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Shadow Ops
- 875 statements
- 173 feature instances
- 26 referencing feature instances
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Shadow Ops is a Military Science Fiction/Urban Fantasy series that debuted in 2012, written by Myke Cole. The series is set 20 Minutes into the Future where humans are suddenly manifesting inexplicable magical powers, and deals with the military and political response to people suddenly gaining the ability to shoot fire or animate the dead, as well as supernatural entities from another reality intruding into Earth.The series currently consists of two trilogies, the first one focusing on Oscar Britton, an Army Reserve pilot who manifests prohibited powers and his escape from the corrupt military Supernatural Operations Corps well into the events of the Great Awakening, and the second, the Gemeni Cell trilogy, is a prequel series dealing with Jim Schwietzer, a US Navy SEAL who is killed in battle and then reanimated by the government early into the events of the Great Awakening. In order of publication, the books are: Control Point (2012) Fortress Frontier (2013) Breach Point (2014) Gemini Cell (2015) Javelin Rain (2016) Siege Line (2017)The series provides a uniquely realistic and military spin on the traditional Urban Fantasy setting with abundant Gray-and-Grey Morality. While there are political undercurrents, they are largely background elements. It has been described as "X-Men meets Black Hawk Down" due to its combination of themes of metahuman superpowers and military fiction. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_112daba0 | type |
Retired Badass | |
| Shadow Ops / int_112daba0 | comment |
Retired Badass: Stanley Britton, Oscar's father. Former Marine Force Recon, retired Colonel, and fully capable of surviving on his own for months in the Source without anything more than the clothes on his back. | |
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Thinking Up Portals | |
| Shadow Ops / int_1240ff57 | comment |
Thinking Up Portals: Britton's specialty. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_1439161f | type |
Heroic BSoD | |
| Shadow Ops / int_1439161f | comment |
Heroic BSoD: Britton, once he realizes just how deep his Moral Myopia goes, and also after he releases Scylla. The NYPD SWAT Team captain who accompanies Shadow Coven into the subway tunnels completely loses it after the battle is over. But considering what he witnessed, there's a damned good reason for it. Bookbinder, multiple times, as The Chains of Commanding keep weighing him down. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_149f7447 | type |
Rescue Romance | |
| Shadow Ops / int_149f7447 | comment |
Rescue Romance: One-sided; Downer has a major crush on Harlequin because she feels he "rescued" her after the high school rampage at the beginning. However, this also applies in that the new President is no different from Walsh. As a fellow investor in Entertech, he refuses to change anything. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_14ed6ab7 | type |
Does This Remind You of Anything? | |
| Shadow Ops / int_14ed6ab7 | comment |
Does This Remind You of Anything?: At least one SOC screed is little more than a fascist declaration that anyone with magic must sacrifice themselves for the good of the state and society. Scylla says that there are obvious parallels between the SOC invasion of the Source and the European invasion of the Americas, which is why the Gahe support the Native American tribes in the Civil War in the American Southwest. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_18bf4326 | type |
Anti-Magic | |
| Shadow Ops / int_18bf4326 | comment |
Anti-Magic: Any Latent can Suppress another Latent, assuming their magic is strong enough to counter the other's. Scylla's magic is so powerful it can't be Suppressed by any single Latent. It turns out that Bookbinder's school gives him the ability to literally pull the magic out of another Latent and put it into a nearby object, effectively letting him "enchant" things. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_1b44c21 | type |
GrayAndGreyMorality | |
| Shadow Ops / int_1b44c21 | comment |
Gray-and-Grey Morality: Everywhere. The Selfers are individuals with little or no control over their powers and cause widespread destruction. The Indian uprisings are more organized but even more violent, with the bonus of practicing human sacrifice to enhance their powers. The SOC that fights both of them is necessary to prevent widescale destruction, but they are also essentially a death squad staffed by Stockholm Syndrome slaves - and because they have the best training, they're the best killers. Exemplified in the final confrontation, where Britton ends up fighting most of his own Shadow Coven, and killing one of them and severely wounding the rest, after he goes rogue. | |
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Asskicking Leads to Leadership | |
| Shadow Ops / int_1cc527d7 | comment |
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Scylla convinces the Gahe to work for her by essentially kicking the crap out of them herself. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_1cc9f5e5 | type |
Playing with Fire | |
| Shadow Ops / int_1cc9f5e5 | comment |
Pyromancy: Shoot, create, and controlling fire. The only real use this power has is creating flames, unlike the other elements. Allows for the creation of fire elementals. | |
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Royals Who Actually Do Something | |
| Shadow Ops / int_1edfa2c7 | comment |
Royals Who Actually Do Something: His Highness Vasuki-Kai, Naga envoy from the Naga Raajya, a prince of one of the major kingdoms in the Source, is an arrogant, pompous royal. But when Bookbinder needs to get the Raajya's help, he doesn't hesitate to guide the team across thousands of miles of harsh Source landscape, leaps into combat without an ounce of fear and wielding a whole lot of weaponry, and stands watch every night thanks to his unusual naga biology. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_1fb440a6 | type |
Voluntary Shapeshifting | |
| Shadow Ops / int_1fb440a6 | comment |
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Good Physiomancers can manage this. Untrained one can become horrific blob monsters, while skilled ones can alter their appearance. Extremely capable ones, like the Sculptor, can imitate specific people. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_1fc8335e | type |
Deal with the Devil | |
| Shadow Ops / int_1fc8335e | comment |
The Native American tribes of the Southwest had a statistically greater number of Latents, and were thus marked for conscription. Instead, they chose to revolt en masse. When SOC formed, their superior skills threatened to win the day, resulting in them allying with the Black Mountain Gods, or Gahe. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_208c4494 | type |
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity | |
| Shadow Ops / int_208c4494 | comment |
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Scylla possesses tremendously dangerous and powerful Negramancy, and is completely batshit crazy too. She's so powerful that it takes multiple Latents to even attempt to Suppress her. And later on, she uses her powers to rot away the barriers between Earth and the Source itself. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_212f1548 | type |
Make Them Rot | |
| Shadow Ops / int_212f1548 | comment |
Make Them Rot: The book series has random people manifesting powerful magical powers. On rare occasions one of these powers is Negramancy, the power to accelerate entropy. When it is used, objects crumble to dust in seconds and living things start to rot and decay. The power is casually called Witchcraft or Black Magic and its use is prohibited under the penalty of death. | |
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Muggles Do It Better | |
| Shadow Ops / int_21eb1793 | comment |
Muggles Do It Better: The Goblins have numbers, large amounts of Sorcerers, dragons, massive rocs, giants, and the backing of the Gahe. Humans have machineguns, tanks, Strykers, Apache helicopters, and A-10 Warthogs. The only reason that FOB Frontier is overrun is because half the base was leveled by Scylla and they were cut off from resupply when the SOC's only Portamancer was killed. Also, mundane bullets are useless against Gahe. So it's kind of a Zig-Zagging Trope: Muggle weapons are more powerful in a straight war, but there are situations where you really need magic, and there are magical beings that have the power of a nuke and the operational flexibility of a SEAL. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_2737c505 | type |
Shoot the Dog | |
| Shadow Ops / int_2737c505 | comment |
Shoot the Dog: SOC's job regarding Latents who don't surrender. At the end of Control Point, Britton has to kill Billy, the lobotomized Portamancer being used by the SOC so that he and the rest of the escapees can be free. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_286ccaeb | type |
Anti-Magical Faction | |
| Shadow Ops / int_286ccaeb | comment |
Antimagical Faction: The European Caliphate is firmly against any magic use except for Suppression, due to their version of sharia law. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_28f170e9 | type |
Whatevermancy | |
| Shadow Ops / int_28f170e9 | comment |
Whatevermancy: All magical schools except Sentient Elemental Conjuration are named this way. | |
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Beauty Equals Goodness | |
| Shadow Ops / int_2a015a74 | comment |
Beauty Equals Goodness: Therese is described as one of the most beautiful women that Britton has ever met, and she also happens to be one of the kindest and gentlest. She also has healing powers on top of that. | |
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Fantastic Drug | |
| Shadow Ops / int_2cd22076 | comment |
Fantastic Drug: Limbic Dampener, which is used to control emotions and let magic-users control their powers more effectively. Britton notes that if Dampener were to be released to the general public, it would greatly reduce the threat of out-of-control Latents, and uses this as one his many reasons to despise the SOC. Grace Lyons, the drug's original developer, actually planned this very same thing, until her Negramancy was revealed, and her corporation and the Dampener itself was taken over by Entertech, who sold it exclusively to SOC. When a large cache of Dampener is freely distributed to an ad hoc Selfer militia during Breach Zone, it reveals that the SOC's training(at least in magic) is merely a placebo/brainwashing program - they immediately begin performing acts before only seen by SOC "Sorcerors". | |
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Ax-Crazy | |
| Shadow Ops / int_2d4fa515 | comment |
Ax-Crazy: Scylla. Breach Zone eventually reveals that early versions of Limbic Dampener caused mental degradation, and she was pretty much mainlining that at six times the regular dosage to hide her magic. It ultimately was responsible for her snapping when she was arrested and killing hundreds of people. | |
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Psycho for Hire | |
| Shadow Ops / int_2d6f00e4 | comment |
Psycho for Hire: The Sculptor, a SOC Physiomancer who has no issues with using Rending to torture information out of people. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_2dae4381 | type |
My Master, Right or Wrong | |
| Shadow Ops / int_2dae4381 | comment |
My Master, Right or Wrong: Harlequin's opinion on the SOC. But when President Walsh essentially orders that there be no rescue attempt for FOB Frontier until after the next election (in eight months!) to avoid the horrible press that would result, Harlequin decides that he's had enough. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_319e4a2f | type |
Even Evil Has Standards | |
| Shadow Ops / int_319e4a2f | comment |
Even Sociopathic Soldiers Have Standards: Harlequin is an eager SOC hardliner who genuinely enjoys hazing recalcitrant trainees, killing rebel magic users as well as any mundanes who dare to aid them, and combat in general. However, when President Walsh orders him to abandon FOB Frontier to die, he frees Bookbinder and Britton with no strings attached and begs them to help rescue the base - despite the inevitable political fallout that could almost certainly lead to civil war. Breach Zone is largely from his perspective, and it shows how far he's come with regards to those standards, especially when he looks at soldiers who hide behind the excuse of having to follow orders. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_330a3b9c | type |
Differently Powered Individual | |
| Shadow Ops / int_330a3b9c | comment |
Differently Powered Individual: Humans who can use magic are called "Latents". Latents who manifest in one of the Prohibited schools are called "Probes". Any Latent who refuses to surrender to the military is termed a "Selfer." | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_33c99c49 | type |
Might Makes Right | |
| Shadow Ops / int_33c99c49 | comment |
Might Makes Right: The only difference between SOC and the Selfers. The SOC has mind-stabilizing drugs, state-of-the-art weapons, and most importantly, the US Armed Forces' tried-and-true methods of turning teenage dropouts into skilled killers. "Skill Beats Will." And the drugs were stolen by the SOC explicitly to enforce Might Makes Right - see Mega Corp above. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_34dcfc96 | type |
Kick the Dog | |
| Shadow Ops / int_34dcfc96 | comment |
Kick the Dog: When Scylla escapes, the first thing she does is kill Salamander, then dozens of other SOC soldiers nearby. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_36c94bed | type |
Person of Mass Destruction | |
| Shadow Ops / int_36c94bed | comment |
Person of Mass Destruction: Scylla. When others are talking about her, they say that she killed about twenty or thirty people the last time she got loose. When Britton sets her free, she destroys the entire FOB perimeter defenses, killing hundreds of people, with about as much trouble as crushing ants. Later on, she reveals that she can apply her Negramancy to the barriers between dimensions, allowing her to make gates from Earth to the Source. Britton is one as well, once he fully understands how to use his powers. Between instant teleportation to wherever he wants to go, the ease by which he can Portal Cut (see below), insane mobility, and the ability to use his gates as shields and means to attack from unexpected directions, he can cause tremendous destruction with just a bit of creativity. Most Probes in general, as Whispering, Necromancy, and Elemental Conjuration effectively allow them to field entire armies at the drop of a hat. Which is why they are Prohibited schools in the first place. When discussing just what he is, the zombified Schweitzer points to himself and says "new nuke." When he goes rogue, the incident is classified as "Javelin Rain," the in-universe codename for what we call an Empty Quiver. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_39488ea5 | type |
Mutant Draft Board | |
| Shadow Ops / int_39488ea5 | comment |
Mutant Draft Board: All Latents who manifest are required to report in and given the choice of imprisonment or military service. Latents who run, or Probes (anyone who manifests in a Prohibited School or uses a legal school in a prohibited way) are killed. Okay, that's not right. Probes are recruited, end of story. They aren't allowed to accept imprisonment or to be killed; those who are too recalcitrant are lobotomized and forced into service anyway. Latents who run get the same treatment if capturing them is possible; SOC doesn't kill Latents unless they have no other choice. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_3a1c2171 | type |
The Man Behind the Man | |
| Shadow Ops / int_3a1c2171 | comment |
The Man Behind the Man: The black-skinned demonic entities known as Gahe (or Black Mountain Gods) who appear to be behind both the suddenly-violent magic-wielding Native American rebels in the US southwest, and also seem to be backing the more violent Goblin Defender tribes. Their precise motivations and purpose are unclear up until Breach Zone, where it is revealed that they consider the various Native American tribes to be their "children" and are fighting to protect them. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_42846e90 | type |
Elemental Powers | |
| Shadow Ops / int_42846e90 | comment |
Elemental Powers: Four of the five legal schools fall under the classical elements. Pyromancy: Shoot, create, and controlling fire. The only real use this power has is creating flames, unlike the other elements. Allows for the creation of fire elementals. Hydromancy: Controlling water and other liquids. Hydromancers can also remove or add heat to water, generating steam or ice. Allows for the creation of water or ice elementals. Terramancy: Controlling earth, dirt, rocks, etc. Also allows the terramancer to control plants and animals (although the latter use is Prohibited). Allows for the creation of earth elementals. Aeromancy: Allows for flight, generation of wind, and creation of lightning. Skilled Aeromancers can control the weather and create lightning and air elementals. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_48414e75 | type |
The Beastmaster | |
| Shadow Ops / int_48414e75 | comment |
The Beastmaster: "Whispering," an illegal application of terramancy, allows for control of animals. This control is also very extreme, overriding the animal's natural instincts and thoughts and turning them into remote-controlled killing machines. Taken to horrifying levels in Breach Zone, where a group of goblin Terramancers unleash all of the rats and pigeons in New York City on the human defenders. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_4ef62a4d | type |
Full-Circle Revolution | |
| Shadow Ops / int_4ef62a4d | comment |
However, this also applies in that the new President is no different from Walsh. As a fellow investor in Entertech, he refuses to change anything. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_4ef92d0b | type |
The Atoner | |
| Shadow Ops / int_4ef92d0b | comment |
The Atoner: Britton spends much of Fortress Frontier trying to make amends for his mistakes in Control Point. Harlequin spends much of Breach Zone trying to make up for his own actions in Fortress Frontier. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_4f3e5420 | type |
Biomanipulation | |
| Shadow Ops / int_4f3e5420 | comment |
Biomanipulation: Physiomancers can heal themselves or others with a touch or even at range. They can also do things like boost their musculature and bone density to Liefeldian degrees and manifest huge bone spikes (as seen in Gemini Cell) or warp themselves into a Blob Monster as seen in Control Point. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_504a1991 | type |
Body Horror | |
| Shadow Ops / int_504a1991 | comment |
Body Horror: Physiomancy allows one to shape flesh to heal. It also allows one to engage in "Rending" which involves shaping flesh and living tissue to harm or kill. Late in Control Point, Shadow Coven has to fight a Physiomancer who does this to her own body, making a nearly unkillable Blob Monster. One Selfer gang, the Mexican-based Limpiados, deliberately do this to themselves, giving them skull-like faces and twisted bodies. The physiomancer that Schwietzer fights in Gemini Cell does things like turning his arm into a giant bone blade, use his own ribs as impaling tools and extend his neck tenfold. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_50ed1af4 | type |
Our Demons Are Different | |
| Shadow Ops / int_50ed1af4 | comment |
Our Demons Are Different: Two known types: the Gahe, which are demonic beings revered by the Mescalero rebels as "Black Mountain Gods" who can Flash Step and are apparently made of icy-cold smoke. The second type are the Agni Danav, which are huge, flaming bull-like creatures who mark their territory by creating erupting volcanoes around it. | |
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| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_50ed1af4 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_524f397c | type |
Madden Into Misanthropy | |
| Shadow Ops / int_524f397c | comment |
Harlequin was once in love with Grace, who was Madden Into Misanthropy and became Scylla. As a result, he went into full-on My Country, Right or Wrong until Walsh tried to abandon FOB Frontier to save his own ass. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_524f397c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_524f397c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_524f397c | |
| Shadow Ops / int_537b4ea | type |
Snake People | |
| Shadow Ops / int_537b4ea | comment |
Snake People: The naga, which appear as enormous creatures with snake-like lower bodies, humanoid torsos, many humanlike arms, and multiple snake heads. They're a particularly arrogant lot, viewing humans as children who need to be governed properly. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_537b4ea | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_537b4ea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_537b4ea | |
| Shadow Ops / int_537dd8fe | type |
Affably Evil | |
| Shadow Ops / int_537dd8fe | comment |
Affably Evil: Scylla. In Fortress Frontier is is revealed that she was actually a corporate executive, right up until her powers Manifested and she was taken down by a SOC unit. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_537dd8fe | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_537dd8fe | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_537dd8fe | |
| Shadow Ops / int_53bb70b2 | type |
Flashback | |
| Shadow Ops / int_53bb70b2 | comment |
Gemini Cell defends the idea at one point, when Schweitzer says that the same person can't be both the blade and the hand that wields it, because that's how you get juntas and military coups. Of course, this is said in a Flash Back to a conversation Schweitzer had with his wife just before the mission where he was purposefully sent to die so he could be resurrected as a zombie supersoldier; refusing responsibility for one's life means others will do as they please with it — including throwing it away if they see no more use for it... | |
| Shadow Ops / int_53bb70b2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_53bb70b2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_53bb70b2 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_542b8e66 | type |
Bad Powers, Bad People | |
| Shadow Ops / int_542b8e66 | comment |
Bad Powers, Bad People: Scylla is completely batshit insane, and her powers of Negramancy are some of the most powerful and terrifying in the entire series, capable of instantly destroying any object known, killing any living thing and even rotting holes in reality itself. Fitzy is a general asshole to everyone, even before he starts getting drunk. He also wields powerful fire magic. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_542b8e66 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_542b8e66 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_542b8e66 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_554063c6 | type |
If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him! | |
| Shadow Ops / int_554063c6 | comment |
If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Pretty much Britton's argument when he talks Swift out of killing a helpless Harlequin for executing his pregnant girlfriend. Selfers kill for power, and the SOC does the same. Britton wants to be something better. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_554063c6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_554063c6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_554063c6 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_558245a7 | type |
Redshirt Army | |
| Shadow Ops / int_558245a7 | comment |
Redshirt Army: Regular Army troops, SOC assault troops, and NYPD SWAT Teams all get this treatment. Harlequin even explicitly describes Britton's Army unit as something that will "just get in my way" at the beginning. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_558245a7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_558245a7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_558245a7 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_571a3c67 | type |
Power Incontinence | |
| Shadow Ops / int_571a3c67 | comment |
Power Incontinence: Newly-manifesting Latents cannot control their powers, and if their emotions get out of control they can cause massive destruction. Drawing too much magical power can cause a magic-user to "go nova" and kill themselves. One of the worst examples is Wavesign, who can't control his hydromancy. Subverted. He's fully in control, he's just hiding it as an SOC plant inside the SASS. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_571a3c67 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_571a3c67 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_571a3c67 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_57b80b45 | type |
Fantastic Racism | |
| Shadow Ops / int_57b80b45 | comment |
Fantastic Racism: Normal humans toward Latents, humans and Latents toward Probes, and humans in general toward Goblins. The Caliphate, a fundamentalist Islamic superstate that sprung up in the Middle East and Europe, takes this to extremes: all Latents, no matter who they are, are to be killed on sight due to the Caliphate's strict interpretation of the Qur'an. This leads to frequent and violent riots and fighting between Caliphate military-police and Latents who call themselves the "djiin-born''. The goblin Defenders believe all humans are "walking dead" and equate them with zombies, because they are separated from the Source. Thus they have no qualms with killing every non-Latent human they see. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_57b80b45 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_57b80b45 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_57b80b45 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5890b975 | type |
One Person, One Power | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5890b975 | comment |
One Person, One Power: One person can only manifest a single school, except for the fact that everyone with powers can also suppress the powers of others if they bother to learn how. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5890b975 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5890b975 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_5890b975 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5989e3b6 | type |
Enemy Mine | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5989e3b6 | comment |
Enemy Mine: The climax of Breach Zone involves a massive combined force of Selfers united behind Oscar Britton and US military, NYPD, and SOC Sorcerers united behind Harlequin, all supported by a legion of undead summoned by Truelove and even a small army of Los Zetas cartel Selfers and a bunch of angry New Yorkers all teaming up to bring the fight to Scylla. Even Entertech, the MegaCorp directly responsible for much of the legislation that caused the whole thing to begin with, gets in on the action by supplying Britton's Selfers with Limbic Dampener to make them as effective as the SOC. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5989e3b6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5989e3b6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_5989e3b6 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_59f47557 | type |
Vicious Cycle | |
| Shadow Ops / int_59f47557 | comment |
Vicious Cycle: An underlying theme. Uncontrolled Latents cause widespread destruction through their wild and violent powers. Laws are passed to strictly and harshly regulate them to protect society. Selfers oppressed by these laws and terrified of what might be done to them run or fight back, necessitating harsher laws and more heavy-handed military policing to control them, which pushes the Selfers to greater acts of desperate violence to escape what is essentially a choice between slavery or execution....the process continues until someone like Britton chooses to break the system. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_59f47557 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_59f47557 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_59f47557 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5e111c91 | type |
Uncle Pennybags | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5e111c91 | comment |
Scylla was once a Richard Branson-like Aunt Pennybags who secretly triggered in a prohibited school and spent billions developing Limbic Dampener, which she intended to distribute at cost. Entertech exposed her so they could steal it from her, along with her Fiction 500 company, as part of their ongoing plans to turn Latents into a slave race. This, along with her abuse of the drug to hide her abilities, turned her into a Latent-supremacist who believed that "normals" would only treat her fairly if she forced them to. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5e111c91 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_5e111c91 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_5e111c91 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_617f0563 | type |
Heel–Face Turn | |
| Shadow Ops / int_617f0563 | comment |
Heel–Face Turn: Harlequin in Fortress Frontier, once he realizes how corrupt and self-serving President Walsh is. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_617f0563 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_617f0563 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_617f0563 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_61b8f9e2 | type |
Bunny-Ears Lawyer | |
| Shadow Ops / int_61b8f9e2 | comment |
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: The members of Shadow Coven are only permitted to live because their prohibited powers are extremely rare and powerful. Scylla, despite being a psychotic lunatic convinced that magic-users are superior to regular humans and who can kill hundreds without much effort, is kept alive and contained because her powers are just that valuable. Britton eventually learns that the SOC intends to lobotomize her to make her controllable. Britton takes advantage of this during the final confrontation with Harlequin. Harlequin is trying to subdue Britton without killing him because they want his gate-forming powers. This lets Britton lure him into a trap when he jumps off the side of a building. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_61b8f9e2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_61b8f9e2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_61b8f9e2 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_63557923 | type |
Death World | |
| Shadow Ops / int_63557923 | comment |
Death World: The Source. Legions of hostile goblins, giant birds, casowary-analogues that shoot massive sonic-booms, and demonic, violent horses that imitate the cries of their victims right before killing them are just the start. There's also titantic multilegged river crocodiles, actual dragons, the Agni Danav - a hostile race of burning, demonic bull-headed beasts who lay claim to regions by erupting volcanoes over their territory - and the Gahe smoke demon creatures. And this is just a small sampling of the monsters roaming the Source. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_63557923 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_63557923 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_63557923 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6375f746 | type |
Drill Sergeant Nasty | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6375f746 | comment |
Drill Sergeant Nasty: Chief Warrant Officer Fitzsimmons, aka "Fitzy", is one of the nastier sorts. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6375f746 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6375f746 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_6375f746 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_65e33518 | type |
Lethal Harmless Powers | |
| Shadow Ops / int_65e33518 | comment |
Lethal Harmless Powers: Whispering lets the magic user control animals. Getting swarmed by thousands of enraged rats, spiders, and other tiny animals is very lethal. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_65e33518 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_65e33518 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_65e33518 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_67e9df66 | type |
Empty Quiver | |
| Shadow Ops / int_67e9df66 | comment |
When discussing just what he is, the zombified Schweitzer points to himself and says "new nuke." When he goes rogue, the incident is classified as "Javelin Rain," the in-universe codename for what we call an Empty Quiver. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_67e9df66 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_67e9df66 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_67e9df66 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_680bb6b1 | type |
Hot-Blooded | |
| Shadow Ops / int_680bb6b1 | comment |
Hot-Blooded: Britton generally makes his decisions in the heat of the moment, out of fear for himself or his allies. This is his biggest flaw, and results in a lot of the damage he accidentally inflicts on everyone around him. At the same time, it also leads to some of his most spectacular moments of heroism, such as holding off an entire fortress of Goblins by himself to save the crew of his helicopter. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_680bb6b1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_680bb6b1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_680bb6b1 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6c553873 | type |
Private Military Contractors | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6c553873 | comment |
Private Military Contractors: All the members of Shadow coven are technically mercenary contractors working for a corporation called Entertech. In reality, they're effectively conscripts who only get to remain relatively free as long as they work for the SOC. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6c553873 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6c553873 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_6c553873 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6edd96b8 | type |
Making a Splash | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6edd96b8 | comment |
Hydromancy: Controlling water and other liquids. Hydromancers can also remove or add heat to water, generating steam or ice. Allows for the creation of water or ice elementals. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6edd96b8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_6edd96b8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_6edd96b8 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_723be11b | type |
Villain Has a Point | |
| Shadow Ops / int_723be11b | comment |
Villain Has a Point: Scylla was completely correct that the government wouldn't voluntarily allow Latents their freedom. She was equally correct that they would never change the laws as Britton demanded, as the government was firmly in Entertech's pocket. Attempting to take over America with an army of genocidal goblins, Gahe and Selfers isn't really much better, but the threat she poses forces Entertech to surrender its Limbic Dampener stockpiles and eventually permit the government to play ball with Britton and his rebels. Without the threat of Scylla to bring them to the table, the military-industrial complex would have never let Latents be free. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_723be11b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_723be11b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_723be11b | |
| Shadow Ops / int_734632b0 | type |
Noble Bigot | |
| Shadow Ops / int_734632b0 | comment |
Noble Bigot: Jawid isn't a bad guy, but he has a very skewed view of relationships between men and women. Having had sex with Dadou, he thinks that she's his wife, and thus his property to have sex with as he pleases. This mistake gets him killed. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_734632b0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_734632b0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_734632b0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_73c47823 | type |
Military Superhero | |
| Shadow Ops / int_73c47823 | comment |
Military Superhero: Britton is probably the only person in the SOC who might be considered one, as the rest are violent Punch Clock Villains at best and sociopaths at worst. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_73c47823 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_73c47823 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_73c47823 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_74150406 | type |
Depleted Phlebotinum Shells | |
| Shadow Ops / int_74150406 | comment |
Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: One of Bookbinder's tricks, allowing him to pull the magic out of Latents and infuse bullets with that element. This later proves essential to defeating the Gahe in Breach Zone. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_74150406 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_74150406 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_74150406 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7464705c | type |
Arc Words | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7464705c | comment |
Arc Words: "Skill Beats Will." Latents with SOC training are better killers than Selfers. Interestingly, the author himself disagrees with this; in his words, And in the end, he justifies this with the true capabilities of Limbic Dampener - when it is given to otherwise untrained Latents, they immediately gain control and power comparable to the SOC's "Sorcerors". "Skill beats Will" only applies because the government monopolizes Limbic Dampener. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7464705c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7464705c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_7464705c | |
| Shadow Ops / int_75c952bf | type |
Our Presidents Are Different | |
| Shadow Ops / int_75c952bf | comment |
Our Presidents Are Different: President Walsh, the current US President, is a combination of President Corrupt and President Jerkass. In his brief scene with Harlequin in Fortress Frontier, he makes it clear that he believes that the corrupt, hypocritical, and brutal treatment of magic by the SOC is the only way to properly control magic users, and also essentially condemns FOB Frontier to being overrun by Goblins because a rescue attempt would result in a massive secrecy breach about FOB Frontier and the use of Probes, which would all but doom his reelection chances. On top of that, he issues a not-so-subtle order to Harlequin to execute Bookbinder if he doesn't cooperate. Needless to say, Harlequin takes all of this...poorly. And as of Breach Point, Walsh has been impeached and is on trial for his actions relating to Shadow Coven and FOB Frontier. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_75c952bf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_75c952bf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_75c952bf | |
| Shadow Ops / int_77586b1c | type |
Spirit World | |
| Shadow Ops / int_77586b1c | comment |
Spirit World: The Source, which is an alternate reality where all sorts of monsters come from. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_77586b1c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_77586b1c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_77586b1c | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7913eb6f | type |
Healing Hands | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7913eb6f | comment |
Healing Hands: Healing Physiomancy involves this. Most of the time it is painless, but when the physiomancer is asked to do something very complex like extract the Explosive Leash from Britton's heart the pain involved can be lethal by itself. Hydromancy is nowhere as effective as physiomancy, but it does allow a hydromancer to treat burn victims, which are quite common injuries where the SOC is involved. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7913eb6f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7913eb6f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_7913eb6f | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7969f21e | type |
No One Gets Left Behind | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7969f21e | comment |
No One Gets Left Behind: Britton refusing to leave anyone behind during the botched recon mission to one of the Goblin camps. Fitzsimmons gets infuriated when Britton risks his life to save him, because Britton is too valuable - not just as a weapon, but as one of the only two people who can open portals back to Earth. Especially since the other is a lobotomized teenager. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7969f21e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7969f21e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_7969f21e | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7a19a69b | type |
Not Quite the Right Thing | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7a19a69b | comment |
Not Quite the Right Thing: Yes, Scylla was imprisoned wrongfully and unjustly, and she was about to face worse from the SOC, but by the time of the book she had gone completely insane. When Britton freed her, the first thing she started doing was killing people, including innocent soldiers. There wasn't a good option in this case, but Britton definitely chose the wrong one. It worked out in his favor in the end, but he hadn't planned that. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7a19a69b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7a19a69b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_7a19a69b | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7a555627 | type |
Honest Corporate Executive | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7a555627 | comment |
Honest Corporate Executive: Grace Lyons, humanitarian billionaire who seeks to end the Selfer problem by developing and distributing Limbic Dampener at cost. and also a Negramancer who eventually becomes Scylla. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7a555627 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7a555627 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_7a555627 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7bcdd204 | type |
Good Powers, Bad People | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7bcdd204 | comment |
Good Powers, Bad People: Any physiomancer using Rending, like the lunatic loose in the NYC sewers. There's also the head SOC medic, who is only a doctor in the most technical terms, as he spends most of his time cutting up bodies in the labs and administering lobotomies to Latents who don't behave, and is generally an entitled jackass who has to be bribed to use his physiomancy powers to actually heal someone. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7bcdd204 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7bcdd204 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_7bcdd204 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7fbb2a3 | type |
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7fbb2a3 | comment |
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Britton tends to cause as much trouble as he fixes, starting with accidentally dumping his father and a police officer into the Source, getting the latter killed with uncontrolled gates, and culminating in letting Scylla loose. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7fbb2a3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_7fbb2a3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_7fbb2a3 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_81f909f2 | type |
Dishing Out Dirt | |
| Shadow Ops / int_81f909f2 | comment |
Terramancy: Controlling earth, dirt, rocks, etc. Also allows the terramancer to control plants and animals (although the latter use is Prohibited). Allows for the creation of earth elementals. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_81f909f2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_81f909f2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_81f909f2 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8204a6ad | type |
The Magic Versus Technology War | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8204a6ad | comment |
The Magic Versus Technology War: The conflict between the SOC inside the Source and the Goblin "Defender" tribes. The Caliphate is engaged in a magic vs. technology civil war because their interpretation of Islamic law holds that anyone with magical abilities is to be executed immediately, resulting in constant running battles between government military-police and the "djiin-born" rebels. Becomes a full-on urban war in Breach Zone when Scylla leads her army into Manhattan itself. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8204a6ad | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8204a6ad | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_8204a6ad | |
| Shadow Ops / int_85f0963f | type |
Psycho Serum | |
| Shadow Ops / int_85f0963f | comment |
Psycho Serum: The early versions of Limbic Dampener crippled emotions and empathy with repeated use. This is a major part of what turned Grace Lyons into Scylla. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_85f0963f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_85f0963f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_85f0963f | |
| Shadow Ops / int_86ba007a | type |
Bad Powers, Good People | |
| Shadow Ops / int_86ba007a | comment |
Bad Powers, Good People: Britton's powers are considered a prohibited school because of their destructive potential, but ultimately he's a good guy at heart. Truelove is a Necromancer, and one of the nicest and friendliest guys you'll meet. Therese technically counts, as she used a "bad" application of Physiomancy in the form of rending, but is otherwise a kind person who just wants to heal people. Before she became Scylla, Grace Lyons was a perfectly benign person who used her wealth to fund many humanitarian projects and research, and was planning on using Limbic Dampener help mankind. And she also had the power of Negramancy. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_86ba007a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_86ba007a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_86ba007a | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8930448 | type |
Soldier vs. Warrior | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8930448 | comment |
Soldier vs. Warrior: Part of the "Skill Beats Will" theme is that trained SOC Sorcerers will easily take down wild-and-free Selfers with their training and military precision. Actually, this is a false dichotomy. What allows the Selfers to be the soldiers here is the Limbic Dampener drug. With access to the drug's control, Selfers are every bit as capable and dangerous as Sorcerers. Explored heavily in Gemini Cell, as Schweitzer (a trained SEAL operator and soldier) is psychically linked to the ghost of an ancient Mesopotamian warrior. Ninip is constantly amazed at how well "footmen" can kill, and repeatedly has to take lessons from the trained Operator in how to most effectively remove obstacles and threats. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8930448 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8930448 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_8930448 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8976acda | type |
Civil War | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8976acda | comment |
Civil War: The USA is experiencing one in the American Southwest between the federal government and Native American tribes, which appears to be backed by some kind of demonic entities from within the Source. The Caliphate is experiencing one between normal humans and the "djiin-born." | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8976acda | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8976acda | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_8976acda | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8b385e6a | type |
Origin Story | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8b385e6a | comment |
Origin Story: Control Point comes off as this for Britton and his companions in general. Fortress Frontier is one for Bookbinder. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8b385e6a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8b385e6a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_8b385e6a | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8b92d7d5 | type |
Magic Is a Monster Magnet | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8b92d7d5 | comment |
Magic Is a Monster Magnet: Gates to the Source have a tendency to attract hostile beasts. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8b92d7d5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8b92d7d5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_8b92d7d5 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8f8b59c1 | type |
Inhumanable Alien Rights | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8f8b59c1 | comment |
Inhumanable Alien Rights: The McGrauer-Linden Act effectively makes Latents into legal slaves beholden to work for the US government, and choosing to not serve the government is considered a crime akin to reckless endangerment, leading to these Latents being labeled "Selfers" because they choose themselves over the greater good of the country. The real legality of this is discussed in the books, and Supreme Court cases are ongoing regarding it (brought up by families of Latents because the Latents themselves are in no position to sue) but it is generally accepted by the government in spite of the fact that it blatantly violates the Constitution, because Entertech and the military greatly benefit from a ready supply of superpowered slaves and indoctrinated superpowered soldiers. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8f8b59c1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_8f8b59c1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_8f8b59c1 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9136471a | type |
Our Goblins Are Different | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9136471a | comment |
Our Goblins Are Different: Goblins are natives of the Source who are far more likely to turn up Latent. They resemble small humanoids with enormous heads, pointy ears, and long noses. They are split between Defender tribes which react violently to human incursion, and Embracer tribes, which welcome humans. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9136471a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9136471a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_9136471a | |
| Shadow Ops / int_91df9d19 | type |
Military Coup | |
| Shadow Ops / int_91df9d19 | comment |
Military Coup: In the climax of Breach Zone, Harlequin is forced to agree to turn the SOC against the US government and force them to agree to grant rights to Latents, in exchange for Britton finally agreeing to lead Shadow Coven and the Selfer militias against Scylla. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_91df9d19 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_91df9d19 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_91df9d19 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_91e3f284 | type |
Military Mage | |
| Shadow Ops / int_91e3f284 | comment |
Military Mage: Any person who "manifests" (i.e. gains magic powers) is required by law to join the SOC, a branch of the United States military. Those that manifest in a forbidden school of magic end up as military contractors. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_91e3f284 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_91e3f284 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_91e3f284 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_950bbfa7 | type |
Take a Third Option | |
| Shadow Ops / int_950bbfa7 | comment |
Take a Third Option: Britton eventually does this after realizing Selfers and SOC aren't that different - both kill to enforce their will, the SOC are just better killers. His solution is a return to his original ethics as a non-magical soldier - the first step being "Don't Kill If You Don't Have To"; convincing Swift to spare a helpless Harlequin. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_950bbfa7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_950bbfa7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_950bbfa7 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_96fbeaf | type |
There Are No Therapists | |
| Shadow Ops / int_96fbeaf | comment |
There Are No Therapists: The Covens are a Dysfunction Junction of Shell-Shocked Veteran Child Soldiers. A few good therapists could have prevented the entire plot. Problem is, a therapist could do absolutely bupkis under SOC operational standards - psychological stability and chattel slavery are pretty much mutually exclusive. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_96fbeaf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_96fbeaf | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_96fbeaf | |
| Shadow Ops / int_970c790a | type |
Big Bad | |
| Shadow Ops / int_970c790a | comment |
Scylla, the lunatic Negramancer who, by the time of Fortress Frontier, has taken control of the Gahe which are backing both the Mescalero rebellion and the Goblin Defenders. By Breach Zone she's fully taken over as the Big Bad. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_970c790a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_970c790a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_970c790a | |
| Shadow Ops / int_984ef9ef | type |
"Not So Different" Remark | |
| Shadow Ops / int_984ef9ef | comment |
"Not So Different" Remark: In the end, Britton realizes that this is the case with the Selfers and the SOC - both kill to enforce their will, neither have any care for innocent people caught in the crossfire, and the SOC are simply better killers. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_984ef9ef | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_984ef9ef | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_984ef9ef | |
| Shadow Ops / int_99298c71 | type |
Better to Die than Be Killed | |
| Shadow Ops / int_99298c71 | comment |
Better to Die than Be Killed: At the end of Breach Zone, Scylla opts to commit suicide when the massive combined force overwhelms the invading army. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_99298c71 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_99298c71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_99298c71 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9976945 | type |
Psychic Surgery | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9976945 | comment |
Psychic Surgery: Physiomancy is essentially this. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9976945 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9976945 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_9976945 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_99db72ee | type |
Immune to Bullets | |
| Shadow Ops / int_99db72ee | comment |
Immune to Bullets: Gahe are completely immune to conventional firearms. Only magic, or magically-infused bullets like the kind Bookbinder can make can harm them. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_99db72ee | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_99db72ee | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_99db72ee | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9bcd82c0 | type |
Took a Level in Badass | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9bcd82c0 | comment |
Took a Level in Badass: In Fortress Frontier, Bookbinder goes from being a J1 admin officer who never fired a weapon in his life at the start of the book to pretty much being Patton reincarnated by the end, even managing to kill a Gahe with nothing but a spear and some stolen magic. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9bcd82c0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9bcd82c0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_9bcd82c0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9bff7822 | type |
Conflict Killer | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9bff7822 | comment |
Conflict Killer: Scylla to the Selfer/SOC conflict. Her invasion of New York proves to the powers-that-be that the Awakening has brought with it threats that only Latents can solve, so they have to provide them with freedom and equal rights or fall to those threats. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9bff7822 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9bff7822 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_9bff7822 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9c1f758a | type |
Kill It with Fire | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9c1f758a | comment |
Kill It with Fire: How Britton manages to take out the Blob Monster Physiomancer in the New York sewers. He essentially opens a gate to the SASS, and has one of the most powerful pyromancers cut loose through the gate to burn it down. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9c1f758a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9c1f758a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_9c1f758a | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9e2c893 | type |
Black Magic | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9e2c893 | comment |
Black Magic: Referred to as Negramancy, which is the power of entropy and rot. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9e2c893 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9e2c893 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_9e2c893 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9e943076 | type |
One-Man Army | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9e943076 | comment |
One-Man Army: Shadow Coven is explicitly described as being made up of magic users who fill this role. Downer can create countless elementals that act on their own, Truelove can animate any dead body, Richards can control entire legions of animals, and Britton's gate abilities give him incredible destructive potential and mobility. Downer in Breach Zone practically holds entire barricades from whole armies of monsters singlehandedly with her elementals. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9e943076 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_9e943076 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_9e943076 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a1b141f4 | type |
My God, What Have I Done? | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a1b141f4 | comment |
My God, What Have I Done?: Britton's reaction when he thinks he's killed his father and later when he lets Scylla loose. Harlequin goes through this over the course of Breach Zone. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a1b141f4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a1b141f4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_a1b141f4 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a27c0c2c | type |
Artistic License – Religion | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a27c0c2c | comment |
Artistic License – Religion: The series takes... liberties regarding depicting Apache religions, depicting them as worshipping the gahe shadowy demon-like creatures. Hinduism is also treated inaccurately with Hindus worshipping nagas, and apparently having Sikhs worshipping the same beings (which would be akin to having a Christian or Muslim worshipping Odin). | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a27c0c2c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a27c0c2c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_a27c0c2c | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a44cd048 | type |
Meet the New Boss | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a44cd048 | comment |
Meet the New Boss: When President Walsh is impeached for the use of illegal magic, his Vice President immediately commits to keeping the old mage-control system in place. This is what convinces Britton that the only answer is forcing SOC to support what amounts to a military coup; the rule of law isn't going to get him anywhere. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a44cd048 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a44cd048 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_a44cd048 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a4ed127f | type |
Muggle Power | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a4ed127f | comment |
Muggle Power: Half the terrible things in the series are the result of a mix of fear and greed convincing the US Government and corporate interests that magic must be strictly controlled, no matter the cost. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a4ed127f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a4ed127f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_a4ed127f | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a4f2570d | type |
Muggles | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a4f2570d | comment |
Muggles: Nonmagical humans, which make up the majority of the human population. Scylla views them as little more than cattle and slaves to Latents. Understandable and perhaps even justified, given how she spent the first years of the Awakening attempting to solve the problem scientifically only for mundane government to rob her blind and make her a slave. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a4f2570d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a4f2570d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_a4f2570d | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5a4c9a2 | type |
Majorly Awesome | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5a4c9a2 | comment |
Majorly Awesome: Major Jan Thorsson aka Harlequin. Even Britton, who dislikes him, admits he is impressive. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5a4c9a2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5a4c9a2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_a5a4c9a2 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5a6d7b3 | type |
Mutants | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5a6d7b3 | comment |
Mutants: Deliberately done by los Limpiados, who were forced into the sewers of Mexico. Many of the tribe adopted nonhuman attributes and mutations (chiefly pale skin and skin-altered tattoos, but a lot of others as well) through Physiomancy, embracing a sort of Morlock aesthetic. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5a6d7b3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5a6d7b3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_a5a6d7b3 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5f998ea | type |
Stockholm Syndrome | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5f998ea | comment |
Stockholm Syndrome: SOC's preferred method of recruiting Latents. Hold out too long and they'll lobotomize you. Britton almost succumbs to it due to his pre-Latency life as a US soldier, but breaks free easily once he realizes that the similarities between the SOC and the Army are superficial - where the Army's purpose is to protect the defenseless, SOC's purpose is to turn Latents into obedient killing machines. Therese and Swift actively resist the Stockholm treatment, and while Swift never joins SOC, Therese eventually breaks down when the SOC convinces her to help treat wounded in the base's infirmary, which shows her just how much good she can do with her powers. Downer is hit by this so hard that by the time of Fortress Frontier, she willingly goes back to the SOC when given the chance. And then it gets inverted in Breach Zone when her treatment while in SOC custody is rough enough that she outright punches Harlequin in the face when she meets him, and pretty much refuses to go back into their custody. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5f998ea | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a5f998ea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_a5f998ea | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a7aef9ff | type |
Obfuscating Stupidity | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a7aef9ff | comment |
Obfuscating Stupidity: Wavesign. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a7aef9ff | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_a7aef9ff | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_a7aef9ff | |
| Shadow Ops / int_aa8dcc21 | type |
MegaCorp | |
| Shadow Ops / int_aa8dcc21 | comment |
MegaCorp: Entertech, the Halliburton/Blackwater Fictional Counterpart which "employs" the "contractors" of SOC. In Breach Zone, it's revealed that they are essentially the Big Bad of the entire series. Originally thrown together by opportunistic politicians from both parties to exploit loopholes in the Super Registration Act, they became the most powerful corporation in the world by exposing humanitarian billionaire Grace Lyons as a Negramancer and stealing her company - along with the sole rights to produce Limbic Dampener, which she originally planned to distribute at cost. In the process they turn Grace into Scylla. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_aa8dcc21 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_aa8dcc21 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_aa8dcc21 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_aba8065b | type |
Fatal Flaw | |
| Shadow Ops / int_aba8065b | comment |
Fatal Flaw: Britton will do anything to protect his allies. Including monumentally stupid acts like freeing an insane Latent-supremacist with the power to rust and rot everything within her line of sight. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_aba8065b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_aba8065b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_aba8065b | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b1ce5419 | type |
The Brigadier | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b1ce5419 | comment |
The Brigadier: Brigadier General Bookbinder becomes both this and a Four-Star Badass in Breach Zone, after his promotion from being Colonel Badass in the previous book. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b1ce5419 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b1ce5419 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_b1ce5419 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b2280b66 | type |
Retcon | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b2280b66 | comment |
Retcon: The Caliphate mentioned in Control Point appears to have mysteriously vanished as of Breach Zone, with Harlequin even explicitly stating that the only country in the world with harsher laws against Latents than the US is Saudi Arabia. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b2280b66 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b2280b66 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_b2280b66 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b42b7e7b | type |
Moral Myopia | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b42b7e7b | comment |
Moral Myopia: Initially, Britton condemns the SOC for treating Latents as threats to be shot on sight instead of people, but when he manifests a proscribed ability he proceeds to freak out and run, in the process killing two people by accident - one of them being his own father. At this point he has a breakdown over his myopia. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b42b7e7b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b42b7e7b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_b42b7e7b | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b5171e10 | type |
Tragic Villain | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b5171e10 | comment |
Tragic Villain: It's not Scylla's fault that she's a psychopathic Selfer supremacist, but she does have to be taken down for the good of everyone who isn't part of her Selfer gang. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b5171e10 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b5171e10 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_b5171e10 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b6cebad3 | type |
Double Standard | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b6cebad3 | comment |
Double Standard: In-universe, how a Latent is treated depends on who they are. Ordinary people who turn up Latent are conscripted or hunted. Rich people, professional sports players, famous actors, or the children of Senators? They get completely different treatment. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b6cebad3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b6cebad3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_b6cebad3 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b9085a47 | type |
Summon Magic | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b9085a47 | comment |
Summon Magic: Gates can bring hostile, uncontrolled creatures into the Home Plane. Sentient Elemental Conjuration allows a Latent to create active elementals out of local materials or energy that act on their own. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b9085a47 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_b9085a47 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_b9085a47 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ba0e3912 | type |
Power Nullifier | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ba0e3912 | comment |
Power Nullifier: Suppression is a skill available to any Latent that allows them to cut off the magic of other Latents. The US Marines use what are referred to as "Suppression Lances" which are squads of Latents whose sole job is to Suppress enemy magic-users so they can be taken down with conventional weapons. Bookbinder's power is the ability to not simply Suppress someone's magic, but actually rip it out and bind it to an object. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ba0e3912 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ba0e3912 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_ba0e3912 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_bbfaa837 | type |
Knight Templar | |
| Shadow Ops / int_bbfaa837 | comment |
Knight Templar: Fitzy believes that he has to treat Shadow Coven like dangerous, living nuclear weapons because they're too dangerous for regular society. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_bbfaa837 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_bbfaa837 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_bbfaa837 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_bce728ca | type |
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal | |
| Shadow Ops / int_bce728ca | comment |
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: When Downer returns to the SOC voluntarily, the SOC respond by treating her brutally, like a dog where they don't know whether it's rabid or not. This rather neatly breaks her Stockholm Syndrome and her crush on Harlequin, causing her to turn Selfer first chance she gets. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_bce728ca | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_bce728ca | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_bce728ca | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c2299d6e | type |
Cutting the Knot | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c2299d6e | comment |
Cutting the Knot: When conducting a hostage-rescue mission, Britton is confronted with an enemy who is willing to use a bomb vest to kill the hostages, and said bomb vest has a deadman's switch. How does Britton deal with it? He uses a Portal Cut to sever the wire connecting the detonator to the vest. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c2299d6e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c2299d6e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_c2299d6e | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c241adec | type |
Supernatural Sensitivity | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c241adec | comment |
Supernatural Sensitivity: Latents can sense magic in each other. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c241adec | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c241adec | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_c241adec | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c313d43a | type |
True Companions | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c313d43a | comment |
True Companions: A naga and its Bandhav form this sort of bond, with the Bandhav being a chosen human companion serving roughly somewhere between a child and a sibling. Harming a naga's Bandhav is considered as much an affront as harming the naga itself, and the naga will go to great lengths to protect the Bandhav, even shielding them with their own bodies. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c313d43a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c313d43a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_c313d43a | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c3182167 | type |
Golem | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c3182167 | comment |
Golem: Elemental Latents can create these (called "elementals") out of their respective elements, though they are little more than extensions of their creator. Sentient Elemental Conjurers can create self-aware elemental golems assuming the elemental material is available. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c3182167 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_c3182167 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c4240537 | type |
Moral Event Horizon | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c4240537 | comment |
Moral Event Horizon: In-universe, Britton agrees with Swift that Harlequin's murder of Swift's (non-latent!) pregnant girlfriend is unforgivable. Unfortunately, Britton can't let Swift kill Harlequin while he's helpless. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c4240537 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_c4240537 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c4d32b92 | type |
The Dark Arts | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c4d32b92 | comment |
The Dark Arts: Any of the four Prohibited Schools: Negramancy, Portamancy, Necromancy, and Sentient Elemental Conjuration. There's also Rending (the use of Physiomancy to kill) and Whispering (use of Terramancy to control animals). Actually, "prohibited" just means "so valuable that the military will break the rules to get their hands on you." | |
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1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_c4d32b92 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c6655b23 | type |
Fallen Hero | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c6655b23 | comment |
Fallen Hero: Grace Lyons, AKA Scylla. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c6655b23 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_c6655b23 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c868a42a | type |
Freudian Excuse | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c868a42a | comment |
In Breach Zone, his Freudian Excuse is detailed, finally fully humanizing him; He became Grace Lyons' lover while she was developing Limbic Dampener, learned she was a Negramancer, and turned on her at the critical moment, driving her insane, turning her into Scylla, and giving both her and the Dampener monopoly to Entertech. Afterwards, as long as he kept killing and enslaving Latents for the SOC, he didn't have to admit to himself that he committed a monstrous betrayal. Only when Walsh told him to do something even worse - leave hundreds of skilled and dedicated soldiers to die to protect his lie - that he balked. And it still took an ultimatum from Britton for him to go the distance. | |
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1.0 | |
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1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_c868a42a | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c9790040 | type |
Decadent Court | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c9790040 | comment |
Decadent Court: The Naga Raajya is a more subdued example, but they're still an example of this based simply on the opulence of their palace and how they treat their rulers and humans. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_c9790040 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_c9790040 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ca1f9429 | type |
Boxing Lessons for Superman | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ca1f9429 | comment |
Boxing Lessons for Superman: Britton is trained in gate-based martial arts, which is essentially Teleport Spamming. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ca1f9429 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ca1f9429 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_ca1f9429 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_caf89e54 | type |
Taking You with Me | |
| Shadow Ops / int_caf89e54 | comment |
Taking You with Me: One of the Native American rebels tries to use an explosive vest to kill several hostages when Britton and a rescue team come after them. Britton simply uses a gate to cut the cord connecting the detonator to the vest. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_caf89e54 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_caf89e54 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_caf8c66c | type |
The Chains of Commanding | |
| Shadow Ops / int_caf8c66c | comment |
Bookbinder, multiple times, as The Chains of Commanding keep weighing him down. | |
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1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_caf8c66c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_caf8c66c | |
| Shadow Ops / int_cd23ee7d | type |
Colonel Badass | |
| Shadow Ops / int_cd23ee7d | comment |
Colonel Badass: Colonel Alan Bookbinder earns the Badass part during the course of Fortress Frontier. His promotion between books leads to him being a Four-Star Badass in Breach Zone, albeit with only one star. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_cd23ee7d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_cd23ee7d | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce21f442 | type |
Mage Killer | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce21f442 | comment |
Mage Killer: One of the SOC's primary roles. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce21f442 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce21f442 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_ce21f442 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce22183 | type |
Super Registration Act | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce22183 | comment |
Super Registration Act: A core element of the story is how the laws surrounding use of magic affects people, and how just/unjust the legal oppression/conscription of magic-users is. Britton doubts whether it is justified, and steadily shifts to opposing it outright, while Harlequin strongly believes in the necessity of the SOC and controlling magic-users, despite the flaws in the system. | |
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1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce22183 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_ce22183 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce2969d8 | type |
Spiritual Antithesis | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce2969d8 | comment |
Spiritual Antithesis: To Shadowrun. In the RPG, when The Magic Comes Back, Indian tribes drive the government off their ancestral lands with magic and Mega Corps are able to seize power from national governments in the chaos. In Shadow Ops, the military is the first to refine magical power to a fine edge, the US military is among the best in the world, and quickly increase government power by means of "Skill Beats Will." Therefore, the tribes are in an ongoing war to keep the territory, and only holding on due to their willingness to use Black Magic. Corporations have been denied Latent assets at SOC-point - in Fortress Frontier, Scylla is revealed to be a Fortune 500 CEO the SOC snatched up as legally as a loose penny along with her invention, Limbic Dampener, as part of a conspiracy to enslave all Latents. As for Japanese ascendance? They're dependent on American assets for defense, so they probably have to surrender their Latents to the American SOC. China has a healthier economy than America in Shadow Ops because their government shares Latent assets with their corporations. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce2969d8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce2969d8 | featureConfidence |
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| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_ce2969d8 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce555c89 | type |
PostModernMagic | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce555c89 | comment |
Post Modern Magic: When you're manifesting magical gates in order to throw Black Hawk helicopters at people, you know you're in this genre. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce555c89 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce555c89 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_ce555c89 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce70175b | type |
Sociopathic Soldier | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce70175b | comment |
Sociopathic Soldier: Harlequin, the SOV Aeromancer who pursues Britton through the first parts of Control Point is a textbook Type 1; deeply patriotic, convinced of the necessity of his work, and genuinely sure that unregulated Latents are scum who deserve whatever he does to them for running. However, he also genuinely enjoys his work, whether it be killing Selfers or even just hazing reluctant SOC trainees. And neither he nor his superiors have any problem with killing mundanes who give aid and comfort to Selfers: case in point, he killed Swift's pregnant girlfriend without blinking while arresting him and never thought about it again. His viewpoint scenes in Fortress Frontier show Harlequin to be much more sympathetic than Britton's comparatively limited perspective. He does deeply care about his fellow Americans, especially the close-knit group of SOC Sorcerers, and when FOB Frontier is cut off, he comes close to risking his career trying to get help to them. He also starts to question the administration he served so loyally when he learns President Walsh is going to let Frontier rot until after the election because he doesn't want to risk the terrible press that a rescue operation involving a Portamancer would inflict on him. In Breach Zone, his Freudian Excuse is detailed, finally fully humanizing him; He became Grace Lyons' lover while she was developing Limbic Dampener, learned she was a Negramancer, and turned on her at the critical moment, driving her insane, turning her into Scylla, and giving both her and the Dampener monopoly to Entertech. Afterwards, as long as he kept killing and enslaving Latents for the SOC, he didn't have to admit to himself that he committed a monstrous betrayal. Only when Walsh told him to do something even worse - leave hundreds of skilled and dedicated soldiers to die to protect his lie - that he balked. And it still took an ultimatum from Britton for him to go the distance. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce70175b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ce70175b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_ce70175b | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d001c42c | type |
Anti-Villain | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d001c42c | comment |
Anti-Villain: SOC in general. Unregulated Latents, AKA "Selfers", can do horrifying amounts of damage without even trying. When they do try they can kill dozens of people in minutes. Organized ones have held the Southwest for years. However, their method of handling the situation is essentially enslaving and brainwashing children to kill people they don't like. The Goblin "Defender" tribes are simply reacting violently to an invasion by the technologically more-advanced humans. Later on it is revealed that they actually consider humans to be "dead" because they were believed to have separated from the Source in prehistoric times, and that the Defenders consider current humans to be "walking dead." The Native American tribes of the Southwest had a statistically greater number of Latents, and were thus marked for conscription. Instead, they chose to revolt en masse. When SOC formed, their superior skills threatened to win the day, resulting in them allying with the Black Mountain Gods, or Gahe. In the final confrontation of Control Point, Britton has to fight the rest of Shadow Coven as well as Harlequin and a number of SOC redshirts. Scylla. Was naturally a good person, but beta-testing the dangerous Limbic Dampener prototype drove her insane, and her imprisonment left her both insane and with a massive chip on her shoulder. | |
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1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_d001c42c | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d39e327f | type |
What the Hell, Hero? | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d39e327f | comment |
What the Hell, Hero?: Britton gets this from everyone in Fortress Frontier. The first couple of chapters involving him deal almost entirely with him dealing with the reality of the aftermath of his rebellion against the SOC and the destruction of both part of FOB Frontier by releasing Scylla and the killing of Billy. | |
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Shadow Ops / int_d39e327f | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d52d28b6 | type |
Hypocrite | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d52d28b6 | comment |
Hypocrite: Everywhere, and very deliberate. Harlequin in particular and the SOC in general. Harlequin says that the law is immutable and that it gives him and the SOC the authority to carry out his killings of Selfers and Probes, but he and the SOC are all too swift to snap up any Probes they can because of how useful their powers are, up to an including a Person of Mass Destruction like Scylla. The SOC's hypocrisy is half the reason why President Walsh refuses to rescue FOB Frontier. The only way to save the base would require a massive evacuation effort that would demand a Portamancer, which is a Prohibited talent that the SOC has repeatedly denied they use, and they'd have no way to hide that they were using one during such a massive evacuation. Ultimately, the entire system of prosecuting Latents is shown to be one of these, with one quote in Breach Zone calling out America on its hypocrisy. One quote notes that magic is considered haram in Islamic society and Saudi Arabia bans it completely... except that mysterious storms keep consistently dispersing protests in that country.... | |
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Shadow Ops / int_d52d28b6 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d7345a5d | type |
Let No Crisis Go to Waste | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d7345a5d | comment |
Let No Crisis Go to Waste: The Awakening brought chaos to the world, and every nation has expanded their authority to Police State levels to "protect" the Muggles. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d7345a5d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d7345a5d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_d7345a5d | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d8573ef9 | type |
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections! | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d8573ef9 | comment |
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: A running theme in the third book is that you can't have a functioning rule of law if the government has been subverted by a MegaCorp, and attempts to bring about reform within the system will be squashed by people with vested interests. It takes Britton forcing the SOC to illegally commit to supporting reform, which essentially amounts to a coup d'etat, to bring about a new system. | |
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-0.3 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_d8573ef9 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d88e125e | type |
Our Dragons Are Different | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d88e125e | comment |
Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons form mounts for Goblin defenders, though they only seem to be large flying reptiles, with no Breath Weapon. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d88e125e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d88e125e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_d88e125e | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d9ffec82 | type |
Curb-Stomp Battle | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d9ffec82 | comment |
Curbstomp Battle: Britton leading his team against Scylla and her Gahe minions early on in Fortress Frontier. It doesn't end well for them. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_d9ffec82 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_d9ffec82 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_daba19f1 | type |
Portal Cut | |
| Shadow Ops / int_daba19f1 | comment |
Portal Cut: Britton's gates instantly sever any solid material if they manifest over it, or if something is halfway through the gate. This makes him insanely deadly once he knows how to use it. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_daba19f1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_daba19f1 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_db38d6ca | type |
Torture Technician | |
| Shadow Ops / int_db38d6ca | comment |
Torture Technician: The Sculptor's Physiomancy makes him an expert in this. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_db38d6ca | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_db38d6ca | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
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Shadow Ops / int_db38d6ca | |
| Shadow Ops / int_db7c6092 | type |
I Fight for the Strongest Side! | |
| Shadow Ops / int_db7c6092 | comment |
A particularly interesting examination of it, as it is pointed out that following orders is easier than defiance - an attempt to refuse responsibility for actions one takes on behalf of authority. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_db7c6092 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_db7c6092 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dc8ba6d5 | type |
The Scapegoat | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dc8ba6d5 | comment |
The Scapegoat: President Walsh is impeached for running a system of illegal magic use, so that Entertech's system can continue to function exactly as it had under his administration. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dc8ba6d5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dc8ba6d5 | featureConfidence |
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| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_dc8ba6d5 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dca70c44 | type |
Reasonable Authority Figure | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dca70c44 | comment |
Reasonable Authority Figure: Captain Salamander, head of the SASS, which is essentially a prison/school to hold captured Latents in an effort to educate them in controlling their powers and to join the SOC. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dca70c44 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dca70c44 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_dca70c44 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dca97045 | type |
Just Following Orders | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dca97045 | comment |
Just Following Orders: A particularly interesting examination of it, as it is pointed out that following orders is easier than defiance - an attempt to refuse responsibility for actions one takes on behalf of authority. Gemini Cell defends the idea at one point, when Schweitzer says that the same person can't be both the blade and the hand that wields it, because that's how you get juntas and military coups. Of course, this is said in a Flash Back to a conversation Schweitzer had with his wife just before the mission where he was purposefully sent to die so he could be resurrected as a zombie supersoldier; refusing responsibility for one's life means others will do as they please with it — including throwing it away if they see no more use for it... | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dca97045 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dca97045 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_dca97045 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dcbe8a6e | type |
Chekhov's Gunman | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dcbe8a6e | comment |
Chekhov's Gunman: The teenage girl at the start of the book who summons elementals shows up later on at the SOC base in the Source as a part of Shadow Coven. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dcbe8a6e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dcbe8a6e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_dcbe8a6e | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dd963bd3 | type |
Our Giants Are Bigger | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dd963bd3 | comment |
Our Giants Are Bigger: The Goblin Defenders have some kind of massive variant of Goblin that tower a dozen feet tall, and are strong enough they grab Blackhawks or Abrams tank turrets and use them as clubs. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dd963bd3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dd963bd3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_dd963bd3 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dfe120e5 | type |
Functional Magic | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dfe120e5 | comment |
Functional Magic: Pretty much one of the fundamental cornerstones of the series. Magic follows strict, understandable rules, even when its something totally new, like Bookbinder's powers. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dfe120e5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_dfe120e5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_dfe120e5 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e2dae05d | type |
Liberty Over Prosperity | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e2dae05d | comment |
Liberty Over Prosperity: The central theme of the series; in times of crisis, the majority of people will surrender freedom for security... and discover all too late that they've made themselves defenseless before a government that now has absolute power. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e2dae05d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e2dae05d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_e2dae05d | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e3109dae | type |
Switching P.O.V. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e3109dae | comment |
Switching P.O.V.: Introduced in Frontier Fortress. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e3109dae | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e3109dae | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_e3109dae | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e5c64f3f | type |
Shame If Something Happened | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e5c64f3f | comment |
Shame If Something Happened: Britton is given a look at the only other living portomancer, Billy, who was "uncooperative" but deemed useful. The SOC lobotomized him, turning him into a childlike retard who they could use to create gates at will. Though not stated outright, the threat to Britton is made clear. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e5c64f3f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e5c64f3f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_e5c64f3f | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e70127 | type |
The Mole | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e70127 | comment |
The Mole: Wavesign in Control Point. Big Bear in Fortress Frontier. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e70127 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e70127 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_e70127 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e7088fbc | type |
Middle Eastern Coalition | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e7088fbc | comment |
Middle Eastern Coalition: Played with. There's a Caliphate, but it's in an Islamized Europe. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e7088fbc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e7088fbc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_e7088fbc | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e7c671f3 | type |
Mildly Military | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e7c671f3 | comment |
Mildly Military: The SOC has a very... lax definition of the idea of military discipline. SOC troops are allowed to drink on base and in combat zones, their officers will frequently hesitate to immediately follow orders, they show a lack of respect for upper echelons of command, and one unfortunate fellow tried to sleep with one of their on-base prisoners (who happened to be Scylla. It ended poorly). This is, of course, just minor compared with the nastier things they get up to, including abusing indigenous goblin workers, Fitzy's drunken assaults on his own subordinates, and outright torture and execution of prisoners of war. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e7c671f3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_e7c671f3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_e7c671f3 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eaf5a1ac | type |
Groin Attack | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eaf5a1ac | comment |
Groin Attack: When a Pyromancer tries to rape Downer and sets his crotch on fire, she creates fire elementals from it. Ow. On a lesser note, Fitzy seems really fond of doing this to Britton. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eaf5a1ac | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eaf5a1ac | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_eaf5a1ac | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eb81c601 | type |
Big Damn Heroes | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eb81c601 | comment |
Big Damn Heroes: Britton's gate magic lets him specialize in this, and at the climax of Fortress Frontier, he gates in an entire National Guard rapid-response unit to save FOB Frontier, and then turns around and gates in Marty's entire Goblin tribe to save the National Guard. In Breach Zone, Britton does it again, by saving Harlequin from Scylla by gating in a small army of Limpiados. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eb81c601 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eb81c601 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_eb81c601 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eb8ec7c8 | type |
Jerkass | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eb8ec7c8 | comment |
Jerkass: Fitzy is pretty much a titanic asshole, and gets violent when drunk. | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eb8ec7c8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eb8ec7c8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Shadow Ops | hasFeature |
Shadow Ops / int_eb8ec7c8 | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ebcf99b5 | type |
The Unmasqued World | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ebcf99b5 | comment |
The Unmasqued World: While magic is publically known, what's really going on (i.e. US military use of Probes, the nature of the Source, the existence of FOB Frontier) is kept hidden...up until Britton gates onto the White House lawn with the surviving SOC troops at the end of Control Point. While the government hurries to do damage control over this, the climax of Fortress Frontier involves Britton and Bookbinder gating all of FOB Frontier's troops - a division-sized force - plus a National Guard quick-reaction force directly in front of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in full public view, while fighting Goblins. Bookbinder notes that President Walsh will have a terrific time trying to explain all of that away. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_ed2bbf8a | type |
You Are in Command Now | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ed2bbf8a | comment |
You Are in Command Now: the basic plot of Fortress Frontier, for both Britton (leading a small group of rogue Probes on the run from SOC) and Bookbinder (an admin officer forced into command of FOB Frontier). | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_ee19d278 | type |
Blob Monster | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ee19d278 | comment |
Blob Monster: The Physiomancer inside the subway tunnels below New York City manifests as this. its only through some quick thinking by Britton and creative use of necromancy and gate magic that they stop it. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_eea93c96 | type |
Blow You Away | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eea93c96 | comment |
Aeromancy: Allows for flight, generation of wind, and creation of lightning. Skilled Aeromancers can control the weather and create lightning and air elementals. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_eff83d77 | type |
Mundane Utility | |
| Shadow Ops / int_eff83d77 | comment |
Mundane Utility turns out to be so useful that its ultimately part of the root cause of the entire conflict over the series. The monetary gain from what magic could do, especially with control over the weather to do things like grow crops in perfect conditions or protect shipping from storms was so immense that Entertech and Washington politicians tried to pretty much turn Latents into slave labor. This, coupled with widespread fear of magic, made it easy to pass the laws to control Latents. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_f10d3363 | type |
Distracted by the Sexy | |
| Shadow Ops / int_f10d3363 | comment |
Distracted by the Sexy: Scylla's first escape attempt involved her distracting the guard assigned to Suppress her this way. She only needed a moment of freedom to start wreaking havoc. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_f3b5d559 | type |
SWAT Team | |
| Shadow Ops / int_f3b5d559 | comment |
The NYPD SWAT Team captain who accompanies Shadow Coven into the subway tunnels completely loses it after the battle is over. But considering what he witnessed, there's a damned good reason for it. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_f52cc7b8 | type |
Entropy and Chaos Magic | |
| Shadow Ops / int_f52cc7b8 | comment |
Entropy and Chaos Magic: Scylla's Negramancy essentially causes mass entropy in anything. Even the barriers between realities. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_f85354eb | type |
Attempted Rape | |
| Shadow Ops / int_f85354eb | comment |
Attempted Rape: A group of sentries who jump Britton and Downer attempt to rape her. One of them, a Pyromancer, sets himself partially ablaze as he takes off his belt. Britton manages to push through the Suppression, Portal Cut the sentry suppressing Downer's powers, and she makes fire elementals out of the flames forming around the would-be rapist's crotch. Therese was nearly raped at one point, but that was when her Physiomancy manifested, and she used Rending to tear her attacker apart. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_f8c079b3 | type |
With Us or Against Us | |
| Shadow Ops / int_f8c079b3 | comment |
With Us or Against Us: Britton's ultimatum to Harlequin and Bookbinder in Breach Zone - Scylla's Gahe army is tearing New York to pieces, conventional forces are unable to stop them, and she's called on every Selfer to become part of her new nation. Britton states that he will never run down American civilians again - if the SOC wants him to denounce Scylla, the SOC will have to show good faith first; state that the organization will go "Selfer" rather than enforce the McGauer-Linden Act any longer. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_fa73ee9d | type |
Explosive Leash | |
| Shadow Ops / int_fa73ee9d | comment |
Healing Physiomancy involves this. Most of the time it is painless, but when the physiomancer is asked to do something very complex like extract the Explosive Leash from Britton's heart the pain involved can be lethal by itself. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_fb6b207f | type |
You Killed My Father | |
| Shadow Ops / int_fb6b207f | comment |
You Killed My Father: Swift has such an intense hatred for SOC in general and Harlequin in particular because Harlequin killed his girlfriend and unborn child while arresting Swift. At the end of Control Point, Britton barely manages to talk Swift out of killing a wounded Harlequin in cold blood. | |
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| Shadow Ops / int_ff7f34c5 | type |
Pet the Dog | |
| Shadow Ops / int_ff7f34c5 | comment |
Pet the Dog: Scylla won't hesitate to massacre her captors, but when she escapes from her Suppression and starts slaughtering the SOC guards around the SASS compound, she deliberately avoids harming any of the Latent students/prisoners because she cares about them. | |
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