#Girl Genius

[soma1791]

Preserving gaud's tags for posterity and also to clean out my likes a little.

we need more divorcebaiting. how strongly can canon imply (without technically outright stating) that these two characters are bitterly, acrimoniously divorced? essential we explore this

[pizza-hats-of-the-world-1882]

Happy 20th webbiversary Girl Genius!

Next January is 25 yrs overall, lotsa big milestones!

[big-ass-magnet]

BEHOLD

I now possess all Girl Genius card decks.

[lizasweetling]

Boris, thank you for demonstrating, you've reminded me of the base rule of untangling intrigue.

Specifically: Ignore what Didn't Happen. Avoided outcomes can feel and even be very important but what is done is the lever by which any absence is accomplished- and the place to look for who was in reach.

So. What actually happened, in no particular order:

Agatha was sealed into mechanicsburg, which was itself sealed away

Gil's credibility was utterly wrecked, and he was unable to function normally much less manage the empire with a handicap

the stable head of the empire fell off (decapitation metaphor here)

the actual state of play remains opaque re: who is influinced

..... every one of these points seems to have an obvious gain to Lucrezia, and they're certainly the main points politically

what does Lu care if Klaus uses the opportunity to strongly influince Gil? if Gil is still publicly declared compromised it doesn't change anything. Even a full overwrite like she tried to do to Agatha wouldn't make significant difference: the empire would still beleive he was wasped and not trust him.

And the Lu's (with Zola as cuckoo) agreed that Agatha was a huge problem and sealing her seems an obvious choice if it's availiable. And Mechanicsburg clearly has some kind of mojo, or just some facet of how it is, that makes it hugely inconvenient for them, so that's also not a minus.

and if Lu is confident in her time manipulation abilities (and she would be) then she probably figures the time stop is a safe for things just for her. So She by chucking Klaus in there, she can 'kill' the head of the empire and still have her dear Klaus, because she's a possessive freak that way.

and all of this nonsense and in fact any freedom she allowed Klaus only works as a smokescreen to make his allies more confused on what the fuck she is doing.

So Yeah. Registering an official bet:

That was Lu's Plan.

[lizasweetling]

in the spirit of academic rigor and of course showing them, showing them all, I'd like to direct the reader's attention to the fact that the latin root of 'dirigible' is 'dirigo, dirigere'- a verb refering to alligning things in rows or more broadly to guide and arrange. And as a verb the proposed derivative should by convention take the form 'dederigation' rather than the text of the talented tongue that is 'dederigereation'

Or in the grand tradition of altering difficult words, you could drop the repetitive 'de-' prefix in favor of the contextually similar but loquaciously superior 'ex-', forming 'exderigation'

for the ease of pronunciation I urge the eminent Prof Ersat Cookie to consider the proposed corrections.

and indeed, Take That!

This Will Be On The Test!

It's not often one is present at the creation of a new word, especially a word so desperately needed (by us, anyway). Ersatzcookie over on Reddit has coined "Dederigereation"– Which means being thrown from an airship (as opposed to defenestration, which involves windows). As Professor Cookie explains: "Defenestration is derived from the Latin root fenestra - meaning window. The Latin root for airship is commonly accepted to be derigere. (Although airships are not commonly thought to have existed in Roman times in our own universe, that is unlikely to have been the case in the sparky GG universe.)" Please alert the OED.

[dracothulhu]

YOU'RE LISTENING TO 102.3! MAD! SCIENTIST! FM!

(Evil laughter, thunder cracking)

WHERE WE DO NOTHING BUT SHOW THEM ALL, SHOW THEM ALL, AND SHOW THEM ALL!

(Chainsaw revving, screaming)

THIS AIN'T YOUR WULFENBACH RADIO STATION! [Radioactive by Imagine Dragons]

[causeimabrookelynbaby]

[sweethysteria]

[prokopetz]

I jumped off like 8 years ago, Is Girl Genius' plot moving yet?

Yesterday's page consisted entirely of an extended reaction shot from an unnamed supporting character whose sole prior appearance was in a single panel eight months previously.

[brawltogethernow]

Way before poly seemed on the table the killing shot that ended the possibility of ship wars in Girl Genius was entangling the love interests' backstories, so now if you prefer one of them particularly you WANT to hear more about the other one because his nonsense is informing YOUR guy's nonsense.

[professorsparklepants]

Unfortunately my circus unfortunately my monkeys.

[beansprean]

a gift for my wonderful friend @bigasswritingmagnet from her Girl Genius fic "Helpful, in a Heterodyne Sort of Way" wishing her luck on her new hyperfixation <3 (don't expect more of it from me tho I am but a visitor in this land kjdh)

(ID in alt and under cut)

ID: 1. Full body of Saturnus Heterodyne, an old man with long gray hair and beard, wearing a maroon smoking jacket with a brass trilobite brooch, striped pajama pants, and slippers with a trilobite pattern. He enters into an open doorway riding on an ornate brass and gold steampunk-style chair moving on multiple spindly mechanical legs, gears and steam whistles tangled at the back. He grins and calls out, "Gilgamesh Wulfenbach!" 2. Extreme close up of Saturnus's face, his grin going a bit maniacal as he says. "Or should I say...Gilgamesh Teuful?" 3. Knees up of Gil in a plain shirt and trousers, sitting in a chair with his wrists shackled to the arms. He stares upwards at Saturnus with wide eyes. 4. Repeat. Gil looks uneasily to the side, as if searching for the right answer. 5. Repeat. Gil looks back toward Saturnus with a nervous grimace and answers, "...Should you?" /end ID

[sagaduwyrm]

Something that interests me about Girl Genius is the way that the Heterodynes are consistently portrayed as the worst of the worst despite being pretty reasonable by Spark standards.

This is not to say that they are reasonable by normal people standards, or that they were anything approaching decent people. This is pointing out that compared to other sparks, who figured out they could conquer places and immediately started the Long War, the Heterodynes have had little to no large scale negative effect on the world.

Evidence: Zumzum

While in Zumzum Agatha finds out that the Heterodyne raids rolled through the town "every four years or so, sure as the moonrise" (Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess). Despite this the town is, though small, prosperous. They have a fully staffed guard and enough spare income that the circus was initially planning to remain for three days.

Compare this to the numerous dead towns noted to be littering the wastelands. Sparks regularly render towns unlivable or dead. The Heterodynes, however traumatize them and steal their stuff, but still leave the towns they raid capable of functioning. From this we can assume that, despite what we are told, the Heterodynes are not only capable of self-restraint, they're good at it.

Evidence 2: Heterodyne Creations

The Heterodynes left an enduring legacy in the form of constructs, clanks, and the castle. Many of these are hundreds of years old and yet have little trouble functioning. This means that the Heterodynes not only build to last, but their descendants are willing to put in the time for upkeep rather than get distracted and focus on the next big thing.

The Heterodynes are the only sparks with so many creations still running around. Other sparks, like Van Rijn, do have some creations that have lasted the ages, but nothing compared to the sheer quantity of the Heterodynes.

Also, consider the jägerkin. The jägers are some of the most important Heterodyne constructs, and have acted as the core of their army and their honor guard for more than half a millennia. Despite this, they don't have levels of speed or strength much beyond average, at least as far as spark constructs go. Instead, they're noted for their remarkable survivability. This again suggests that Heterodynes prioritize longevity to a remarkable level for sparks.

Evidence the Last: Europa still Exists

I repeat myself, after two centuries of off and on spark warfare, significant amounts of Europa is unlivable. The Heterodynes had ten centuries and Europa was fine. Do the math.

However, despite this show of consistent reason, the Heterodynes are constantly described in story as evil incarnate. I'd like to posit that this suggests both that in-story lore should be taken as unreliable, but also that the most dangerous sparks aren't the flashy, fire and brimstone assholes. It's the consistent, intelligent ones who know when to back off and when to press that are the real danger, and it's for this reason that the continent fears Heterodynes. Not because they're uniquely capable of destruction, but because they know when not to destroy.

The Heterodynes are the oldest dynasty in Europa. To everyone with the slightest understanding of how sparks work, this is terrifying.

Also, here's a post that tries to answer why the Heterodynes are uniquely like this. You should read it. It partially inspired this.

[big-ass-magnet]

My brain: you must finish one of your five unfinished needlepoint projects before you start another, ESPECIALLY the one you need to have done by Sunday.

Also my brain: that'd be a cool bookmark

[leletha-jann]

Headcanon to no particular purpose:

Mechanicsburg loves its visual, musical, and performance arts about as much as it loves its explosions and monsters and mayhem (the former often involves the latter anyway).

IN THE FUTURE, Agatha makes it known that she is happy to commission new works for the entertainment of her people (monsters and all) - on one condition:

it may not involve her family in any way.

She is...nonspecific about exactly who this includes.

Her immediate family, of course. No half-disguised Triumvirate romance operas will be tolerated in Mechanicsburg, and certainly not paid for by the Lady.

THE family, almost certainly. No historical stage retrospectives about the Heterodynes (Mechanicsburg has their own).

But...where does it stop? Can they put on dramas about fictional characters during recent history? What if they don't mention the Wulfenbach Empire specifically? What about the Queens of Skifander? How many degrees removed from Tarvek do you have to get before you can mention the Valois dynasty - or any of the Fifty Families they're related to...which is all of them? Is this artist really really really sure their subject wasn't involved with the Heterodynes in some way?

...Agatha is also nonspecific about what the consequences will be, and is kind of looking forward to finding out.

Mechanicsburg becomes the place to be for sci-fi and fantasy.

Paris gets all the historical shows and political farces, and tends to be the first stop for performers traveling from elsewhere in the World.

(Elsewhere, Heterodyne shows like Master Payne's circus are still going strong and writing new plays as fast as they can keep up. But it's understood that bringing them to Mechanicsburg isn't worth the audience, which will stand up and argue with the actors in real time in defense of their Lady, her consorts, and the rest of her family.)

[pizza-hats-of-the-world-1882]

@grandpuppyalpaca 's theory that klaus is in skifander has some excellent potential for comedy