Labyrinths of Echo: Difference between revisions

Despite the dark premise, the series is quite humorous and lighthearted most of the time, resulting in severe [[Mood Whiplash|Mood Whiplashes]] whenever the [[It Got Worse|shit actually goes south]].

 

 

'''Please add any character tropes to [[Labyrinths of Echo/Characters|the series' characters list]].''' For a complete list of the series' volumes, refer to [[Labyrinths of Echo/Recap]].

** Kofa Yokh: Master Listener

** Skalduar Van Dufunbukh: Master Escorter of the Dead (mortician of the LSIF)

* [[Dark World]]: The Dark Side, kinda. "Dark Side" is a poetic epithet given to the [[Spirit World]] underlying the material world of Echo. It is no more malicious than the material world and it's not actually "dark" there (except for Sir Max, who initially takes the name too seriously and his belief makes him perceive it as literally painted black, though still discernible enough to admire).

* [[Dead Person Conversation]]: Ghosts in the Echo setting are fully sentient... though many are insane.

** A combination of high-grade black and white spells allowed a person thus inclined to become a ghost after death. This rite was performed as a paid service, and for a hefty extra your ghost would be capable of full interaction with the material world. A real master can perform the preparation at any time, even on a newborn - and after dying centuries later the subject is guaranteed to become a ghost. Some people were said to pay for the procedure not even due to fear of death as such, but simply out of general vengefulness or as a deterrent - ghosts track living people infallibly, can be a horrid nuisance, and it takes strong magic to finish them off.

** Due to Tehhi's unique family history, all her siblings who died became ghosts. They regularly visit Tehhi's bar anyway. Tehhi herself later mentioned that she was annoyed by her absent "father" too much to discuss him because they were phantom spirits, trapped in human form by magic of their "birth". She didn't even mention that her mother, obviously, ''must'' have been a crazy fangirl of Loyso to begin with.

** While most mages are well capable of banishing ghosts, few will do so without reason, and most consider this murder.

** Resurrection spells are very rare in Echo. "Walking dead" can be created, but since this normally doesn't involve [[Came Back Wrong|getting the soul / the Shadow / the Spark]] back, they are just so - moving corpses, so it's rarely used. If done correctly, the undead can be at least interrogated, and if done with sufficient skill and power, produce disturbingly close similarities to the person. Who doesn't like the state of "fake life" at all.

** Melifaro is mostly immune to the fear of death, due to his nature - he instinctively knows this would only merge him with the other half. Once he was subjected to an imaginary death experience spell, but that didn't impress him (beyond unconsciousness as such).

* [[Dream Weaver]]: A common occupation in Echo. One of them kicks off the plot in ''The Return of Ugurbado''.

* [[Egyptian Mythology]]: Max assumes some transfer of knowledge between Echo and the ancient Egypt, and suspects {{spoiler|Mokhi Ainti, Juffin's mentor}} of being an actual ancient Egyptian. Points in case:

** A dish called "Hathor turkey" - a roasted turkey served suspended between the horns on a bovine head. As Max notes that it's a cow, not a bull, as Hathor is a goddess, Kofa Yokh wonders aloud since when Max had access to the secret Seven-Leaf libraries.

** The Mad Fishmonger, after a little dream-visit from the vengeful dead, kept himself awake for more than a year and eventually though he would rather die than continue this existence, except he was sure they'd catch him and torment him forever if he died too.

** The whole people of Manukhs collected several ''hundreds'' of [[Hereditary Curse|hereditary curses]] from mouse kings of Uanduk, while their neighbours, the Khenkha, insisted that life under ''one'' self-inflicted (and they consider telepathic talk to be great magic) curse "is not worth living". {{spoiler|The summary effect of the curses upon the Manukh spreads to the Empty Lands and is so great that Max, in agreement with the Khenkha shaman Fayriba, orders the tribe exterminated.}}

* [[Flash Sideways]]: Murakoks live like this all the time. Max also mentally contacted his alternate selves in side-stories and while revisiting his (and our) world the first time was almost absorbed by the local timeline.

* [[Flight]]:

** One of the mayors sees his grand-children starving and raped.

** The city's admiral sees himself close to death by thirst, and the only available liquid are his family members suffering from Anavuayna.

* [[Freaky Friday Flip]] / [[Personality Swap]]: The Exchange of Ulviar, also known as the Candle of Fittekh and as the Shadow's Scent. The ritual was invented by the ancient keyifaya king Ulviar the Faceless. Depending on source, his royal healer Fittekh was either the co-inventor or merely assisted Ulviar. The ritual consists of crafting a large wick-less candle from several dozens of rare ingredients, lighting it and extinguishing the flame immediately. The candle slowly glows or smolders spreading a scent {{spoiler|Max}} describes as "a September's night". During this time, at least one of the two participants has to chant the incantation. As there are no data about effects with more than 2 participants, the ritual is best done in a room locked and sealed from inside, and if possible, guarded from the outside to prevent any interventions. The ritual causes the participants' Shadows to come to them and to switch places. The effect holds for 12-20 hours, depending on source, and reverts instantaneously no matter where the participants are, requiring no further action from them. The effect switches not only personas and personalities, but also skills and compulsions - Ulviar possessed not only the healing skills, but also the Healer's call as long as the spell lasted, while Fittekh displayed not only his king's usual ambitions, but also his diplomacy and orator's skills. {{spoiler|After Max, needing to find a way to "want and not want", bemoans his lack of self-control and tells Shurf Lonli-Lokli that he'd like to borrow Shurf's self-control once too often, Shurf tells Max about the ritual. As Shurf considers Max's persona a welcome change from his usual self, Max actually suggests doing it more often.}}

* [[Functional Magic]]:

*** [[Black Magic]] / [[White Magic]]: Not in [[Black and White Morality|the usual meaning]]. To elaborate: Max is given a small box with a gift, and is supposed to open it. He messes it up and instead of casting a white magic spell to identify himself, angrily tries again and casts a higher level black magic spell which disintegrates the box.

** [[The Gift]]: The True Magic, aka the Invisible Magic (it's not as easy to detect as The Plain Magic). Uses forces of the multiverse and thus considered beneficial to the given world. Only a handful of individuals across the multiverse can use it to a larger extent. Among the wizards not even knowing it exists a few basic elements such as Dark Path are fairly widespread.

** Nature magic. Irrelevant apocalypse-wise, strong in right hands, but practicable only for certain scope of tasks (such as magic potions) and in places from "rustic" and wilder. As such, used by forest witches and other individuals feeling connection to the surrounding nature and mostly dismissed by Capitol's wizards.

* [[Great Offscreen War]]: The War of the Codex, which ended the Age of the Orders and brought about the Age of the Codex some hundred years before Max's arrival in Echo.

* [[Hereditary Curse]]: Manukhs used to control Uandook "mice". Mice kings used to curse all Manukhs. This didn't end well for either side.

* [[Hope Is Scary]]: Sir Max comments on it.

* [[How Dare You Die on Me!]]: Max saves a dying man ({{spoiler|Mokhi Faa}}) in ''Bakki Bugvin's Glasses'' by pleading him not to die. Since the man was under a [[Extreme Doormat|magical compulsion to fulfill]] ''any'' requests, he healed up instantly like a champ.

** Immortality of the mind, type V: A combination of high-grade black and white magic ensuring that you will come back as a ghost. The extra ability to interact with the material world is available at a separate price, too.

* [[Irritation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery]]: Juffin's early apprentice thought The Kettarian's face with a few cosmetic modifications would be incredibly sinister and thus very cool, and pestered him about it. Only when Juffin said "oh, look however you like", he began to think about practical sides and figured out that wearing the face of a hitman hated by far too many powerful mages without having abilities of the original is not a healthy idea.

* [[Kinda Busy Here]]: Telepathic Calls cannot be blocked or ignored for the most part, so such situations tend to arise inadvertently.

* [[The Kingdom]]: The United Kingdom, the capital of which is Echo.

* [[Magic Is Mental]]: Explored to the point of [[deconstruction]].

* [[Magical Society]]: Lots of them, actually, at least, in the backstory. There was a whole three thousand years-long Age of the Orders, when an order was formed around every magical tradition and they fought each other for power or out of conflicting views. It was eventually brought to an end when the Order of the Seven-Leaf allied itself with the Gurig dynasty and won the War of the Codex, outlawing and exiling all other orders. Some orders disbanded peacefully shortly before the war. {{spoiler|Juffin, however, considers the Secret Investigations a modernized, "legal" version of an ancient Order.}}

* [[Mercy Kill]]: See [[Blatant Lies]] above. As Max is called out on his lie, the people ask him not to heal, but at least to kill them, as Anavuayna is rumoured to [[Deader Than Dead|destroy both body and soul]], while death by any other mundane means, especially from Max, means a high chance to come back as a ghost / be reborn in [[The Multiverse]].

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: The series is quite prone to it, such as following the extremely depressive ''Victims of Circumstances'' up with the hilarious ''A Trip to Kettari'' in the first volume, or putting the depressingly paranoid ''The Book of Burning Pages'' after the comedic ''A Bequest for Lonli-Lokli''. Special mention goes to ''The Power of What-Might-Have-Been'' ([[Despair Event Horizon|especially]], ''The Return of Ugurbado'').

* [[The Multiverse]]: The world of Echo, our world, and many others visited throughout the series are parts of an seemingly endless multiverse. Only ghosts and people gifted with True Magic can access Khumgat, the Corridor Between Worlds, and travel across dimensions, however. Also, some [[Dream Weaver|talented and/or trained dreamers]] visit (or even create) realities "physically" accessible to others - though most often these are "merely" Dense Dreams that collapse when their creator dies and rarely have as much as air breathable for awake visitors.

* [[Naive Newcomer]]: Max, later Numminorikh, Melifaro in the prequels.

* [[Narnia Time]]:

* [[Necromantic]]: A former lover revived Dzhifa Savankha, Echo's Robin Hood expy for this reason. Dzhifa is very close to his former self, but nonetheless asks for a [[Mercy Kill]].

* [[Not Staying for Breakfast]]: how the Rendezvouz Quarter works. Any couple who met there are supposed to split after the night, and attempting to stay together supposedly courts with disaster.

* [[Only Smart People May Pass]]: While the Book of Uncommitted Crimes contains all the crimes ever thought up but never put into action, any given reader will only see those entries which he or she would be able to solve. Kofa Yokh used the Book as an aptitude test for police officers. To his dismay, his successor after the War of the Codes, Bubuta Bokh, could not see a single paragraph.

* [[Other Me Annoys Me]]: Max notes that his appearance and charisma are inversely proportional to the actual state of mind - he looks the happiest when in despair, and hates the Max who seems to walk around in his body.

* [[Power Floats]]: while flight takes a lot out of the mage, levitation a few centimeters above ground is much easier, while keeping the added bonuses of not leaving footprints, not leaving a trace for Masters of Tracking and not triggering various traps and enchantments on the ground.

** See [[Power High]] below: experiencing a power boost, especially if the mage is unable to fully control it, may cause spontaneous levitation.

* [[Power Parasite]]:

** The Old Kings' Incantation, used with leftover drinks in cups (and possibly leftovers on plates) and then drinking (and eating) those leftovers, transfers power from the drinker to the caster. Invented by king Khalla Makhun the Furry, as he blended Plain and True Magic in an attempt to prolong his life.

** Emulation of Arbiter power through magic (though it's inefficient and imperfect).

** Arvarokhians worship burivukhs as their gods, and they have good reasons to do so. Where burivukhs dwell in numbers, the world becomes as they want to see it. Arvarokh is the only place where the number of burivukhs is really large, though... To quote Kurush, Juffin Halli's burivukh: "We like beautiful people, so Arvarokhians are beautiful. Their eyes have the same color as ours, because we like this color. They are taciturn, because we are not interested in hearing their ramblings. They are active, because we like discussing their doings. We live alone, but our elders come to Arvarokhians to die and enjoy these creatures - they are the pinnacle of our common workings. Arvarokhians like to die, because they believe that each of them may be reborn as a burivukh. This is but a superstition, but sometimes we believe they succeed."

* [[Reality Warping Is Not a Toy]]: A major motif throughout the series, especially when Max's Arbiter powers come into play.

* [[Redemption Quest]]: The driving force of Magister Jochchi Shavanakhola. His redemption for several millenia is supporting Ch'yolve Maytokhchi, the Wild Wind, in the great work of destroying the Dead Illusion Worlds. {{spoiler|Khebul'rikh of Ukkumbi, responsible for the creation of the Dead Illusion Worlds, became Jochchi Shavanakhola, and can not undo his own work.}}

* [[Rewriting Reality]]: The Yonokhian Seal in ''The Quiet City'' is supposed to function like this. {{spoiler|Turns out, it was just Max's [[Cosmic Plaything]] status and Arbiter powers playing up again.}}

* [[Scarily Competent Tracker]]: While "Master of Tracking" is a job title, it is actually an innate gift required to get the job. Masters of Tracking can "step upon a trace / footprint". A Master of Tracking might have to walk across a room several times until the effect kicks in. Literal footprints are not required, but people carried or floating don't leave a trace, although merely boarding a vehicle does not break the trace - apparently just having your feet upon a surface is enough. Finding a trace causes the Master of Tracking to know what the person did and inflicts an intense desire to follow the footprints while repeating the victim's actions. Masters of Tracking distinguish between footprints of different people (with more experience, they can get a power reading and some info on them) and form a bond to their victims, allowing them to interact with the pursued in real time. The actual amount of damage and the control of damage inflicted vary from mild discomfort (Melamori's predecessor at LSIF, with intent to find) to mild depression (Melamori, with little intent to harm the pursued) to paralysis and pain (Melamori's predecessor at LSIF, with intent to disable) to death ({{spoiler|Max, with intent to harm or out of control, and for long enough}}). Masters of Tracking can not track the dead, which makes using disposable henchmen the [[Properly Paranoid]] way to deal with stolen artifacts. {{spoiler|Max breaks the rules - he can track both dead and undead (not that he likes it, as the link with the pursued causes experience of un-death as feedback), and manages to follow a Dark Way teleport without actually mastering this skill himself first}}. Melamori's Tracking causes mild euphoria in {{spoiler|Max, likely due to either being abnormally affected by magic in general, or already falling head over heels for her}}.

** Order adept level mages are not immune to the Tracking effect. Order master level mages and [[Determinator|Determinators]] might negate it to some extent. Order Grandmaster level mages, e.g. Juffin, [[Properly Paranoid|constantly keep up layered shield spells]] against Tracking. Juffin tells Max that his first shield simply cut Melamori off his trail as she tried to Track Juffin for fun after being introduced to the LSIF, while further shields would have hurt her using the link her Tracking set up. Also, the Trackers tend to be absorbed in the "hunt" too much to look around, so giving one a bodyguard usually is a good idea, and by "pulling" the bond from far end can be made even more compulsive and oblivious than usual.

* [[The Secret of Long Pork Pies]]: In {{spoiler|''King Bangee''}}.

* [[Shattering the Illusion]]:

** The Sword of King Mönin, {{spoiler|embedded in Max and incorporeal}}, will break the wielder out of illusions.

* [[Stink Bomb]]: while Scenters are very rare, LSIF has one. The group smart enough to levitate from the crime scene to prevent leaving traces for Masters of Tracking is also smart enough to spray the rooms with a rare substance which disables Scenters {{spoiler|temporarily. Numinorikh, being the new guy, has serious issues about his usefulness without his Scenter gift}}. It happened enough that later he said it's bewildering how many such mixes turned out to exist, given how rare this ability is.

* [[Taken for Granite]]:

** Regular Death Gloves are a [[One-Hit Kill]] weapon. Due to improvised crafting materials, Shurf's right glove is a benevolent version of the artifact, reversibly rendering victims fully immobile and petrified.

** Max [[Exact Words|literally]] orders Ugurbado to become a statue, leaving him conscious for the reanimated skeletons who rip Ugurbado to shreds.

** "The little Gorgon": Max and Melifaro are dispatched to a village which ceased all communications. They find the place full of incredibly life-like statues, a blind cat and a very scared girl hiding in a basement. The girl tells them that a woman appeared in her dream and kissed her on the eyes, which caused the effect. Due to his earlier summoning experiments, Max happens to carry a pair of sunglasses, which allow the girl to leave the place. She joins the Seven-Leaf in Lady Sotofa's care, and Max [[Properly Paranoid|has to summon a backup stash of sunglasses.]]

* [[Technician Versus Performer]]: Generally, it's accepted that to master anything one needs all three - talent, training and practice ("X got a talent for this", "X learned from Y" or "X did it for ..." are all used as an argument). But then there's Calling as an overriding compulsion, and traditionally people pay attention to one's talents, if any are known. LSIF had 2 people (later 3, not counting another one with an equivalent ability) capable of the Tracking trick, but normally they don't do it and call Melamori as the designated "Master of Tracking" (early on she can't do much other than tracking and kicking ass, but it holds even after she got abilities weird even by local standards).

** Some of the "old school" people simply don't think of anyone without the Healer's Calling as a proper medic, no matter how skilled, and won't apply to them even if otherwise trust personally, except maybe for first aid (at least, Kofa is the [[Only Sane Man|designated "man of the world"]] in the team, and he sees this as self-evident - "Oh, right, Juffin can also fix injury faster than most healers fresh from the school... so what?").

** Max absorbed this way of thinking enough to instantly find the right answer to the problem of destroying some improperly created worlds. He knows a guy who can help, indeed.

* [[Time Skip]]: [[In-Universe]], Max embarks on an exploration of Khumgat and its various worlds in the end of ''The Foxes of Magakhon'', during which an entire year passes in Echo.

* [[Time Travel]] / [[Living Relic]]: The Order of the Long Way's members left the world for several millenia and traversed the Paths of the Dead. They find some of the changes amazing, e.g. the ability to tell lies, because in their time attempting a lie had 2 possible outcomes: either the person had enough power to make it happen by saying it, which was a wonder, or the person simply died from the effort. They also consider using the lives of people in your power as bargaining chips (for acquired immortality) acceptable, while Max believes that any [[Immortality Seeker]] should only gamble his or her own life.

** Alotho Allirokh of the Ironsided Hoob clan; Lord of Aliurkh and Chijkho; Sternly-Glancing Overlord of two half-hundreds Sharpteeth; mighty and loyal warrior of Tojla Liomurik Silver Cone the Conqueror of Arvarokh who rules it to the limits of the world as told in song by Harlokh Sdobnik<ref>transliterated, can not translate the name</ref>, the greatest storyteller among the born; Waterer of the Royal Tree of Spicy Flowers; Keeper of meal-taking carpets; Bringer of the third chalice at the New Moon Feast after the spouse and the Elder Cupbearer; irreplaceable Helmsman of the Royal Boat at the Ulfati lake, who has the right to wear bone shoes on needles of [[Man-Eating Plant|Zoggi]]; Royal-Chambers-Locking Overlord of a half-hundred of key bundles; Chief of reprisal against Isisorinams; Speaker of the ninth and the twelfth word during the Royal Game of Launi, who kills the Kul'okh bird with two glances, one strike and one ruse; Bearer of three handfuls of coins into the crypt of Kvargi Ishmirmani; Fire-Starter under the royal cauldron for Vatla; Speaker of the Morins' tongue who consumes the Mayushi pig in two-and-a-half goes and [[Warrior Poet|who wrought two times twice half-tens songs]] of his own great heroics.

* [[Uncoffee]]: Kamra.

* [[Urban Fantasy]]: Although it is set in another world, most of the series takes place and around the sprawling metropolis of Echo.

* [[Utility Magic]]: How most of the Plain Magic is used in Echo.

[[Category:Labyrinths of Echo]]

[[Category:Literature]]