Line #130 Literature/StarTrekTheLostEra


1	[[quoteright:293:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_sundered_9905.jpg]]
2	A series of books in the Literature/StarTrekNovelVerse. Although each is a stand-alone (even the ''Literature/TerokNor'' books, billed as a trilogy, are largely accessible on a one-to-one basis), they tie into an overarching account of a particular period in the Franchise/StarTrek timeline; between Kirk's apparent death in 2293 and the launch of Picard's ''Enterprise'' in 2364. The novels also link in with other books set in this period but not considered a part of the Lost Era, such as ''Literature/StarTrekVulcansHeart'' and ''The Captain's Daughter''. There are eleven novels in the series:
3
4	* ''The Sundered'': Captain Sulu aboard the ''Excelsior'', on a diplomatic mission to the Tholian Assembly.
5	* ''Serpents Among the Ruins'': Captain John Harriman aboard the ''Enterprise''-B, and the infamous Tomed Incident, as political tensions between the Federation, Klingons and Romulans reach a head.
6	* ''The Art of the Impossible'': An eighteen year political epic detailing a cold war between the Klingons and the Cardassians.
7	* ''Well of Souls'': Captain Rachel Garrett aboard the ''Enterprise''-C, and the criminal underbelly of the Star Trek universe.
8	* ''Deny thy Father'': The exploits of Kyle Riker (Will Riker's father), and Will Riker's early Starfleet career.
9	* ''Catalyst of Sorrows'': Aging Admiral Uhura recruits a collection of familiar characters for an undercover operation to investigate a suspected Romulan bioweapon.
10	* ''The Buried Age'': Captain Picard pursues an archaeological mystery.
11	* The ''Literature/TerokNor'' trilogy of ''Day of the Vipers'', ''Night of the Wolves'', and ''Dawn of the Eagles'', detailing the history of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor.
12	* ''One Constant Star'': Demora Sulu as captain of the ''Enterprise''-B eight years after ''Serpents Among the Ruins''.
13
14	Many a ContinuityNod to the events of these novels is to be found in other ''Franchise/StarTrek'' books.
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16	----
17	!!Tropes:
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19	* AbandonedMine: In ''Well of Souls'', briefly. A scene on [[WretchedHive Farius Prime]] takes place at one of these.
20	* AbandonShip: ''The Buried Age'' begins with the Battle of Maxia, and Picard having to abandon the ''Stargazer'', going into some length as to the hows and whys (he had intended to scuttle it, but the mechanisms got broken. Then the plan was to deposit it in the nearby planetary atmosphere, but poor luck and Daimon Bok prevent that).
21	* AbsurdlySharpBlade: The monomolecular-edged swords in use by the Tholians.
22	* AbusiveParents: The mother of Zetha, from ''Catalyst of Sorrows''. Zetha's only memories of her birth mother involve yelling and violence; apparently, the woman blamed her daughter for "ruining her life".
23	* ActualPacifist: The Halkans, who insist that there is no violence of any kind in their hearts. As a result of this, anyone capable of violence [[NoTrueScotsman cannot be truly Halkan]]. Halkan character Lojur is even exiled from the planet for using violence in defense of his village. It was under attack by murderous raiders, but even then the majority of his people found fighting inconceivable.
24	* AlienArtsAreAppreciated:
25	** Enabran Tain, a Cardassian, is fond of human stained-glass windows. Another Cardassian, Danig Kell, likes Lissepian paintings. And Curzon Dax, a Trill, is more Klingon than some ''Klingons.''
26	** In ''One Constant Star'', a Tholian movie is mentioned, having somehow made its way out of the Tholian Assembly to the Federation. John Harriman and his wife wonder what a Tholian film even looks like[[note]]Tholians are one of the most distinctly non-humanoid aliens in the Franchise/StarTrek canon--having six legs, communicating with screeching vocalizations or by modulating the radiation that their bodies naturally emit, and having a biology that requires a temperature of around 207 °C to function--making this a very legitimate question[[/note]].
27	* AlienNonInterferenceClause: The Manraloth find this sort of thing immoral and cowardly, in contrast to the Federation. This is one of several fundamental issues on which the Federation and Manraloth disagree, although both groups work to bring peace and prosperity to the galaxy.
28	* AlternateUniverse: ''One Constant Star'' sees a visit or two to an alternate universe, courtesy of both alien technology and a very unusual star.
29	* AmplifierArtifact: The mask in ''Well of Souls''. Useless to those who are not psi-sensitive, it enhances and focuses the talents of empaths and latent telepaths. It's designed to allow members of its planet's ruling family to enhance their psi talents to the degree that their mind can [[WillingChanneler serve as a vessel]] for the spirit lifeform Uramtali. Without the mask, these talents would no longer be adequate, as the rulers' genes were diluted by centuries of inbreeding.
30	* AncientTomb: In ''Well of Souls''.
31	* ArcWelding: ''The Art of the Impossible'' skilfully links the Romulan politics of the novel ''Literature/StarTrekVulcansHeart'' with established canonical events in both Klingon and Cardassian history, as well as plots and characters seen in other "Lost Era" books.
32	* AristocratsAreEvil: In ''Catalyst of Sorrows'', as with many Trek novels focusing on Romulans, the aristocracy comes across considerably worse than the common people, who are usually sympathetic.
33	* ArtifactOfDoom: The Dithparu mask in ''Well of Souls''. See AmplifierArtifact, above. Having Uramtali inside your mind isn't a lot of fun.
34	* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Everyone in the galaxy did this simultaneously a quarter of a billion years ago, the result of a Manraloth experiment gone wrong. Trying to unite the multiverse as they had the galaxy, the Manraloth and their allies attempted to tap into the higher dimensional planes with their minds. The resulting surge of energy proved too powerful, overloading the telepathic centres of every Manraloth and transmitting it to any other brain capable of receiving it. The entire galactic population was forced into a state of pure energy, long before most races were ready. [[spoiler: Ariel, who was revived from a quantum status field erected to save her during the above catastrophe, eventually chooses to ascend too, and join the rest of her people, though this time they decide to ease into it, which works out a lot better.]]
35	* AscendedExtra: The Brunyg and Gororm species, both from ''The Buried Age'', are AscendedExtra races. They are based on background aliens who never got a name or a line onscreen.
36	* AssInAmbassador:
37	** Vreenak in ''Serpents Among the Ruins'', although technically he's simply an aide to the actual ambassador, who is truly diplomatic.
38	** Ditagh from the same novel, though in part that's simply his Klingon warrior caste roots.
39	** In ''The Sundered'', Ambassador Burgess of the Federation and Ambassador Kasrene of the Tholians actually cause problems due to their NOT being this. They are genuinely interested in opening a dialogue, sometimes working against the interests of their respective militaries, for better or worse.
40	* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: A Neyel in ''The Sundered'', beamed aboard after being blown out into space, isn't quite dead after all; it turns out Neyel have engineered themselves to survive vacuum for a time. As is pointed out, they're not the only race who can survive space; mention is made of the Nasat, a nod to ''Literature/StarfleetCorpsOfEngineers''.
41	* BinarySuns: The Naxeran homeworld, which never experiences true night. The suns are named for mythological brothers who also inspire the Naxeran [[FantasticCasteSystem caste system]]; the stronger brother, G'Dok, is the brighter sun and gives his name to the ruling caste, while the second sun is named for the weaker brother Leahru.
42	* ABirthdayNotABreak: Picard has to spend one of his birthdays in a small fleet of escape pods and shuttle craft, running low on air and supplies, waiting on the chance of a Federation ship rescuing what's left of the ''Stargazer'' crew.
43	* BizarreAlienBiology: The Frunalian "shift", essentially a second puberty. Their exoskeleton falls off, their biochemistry (and personality) change and a fleshy mane-like sensory organ erupts down their backs.
44	* BlessedWithSuck:
45	** Miras Vara in the ''Literature/TerokNor'' trilogy, after she [[spoiler: becomes Astraea and serves as a vessel to Oralius, reviving the Oralian Way]]. Her spiritual awakening may be for the good of Cardassia, but her new life is hardly a happy one. Another example is Pahl in ''Well of Souls''. A Naxeran child, he's also a telepath. His untrained telepathy doesn’t have much of a benefit - it mostly just leads to delusions, hallucinations, accidental MindRape of his closest friend, and being targeted for DemonicPossession.
46	** Guinan regards her connection to the Nexus as one.
47	* BlueAndOrangeMorality:
48	** The Manraloth, whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is skilled communication and manipulation, and who use these skills to aid in bringing peace to the galaxy. Their methods of doing so conflict with those of the Federation, and they are very, ''very'' sneaky and manipulative. Always, though, their intentions are good and noble.
49	** The Regnancy of the Carnelian Throne, whose citizens are metaphorically slaves to the Carnelian Throne itself. They ritualistically "play along" with subjugation as part of their "enslavement" to the values it represents.
50	-->Given how passionate Federation people were about democracy, Guinan thought, they wouldn't have been too open-minded about the Carnelians' symbolic conquest and enslavement. And the Carnelians would've taken their resistance as a rejection of the justice and righteousness that the Throne represented, and concluded that the colonists were enemies of justice.
51	** In ''The Sundered'', Sulu acknowledges this trope when agreeing to honour the Tholian warrior caste's legal determinations of truth, which are arrived at through combat.
52	* BluntMetaphorsTrauma: ''The Buried Age'' depicts the first meeting between Picard and Data, with the latter being ''even worse'' about this at that point in time than he is at the beginning of ''The Next Generation''. After about a minute of the conversation, Picard feels like some of what's left of his hair is probably falling out from exasperation. He even asks Data how, if he's programmed with an encyclopedic knowledge of humans languages, he cannot grasp simple idioms, and Data explains that these often rely on social context. Which he doesn't have.
53	* BookEnds: ''The Art of the Impossible'' begins with a scene where a Klingon child is on a hunting expedition, and is told a story by his parents, who are educating him in his people's history. This scene also sets up the political context for the novel. The novel ends with a very similar scene where a Cardassian child is on a fishing trip. She too is told a story, and educated in her people's history. The closing scene also serves to evaluate the political events of the novel...from a certain point of view.
54	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The officers sent to kill Kyle Riker in ''Deny Thy Father''.
55	* CallBack: The events of "Time's Arrow" play an important part for Guinan in ''The Buried Age''. She's waiting for Picard to become the man she met four hundred years ago, which is still a few years off for him.
56	* CallForward:
57	** In the DistantPrologue of ''One Constant Star'', set eight years before ''Serpent Among the Ruins''. Harriman is considering the possibility of "manoeuvring" the Romulans into peace.
58	** In ''The Buried Age'', Picard hears about the idea of nanotechnology, and thinks about how he might not have a problem seeing where that goes. You'll change your tune soon enough, Jeany-boy...
59	** Janeway, after her well-meaning attempt to free some Manraloth from their security field kills most of the frostees, declares that in the future, if she's ever forced to chose between her own desires or the well-being of aliens, she's damn well going to go for the later.
60	** Picard's behaviour in the last third of the book has him becoming dangerously obsessed with finding and dealing with a threat. Again. And yes, the parallel to Ahab is brought up this time as well.
61	** On meeting Worf, he initially wants a security posting, and is pretty miffed when Picard instead gives him the broader function he serves in ''TNG'' season 1.
62	** ''The Buried Age'' also depicts the situations where Picard first encounters, and is impressed by, Geordi La Forge and Tasha Yar. Picard describes these in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E24TheNextPhase The Next Phase]]" and "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E6Legacy Legacy]]" respectively.
63	** The conclusion of ''The Art of the Impossible'' has [[spoiler: newly ascended Chancellor K'mpec declare that the ruined wreck of Ch'gran on the planet Raknal V no longer worth the effort that has gone in to recovering it and ceding the planet to the Cardassians, claiming to be focused on the future of the Empire, not the past. This is much like his appeal to Worf to drop his challenge of the Klingon High Council's ruling of Mogh being a traitor, using the same justification, that the future matters more than the past.]]
64	* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: In his time working under J.P. Hansen, Picard is called up to his office for breaking an inverted version of this. How is Admiral Hansen supposed to intimidate the lower ranking officers, when Picard's already being nasty to them?
65	* CharacterDevelopment: ''The Buried Age'' shows Picard transitioning into the man we meet at the beginning of ''The Next Generation'', the more-than-a-little closed off grump who immediately surrenders in the face of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens rather than risk his ship (with the justification of losing a ship to a fight he started prompting guilt).
66	* LesCollaborateurs: Kubus Oak, who sold out his entire world to Cardassian invaders, becoming the chief collaborator in the Bajoran government. He first appeared in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "The Collaborator", and is fleshed out in the ''Terok Nor'' books.
67	* CompanionCube: Picard is pretty attached to the ''Stargazer'', which is understandable since he spent twenty-two years on her. Louvouis tries to use his anthropomorphizing the ship as more ammunition in the court martial.
68	* CompellingVoice:
69	** The Manraloth. This is only one technique of many with which they subtly influence and guide the thinking of others.
70	** Picard has a semi-serious version of this, his "Captain's Voice", which tends to make people automatically obey him. He doesn't like using it when being a lecturer, preferring the students listen because they're actually interested.
71	* ContinuityNod: ''The Buried Age'', being written by Christopher L. Bennett, has a metric ''ton'' of these scattered in and among the plot.
72	** Pretty much every advanced ancient species from Trek lore, both TV and bookwise, gets a nod, either in Picard's lecture on them, or through the rest of the novel.
73	** Early on, Picard thinks about France, noting how he's not going back to Paris after what happened with Janice Manheim, and going back to the family farm is a no-no.
74	** In Picard and Ariel's discussion on precursor species, the entity from the animated series episode "Beyond the Farthest Star" gets brought up. Apparently it's still around, and still stuck on the dead star Kirk left it on, but Starfleet is wisely staying the hell away from it. The mind-switching machines from "Turnabout Intruder" get brought up. They were around in the Manraloth days, but were used for simple body-tourism, rather than psychotic revenge plots on exes.
75	** When the Organians come up, the ones Archer and co ran into in "Contagion" get a nod, with their different characterization given the justification that they're rebellious spirits about whom the other Organians prefer to not speak of.
76	** In Data's conversation with Ariel, we see things from his viewpoint, and as mentioned many times over TNG, his attention is never entirely focused on her alone because his android brain is focused on lots of ''other'' things as well.
77	** The discussion on the victims of the aforementioned Ascending-To-A-Higher-Plane gone wrong hints that some of them were the Redjac entity Kirk ran into (or the like).
78	** Ariel's first impression of Guinan is her breaking up a potential bar brawl with her "[[{{BFG}} souvenir from Makus III]]".
79	** In her time in the Carnellan Regnancy, Guinan goes under an assumed name. Q had intimated in "Q Who?" that she had gone under many names, but this wasn't followed up on elsewhere. She also introduces herself to Ariel by stating "I tend bar", as she did to Ensign Ro.
80	** When Picard gets subject to the accidental MindRape of the Manraloth, he sees his father saying "look what happened to you", and his mother, accompanied by her tea-set.
81	** While talking things out at the climax, Guinan informs Picard that when one hates for too long, it becomes "like old leather." The very thing Picard would say on the subject in "The Wounded".
82	** The interlude with Ariel notes the higher species hanging around the shallow end of the Godlike Alien pool, such as the Travellers, the Douwd (who apparently all tend to hide their nature), and a brief cameo from V-Ger.
83	** The description Picard gives of why he chose Riker as his first officer is nigh-word for word the reason he gives Pressman in "The Pegasus".
84	** The final part of the book is a reproduction of the first past segments from "All Good Things", cutting off just before Q's first interference. Even Torres, the {{Redshirt}} Q froze, gets mentioned.
85	** In their reunion, Data mentions he's been trying to ape human behaviour, and hasn't quite got the hang of it, even wavering between using contractions and not using contractions, just as he did in the show, before his characterization was nailed down.
86	* CoolOldGuy:
87	** Klingon ambassador Kage in ''The Sundered'', although his aide Ditagh simply can't see it.
88	** Uhura is probably the female equivalent as of ''Catalyst of Sorrows''.
89	** It's also worth noting Elias Vaughn, who shows up in several of these novels. In the ''Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch'', he is the CoolOldGuy, but here he's still a relatively young man.
90	* CoolShip: The ''Albatross'' in ''Catalyst of Sorrows'', a one-of-the-kind spy ship with the latest in holographic and communication technologies. It's a shame it doesn't make it back from its first mission.
91	* CourtroomAntics: Picard's tribunal for the loss of the ''Stargazer'', mainly thanks to JAG officer Phillipa Louvois, who acts ''massively'' unprofessionally in the proceedings, despite prior warning. And it's deconstructed; Phillipa's behaviour nearly gets the whole case thrown out repeatedly until she quits.
92	* CultureClash: Early Ferengi impressions of the hew-mons and the Federation spook the Ferengi. They can't wrap their heads around the idea that a species ''isn't'' driven by the relentless pursuit of profit, and come to the conclusion they're either lying or just insane.
93	* DamnedByFaintPraise: Ariel thanks Coray for all her species have done assisting Picard's archaeological expedition to free her. Coray takes it as an insult, since she knows all her species have done is obstruct and manipulate out of selfish greed.
94	* DarkAndTroubledPast:
95	** The Neyel, as an entire race, and explored in some detail in ''The Sundered''. Readers of ''Literature/StarTrekTitan'' will know they also have a dark and troubled ''future''.
96	** Pretty much every character in ''Well of Souls''.
97	* DeathIsDramatic: Klingons live for dramatic death (it's the hoped for highlight of a warrior caste Klingon's existence). In keeping with this trope, major Klingon characters tend to have very dramatic deaths, including [[spoiler: Azetbur and Kravokh]], who are both assassinated in rather climatic scenes. It's averted with [[spoiler: General Worf]], though, whose underwhelming and pointless death isn't even shown. He deserved better.
98	* DeathSeeker: Pahl, in ''Well of Souls'', sort of. Though not a warrior (he's a 12-year old child), he certainly has a death wish and seems to understand on some level that SealedEvilInACan Uramtali has unpleasant things in mind for him.
99	* DeconReconSwitch: The idea of the Galaxy-class ships having children aboard is given a drubbing throughout ''The Buried Age'', with a mixture of alarm and confusion at the idea that anyone's putting children and families aboard starships which routinely get attacked or destroyed, but it's also noted people going on long space journeys don't want to leave their families behind.
100	* DemonicPossession: In ''Well of Souls''. The afore-mentioned unpleasant thing.
101	* DidntThinkThisThrough: Probably a good description of the reason the Manraloths' plans failed;
102	** Ariel's initial attempt to 'sabotage' the Galaxy-class ships and manipulate the rest of Picard's crew fails because Data is unaffected by both her tampering with the Starfleet computers and her ability to psychologically manipulate others, allowing Data to expose her deceptions.
103	** Later on, [[spoiler:their attempt to access one of their black hole data storage systems didn't take into account that their abrupt 'destruction' meant that the recording system was never actually 'turned off', with the result that any of the useful data they were attempting to get from the system was actually buried under literally millions of years' worth of 'static']].
104	** Towards the end of ''The Art of the Impossible'', Curzon concedes he made this mistake with the Raknal V situation when he took a page out of the Organians' playbook. He thought using the Sherman's Planet model that had worked during Federation-Klingon Cold War was a perfect solution. What Curzon didn't consider until it was too late was that while that kind of competitive solution worked for the Klingon mindset, it ''didn't'' work for the ''Cardassian'' mindset. It only provoked resentment towards the Klingons ''and'' the Federation and is largely responsible for the Union's hostile relations with the two powers in the 16 years since.
105	* DontTouchItYouIdiot: Upon finding the first Manraloth stasis field, Picard advises Coray not to touch it. She brushes him off for being too cautious. Then she badly injures herself.
106	* DoubleMeaningTitle: ''Catalyst of Sorrows''. The bioweapon is the catalyst of the character's sorrows, but it is also codenamed "Catalyst".
107	* DownerBeginning: ''The Buried Age'' starts with the loss of the ''Stargazer'' at Maxia, complete with Picard losing colleagues and friends. Then there's the harrowing ordeal of getting back to civilization, then the court-martial... fortunately, after that things stop dumping on poor Jean-Luc.
108	* DownerEnding: The ending of ''Well of Souls'' isn't really a downer ending for most characters - it's actually reasonably upbeat considering the DysfunctionJunction setting - but that's only true of the adults. The two children have quite the downer ending, really. Well, they're alive; that has to count for something.
109	* DramaticIrony: In ''The Buried Age'', Data does some number crunching and comes to the conclusion that all the Galaxy-class starships won't manage to make it to ten years before something destroys them. It turns out this is actually the result of Manraloth sabotage, but as anyone familiar with their Trek knows, the ''Enterprise'', ''Yamato'' and ''Odyssey'' are in fact doomed to not make it to a double-digit lifespan (although all of those are the result of external forces).
110	* DudeWheresMyRespect: Sadly, despite having essentially saved the Klingon Empire from self-destruction, the remaining disciples of Gorkon, such as his daughter Chancellor Azetbur and Ambassador Kage, are mocked and condemned by the new generation of restless warriors, e.g. Ditagh. They insist Azetbur's government prepare for war to satisfy their own desire for glory, caring nothing for the sacrifices Gorkon's people made or why they made them.
111	* DysfunctionJunction: The crew of the ''Enterprise''-C in ''Well of Souls''. And ''how.''
112	* TheEmpath: Jason Garrett (male example).
113	* TheEmpire: The Neyel Hegemony.
114	* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Deanna Troi notes absently that she's occasionally noticed women expressing attraction to her, as well as guys.
115	* EverybodysDeadDave: When her memories return, revived [[{{Precursors}} Manraloth]] Ariel (in ''The Buried Age'') is suddenly hit with the weight of this observation.
116	* EveryoneMeetsEveryone: ''The Buried Age'' is how Picard met some of Starfleet personnel who would become his command staff on the ''Enterprise''-D. He meets Geordi, Deanna and Data for the first time in the novel, and Worf at the very end.
117	* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: And the Manraloth know it. Sparkles are one of the features with which they've augmented themselves.
118	* EvilCounterpart: Uramtali to Oralius, seemingly. Perhaps more accurately, Uramtali represents fear and isolation where Oralius represents love and connection with others.
119	* FailsafeFailure: At least part of the reason things go badly for the ''Stargazer'' is the ships' fire suppression systems don't work. After-battle analysis results in Starfleet overhauling the system across the fleet.
120	* FantasticCasteSystem: The Naxerans have three castes, named for mythological figures that also correspond to the stars and moons of their home system. The G'Dok are the clan of the stronger brother (and the first star), and rule the planet; the Leahru, clan of the weaker brother (and second sun), are subserviant and tread carefully around the G'Dok. Then there's the Efram, apparently wretched slaves who are seemingly identified with eclipse.
121	* FantasticHonorifics: In ''The Buried Age'', a very minor character named Deb'ni has the academic title "Questor". Qr. Deb'ni is Algolian, and Questor seems to be the Algolian equivalent of "research scientist".
122	* FantasticRacism: Data, pre-''Enterprise'', is on the receiving end. When Picard first meets him, he's been dumped in a records office to be forgotten and ignored by his coworkers, who ''conveniently'' all get transferred to other places on the Starbase because, hey, Data can do all the work for them, right? Picard has some suitably harsh words for them after meeting him.
123	* FantasticRankSystem:
124	** The Ferengi rank [=DaiMon=] was canonically established, and similar to "Captain". ''The Buried Age'' introduces the next rank up: [=GuiMon=], roughly analogous to "general".
125	** The Neyel, a human LostColony, have "Drech'tor" for captain and "Subdrech'tor" for commander, which have obviously evolved from the titles "director" and "sub-director". They also have "subaltern", an archaic British term for any commissioned rank below captain.
126	* FantasticSlurs: Gul Monor calls the Klingons "foreheads".
127	* FascinatingEyebrow: In ''Well of Souls'', Talma Pren can’t do it, but Vaavek can. Talma muses that all Vulcans seem capable of doing so.
128	* AFatherToHisMen: Picard. He's outraged on Data's behalf at his poor treatment, and advises him to find ways to deal with that, and when Troi reveals what Hansen ordered her to do, she senses outrage at the man coming from Picard, who apparently then goes to confront the man.
129	* FatalFamilyPhoto: "Iron Mike" Paris.
130	* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Ariel, in ''The Buried Age'', who finds herself in a time period 250 million years after her people's extinction. Once the memories come back, it hits her tremendously hard.
131	* FixFic: ''Serpents Among the Ruins'' and ''The Art of the Impossible'' in tandem reconcile the longstanding Continuity Snarl about Azebetur succeeding Gorkon as the Klingon Chancellor in ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' despite TNG's [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E26S5E1Redemption ''Redemption'']] previously establishing Klingon women are barred from the High Council. [[spoiler: After Azebetur is assassinated by Ditagh and his fellow reactionaries, they unsurprisingly begin dismantling her entire political legacy. They also use Azebeteur's tenure and policies as an excuse for legally barring Klingon women from ever again serving on the High Council. K'mpec does not rescind the ban upon becoming Chancellor and it remains in place through his and subsequently Gowron's administrations.]]
132	** The Klingon politics arc of ''Serpents Among the Ruins'' and ''The Art of the Impossible'' also reconciles the Continuity Snarl of TNG's [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise "Yesterday's Enterprise"]] (the Battle of Narendra III leading to a Federation-Klingon Peace Treaty) with ''Star Trek VI'' (the later-established Khitomer Accords being signed 50 years ''before'' "Yesterday's Enterprise"). [[spoiler: As part of the rejection of Azebetur's legacy, her reactionary successors return to the pre-Gorkon policies and militarism. This, combined with the Betreka Nebula Incident and hostilities with the Cardassians, inflames tensions with the UFP. It looks more and more like a renewed Federation-Klingon conflict is inevitable...until the Romulan attack on Narendra III. Having dropped the ball on the Romulans due to their post-Tomed Incident isolation, and to honor the sacrifices of the ''Enterprise''-C and its crew, K'mpec and other influential Klingons successfully push for renewed, stronger ties with the UFP.]]
133	** Christopher L. Bennett uses ''The Buried Age'' to seamlessly reconcile the longstanding contradictions between the 'threatening', militaristic characterization of Ferengi in early TNG and their later, now-familiar corporate depiction from [=DS9=]. Before [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E8TheBattle the Battle of Maxima]], the Ferengi Alliance becomes aware of the Federation. As detailed under CultureClash, they understandably think that a civilization built entirely upon a post-scarcity economic structure and which shuns profit is either lying through their teeth...or ''completely'' batshit crazy and dangerous. In response, Grand Nagus Zek orders a military buildup and sanctions the spread of the malicious rumors that the ''Enterprise''-D will hear come "Encounter at Fairpoint" (like how the Ferengi supposedly eat their competitors). Zek's intention is that when the Ferengi Alliance inevitably makes contact with the UFP again, it'll be from a position of strength.
134	*** Bennett also uses Zek's pre-Federation Fist Contact policies to fill in the longstanding plot hole of how the UFP could have had no knowledge of the Ferengi given what [=DS9=] subsequently revealed about the extent of the Alliance's commercial dealings throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. In addition to the aforementioned malicious rumors, Zek also offered incentives (read: bribes) to new customers and existing clients to keep shtum about their dealings with the Alliance. The Ferengi also relied on intermediaries and audio-only negotiations to build up their mystique and not tip their hand to the UFP too soon.
135	* ForYourOwnGood: Anything the Manraloth do, ever. See BlueAndOrangeMorality, above.
136	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
137	** In ''The Buried Age'', Picard's musings on cybernetics are an example of ironic foreshadowing; it's still several years before he meets the Borg.
138	** When the expedition finds the first Manraloth outpost, they find a lot of abandoned clothing and no bodies. Coray then wonders if it and the strange energy readings are related to the Permian extinction, but Picard says they can't assume. [[spoiler:Coray turns out to have been right.]]
139	* FreakOut: Ariel is twitchy for a few days as her memories start returning, but when the sheer ''weight'' of knowing she's 250 million years out and everyone she ever knew and loved is gone, she has a moment where she just runs off into the hills and sits there for four days as she processes it all. [[spoiler:Later on, it's stated she didn't actually come out of the freak out until after she'd ruined things with Picard.]]
140	* FreeLoveFuture: The Manraloth are polygamous and polyamarous. It's only to avoid shocking Picard's quainter notions that Ariel goes for monogamy while they're together.
141	* GambitPileup: Seeing as Starfleet Intelligence, the Cardassian Obsidian Order, the Romulan Tal Shiar and the Orion Syndicate show up in multiple novels across the series, this is the inevitable result.
142	* GladIThoughtOfIt: Rule of Acquisition 73 basically states that if someone working for you has an idea, that makes it ''your'' idea.
143	* GoodShepherd: Kai Meressa, Hadlo and Bennek all count.
144	* GoodThingYouCanHeal: One advantage of Manraloth nanotech. When first seen, Ariel looks like a human slab of meat thanks to transporting gone wrong. The nanotech soon fixes her up.
145	* GossipyHens: The prologue of ''The Buried Age'' has the ''Stargazer'' crew casually shooting the breeze, even ragging their captain, as they explore the Maxia system. Louvois, jerk that she is, tries using this relaxed atmosphere as ammunition against Picard's case during the trial.
146	* GratuitousIambicPentameter: In ''The Buried Age'', there's a scene where Picard and Ariel discuss Shakespeare, and he realises afterwards that she was casually speaking in iambic pentameter, including finishing with a rhyming couplet.
147	* HalfHumanHybrid: Jason Garrett, half human and half Betazoid.
148	* {{Handwave}}: The fact the Organians stopped a Federation-Klingon war once and then were a complete no-show all those other times is brought up in ''The Buried Age''. It's figured they only intervened because both sides were on their turf. Essentially, they wanted those friggen kids off their lawn.
149	* HappinessInSlavery: Other cultures don't immediately understand that the citizens of the Regnancy of the Carnelian Throne are metaphorically slaves, who play along with subjugation as a ritualistic expression of their "enslavement" to justice.
150	* HarmfulToMinors: 12-year-old Jason Garrett and his friend Pahl don't have a very nice time at all, what with all the evil possessing spirits and violent gunmen and loved ones being essentially murdered in front of them.
151	* HateSink: Daimon Bok's son, at the beginning of ''The Buried Age''. "The Battle" had already established he attacked the ''Stargazer'' without provocation or making any sort of communication, ignoring Picard's attempts to do so in turn, and the novel follows suit by showing he was doing so solely to stake a mining claim, who lacks any sort of positive quality.
152	* HeroicWillpower: When the Manraloth inadvertently inflict mind-rape on everyone in the area in their misguided attempts to "help" the lower species, only two people resist: Guinan, whose connection to the Nexus allows her to shrug it off, and Tasha Yar, who has no such advantage and just fights it back through sheer determination.
153	* HesitationEqualsDishonesty: When Picard talks to Ariel after she's just regained all her memories, she pauses significantly on some of his questions. [[spoiler:Because she is, in fact, lying when she responds.]]
154	* HiveMind: The Tholian "lattice" is probably halfway there. Tholians are certainly not a ''true'' hive mind, being fully individual, and just as capable of dissent as any other race. However, a network of telepathy known as the lattice connects the minds of all Tholians, distributing basic race-knowledge and allowing individuals to commune with one another. The lattice is regulated carefully, with different castes having different degrees of access.
155	* HoldYourHippogriffs: "The Bloodwing's Share" (the lion's share), "like ''h'vart'' in an alley". Both of these are Romulan expressions.
156	* HumansAreUgly: In one of the novels, a Romulan reflects on how humans look horribly unfinished to Romulan eyes; as if their ears and brows were only half-formed. Another book in the series suggests that to those humanoid races with ridged foreheads or brows, humans actually look infantile, reflecting a "typical" humanoid baby (the young having less pronounced ridges). Among the human-like races, humans are thus bland and disturbingly undistinguished.
157	* HumanShield: In ''Well of Souls'', Su Chen-Mai uses Captain Garrett's son Jason as a HumanShield.
158	* HyperspeedAmbush: Part of how Bok's son got the drop on the ''Stargazer''. They were just coming into the Maxia system at warp and their shields weren't up. If Picard hadn't responded as quickly as he had, they'd have been blown to pieces.
159	* IgnoranceIsBliss: Applies to the Halkans, who can't handle the harsh realities of the outside galaxy, due to their ActualPacifist culture.
160	* IgnoreTheFanservice: Picard in ''The Buried Age'', with the Mabrae official Coray, who insists on trying to be seductive as a manipulative diplomatic tactic. Picard knows what she's doing and brushes her off. A young Argelian doesn't, however, and finds out that responding with genuine interest is not a good idea, thanks to BizarreAlienBiology.
161	* ImmortalProcreationClause: The immortal Manraloth rarely need to reproduce; when they do they can alter their own physiology to bring their body back into breeding mode, although it takes some time to completely undergo the changes.
162	* IncrediblyLamePun: Janeway makes one in ''The Buried Age''. Getting a good look at a Mabrae security officer (whose uniform is literally made of tree bark), she responds to an assertion he makes with "yes, I imagine you...''would''"
163	* InJoke: Vreenak is the only Romulan character of note who refuses to believe the official story behind the Tomed Incident. He believes (correctly, actually, though his reasons are simply the result of his paranoia not genuine knowledge) that the Federation wasn't attacked by Admiral Vokar as everyone thinks. The Federation must have planned a false attack to frame Romulus. In other words, Vreenak thinks it's a fake. Fans of Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine will get the subtle joke.
164	* InsaneAdmiral: Not a Federation admiral, amazingly, but a Romulan one. The main plot of ''Serpents Among The Ruins'' involves portraying Admiral Vokar as one of these while setting up the now-infamous Tomed Incident, in which Vokar's flagship ''Tomed'' performed a suicide run at a Federation sector and deliberately destabilized its quantum singularity while at high warp.
165	* InsistentTerminology: The Naxerans have frills on their noses - not whiskers, ''frills''.
166	* InspectorJavert: Somewhat fittingly for a Frenchman, Picard becomes very obsessed with taking Ariel and the Manraloth down himself, but no-one, not even Guinan, can persuade him off his course.
167	* InstantExpert: Manraloth learn ''very'' quickly. For example, it only takes an amnesiac Ariel a few sentences to get to grasp with English. Once her memory comes back properly, this ramps up further.
168	* InterserviceRivalry: Captain Qaolin of the Klingon Defence Force and his Imperial Intelligence liasion, in ''The Art of the Impossible''.
169	* {{Irony}}: As in TNG, despite his discomfort around kids, Picard finds himself stuck with kids who worship him, and no means of handling it.
170	* {{Jerkass}}:
171	** The opening of ''The Buried Age'' shows us Daimon Bok's son. He attacks a Federation ship unprovoked when it wanders into the Maxia system simply because he thought they were trying to steal his mining rights, and never bothered checking.
172	** Phillipa Louvois. Let's just say it's not hard to see ''why'' Picard wanted to smash a chair across her face the next time they meet. She acts in an entirely unprofessional manner during his hearing, despite repeated censure before and after, and when called for nearly scuppering the whole case, insists it's [[NeverMyFault not her fault]] and storms out.
173	* JerkassGods: The Manaloth had Q too. They dealt with him the same way Picard did - getting annoyed and telling him to bugger off 'till he got the hint.
174	* JustTestingYou: Coray says as much after the example mentioned under IgnoreTheFanservice. Picard realizes this is more BS, but is too polite to say so.
175	* KarmaHoudini: The Neyel are a race of xenophobes who never once given any indication that they think murdering and enslaving other species is wrong. Yet Sulu embraces them like long lost relatives as soon as he finds out they're descended from humans, because HumansAreGood and therefore they must be nice really.
176	* KarmicDeath:
177	** Aventeer Vokar in ''Serpents Among the Ruins''. [[spoiler: He dies in disgrace aboard ''Tomed'', furthering the cause of peace by serving to shock Romulus into withdrawing its forces; the exact opposite of what he'd want]]. He was so deeply unpleasant most would say he deserved it.
178	** Su Chen-Mai, who pretty much had to die after trying to murder Captain Garrett's family.
179	* KickTheDog:
180	** In order to free some of her fellow Manraloth in a hurry once she's rumbled, Ariel fast-forwards the process, killing several local lifeforms Picard had been trying to preserve, as well as leaving all the non-essential sentients (read: non-Manraloth) inside behind. Picard notes that her protestations about doing it for some greater good ring a little hollow with that, since she clearly didn't get their okay on that one.
181	** In the climactic battle, the Manraloth remove a Starfleet vessel's warp core to depower it. A Carnellan ship then blasts it to pieces before they can reroute power.
182	* KlingonPromotion: Adding to the unfairness of it all, Azetbur's killer then becomes chancellor himself. The only consolation is his backer does the same to him eventually.
183	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Capping off his PatrickStewartSpeech, Picard says that it's the task of the elders to pave the way for "the next generation".
184	* LeaveNoWitnesses: The crime cartels in ''Well of Souls'' have a policy of this, as shown during the search for technological artifacts on the ''Dithparu'' planet. Not only are the criminals on the site preparing to murder the civilians they've hired, but the masterminds of the operation are also planning on killing them in turn.
185	* LiteralMetaphor: In ''The Buried Age'', Picard recalls an incident where a temporal anomaly had "[[LampshadeHanging quite literally]] blown the ''Stargazer'' into the middle of the next week". (Apparently, getting all the systems back in temporal sync after that was a real ordeal.)
186	* LiteralMinded: Data + pre-character development + human metaphor = very exasperated Picard. For example, when he says he called Data up to get to know "the man behind the machine", Data immediately turns around.
187	* LiteraryAllusionTitle
188	** ''The Art of the Impossible'' is a play on Otto von Bismark's "Politics is the art of the possible".
189	** ''Deny Thy Father'' is from ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''.
190	** ''The Buried Age'' gets its title from Shakespeare's Sonnet 64. The first section of the book (about Picard's court martial) is titled "The Quality of Mercy", from the courtroom speech in ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'', and the following three parts (featuring the character Ariel) all take their titles from ''Theatre/TheTempest''.
191	* LivingLegend: Picard becomes famous after the loss of the ''Stargazer''. He's not remotely happy about it.
192	* LostColony: Holy Vangar' is a lost colony of [[spoiler: Earth]], and the Neyel are [[spoiler: human]].
193	* LoveAtFirstSight: Picard, with the ''Enterprise''-D.
194	* LudicrousPrecision: Even Data's ''internal monologue'' is overly precise and analytical.
195	* ManipulativeBastard:
196	** Ariel may be benevolent, but she's also this. Definitely. The Fates tend to be this too; certainly Uramtali is, and Oralius has Her moments.
197	** From the Romulan viewpoint, John Harriman may well be this.
198	** Pasir, who is about as manipulative and bastardly as you can get.
199	* MarriedToTheJob: Darrah Mace and Rachel Garrett are both accused of this by their respective partners. Both these partners leave them.
200	* MaskOfPower: Oralian recitation masks. See ''Day of the Vipers'', ''Night of the Wolves'' and ''Well of Souls''. See also AmplifierArtifact, above.
201	* MayflyDecemberRomance: Ariel and Picard. [[spoiler: Ariel is effectively immortal, and has been alive longer than humans have existed as a species. Her relationship with Picard was genuine while she had amnesia; since her memory returned, she's been stringing the "innocent child" along as part of her master plan. Being as old as she is, she's an complete expert at manipulation, plus her people are naturally designed for it anyway]].
202	* MeanBoss: Picard develops a reputation as one by the third part of ''The Buried Age'', thanks to his frustration with the Ariel situation. He is and he isn't - he is definitely cantankerous, but only on those he feels aren't trying hard enough and being lazy. He's awed to hear about Geordi [=LaForge=] working himself to exhaustion to fix a shuttle just because Picard had made an absent comment about it, when confronted by the guy's captain.
203	* MeaningfulName: Picard initially just named Ariel as such because she had no name and it seemed fitting. Later on, he admits it's proven a little prophetic.
204	* MindOverManners: The reason Ven Kaldarren doesn't telepathically scan the shady characters he's travelling with, despite their highly unpleasant personalities. He later acknowledges he was foolish not to. Indeed, they're planning to kill him, and his son.
205	* MindRape:
206	** Uramtali does this, quite brutally, to several people, including a child.
207	** In a sense, the Manraloth are capable of this; they aren't actually telepathic, but their experience as mediators and communicators is so extensive that just by talking, Ariel not only inspires some Starfleet officers to express dissatisfaction with exploration over the idea of simply getting handed all the answers, but even makes Picard forget that he was ever in love with her [[spoiler:until Data 'reminds' Picard of his past feelings by exactly quoting Picard's previous words]].
208	* MisplacedRetribution: ''The Art of the Impossible'' reveals Colonel Worf was on the receiving end of this after ''Star Trek VI''. While Worf was selected as Kirk and [=McCoy=]'s legal advocate by General Chang for the show trial, he was ''not'' part of the conspiracy. Indeed, the Colonel ''genuinely'' believed the Captain and Bones were innocent of Gorkon's murder and rightly concluded they'd been set up. Neverthless, following Chang's death and the exposure of his treason, Azebetur punished the Colonel for his tangential link to the conspiracy. Azebetur ensured Worf was denied advancement in either rank or position throughout her tenure as Chancellor. [[spoiler: This blacklisting would last 20 years and only end with her assassination in ''Serpents Among the Ruins''.]]
209	* MonumentalDamage: ''The Sundered'' has a mention that Mecca was hit hard by World War III, including somebody detonating a nuke there in the 2050s.
210	* MustMakeAmends: Troi manages to peg this as part of the reason for Picard's obsessive behavior in ''The Buried Age''. Being so used to success, he's having a hard time coming to grips with a colossal screw-up unleashing a group of well-intentioned extremists.
211	* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Aventeer Vokar.
212	* NeverBareheaded: The fact Guinan almost always has a hat on gets a nod from Picard when, due to circumstances meaning they are both completely naked, he notices it's the first time in thirty years he's seen her without a hat.
213	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: At the end of ''The Buried Age'', [[spoiler:a freshly ascended Ariel points Q, already interested in humanity, in the direction of one Jean-Luc Picard.]]
214	** [[spoiler: Q's initial interest in Picard and the accompanying cryptic statement that “Even [Picard] could be the one” also doubles as foreshadowing. It's intentionally setting up Keith R.A. DeCandido's then-upcoming TNG Relaunch novel ''Q&A'', which reveals Q's long game and what role Picard played in it.]]
215	* NonActionGuy: Ven Kaldarren.
216	* NoSell:
217	** The Manraloth are a race of talkers, good at using their silver tongues at persuading just about anyone around to their way of thinking. Until they encounter someone who ''listens'', namely Guinan. They try several times to ply her, and it just doesn't work, because Guinan's listening skills means she can pick up on the underlying intent of their words.
218	** Manraloth are immune to phasers, meaning Picard has to find another way to stop them.
219	* NoSocialSkills: Part of Data's problem gelling with other Starfleet personel is that he doesn't have any social skills, often interrupting any conversation he manages to be a part of to ask any question that flits into his mind, derailing the conversation then and there. It turns into something of a loop; no-one interacts with Data because he has no skills, and he has no skills because no-one will interact with him.
220	* NotQuiteDead: The Neyel beamed aboard ''Excelsior'' in ''The Sundered''. See BatmanCanBreatheInSpace, above.
221	* NotSoDifferentRemark:
222	** Tholian Admiral Yilskene in ''The Sundered'' comes to suspect this about his people and the humans, and concludes that humans might, after all, be just as "multi-faceted" as Tholians.
223	** In the same novel, Sulu and the human crew of ''Excelsior'' struggle with the understanding that the violent imperialistic Neyel are actually [[spoiler: the exact same race as they are]].
224	** Why Liriaean is so determined to stop the Federation exploring, as she says to Picard. They are like the Manraloth were, and she's terrified this will lead to the exact same disaster.
225	* {{Omniglot}}: Ariel, and all Manraloth; but then, they engineered themselves that way.
226	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The situation between Picard and Guinan gets so fraught in ''The Buried Age'' she actually gets angry with him.
227	* OrganicTechnology: Manraloth nanotech, which is incorporated into their genome.
228	* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Los Tirasol Mentir, the ReasonableAuthorityFigure in ''Serpents Among the Ruins'', is Alonis, a semi-humanoid scaled aquatic species first introduced in the Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch.
229	* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Guinan's internal monologue mentions she lost at least one daughter to the Borg taking El-Auria.
230	* OverlyLongName: In ''The Buried Age'', "Ariel" is more accurately known as Giriaenn Lilaeannin eb Vairan Gela-syr.
231	* PardonMyKlingon: The Tellarite curse "krught".
232	* ParentalAbandonment: John Harriman has issues with his father, as does Will Riker. Rachel Garrett and Kyle Riker are essentially heroes who are on the guilty side of this.
233	* PatrickStewartSpeech: Naturally, ''The Buried Age'' has Picard unleash one on Ariel. And it works.
234	* PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs: In ''The Buried Age'', the Permian extinction event is chosen instead - it's described as a consequence of an artificially-induced galaxy-wide disaster. The SufficientlyAdvancedAliens known as Manraloth accidentally caused the entire galactic population to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence, releasing terrible amounts of energy as a by-product. This irradiated planets, and furthemore in the aftermath the artificially-maintained habitats and star systems built by the Manraloth destabilized, making things even worse. The galaxy was an irradiated hellhole until sapient life evolved again millions of years later.
235	* ThePlague: The plot of ''Catalyst of Sorrows'', as Admiral Uhura (now heading Starfleet Intelligence) responds to the outbreak of a long-dead Romulan pathogen that's spreading on both sides of the Neutral Zone.
236	* PlantAliens: The Mabrae are animals, but live symbiotically with plants that grow on their bodies, and are tailored to each individual. Security guards have tough bark as natural body armour, diplomats and politicians grow exotic colourful flowers. These plants are essentially the Mabrae's clothes. They consider segregation between leaf and flesh barbaric.
237	* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Averted, after being played straight in "Time's Arrow". Guinan notes that her time on 19th century Earth as a black woman was not easy-street, even with her El-Aurian listening skills. Many of the high society folk were just holding her on a pedestal.
238	* {{Precursors}}: ''The Buried Age'' fleshes out the distant prehistory of the Franchise/StarTrek universe, including discussion of just how many precursor civilizations have risen, branched out, and fallen over the last half billion years. The way in which these civilizations created the condition in which the modern Trek galaxy finds itself is also explored.
239	* PrehensileTail: The Neyel.
240	* PreventTheWar: Harriman's goal in ''Serpents Among the Ruins'', as tensions between the Federation and the Romulans slowly but surely place them on the countdown to a probable war. Harriman's method of preventing it is rather unconventional, however.
241	* ProductionForeshadowing: During "The Buried Age", speculation is briefly raised about what the Borg would be like if they got their hands on Janeway. The book was released in July 2007, and "Before Dishonor", where they do just that, would come out in November of that year.
242	* ProperlyParanoid: Admiral Quinn's brief appearance has him suspicious of Ariel, which Picard puts down to some FantasticRacism over her being genetically enhanced. However, his suspicion turns out to be very valid. [[spoiler:Ariel was already manipulating Picard by this point.]]
243	* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway: In ''Well of Souls''. Captain Garrett does so, but to be fair, she's quite flustered by the fact that the hostage is her young son - and that she didn't even know he was there until this point. Her companion hesitates (no doubt knowing you don't comply with this sort of demand), but then follows the captain's lead.
244	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
245	** Kage for the Klingons, along with Chancellor Azetbur. Senator Cretak for the Romulans. Admiral Los Tirasol Mentir for the Federation starfleet. Admiral Yilskene for the Tholians.
246	** Kravokh seems this at first, but isn't really. Besides, a problem he shared with Azetbur and Kage is that Klingons don't in fact respond too well to "reasonable" a lot of the time.
247	* ReligiousBruiser: [[spoiler: Thrax Sa'kat]].
248	* {{Revision}}: ''The Sundered'' introduces interphase tunnels that lead from the Milky Way to the Small Magellanic Cloud. The ''Literature/StarTrekTitan'' novels later built on this by establishing a whole subspace topography that placed the Cloud "downstream" of the Milky Way. This served to allow two different ships in two different times and places to both reach the same region of space and interact with the Neyel race. In ''The Buried Age'', a subtle offhand reference to ancient Manraloth transportation networks offers an explanation for how this improbable situation came about.
249	* ResolvedNoodleIncident: Two of the more notable Noodle Incidents of the TNG era (The Federation/Romulan-centric Tomed Incident from [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E25TheNeutralZone "The Neutral Zone"]] and the Klingon/Cardassian-centric Betreka Nebula Incident from [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E01E02TheWayOfTheWarrior "The Way of the Warrior"]]) are respectively finally dramatized in ''Serpents Among the Ruins'' and ''The Art of the Impossible''.
250	** ''The Buried Age'' also shows what exactly happened at the ''Stargazer'' court martial, explaining a vague reference made by Picard in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E9TheMeasureOfAMan The Measure of a Man]]".
251	* RousingSpeech: Gul Monor tries. He really does. He is hopeless at it.
252	-->"...before a tragedy even more tragic than the tragedy that befell the victims today happens again"
253	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Deanna Troi is ordered to spy on Picard by Admiral Hansen, but almost immediately tells him about this anyway, consequences be damned. It impresses Picard.
254	* SealedEvilInACan: The Dithparu in ''Well of Souls''. Evil spirits, basically, who are trapped in the magnetic containment fields in an old tomb beneath the mountains.
255	* ShoutOutToShakespeare: Much of ''The Buried Age'', including the title. A lot of the character names are also anagrams for Shakespeare characters, or otherwise based on them. Also, the Mabrae take their name from that of Queen Mab, in ''Romeo and Juliet''.
256	* SignatureHeadgear: As always, wherever Guinan goes, the giant hats follow (it's practically a running gag that her hats are the first thing about her identified). Unless she's travelling, in which case she wears smaller, more practical ones.
257	* SmugSnake: Quite impressively, Q manages to be one in ''The Buried Age'', when he isn't in physical form.
258	* SnakeOilSalesman: One shows up on Sliwon in ''Catalyst of Sorrows''.
259	* SoLastSeason: At the climax of ''The Buried Age'', the Manraloth try doing what the Organians did with the Federation and Klingons, making them unable to touch their weapons or computer consoles, but the advance of technology means they can just use vocal commands and keep blasting.
260	* SoldierVsWarrior: Gul Monor discusses this in ''The Art of the Impossible'', when contrasting his own Cardassians (soldier) with the Klingons (warrior).
261	* SpaceIsAnOcean: Lampshaded in ''Catalyst of Sorrows'', which gives a wink to the audience in decrying science fiction of the past's obsession with this trope.
262	* SpaceStation: Legate Kell wants to build one in orbit of Bajor, and finally blackmails his peers into providing funds for it in ''The Art of the Impossible''. His former underling Dukat takes control of the swiftly constructed station and, well, cue the backstory for ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. ''Night of the Wolves'' and ''Dawn of the Eagles'' detail much of the station's early operational history.
263	* StartOfDarkness:
264	** Corbin Entek, a Cardassian Obsidian Order villain from a highly popular episode of Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine, is a lowly junior probationist in ''The Art of the Impossible'', albeit a promising one. The novel features a sub-plot in which he settles into the Order and earns the admiration of Enabran Tain.
265	** Vreenak's disdain for the Federation heroes is explored in ''Serpents Among the Ruins'', setting him up for his role in "In the Pale Moonlight".
266	* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The Manraloth were the apex species of their day, and it shows. They had transwarp, capable of going to other galaxies, had tech that allows them to transport people or objects with waves of their hands, stored information in ''black holes'', and have tech so advanced they consider [[spoiler:the freaking ''Borg'']] to be primitive.
267	* SuicideAttack: How Vokar will be remembered.
268	* SurvivorsGuilt: Jason Garrett, [[spoiler: after his father dies and his friend suffers intense trauma, the result of an encounter with aliens he could also sense, but wasn't directly harmed by]].
269	* SwissCheeseSecurity: Works in Guinan's favor. Starfleet are so utterly trusting of their medical staff she's able to walk up to a replicator and order a drug without it asking for any kind of authorization.
270	* TheSyndicate: The Orion Syndicate and the Asfar Qatala.
271	* TakeMeInstead: Ven Kaldarren, who sacrifices himself to Uramtali in exchange for his son and another child. In fact, Uramtali wanted Kaldarren all along (desiring to [[MindRape force her consciousness into his mind]]), but couldn't get to him as he'd instinctively raised his telepathic shields. The children were therefore bait and "incentive"; Uramtali figured he'd pull this trope when she telepathically attacked them instead.
272	* TalkingInYourDreams: The Cardassian Fates communicate like this. Non-corporeal creatures inhabiting a mysterious dimensional plane that intersects with our own, they can telepathically influence mortals. In particular, with individuals of the right genetic makeup (or whose minds have been altered by particular artifacts), they can appear in dreams and hold "conversations" - or alternatively just plant images and desires. Their apparent leader, Oralius, uses it to find the next [[LegacyCharacter Astraea]] so as to keep the Oralian Way religion and the compassionate, noble aspect of Cardassian society alive. Her EvilCounterpart Uramtali uses it to telepathically rape young boys.
273	* TeenageWasteland: The [[{{Precursors}} Manraloth]] see the modern galaxy as this. The races of today have grown up without the oversight of the Manraloth and their galaxy-spanning alliance, and are frequently at war. These unruly, rather brutal child races require Manraloth guidance to mature healthily. Or so Ariel believes.
274	* ThatManIsDead: On regaining all her memory, Giriaeann insists Ariel is dead. Picard and Data agree with her. Later on, Picard comes to this conclusion about himself.
275	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The ''Stargazer'' ends the Battle of Maxia by giving the Ferengi ship six photon torpedoes in the face. Admittedly, the old girl was on her last legs, facing an enemy whose defenses they knew nothing about and had ignored all attempts to communicate. It's one of the things Picard's hearing goes over, and it's decided that given the circumstances, Picard's act was justified.
276	* TimePassageBeard: Elias Vaughn. When he appears in ''Serpents Among the Ruins'' and ''The Art of the Impossible'', he's clean-shaven. He finally grows his familiar beard during the second half of ''Art''.
277	* TimeSkip: ''The Buried Age'' jumps three years between the second and third parts.
278	* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness:
279	** Two years after the fact, [[spoiler:Ariel admits her plan to sabotage the Galaxy-class ships was stupid and horrendous, fuelled by her grief over regaining her memories, but the damage has been done.]]
280	** What starts a brief shooting war between the Carnellan Regnancy and the Federation. Starfleet assembled a small fleet to go after the Manraloth, who were in the Regnancy, as the Carnellans were trying to force a Federation colony to leave or submit to them. The Carnellans on the ground panicked and attacked. The colonists fought back. The Starfleet officers went in to protect their people, while the Carnella admiral admits if they hadn't he'd have sent his own people in to try and calm everyone down. Seeing this, the Manraloth panic themselves and try accessing their black hole archive...
281	* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: The B'nurlac, another precursor race, were wiped out by their own bio-engineered slaves.
282	* TykeBomb: While not quite a child, Zetha in ''Catalyst of Sorrows'' is essentially this.
283	* UncertainDoom: The Manraloth's attempt at reclaiming one of their stasis fields from the Borg ends with them having to pull a retreat, and the Borg take it back through a transwarp conduit with them. The only consolation is the Borg's CreativeSterility means they can't crack it open, so after a few tries they'll probably get bored and give up on it... but that still leaves it goodness knows where, in the hands of the ''Borg''.
284	* UnusualEuphemism: Because she's a Kreetassan (the race from Series/StarTrekEnterprise who consider eating in public akin to a pornographic act), Onna Karapleedeez uses "bolus!" as a curse.
285	* UnwittingPawn: Thamnos, the disgraced scientist working on creating the bioweapon in ''Catalyst of Sorrows''. He's ''so'' much a case of TooDumbToLive, though, that he almost becomes a liability to the true mastermind: [[spoiler: Koval]].
286	* VerbalTic: Data in ''The Buried Age'' tends to preface any query he makes by saying "query", because he's not yet got the idea he doesn't need to do so.
287	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Ariel.
288	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: In ''The Buried Age'', Data raises the issue with Ariel, an immortal. He points out that literature in many cultures explores the possibly unbearable tediousness of immortality. Ariel responds that to her people, life is too full of variety and opportunities to connect with others, and they have no issue with their non-aging status.
289	* WillingChanneler: Anyone channeling a Cardassian Fate, most notably Astraea. The ''dithparu'' in ''Well of Souls'' cheat a bit; people are usually willing to let you possess them if you apply the right pressures - like taking their children hostage.
290	* WretchedHive: Farius Prime.
291	* YouHaveFailedMe: Threatened by Qaolin in ''The Art of the Impossible'':
292	-->"I am holding you personally responsible for allowing us access to the Ch'gran remains, Commander. The next time I see you will be either your informing me that you have succeeded or my informing you of your imminent death".

Context Literature / StarTrekTheLostEra