User:SilverCrono/Tropes

Just a little something to pass the time.

Kings of Strife
SilverCrono's first story. After a shitty flawed beginning as a Final Fantasy XIII fanfiction, it has been rebooted into its own universe with new characters and plot threads.

When a mercenary with little options in his life is hired to steal a magical artifact from a government, he initially thinks nothing of it...until the people who hired him try to kill him and he ends up running away with it. Now on the run and with something that is much more powerful than it seems, he may end up learning more about himself as he struggles with secrets and battles an eternal rival.

As a whole, KoS deals with many different themes with its few narrative points, the most pointed being those of learning to care about others. Both the main character and the main antagonist learn, perhaps not on purpose, that trusting and caring for other people can be something other than detrimental. It also toys with forgiveness in the face of personal tragedy and the idea that one's destiny cannot be engineered by others - free will, perhaps.

Naturally, all of the following tropes contain spoilers. The most serious ones will be marked, but if you don't want to be spoiled at all, close the tab, you dingus.
 * Absurdly Powerful Student Council - The Third Knight that goes after Vainia a while after she ditches Zeta Academy.
 * Action Girl - Vainia and Maria (to some extent).
 * Anti-Hero - Crono. Despite what his consciousness may press him to do, for a good while he's just a mercenary who wants his money and wants to help someone before he goes on his way. This eventually screws him over.
 * Artsy Moon - Doesn't occur until the end but it's pretty significant when it does.
 * Author Appeal - Taken from many interviews, Kings of Strife's epic-style and large scope stems from the author's love for the genre of fiction.
 * Bag of Holding - Crystal pouches that everyone seems to have.
 * Batman Gambit - Ouroboros' entire scheme. The Leader is actually an immortal magician who helped create the Crystals, and after the Crystal Wars lost them, he set about a plan that spanned millions of years, and set about genetically raising the individuals who would eventually become his Serpent Knights. He sets about planning events that would eventually work in his favor, and uses his power and henchmen to make sure they happen. Talk about foresight.
 * Because Destiny Says So - The Leader of Ouroboros doesn't interfere with Crono's possession with the Wind Crystal. Mostly because he uses it to monitor Maria's position and take her back.
 * Beneath The Mask - Gin, to an extent. Beneath the whole "insane blood-loving murderer", he's actually a man who has no other outlet to express how little he cares for his life. He's...still really crazy though.
 * Big Bad: Ouroboros.
 * Big Badass Battle Sequence: The siege of Shorekeep involves a naval battle that Crono and Gin fight on, while some ships are on fire. Pretty badass, the creator thinks.
 * Bishounen: Gin and his son both have some pretty fabulous hair.
 * Boy Meets Girl: Crono and Maria.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: Maria, whose primary personality reverts after being kidnapped by the Blood Knight. It's...not pretty.
 * Canis Latinicus: The name of the unofficial trilogy with KoS and two other stories, named . The three stories aren't officially connected, but their stories take place in the same universe. The chronological order is KoS -> CS -> UA.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: For the most part, Crono simply can't understand his feelings for Maria, and vice versa. The two are frustrated and awkward most of the time.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: Crono wears mostly black, Gin wears mostly red.
 * Colony Drop: Ouroboros sorta does the opposite at the end.
 * Conditioned to Accept Horror: Crono, when Maria grills him on his philosophy of kill first, escape later.
 * Cool Old Guy: Cidolas' actual body.
 * Cool Sword: Crono's gunblade.
 * Crazy Enough to Work: Sadly, the antagonist's plot. Yeah, it actually works. All of it. Awkward...
 * Death from Above: Lance Knight's use of the Crystal in Chapter 19, and the attack from Kornelia after it's been raised.
 * Determinator: Gin eventually devolves into this, with his dying wish to save Vainia at the cost of his life and never getting to reconcile with his son.
 * The Dragon: Lance Knight to the Leader and Gin to Vainia.
 * Dream Sequence: Maria has a few whenever her Ouroboros self gets out.
 * Dynamic Entry: Crono literally jumps down 70 flights of stairs and almost dies. In the first chapter.
 * Everyone is Related: Ouroboros. Literally, because the Leader has been genetically modifying their ancestors for millions of years to produce the best possible henchmen.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: Vainia actually is one. So is Maria.
 * Evil Tower of Ominousness: Mirage Tower.
 * The Faceless: The Leader.
 * Generation Xerox: Gin protects and has a love interest for Vainia. Eventually, his son does the same for the Lance Knight. Both sacrifice themselves to save the ladies, too.
 * Good Morning, Crono: As a sort of ironic callback, the phrase "Ah, so you're awake..." is quite recurring in the series. Look at the main character and put two and two together.
 * Gray and Grey Morality: Nobody is really bad, at least in the end; all parties involved want what they believe is honestly beneficial for the world.
 * The Great Escape: Crono's escape of Inusia Tower, in which he jumps down 70 flights of stairs. Not his best moment.
 * Haunted Castle: The Black Fortress has this effect on people, y'know, due to its poisonous mist that causes dementia on conscious people because of the genocidal plague that happened just a few miles south of it.
 * High Altitude Battle: Technically the entire final arc.
 * Idiot Hero: Vik can fall under this at times.
 * If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her: Gin can be quite scary when protecting Vainia.
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: This happens to Cidolas once or twice. They get better.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: Maria, although it's because she literally has another personality in there that holds most of her memories . Kinda like a partition.
 * Love Confession: Crono, at the very end of his life.
 * Luke, I Am Your Father: Actually reversed between Gin and his son.
 * Military Academy: Zeta Academy. It's sort of a military academy slash rich boarding school.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Vik's foray into Mount Gulg causes it to erupt for the first time in millenia, killing thousands of people.
 * Non-Uniform Uniform: Vik only wears the undershirt of his military uniform after he goes AWOL.
 * Subverted in that Vainia actually wears her Zeta Academy uniform everywhere, although she does roll the sleeves up all the way.


 * No Social Skills: Crono, due to being a killer most of his life just to make ends meet. Also because every person he's ever gotten attached to was brutally murdered by his own dad.
 * Numerological Motif: The number 7 appears quite a few times.
 * The Power of Friendship
 * The Power of Love
 * Rebel Leader: Vainia.
 * Red Herring: Cidolas.
 * Redemption Earns Life: Except not really.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can
 * Self-Fufilling Prophecy: See Batman Gambit.
 * So Much for Stealth: Chapter 1.
 * Supernatural Gold Eyes: Side effect of prolonged Crystal exposure, among other things.
 * Supervillain Lair: The Black Fortress, and Kornelia Ascended.
 * Take Over the World
 * Trench Coat Warfare
 * True Companions: The two main pairs.
 * What is Evil?: While Ouroboros' methods are questionable, they do have good intentions in mind...eventually. Gin, on the other hand, is outwardly antagonistic in his actions, but has a much more idealistic destination.
 * What is this Feeling?