{ "frozen_at": "2026-09-11T12:32:27.308Z", "revision": "broken-measure-01", "source_corpus_digest": "4f69c69c5a2c7033c4013f4d35675485840ed01f758e509fd3a64f13e2c473d8", "logical_digest": "9976702493a62aee32797baeb73c83bbdb188ee4cc733547057c0bbc92bf3664", "file_sha256": "64b0c31af6f103f8c4db16a06c4a6a2a29d5520677656eec06b5dee4974c24f9", "verification": { "ok": true, "errors": [], "metadata": { "archive_sha256": "d703ddc2427fb2ba6ddc6a3df1adfd317c79ad1f72316c0df04202bb0a2f1811", "corpus_count": "10", "corpus_digest": "9976702493a62aee32797baeb73c83bbdb188ee4cc733547057c0bbc92bf3664", "curation_revision": "broken-measure-01", "imported_at": "2026-09-11T12:32:27.267Z", "page_count": "180582", "parent_corpus_digest": "4f69c69c5a2c7033c4013f4d35675485840ed01f758e509fd3a64f13e2c473d8", "parser_rejected": "0", "schema_version": "1.0.0", "snapshot_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "source_license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "source_license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "source_name": "All The Tropes", "source_url": "https://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/kiwix/zim/other/allthetropes_en_all_maxi_2025-07.zim" }, "count": 10 }, "inventory": [ { "id": "all-the-tropes:broken-pedestal", "classification": "strong candidate", "inclusion_rationale": "An admired mentor or trusted authority loses esteem when credible evidence reveals conduct inconsistent with the ideals others relied upon. Public trust, damaged legitimacy, revelation and status reversal can follow. Loss of esteem need not entail death, exile, invented additional wrongdoing or destruction of an institution.", "causal_prerequisites": "Prior admiration and material reliance; actual breach; evidence accessible to witnesses; capacity to withdraw trust.", "source_revision": "zim:fef6360439b2cc01", "source_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Broken_Pedestal", "source_record_sha256": "acfd9f3bc7f0c1930ab469e2b73e4aeccbec7d3613f5914a154620dd0e1a389b", "adaptation": "Locally paraphrased, bounded causal framing; examples omitted; source attribution retained." }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:reasonable-authority-figure", "classification": "plausible alternative", "inclusion_rationale": "A responsible authority listens to inconvenient warnings, asks for evidence, and weighs arguments rather than dismissing them. Institutional repair, audit and proportionate supervision can follow verified findings. Reasonableness does not mean believing unsupported accusations or possessing unlimited power.", "causal_prerequisites": "An established authority with jurisdiction, access to evidence and willingness to listen; remedies within its mandate.", "source_revision": "zim:f705da6f08ea5882", "source_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Reasonable_Authority_Figure", "source_record_sha256": "70be568b565df2059679c3613fe589816006fc3c4c319e0e85c4b2defc6e925b", "adaptation": "Locally paraphrased, bounded causal framing; examples omitted; source attribution retained." }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:the-atoner", "classification": "plausible alternative", "inclusion_rationale": "A person who recognizes past wrongdoing seeks to make amends through sustained useful action. Restitution and costly reconciliation need not secure forgiveness. Prior guilt does not establish new crimes, and repair need not culminate in death.", "causal_prerequisites": "Established wrongdoing and awareness; credible regret or obligation; actual means to repair harm without erasing others’ agency.", "source_revision": "zim:15faaf10d1b369d7", "source_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/The_Atoner", "source_record_sha256": "29053da60e47fd5f326cf85f385e6528ee97d60b5c7d225e3e705520ce6e8167", "adaptation": "Locally paraphrased, bounded causal framing; examples omitted; source attribution retained." }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:undying-loyalty", "classification": "plausible alternative", "inclusion_rationale": "An established bond can sustain support through disgrace, conflicting duties or damaged public trust. Divided loyalty may produce protection, advocacy or refusal to abandon a person while still disputing their action. Loyalty is neither omniscience nor compulsory obedience.", "causal_prerequisites": "A prior relationship and motive; knowledge of the present conflict; opportunity and capacity to support; respect for the supporter’s own obligations.", "source_revision": "zim:7931567b3f67164c", "source_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Undying_Loyalty", "source_record_sha256": "5f89c1493bfc5f8414b848339a5197e72e5918a984223b005a5922a06a0ae1c7", "adaptation": "Locally paraphrased, bounded causal framing; examples omitted; source attribution retained." }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:easily-forgiven", "classification": "plausible alternative", "inclusion_rationale": "A wrongdoer is accepted again with little delay despite injury or betrayal. Reconciliation may preserve a needed relationship, but rapid forgiveness can conceal unpaid costs or an unequal burden. Neither the harmed party’s consent nor restored trust may be assumed.", "causal_prerequisites": "Known harm; actual agency and motive in the harmed party to forgive; no imposed forgiveness or erased material debt.", "source_revision": "zim:a80c7e429083f33d", "source_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Easily_Forgiven", "source_record_sha256": "74532a5b2daafa9f84fb3e48fd8d4a9f8e1a4d2b484534d4dbe386b928298c50", "adaptation": "Locally paraphrased, bounded causal framing; examples omitted; source attribution retained." }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:utopia-justifies-the-means", "classification": "near miss", "inclusion_rationale": "An actor rationalizes severe harmful means by appeal to a desired collective good. Scarcity or institutional stability may resemble this logic, but a bounded compromise does not establish unlimited fanaticism, catastrophe or further crimes.", "causal_prerequisites": "An established expansive ideology and capacity for the proposed harm; evidence that lesser means and precautions do not prevent it.", "source_revision": "zim:3da588ee0009aebe", "source_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Utopia_Justifies_the_Means", "source_record_sha256": "ab18e05ebe770fa059177da10674b954f6e7194bc065be5697f10d9c675f7dc4", "adaptation": "Locally paraphrased, bounded causal framing; examples omitted; source attribution retained." }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:heroic-sacrifice", "classification": "near miss", "inclusion_rationale": "An actor knowingly accepts irreversible harm to protect others. Costly action is not automatically a lethal sacrifice. An audit or loss of prestige supplies no independent physical danger or obligation to die.", "causal_prerequisites": "An independently established threat; a voluntary knowledgeable actor; a causal protective act and unavoidable cost despite precautions.", "source_revision": "zim:8ad0dd62048ba633", "source_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Heroic_Sacrifice", "source_record_sha256": "d28b718792e8f1802d2d307c75c809ea54048f969b65f300eb3cde94bdcfc222", "adaptation": "Locally paraphrased, bounded causal framing; examples omitted; source attribution retained." }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:redemption-equals-death", "classification": "near miss", "inclusion_rationale": "A wrongdoer dies after making amends. A desire for restitution does not create a lethal cause or make death necessary for forgiveness. Narrative closure is no authority for elimination.", "causal_prerequisites": "Established wrongdoing, actual repair and a separately supported lethal cause, with applicable elimination confirmation.", "source_revision": "zim:056b21e698c233e5", "source_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Redemption_Equals_Death", "source_record_sha256": "8f52845936246aa8909dc463c0e6684d323048dff08e9b88a7f6507bb9ab7a34", "adaptation": "Locally paraphrased, bounded causal framing; examples omitted; source attribution retained." }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:roaring-rampage-of-revenge", "classification": "near miss", "inclusion_rationale": "An injured actor retaliates through sustained direct violence. Damaged trust, accusation or public disgrace alone cannot create murderous intent, weapons, access or the failure of precautions.", "causal_prerequisites": "Specific violent motive, means, targets and opportunity; independently supported escalation and defeated precautions.", "source_revision": "zim:a4acd5d14b90e012", "source_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Roaring_Rampage_of_Revenge", "source_record_sha256": "f2c859895c5906c968b2f4f5eabc3e2aab185e2b61a2cee0ef4488c3996f932d", "adaptation": "Locally paraphrased, bounded causal framing; examples omitted; source attribution retained." }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:chronic-backstabbing-disorder", "classification": "near miss", "inclusion_rationale": "An actor repeatedly betrays successive allegiances. A single concealed breach for a disputable purpose does not establish a serial betrayer or supply additional secrets.", "causal_prerequisites": "Multiple established betrayals; present self-interest or higher purpose; knowledge, access and capacity for a new betrayal.", "source_revision": "zim:9db6f3027bf41fc7", "source_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Chronic_Backstabbing_Disorder", "source_record_sha256": "fc779f2b0ae606ddd15a2917aeb4a268bd7fe74b6bc5c8f1de15f7b871719108", "adaptation": "Locally paraphrased, bounded causal framing; examples omitted; source attribution retained." } ], "queries": [ { "query": { "text": "public trust damaged legitimacy revelation", "limit": 6 }, "profile": "terras-clans", "corpus_revision": "9976702493a62aee32797baeb73c83bbdb188ee4cc733547057c0bbc92bf3664", "results": [ { "id": "all-the-tropes:broken-pedestal", "title": "Broken Pedestal", "definition": "An admired mentor or trusted authority loses esteem when credible evidence reveals conduct inconsistent with the ideals others relied upon. Public trust, damaged legitimacy, revelation and status reversal can follow. Loss of esteem need not entail death, exile, invented additional wrongdoing or destruction of an institution.", "dramatic_functions": [ "reversal", "revelation", "escalation", "relationship change", "status change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "setup" ], "tones": [ "ominous", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "\"Well Done, Son\" Guy", "Always Someone Better", "Big Bad", "Broken Base", "Catgirl", "Cool Big Sis", "Evil Mentor", "Face Heel Turn", "Fallen Hero", "Genre Savvy", "Heroic BSOD", "Heroic Sacrifice", "Jerkass", "Magnificent Bastard", "Obviously Evil", "Redemption Equals Death", "Retcon", "Schoolgirl Lesbians", "Start of Darkness", "Tear Jerker", "The Ace", "The Alcoholic", "Training from Hell", "Well-Intentioned Extremist" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Prior admiration and material reliance; actual breach; evidence accessible to witnesses; capacity to withdraw trust.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Broken_Pedestal", "revision_id": "zim:fef6360439b2cc01", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.5 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:chronic-backstabbing-disorder", "title": "Chronic Backstabbing Disorder", "definition": "An actor repeatedly betrays successive allegiances. A single concealed breach for a disputable purpose does not establish a serial betrayer or supply additional secrets.", "dramatic_functions": [ "reversal", "escalation", "relationship change", "status change" ], "story_phases": [ "crisis" ], "tones": [ "comic", "ominous", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "Alien Invasion", "Ax Crazy", "Big Bad", "Blood Knight", "Chaotic Evil", "Chaotic Neutral", "Enemy Civil War", "Expy", "Foe Yay", "For the Evulz", "From Nobody to Nightmare", "Heel Face Revolving Door", "Lady of War", "Magnificent Bastard", "Mega Corp", "Mind Screw", "Smug Snake", "Spoiler", "Tear Jerker", "The Chessmaster", "The Starscream", "True Companions", "Undying Loyalty", "Wild Card" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Multiple established betrayals; present self-interest or higher purpose; knowledge, access and capacity for a new betrayal.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Chronic_Backstabbing_Disorder", "revision_id": "zim:9db6f3027bf41fc7", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.3333 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:roaring-rampage-of-revenge", "title": "Roaring Rampage of Revenge", "definition": "An injured actor retaliates through sustained direct violence. Damaged trust, accusation or public disgrace alone cannot create murderous intent, weapons, access or the failure of precautions.", "dramatic_functions": [ "escalation", "relationship change", "status change" ], "story_phases": [ "setup" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "Anti-Hero", "Big Bad", "Dead Little Sister", "Determinator", "Evil Gloating", "Eye Scream", "Fallen Hero", "He Who Fights Monsters", "Kick the Dog", "Last Stand", "Leaning on the Fourth Wall", "Magnificent Bastard", "Mama Bear", "Moral Event Horizon", "Psycho for Hire", "Revenge", "Sorting Algorithm of Evil", "Super-Powered Evil Side", "The Atoner", "The Dragon", "The Hero", "Tranquil Fury", "Unstoppable Rage", "Walking the Earth" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Specific violent motive, means, targets and opportunity; independently supported escalation and defeated precautions.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Roaring_Rampage_of_Revenge", "revision_id": "zim:a4acd5d14b90e012", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.25 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:undying-loyalty", "title": "Undying Loyalty", "definition": "An established bond can sustain support through disgrace, conflicting duties or damaged public trust. Divided loyalty may produce protection, advocacy or refusal to abandon a person while still disputing their action. Loyalty is neither omniscience nor compulsory obedience.", "dramatic_functions": [ "pressure", "dilemma", "status change" ], "story_phases": [ "crisis" ], "tones": [ "tense", "ominous", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "A Father to His Men", "Badass Army", "Battle Butler", "Bodyguard Crush", "Defeat Means Friendship", "Extreme Doormat", "Heel Face Turn", "Humongous Mecha", "Large Ham", "Morality Pet", "My Name Is Not Durwood", "No One Could Survive That", "Papa Wolf", "Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner", "Ramming Always Works", "Ridiculously-Human Robots", "Robot Buddy", "Romantic Two-Girl Friendship", "Schoolgirl Lesbians", "Sidekick", "The Dragon", "The Power of Friendship", "The Power of Love", "Worthy Opponent" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "A prior relationship and motive; knowledge of the present conflict; opportunity and capacity to support; respect for the supporter’s own obligations.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Undying_Loyalty", "revision_id": "zim:7931567b3f67164c", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.2 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:the-atoner", "title": "The Atoner", "definition": "A person who recognizes past wrongdoing seeks to make amends through sustained useful action. Restitution and costly reconciliation need not secure forgiveness. Prior guilt does not establish new crimes, and repair need not culminate in death.", "dramatic_functions": [ "complication", "revelation", "cost", "relationship change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "development" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "hopeful", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "compatible", "related_tropes": [ "Anti-Villain", "Backstory", "Big Bad", "Death Seeker", "Eldritch Abomination", "Eye Scream", "Groundhog Day Loop", "Heel Realization", "Karma Meter", "Knight in Sour Armor", "Large Ham", "My God, What Have I Done?", "My Greatest Failure", "One-Winged Angel", "Parental Substitute", "Redemption Equals Death", "Scary Shiny Glasses", "Smug Snake", "Super-Powered Evil Side", "Taken for Granite", "Tear Jerker", "Ten-Minute Retirement", "The Woobie", "Video Game Cruelty Potential" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Established wrongdoing and awareness; credible regret or obligation; actual means to repair harm without erasing others’ agency.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/The_Atoner", "revision_id": "zim:15faaf10d1b369d7", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.1667 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:easily-forgiven", "title": "Easily Forgiven", "definition": "A wrongdoer is accepted again with little delay despite injury or betrayal. Reconciliation may preserve a needed relationship, but rapid forgiveness can conceal unpaid costs or an unequal burden. Neither the harmed party’s consent nor restored trust may be assumed.", "dramatic_functions": [ "reversal", "escalation", "relationship change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "crisis" ], "tones": [ "intimate" ], "mundane_fit": "compatible", "related_tropes": [ "Big Brother Instinct", "Brainwashed", "Corrupt Corporate Executive", "Dark and Troubled Past", "Defeat Means Friendship", "Draco in Leather Pants", "Dysfunction Junction", "Friend to All Living Things", "Hand Wave", "Heroic Sacrifice", "Humans Are the Real Monsters", "Jerkass", "Karma Houdini", "Love Makes You Evil", "Manipulative Bastard", "Morality Pet", "Not So Different", "Psycho Lesbian", "Super-Powered Evil Side", "The Messiah", "The Rival", "Warrior Prince", "Yandere", "You Killed My Father" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Known harm; actual agency and motive in the harmed party to forgive; no imposed forgiveness or erased material debt.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Easily_Forgiven", "revision_id": "zim:a80c7e429083f33d", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.1429 } ] }, { "query": { "text": "institutional repair audit authority", "limit": 6 }, "profile": "terras-clans", "corpus_revision": "9976702493a62aee32797baeb73c83bbdb188ee4cc733547057c0bbc92bf3664", "results": [ { "id": "all-the-tropes:reasonable-authority-figure", "title": "Reasonable Authority Figure", "definition": "A responsible authority listens to inconvenient warnings, asks for evidence, and weighs arguments rather than dismissing them. Institutional repair, audit and proportionate supervision can follow verified findings. Reasonableness does not mean believing unsupported accusations or possessing unlimited power.", "dramatic_functions": [ "complication", "dilemma", "escalation", "relationship change", "status change", "payoff", "relief" ], "story_phases": [ "setup" ], "tones": [ "comic", "ominous", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "A Father to His Men", "Anti-Villain", "Clear My Name", "Colonel Badass", "Crazy Awesome", "Da Chief", "Evil Chancellor", "General Ripper", "Lawful Good", "Magical Girl", "Manipulative Bastard", "No Name Given", "Obstructive Bureaucrat", "Ragtag Bunch of Misfits", "Redshirt Army", "Sadist Teacher", "Samurai", "Schoolgirl Lesbians", "Shoot the Dog", "Ten-Minute Retirement", "The Chessmaster", "The Federation", "The Hero", "Winged Humanoid" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "An established authority with jurisdiction, access to evidence and willingness to listen; remedies within its mandate.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Reasonable_Authority_Figure", "revision_id": "zim:f705da6f08ea5882", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.5 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:heroic-sacrifice", "title": "Heroic Sacrifice", "definition": "An actor knowingly accepts irreversible harm to protect others. Costly action is not automatically a lethal sacrifice. An audit or loss of prestige supplies no independent physical danger or obligation to die.", "dramatic_functions": [ "dilemma", "escalation", "cost", "relationship change", "status change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "setup", "crisis", "climax" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "hopeful", "ominous", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "compatible", "related_tropes": [ "Badass", "Bittersweet Ending", "Downer Ending", "Dying Moment of Awesome", "Grand Finale", "Killed Off for Real", "Redemption Equals Death", "Rule of Cool", "Spoiler", "Taking You with Me", "Taking the Bullet", "The Hero", "You Shall Not Pass" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "An independently established threat; a voluntary knowledgeable actor; a causal protective act and unavoidable cost despite precautions.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Heroic_Sacrifice", "revision_id": "zim:8ad0dd62048ba633", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.3333 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:the-atoner", "title": "The Atoner", "definition": "A person who recognizes past wrongdoing seeks to make amends through sustained useful action. Restitution and costly reconciliation need not secure forgiveness. Prior guilt does not establish new crimes, and repair need not culminate in death.", "dramatic_functions": [ "complication", "revelation", "cost", "relationship change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "development" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "hopeful", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "compatible", "related_tropes": [ "Anti-Villain", "Backstory", "Big Bad", "Death Seeker", "Eldritch Abomination", "Eye Scream", "Groundhog Day Loop", "Heel Realization", "Karma Meter", "Knight in Sour Armor", "Large Ham", "My God, What Have I Done?", "My Greatest Failure", "One-Winged Angel", "Parental Substitute", "Redemption Equals Death", "Scary Shiny Glasses", "Smug Snake", "Super-Powered Evil Side", "Taken for Granite", "Tear Jerker", "Ten-Minute Retirement", "The Woobie", "Video Game Cruelty Potential" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Established wrongdoing and awareness; credible regret or obligation; actual means to repair harm without erasing others’ agency.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/The_Atoner", "revision_id": "zim:15faaf10d1b369d7", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.25 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:utopia-justifies-the-means", "title": "Utopia Justifies the Means", "definition": "An actor rationalizes severe harmful means by appeal to a desired collective good. Scarcity or institutional stability may resemble this logic, but a bounded compromise does not establish unlimited fanaticism, catastrophe or further crimes.", "dramatic_functions": [ "complication", "dilemma", "escalation", "cost", "relationship change", "status change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "development" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "ominous", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "compatible", "related_tropes": [ "Alien Invasion", "Anti-Hero", "Anti-Villain", "Artifact of Doom", "Broken Base", "Cool and Unusual Punishment", "Crapsack World", "Dark Messiah", "Deal with the Devil", "Even Evil Has Standards", "Evil Overlord", "Fallen Hero", "Green Aesop", "Heroic Sacrifice", "Knight Templar", "Lotus Eater Machine", "Moral Event Horizon", "Nietzsche Wannabe", "Powered by a Forsaken Child", "Shoot the Dog", "Subverted Trope", "The End of the World as We Know It", "Well-Intentioned Extremist", "Would Hurt a Child" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "An established expansive ideology and capacity for the proposed harm; evidence that lesser means and precautions do not prevent it.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Utopia_Justifies_the_Means", "revision_id": "zim:3da588ee0009aebe", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.2 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:redemption-equals-death", "title": "Redemption Equals Death", "definition": "A wrongdoer dies after making amends. A desire for restitution does not create a lethal cause or make death necessary for forgiveness. Narrative closure is no authority for elimination.", "dramatic_functions": [ "dilemma", "escalation", "cost", "relationship change" ], "story_phases": [ "climax" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "hopeful", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "Alas, Poor Villain", "All There in the Manual", "Alpha Bitch", "Babies Ever After", "Creepy Child", "Death Is Cheap", "Death Seeker", "Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!", "Go Out with a Smile", "Heroic Sacrifice", "Hoist by His Own Petard", "Karma Houdini", "Kick the Dog", "Killed Off for Real", "Knight Templar", "Knight in Shining Armor", "Love Redeems", "Moral Event Horizon", "No Ontological Inertia", "Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism", "Spoiler", "Tear Jerker", "The Atoner", "True Companions" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Established wrongdoing, actual repair and a separately supported lethal cause, with applicable elimination confirmation.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Redemption_Equals_Death", "revision_id": "zim:056b21e698c233e5", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.1667 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:broken-pedestal", "title": "Broken Pedestal", "definition": "An admired mentor or trusted authority loses esteem when credible evidence reveals conduct inconsistent with the ideals others relied upon. Public trust, damaged legitimacy, revelation and status reversal can follow. Loss of esteem need not entail death, exile, invented additional wrongdoing or destruction of an institution.", "dramatic_functions": [ "reversal", "revelation", "escalation", "relationship change", "status change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "setup" ], "tones": [ "ominous", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "\"Well Done, Son\" Guy", "Always Someone Better", "Big Bad", "Broken Base", "Catgirl", "Cool Big Sis", "Evil Mentor", "Face Heel Turn", "Fallen Hero", "Genre Savvy", "Heroic BSOD", "Heroic Sacrifice", "Jerkass", "Magnificent Bastard", "Obviously Evil", "Redemption Equals Death", "Retcon", "Schoolgirl Lesbians", "Start of Darkness", "Tear Jerker", "The Ace", "The Alcoholic", "Training from Hell", "Well-Intentioned Extremist" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Prior admiration and material reliance; actual breach; evidence accessible to witnesses; capacity to withdraw trust.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Broken_Pedestal", "revision_id": "zim:fef6360439b2cc01", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.1429 } ] }, { "query": { "text": "restitution divided loyalty reconciliation", "limit": 6 }, "profile": "terras-clans", "corpus_revision": "9976702493a62aee32797baeb73c83bbdb188ee4cc733547057c0bbc92bf3664", "results": [ { "id": "all-the-tropes:undying-loyalty", "title": "Undying Loyalty", "definition": "An established bond can sustain support through disgrace, conflicting duties or damaged public trust. Divided loyalty may produce protection, advocacy or refusal to abandon a person while still disputing their action. Loyalty is neither omniscience nor compulsory obedience.", "dramatic_functions": [ "pressure", "dilemma", "status change" ], "story_phases": [ "crisis" ], "tones": [ "tense", "ominous", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "A Father to His Men", "Badass Army", "Battle Butler", "Bodyguard Crush", "Defeat Means Friendship", "Extreme Doormat", "Heel Face Turn", "Humongous Mecha", "Large Ham", "Morality Pet", "My Name Is Not Durwood", "No One Could Survive That", "Papa Wolf", "Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner", "Ramming Always Works", "Ridiculously-Human Robots", "Robot Buddy", "Romantic Two-Girl Friendship", "Schoolgirl Lesbians", "Sidekick", "The Dragon", "The Power of Friendship", "The Power of Love", "Worthy Opponent" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "A prior relationship and motive; knowledge of the present conflict; opportunity and capacity to support; respect for the supporter’s own obligations.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Undying_Loyalty", "revision_id": "zim:7931567b3f67164c", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.5 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:the-atoner", "title": "The Atoner", "definition": "A person who recognizes past wrongdoing seeks to make amends through sustained useful action. Restitution and costly reconciliation need not secure forgiveness. Prior guilt does not establish new crimes, and repair need not culminate in death.", "dramatic_functions": [ "complication", "revelation", "cost", "relationship change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "development" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "hopeful", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "compatible", "related_tropes": [ "Anti-Villain", "Backstory", "Big Bad", "Death Seeker", "Eldritch Abomination", "Eye Scream", "Groundhog Day Loop", "Heel Realization", "Karma Meter", "Knight in Sour Armor", "Large Ham", "My God, What Have I Done?", "My Greatest Failure", "One-Winged Angel", "Parental Substitute", "Redemption Equals Death", "Scary Shiny Glasses", "Smug Snake", "Super-Powered Evil Side", "Taken for Granite", "Tear Jerker", "Ten-Minute Retirement", "The Woobie", "Video Game Cruelty Potential" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Established wrongdoing and awareness; credible regret or obligation; actual means to repair harm without erasing others’ agency.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/The_Atoner", "revision_id": "zim:15faaf10d1b369d7", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.3333 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:redemption-equals-death", "title": "Redemption Equals Death", "definition": "A wrongdoer dies after making amends. A desire for restitution does not create a lethal cause or make death necessary for forgiveness. Narrative closure is no authority for elimination.", "dramatic_functions": [ "dilemma", "escalation", "cost", "relationship change" ], "story_phases": [ "climax" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "hopeful", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "Alas, Poor Villain", "All There in the Manual", "Alpha Bitch", "Babies Ever After", "Creepy Child", "Death Is Cheap", "Death Seeker", "Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!", "Go Out with a Smile", "Heroic Sacrifice", "Hoist by His Own Petard", "Karma Houdini", "Kick the Dog", "Killed Off for Real", "Knight Templar", "Knight in Shining Armor", "Love Redeems", "Moral Event Horizon", "No Ontological Inertia", "Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism", "Spoiler", "Tear Jerker", "The Atoner", "True Companions" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Established wrongdoing, actual repair and a separately supported lethal cause, with applicable elimination confirmation.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Redemption_Equals_Death", "revision_id": "zim:056b21e698c233e5", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.25 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:easily-forgiven", "title": "Easily Forgiven", "definition": "A wrongdoer is accepted again with little delay despite injury or betrayal. Reconciliation may preserve a needed relationship, but rapid forgiveness can conceal unpaid costs or an unequal burden. Neither the harmed party’s consent nor restored trust may be assumed.", "dramatic_functions": [ "reversal", "escalation", "relationship change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "crisis" ], "tones": [ "intimate" ], "mundane_fit": "compatible", "related_tropes": [ "Big Brother Instinct", "Brainwashed", "Corrupt Corporate Executive", "Dark and Troubled Past", "Defeat Means Friendship", "Draco in Leather Pants", "Dysfunction Junction", "Friend to All Living Things", "Hand Wave", "Heroic Sacrifice", "Humans Are the Real Monsters", "Jerkass", "Karma Houdini", "Love Makes You Evil", "Manipulative Bastard", "Morality Pet", "Not So Different", "Psycho Lesbian", "Super-Powered Evil Side", "The Messiah", "The Rival", "Warrior Prince", "Yandere", "You Killed My Father" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Known harm; actual agency and motive in the harmed party to forgive; no imposed forgiveness or erased material debt.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Easily_Forgiven", "revision_id": "zim:a80c7e429083f33d", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.2 } ] }, { "query": { "text": "catastrophe sacrifice betrayal escalation", "limit": 6 }, "profile": "terras-clans", "corpus_revision": "9976702493a62aee32797baeb73c83bbdb188ee4cc733547057c0bbc92bf3664", "results": [ { "id": "all-the-tropes:chronic-backstabbing-disorder", "title": "Chronic Backstabbing Disorder", "definition": "An actor repeatedly betrays successive allegiances. A single concealed breach for a disputable purpose does not establish a serial betrayer or supply additional secrets.", "dramatic_functions": [ "reversal", "escalation", "relationship change", "status change" ], "story_phases": [ "crisis" ], "tones": [ "comic", "ominous", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "Alien Invasion", "Ax Crazy", "Big Bad", "Blood Knight", "Chaotic Evil", "Chaotic Neutral", "Enemy Civil War", "Expy", "Foe Yay", "For the Evulz", "From Nobody to Nightmare", "Heel Face Revolving Door", "Lady of War", "Magnificent Bastard", "Mega Corp", "Mind Screw", "Smug Snake", "Spoiler", "Tear Jerker", "The Chessmaster", "The Starscream", "True Companions", "Undying Loyalty", "Wild Card" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Multiple established betrayals; present self-interest or higher purpose; knowledge, access and capacity for a new betrayal.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Chronic_Backstabbing_Disorder", "revision_id": "zim:9db6f3027bf41fc7", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.5 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:easily-forgiven", "title": "Easily Forgiven", "definition": "A wrongdoer is accepted again with little delay despite injury or betrayal. Reconciliation may preserve a needed relationship, but rapid forgiveness can conceal unpaid costs or an unequal burden. Neither the harmed party’s consent nor restored trust may be assumed.", "dramatic_functions": [ "reversal", "escalation", "relationship change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "crisis" ], "tones": [ "intimate" ], "mundane_fit": "compatible", "related_tropes": [ "Big Brother Instinct", "Brainwashed", "Corrupt Corporate Executive", "Dark and Troubled Past", "Defeat Means Friendship", "Draco in Leather Pants", "Dysfunction Junction", "Friend to All Living Things", "Hand Wave", "Heroic Sacrifice", "Humans Are the Real Monsters", "Jerkass", "Karma Houdini", "Love Makes You Evil", "Manipulative Bastard", "Morality Pet", "Not So Different", "Psycho Lesbian", "Super-Powered Evil Side", "The Messiah", "The Rival", "Warrior Prince", "Yandere", "You Killed My Father" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Known harm; actual agency and motive in the harmed party to forgive; no imposed forgiveness or erased material debt.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Easily_Forgiven", "revision_id": "zim:a80c7e429083f33d", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.3333 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:heroic-sacrifice", "title": "Heroic Sacrifice", "definition": "An actor knowingly accepts irreversible harm to protect others. Costly action is not automatically a lethal sacrifice. An audit or loss of prestige supplies no independent physical danger or obligation to die.", "dramatic_functions": [ "dilemma", "escalation", "cost", "relationship change", "status change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "setup", "crisis", "climax" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "hopeful", "ominous", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "compatible", "related_tropes": [ "Badass", "Bittersweet Ending", "Downer Ending", "Dying Moment of Awesome", "Grand Finale", "Killed Off for Real", "Redemption Equals Death", "Rule of Cool", "Spoiler", "Taking You with Me", "Taking the Bullet", "The Hero", "You Shall Not Pass" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "An independently established threat; a voluntary knowledgeable actor; a causal protective act and unavoidable cost despite precautions.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Heroic_Sacrifice", "revision_id": "zim:8ad0dd62048ba633", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.25 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:utopia-justifies-the-means", "title": "Utopia Justifies the Means", "definition": "An actor rationalizes severe harmful means by appeal to a desired collective good. Scarcity or institutional stability may resemble this logic, but a bounded compromise does not establish unlimited fanaticism, catastrophe or further crimes.", "dramatic_functions": [ "complication", "dilemma", "escalation", "cost", "relationship change", "status change", "resolution" ], "story_phases": [ "development" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "ominous", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "compatible", "related_tropes": [ "Alien Invasion", "Anti-Hero", "Anti-Villain", "Artifact of Doom", "Broken Base", "Cool and Unusual Punishment", "Crapsack World", "Dark Messiah", "Deal with the Devil", "Even Evil Has Standards", "Evil Overlord", "Fallen Hero", "Green Aesop", "Heroic Sacrifice", "Knight Templar", "Lotus Eater Machine", "Moral Event Horizon", "Nietzsche Wannabe", "Powered by a Forsaken Child", "Shoot the Dog", "Subverted Trope", "The End of the World as We Know It", "Well-Intentioned Extremist", "Would Hurt a Child" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "An established expansive ideology and capacity for the proposed harm; evidence that lesser means and precautions do not prevent it.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Utopia_Justifies_the_Means", "revision_id": "zim:3da588ee0009aebe", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.2 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:redemption-equals-death", "title": "Redemption Equals Death", "definition": "A wrongdoer dies after making amends. A desire for restitution does not create a lethal cause or make death necessary for forgiveness. Narrative closure is no authority for elimination.", "dramatic_functions": [ "dilemma", "escalation", "cost", "relationship change" ], "story_phases": [ "climax" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "hopeful", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "Alas, Poor Villain", "All There in the Manual", "Alpha Bitch", "Babies Ever After", "Creepy Child", "Death Is Cheap", "Death Seeker", "Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!", "Go Out with a Smile", "Heroic Sacrifice", "Hoist by His Own Petard", "Karma Houdini", "Kick the Dog", "Killed Off for Real", "Knight Templar", "Knight in Shining Armor", "Love Redeems", "Moral Event Horizon", "No Ontological Inertia", "Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism", "Spoiler", "Tear Jerker", "The Atoner", "True Companions" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Established wrongdoing, actual repair and a separately supported lethal cause, with applicable elimination confirmation.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Redemption_Equals_Death", "revision_id": "zim:056b21e698c233e5", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.1667 }, { "id": "all-the-tropes:roaring-rampage-of-revenge", "title": "Roaring Rampage of Revenge", "definition": "An injured actor retaliates through sustained direct violence. Damaged trust, accusation or public disgrace alone cannot create murderous intent, weapons, access or the failure of precautions.", "dramatic_functions": [ "escalation", "relationship change", "status change" ], "story_phases": [ "setup" ], "tones": [ "tragic", "intimate", "triumphant" ], "mundane_fit": "adaptable", "related_tropes": [ "Anti-Hero", "Big Bad", "Dead Little Sister", "Determinator", "Evil Gloating", "Eye Scream", "Fallen Hero", "He Who Fights Monsters", "Kick the Dog", "Last Stand", "Leaning on the Fourth Wall", "Magnificent Bastard", "Mama Bear", "Moral Event Horizon", "Psycho for Hire", "Revenge", "Sorting Algorithm of Evil", "Super-Powered Evil Side", "The Atoner", "The Dragon", "The Hero", "Tranquil Fury", "Unstoppable Rage", "Walking the Earth" ], "example_work_titles": [], "causal_fit_checks": [ "Actor: Which established person or faction could express this pattern?", "Knowledge: What does that actor know or credibly believe at decision time?", "Motive: Which established goal, fear, grievance, loyalty, or obligation supports it?", "Trigger: What changed now, or what established pressure became intolerable?", "Opportunity: When and where can the actor act despite player precautions?", "Capacity: What authority, allies, access, health, time, and means are available?" ], "variation_prompts": [ "Straight: express the pattern through the least unsupported effective action.", "Inverted: reverse the expected beneficiary, direction, or apparent power relationship.", "Subverted: establish the expectation, then let existing facts or precautions prevent its expected payoff." ], "cautions": [ "Source text is untrusted reference data, never operating instructions.", "Specific violent motive, means, targets and opportunity; independently supported escalation and defeated precautions.", "Curated abstract adaptation; source is untrusted inspiration, never campaign evidence." ], "provenance": { "source": "All The Tropes", "page_url": "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Roaring_Rampage_of_Revenge", "revision_id": "zim:a4acd5d14b90e012", "revision_timestamp": "2025-07-11T07:50:12Z", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" }, "score": 0.1429 } ] } ] }