracted by sending bodies into the pipe system to be recycled.
129	* HyperlinkStory: There are a lot of plotlines to deal with, given the complex worldbuilding, and many different protagonists who shift in and out of focus. However, the disparate plotlines constantly interact and affect each other over the course of the series.
130	* IaijutsuPractitioner: Djevak soldiers are trained in this skill, as demonstrated when one of them kills [[spoiler:Tawad.]]
131	* IdenticalTwinMistake: An interesting variant that does not actually involve identical twins: [[spoiler:Because of their resemblance, the King of the Depths is unable to visually distinguish Aldrich from Ulrich, and unwilling to admit any error. Aldrich thus decides to play along and pretend to be Ulrich, resulting in the King declaring war when Ulrich becomes Lord and refuses to submit to the King.]]
132	* ImmortalRuler: [[spoiler:The King of the Depths.]]
133	* ImpartialPurposeDrivenFaction: The Cult of the Receiver. Theoretically, the Men of Iron, but certain mysterious events may put that in question...
134	* InnateNightVision: Many inhabitants of the Depths have evolved this, and it gets more common the deeper they go.
135	* InterfaceSpoiler: It’s subtle enough that many readers won’t catch it, but during the final battle of Book 1, [[spoiler:the POV for the Kendar brothers switches from Ywain to Odham just in time for the latter to witness and react to the former’s death.]]
136	* InterfaithSmoothie: The Church of Ascension has a lot of strong parallels to the Catholic Church, but its philosophy draws a lot on Buddhism and Gnosticism.
137	* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: Avitus isn’t a Sorcerer but is instead a merchant and diplomat. The other nobles of Fibre Tower tend to look down on him for this.
138	* KnowledgeBroker: How House Djevak wields its influence. Bit of an interesting example in that they never trade knowledge directly, they just leak it strategically to harm rivals.
139	* LadyInWaiting: Beatrix Maison.
140	* LargeAndInCharge: Zvarak the Conqueror and the King of the Depths are colossal leaders of factions outside the Realm.
141	* LightIsNotGood: The Kendars are themed around light – their motto is “Light is Life,” their nickname is the Lords of Light, they maintain the electric lights that make the Spires the best-lit part of the City, and their symbol is a mythological heavenly being called the Sun. However, they are aggressive and power-hungry, and Odham is the main villain of the first book.
142	* LostTechnology
143	* LotusEaterMachine: House M’kai owns the Coils of Pleasure, a seedy establishment that offers full-immersion hallucinations using ancient psionic technology. This is an example in which users are aware they are about to enter a fantasy world, but nevertheless, as with the original Homeric trope, the seductive power of the Coils often traps users, makes them addicted, or drives them mad.
144	* MadScientist: House Animus.
145	* MageTower: A sci-fi example, in which the Sorcerers, who practice SufficientlyAdvancedTechnology, live in Fibre Tower.
146	* MagicFromTechnology: The setting has a lot of fantasy-like flair, and the characters routinely refer to advanced tech as “magic,” “spells, “sorcery,” et cetera. But it’s all technology fulfilling ClarkesThirdLaw.
147	* ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Sohlem Lebbik manipulates Piyra into killing Roman.]]
148	* MegaCity
149	* MiniMecha: The Rig Armor used by House Norn and their soldiers.
150	* MissingMom: None of the main characters has a known surviving mother.
151	* MistakenIdentity: [[spoiler:When Aldrich meets the King, the King mistakes him for Ulrich. Aldrich decides to play along, as the King tolerates no correction.]]
152	* MoleInCharge: [[spoiler:Sohlem Lebbik, AKA Blue Root.]]
153	* MoralityKitchenSink
154	* MyHorseIsAMotorbike: Kendar lancers ride bikes.
155	* NatureSpirit: Not nature, per se. But the City is so ancient that the people of the Depths have come to consider its pipe systems to be natural and inhabited by spirits that maintain the web of life, and so have druids and shamans to maintain this “natural” order.
156	* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: Avram Djevak does this to [[spoiler:Carston Dreir.]]
157	* NobleFugitive: [[spoiler:Aldrich becomes one in the latter half of the first book, while trying to protect Piyra.]]
158	* TheNoseKnows: Kifos, the “sniffer.”
159	* NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization: Roman’s conscience is somewhat perturbed after he sleeps with a singer who was ordered to “make his stay comfortable” by Kavin Norn; but her apparent eagerness and enjoyment of the liaison allays his guilt over the dubious consent.
160	* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:Odham orders Roman’s assassination, but Sohlem and Piyra kill Roman first.]]
161	* OneSteveLimit: Averted multiple times: Celvyn Leibowitz and Celvyn M’kai; Harrad Quine and Harrad Royl; Gawen Seerward and the petty criminal named Gawen in the ActionPrologue.
162	* OrderedApology: Odham sends Roman to meet Setheus and apologize for going hunting in Dorith’s End. Setheus forces Celvyn to apologize to House Redwater for unspecified unwanted advances towards a Redwater girl.
163	* OurGiantsAreBigger: Giants are a mutant subtype of human in this world.
164	* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: A core doctrine of orthodox Ascensionism, which is officially atheist, is that all prior religions were unscientific superstitions and that only the material realm exists. However, there’s a growing movement that entertains concepts of the supernatural and believes that Crom has become a god.
165	* OverpopulationCrisis: The Lowland Horde is migrating because it has outgrown its food supply.
166	* PainfulTransformation: The drug that Dreir uses in order to disguise as a mutant is quite agonizing and takes an hour to finish altering his appearance.
167	* ThePatriarch: Kavin and Odham, as the leaders of their respective Houses.
168	* ThePhilosopherKing: Setheus, ruler of Dorith’s End, is a compassionate and perceptive ruler who gives deep insights at length.
169	* PeopleOfHairColor: There is broadly a caste distinction between the jet-black-haired nobles of the Depths and the platinum-blonde commoners.
170	* PlotTriggeringDeath: The overarching plot of the series is a Succession Crisis to replace Janrad Norn, who dies of old age just before the first book begins. However, most events in the series can also be traced to [[spoiler:the assassination of Roman Kendar partway through Book 1 and the ensuing crises it causes.]]
171	* PokeInTheThirdEye: [[spoiler:While Yene and Tavanna are using the Scrying Pool to track Aldrich and Piyra, the King of the Depths abruptly appears and shuts off the vision.]]
172	* PollutedWasteland: Mold Marsh has developed into a more “natural” environment, but it’s implied to have originated from toxic chemicals.
173	* PosthumousCharacter: Several. Jacob Crom, Janrad Norn, Alicia Norn, Farica Norn, Nikkail Raven, Olav Kendar, Adoelv Hanlish.
174	* PoweredArmor: Davion Redmond owns one such suit, an ancient artifact from eons past.
175	* PrefersTheIllusion: Often happens to those who use the Coils of Pleasure.
176	* ProphetEyes: Non-supernatural example. Harrad Quine, having some minor mutant ancestry, has nictitating membranes in his eyes, giving this look when they cover the sclerae.
177	* ProudScholarRace: The Sorcerers of Fibre Tower.
178	* ProudWarriorRace: Spiremen are the Proud Soldier Race subtype. They’re a militaristic society focused on maintaining their strength and protecting their comfortable region and their impressive food supply, but they aren’t into war for war’s sake.
179	* QuestionableConsent: Roman’s encounter with the singer in the room prepared for him by House Norn. From his perspective, it looks as if Lord Norn straight-up ordered her to service him, but she seems unbothered and even enthusiastic about sleeping with him. Roman’s POV is the only one that observes the situation, so it is never clear whether it was arranged by order or invitation; though the power dynamic around Lord Norn makes it still dubious if the latter.
180	* ReadingTheEnemysMail: Carston snoops on Quine’s contacts in HSR.
181	* RebelPrince: Roman Kendar.
182	* RoomDisservice: [[spoiler:How Piyra assassinates Roman.]]
183	* RunForTheBorder: [[spoiler:Aldrich and Piyra escape the Realm and head down to the King’s lands.]]
184	* SatanicArchetype: Not immediately obvious, but [[spoiler:the King of the Depths slowly becomes this trope as the plot develops. He rules a spooky underworld far below the known world, and characters keep making deals with him that go poorly.]]
185	* ScaryBlackMan: Fraedrik.
186	* ScavengedPunk: A common aesthetic, but it does not completely dominant the setting.
187	* ScavengerWorld: What most of the City is.
188	* {{Scienceville}}: Fibre Tower.
189	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Avitus performs a rare benevolent example of this trope near the end of Book 1, in which seeing the plight of a breadline (well… slurry-line) of Norn serfs moves him to break the laws of the Realm against hiring the serfs of other regions.
190	* SecondaryColorNemesis: When the Djevak brothers first appear, they are wearing deep purple robes with dull green scarves around their heads.
191	* SettlingTheFrontier: The job of House Redmond and their vassals. The Wastes are a recent addition to the Realm.
192	* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: The Wastelanders’ gun of choice.
193	* ShoulderCannon: Kavin Norn’s Rig Armor has one.
194	* ShoutOut: House Leibowitz's name is an obvious reference to ''Literature/ACanticleForLeibowitz''. It's an extremely fitting name, given their whole ethos of using organized religious tradition to preserve scientific knowledge after a cataclysmic collapse of civilization.
195	* SignificantWhiteHairDarkSkin: The standard look for Spiremen -- because of their continual exposure to the lighting systems of HSR, they have tanned-bronze skin and bleach-blonde hair.
196	* SkyscraperCity: The Low Halls, but especially the Spires and Fibre Tower, which stretch higher than the eye can see. The rest of the City was once like this, but several regions have been leveled by various catastrophes.
197	* SleepDeprivationPunishment: Part of the torture that [[spoiler:Carston Dreir goes through in Djevak captivity.]]
198	* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: Most of the City is on the Gritty side, being the collapsing ruins of a once-advanced civilization.
199	* SpareToTheThrone: [[spoiler:In short succession, Aldrich Norn is disinherited by Kavin, who soon after is killed in an ambush by the Kendars. Ulrich Norn is thus abruptly thrust onto the Seer’s Throne without much preparation.]]
200	* TheSpymaster: Maud Atlee for House Kendar and Chandra Dioden for House Norn. House Djevak is a whole family built around being spymasters.
201	* StarScraper: Fibre Tower and Hab Spire Rise.
202	* SuccessionCrisis: The plot begins with the funeral of Receiver Janrad Norn, necessitating a replacement. It’s explained that this happens every time the Receiver dies, as it gives all the houses a chance to get up to sinister shenanigans before the next Receiver is elected.
203	* SuperSenses: The Wellborn are mutant humans from the Depths who have evolved these, in exchange for losing their eyesight.
204	* SuperSoldier: Men of Iron, and the Templars of the King.
205	* SwampsAreEvil: Mold Marsh.
206	* SwitchingPOV
207	* SymbolicMutilation: Ascensionism makes an entire ritual of this. [[spoiler:Aldrich does it to his hand to swear fealty to the King.]]
208	* SympatheticPOV: As a general rule, if a character gets a POV the narration will usually make them seem sympathetic for that scene. And the POV bounces around a lot, with the more villainous characters not usually getting as much focus.
209	* TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath: Near the end of Book 1, [[spoiler:when Kavin Norn fires his barrage of spikes to destroy the boulder cover of the Kendar brothers, they are unharmed. Then Ywain stands up, and abruptly gets shot and killed.]]
210	* TeaserOnlyCharacter: The criminals in the ActionPrologue.
211	* TechnicolorFire: Torches in the Depths glow green.
212	* TheTheocracy: Dorith’s End does not technically qualify as this trope, since (as it is explained multiple times) House Leibowitz and the Church are separate entities, though they both have great power in Dorith’s End. However, the current situation in which Setheus is both Lord Leibowitz and High Partaker means they are effectively united under one man.
213	* {{Theotech}}
214	* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: Two major examples: [[spoiler:Piyra stabbing Roman, and Aldrich not correcting the King on his mistaken identity and instead deciding to lie about his family.]]
215	* TruceZone: The Low Halls, in theory, are supposed to be one between the Great Houses. In practice… not so much. The Hall of the Receiver is a more straightforward example that is rigidly enforced by the Cult.
216	* TortureTechnician: [[spoiler:Esmour Heron.]]
217	* UndergroundCity: The Depths is the underground region of the City. [[spoiler:The Kingdom is even deeper.]]
218	* UnspecifiedApocalypse: Dorith’s End, the Abyss, and the Wastes were created by some kind of cataclysmic explosion of unknown origin.
219	* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Zig-zagged with Odham’s plan to kill [[spoiler:Kavin. The ambush works, but Kavin manages to kill Ywain just before he dies.]]
220	* TheUpperCrass: The Wastes nobles have shades of this, being rough adventurers recently promoted to nobility.
221	* AVillainNamedZrg: Zvarak the Conqueror.
222	* ViolentGlaswegian: Wastelander culture is basically just this trope.
223	* VowOfCelibacy: Standard for Ascensionist clergy.
224	* WarriorMonk: Fraedrik Leibowitz and the Men of Iron.
225	* WhiteSheep: Roman Kendar. Aldrich is too for readers who see Ascensionism as better than Norn culture, though that dichotomy is more Gray-and-Grey.
226	* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Odham sees Roman as an unworthy heir to House Kendar, and Kavin loathes the fact that Aldrich has converted to Ascensionism.
227	* WillNotTellALie: Avram insists that this is true of the Djevaki themselves, and that lying is for commoners. It’s unclear if he is telling the truth.
228	* WorldInTheSky: Dorith’s End is an odd variant – it’s connected overland to the rest of the City, but it is a small continental shard that juts out into thin air, and is presumably prevented from collapsing by whatever weirdness is going on with the artificial gravity in the area.

Context Literature / CityOfNoEnd