The Monarchies of God

High Fantasy series by Irish author Paul Kearney.

Known for the relavitely short page count of individual books in the series in a genre where Doorstoppers are the norm, and its general Crapsack World.

The series consists of

1. Hawkwood's Voyage (1995)
2. The Heretic Kings(1996)
3. The Iron Wars (1999)
4. The Second Empire (2000)
5. Ships from the West (2002, rereleased in 2010 with a revised ending)

Definately Needs More Love.

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Tropes used in The Monarchies of God include:

• Aristocrats Are Evil: Not so much the actual royalty, but the nobility are almost without exception greedy, vain, egotistical and more loyal to their own inflated sense of worth than their respective nations.
• Big Bad: Aruan
• The Chessmaster: lots of people want to be this, but the only ones who are very good at it are Jemilla, Golophin and Araun. Most people who go up against Corfe want to be chessmasters, but are defeated when Corfe devises yet another Indy Ploy.
• Cold Iron: to the Shifters - the iron need not be cold, but the trope is otherwise played straight.
• Corrupt Church: The Ramusian church becomes one under Sinister Minister Himerius
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: St Ramusio. It turns out that he's also Crystal Dragon Mohammed.
• Determinator: so many, but Richard Harkwood, Albrec and Corfe Cear-Inaf are the standouts.
• Face Heel Turn: Bardolin
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: the classic Medieval Europe and Arabia version, albeit with a more nuanced presentation of the latter than is common.
• Fantasy Gun Control: avoids this one, with primitive guns and swords coexisting seamlessly. The guns are based on the earliest rifles - they are only able to be fired twice a minute (three times if the soldier is particularly well trained) and have a limited range, so arrows of various sorts are still useful, and traditional cavalry and infantry are the bulk of forces - although some characters have forebodings that guns will change the nature of war forever.
• Good Shepherd: Pontiff Macrobius.
• The Heretic: the two wings of the Ramusian Church each declare the other heretical; and Albrec's unrelated 'heresies' are actually a truth that has been suppressed by the Church.
• Kill'Em All
• Kill It with Fire: the purge of the Dweomerfolk.
• Knight Templar: The Inceptine Order.
• Left-Justified Fantasy Map
• Mad Oracle: St Honorius it turns out he's not so much mad as called that because he's inconvenient to the Church.
• Malignant Plot Tumor: pretty much anything involving the mysterious Western Continent.
• Memetic Badass: an in-universe example Corfe Cear-Inaf becomes one over the course of the story. Also becomes a Four-Star Badass.
• Ocean Punk
• Our Homunculi Are Different: Homonculi are familiars grown without Ur Blood; they mature faster than Imps, but they have bad eating habits and are Exclusively Evil.
• Our Werewolves Are Different
• Preacher Man: Albrec becomes this.
• Rape as Drama: Corfe's wife Heria, Arja, and most women who sleep with Murad.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Definitely on the cynical end.
• Turbulent Priest: Albrec and Avila, although Avila tends to follow Albrec's lead.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: at any given point, there are at least five major plot threads going on.
• Wooden Ships and Iron Men