The Emperor's Edge

The Emperor's Edge is a series of sword and sorcery/steampunk/crime novels written (and self-published) by Lindsay Buroker. According to the author, the main story is planned to be told in six novels, featuring each of the main cast as a secondary narrator.

The core cast is a valid example of Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.
 * Amaranthe, The Protagonist, is The Heart of the ensemble. As the one with the unwavering moral compass, she usually works as their conscience. As the leader, she usually comes up with zany schemes that frequently involves her strolling into the Villain's hideout to have a chat with him/her. She has the ability to talk herself out of almost any given situation.
 * Sicarius: works as Amaranthe's Lancer. With the emotional range of a very featureless rock, this very Badass assassin is the epitome of The Stoic and The Spock.
 * Books: starts as The Alcoholic lying to waste in a forsaken inn. But in reality he was just drowning his sorrows and as the series progresses the drink stops being an issue. As his nickname states, he is a through-and-through Mr. Exposition, often getting into long explanations of things to the chagrin of the others. The oldest of the group, Books is usually awkward and often gets to be played for comic relief.
 * Maldynado: serves as the Handsome Lech. Arrogant and crude but charming to a fault, Maldynado has the ability to endear himself to any female that crosses his path. A very useful talent in a society where most business owners are women.
 * Akstyr: a very surly teenager that, while his abilities fill a very important gap in the group's skills, his personality marks him as the Token Evil Teammate.
 * Basilard: the group's mute Gentle Giant. Your usual scarred and rather scary Big Guy that happens to be more of a tender soul that prefers peace over violent actions.

So far there are four books:
 * Book One: The Emperor's Edge
 * Book Two: Dark Currents
 * Book Three: Deadly Games
 * Book Four: Conspiracy

There are also two short story compendiums:
 * Ice Cracker II (and other stories)
 * The Assassin's Curse

Buroker has also written a novel titled Encrypted, set in the same universe about 20 years before the start of the main series, centering around a philologist named Tikaya Komitopis as she is kidnapped by enemy marines who need her cryptographic skills to decode mysterious runes. Crossover between the two stories is limited mainly to passing mentions of the two main (and historically significant) characters of Encrypted and the Great Offscreen War that ended just as the book began, though Sicarius appears as a mostly antagonistic secondary character halfway through.

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This series shows examples of the following tropes:

 * Functional Magic: Referred to as "mental sciences" by those in the know. The Empire says it does not exist, and also considers its use a capital crime.
 * Steampunk: There's no strong focus on gadgets, but it's there, e.g. steam cars, and punchcard-operated robots.
 * The Atoner: This is how Amaranthe sells continued cooperation to work for the good of the Empire to the others, particularly Sicarius.
 * Theme Naming: Every warrior caste last name ends in "crest".
 * Neat Freak: Amaranthe is constantly cleaning and/or arranging things, whether the group's hideout, other people's offices or the top of a train car. Her fingers yearn for neatness and order as a way of dealing with stress.
 * Improvised Weapon: In Book 2, Amaranthe and Books get to defend themselves with a fireplace poker and home cooked smoke bombs.


 * Theme Twin Naming: Litya and Metya, a pair of scientists with morally ambiguous doctorates intent in creating cute little super soldiers to sell.