#orotine

[calmingpi]

Something about the storm king family tree is that terebithia is a dowager to the prince of sturmhalten right but shes the grandma of both the sturmvoraus' and the von blitzengaards. This can be explained as another kid of hers most likely marrying a guy named von blitzengaard? But shes AARONEVS mom. Tarvek is related to andronicus via his MOTHER, implying that terebithia isnt. Martellus is also related to andronicus, right? How. Like were the von blitzengaards another andronicus relation offshoot? Id argue that martellus does on fact resemble andronicus pretty well for a really distant relation, so i dont doubt that he is in fact related, but how distant of an offshoot are they if orotine considers martellus a distant third candidate at best?

[elzerei-likes-girl-genius]

Orotine is subtly suggesting that I should have used a compass for the gears instead of freehanding them

[incomingalbatross]

THIS is why you don’t get to be Storm King, Martellus. You don’t love the Muses the way Tarvek does.

[lizasweetling]

the Lie: "Train falls in love with robot woman after witnessing her violent pragmatism"

there is a sentient train! two, if you count the one that used to be a monk- but neither of them has met a robot woman at all, less one with violent pragmatism. (on screen, anyway)

This lie was inspired by the Train marriage from the fictional train bracket a while back, speculating that Beast and the Muse Orotine might have an interesting dynamic.

Receipts:

Aaronev killed so many young girl sparks that it caused the perception that girls are rarely sparks, and that when they happen they "usually just -disappear"

Moloch Von Zinzer has insisted he is not a minion on several occations, and that he intends to leave at soonest opportunity, but seemingly continued to help out in Mechanicsburg as chief minion at least until the Castle was fully powered again.

Zoing (risen lobster construct) uses a mecha made for him in Gil's youth to literally pick up Bangladesh Dupree, Prirate queen.

Lucrezia drugged and somehow sent Klaus to Skifander to get him out of the way while she got married (and went crazy bonkers evil) but something happened "and then it all went wrong! - and no one ever came to rescue me! Not my wretched husband, not Daddy, not you- and I waited so long! Where were you all? I hate you! I Hate You!"

Colette built a giant robot of herself that gives the impression she ascended and became an eternal god queen, alongside other technical wonders, to awe diplomatic visitors

A background character attends Terebithia "Grandma"'s masquerade ball as Sans Undertale, or possibly is Sans Undertale and just looks like that, image for proof.

1 2 3 4

[somebodyssherlock-heterodyne]

None of the Muses are straight Foglios I'm waiting for this to be canon

[phoenixyfriend]

The muses, collectively. The colour one

soulmate au prompts.

14. the one where color appears on your body wherever your soulmate first touches you.

Of course the Muses have souls, Doctor Beetle had once said. They got their colors, didn’t they?

Not everyone agreed, of course, but not everyone was right.

There were ten marks that every muse had:

Her sisters. (Family.)

Her maker. (Father.)

Her king. (Loyalty.)

(Eleven, soon. Tarvek did love them all so dearly, after all.)

Otilia loses her marks when she becomes Von Pinn. She gathers new ones. The children call her Mistress Von Pinn, but more often then not, their marks show that they mean mother.

She has a mark for the Baron, loyalty and salvation.

She has a mark for a jager, one she hides because it feels like a betrayal, even two hundred years later. She cares, she does, she may understand the human romances now, but it still feels like a betrayal, to find love in the armies that decimated Europa, in the creatures that served he-who-corrupted-her-king. It feels like a betrayal, to have the mark of a jager but not the mark of Andronicus Valois.

She loses those marks, too, when she transfers to the cat body, but they are quick to gather again. Her young new king, her not-children, even Andre, once he sees her again.

She transfers once more, to her rebuilt original body.

All her marks come back. Muse, Governess, Tigress. All her marks come back.

Tinka has two hundred years of markings covering her body. They keep her sane, when she suspects she is shortly to be anything but.

Her new king leaves a marking the first time he touches her, and it is what spurs her to trust him. This was a mistake, but one she does not regret.

There is a mark, one that pulses of family family family from the Princess that uses a body based on Tinka’s own. 

There are none others, after the Heterodyne passes through.

(This is not the Heterodyne’s fault.)

(It is, as all things, Aaronev’s.)

Moxana has markings. Her sisters, her king, her maker. She has two centuries of circuses and traveling shows that allowed her to perform.

For the three years that she doesn’t have Tinka, they are her only comfort.

(Tinka’s mark stays pink. It does not fade. She is not dead. This is important.)

Prende has ten marks.

She does not lose her marks, though Van Rijn’s goes grey.

She does not gain new ones, locked away as she is.

She has ten marks, and then she is released from her crypt.

There are handprints on her arms, after the jester saves her.

They are the first of many new markings.

Mawu and Liza are the not-twins. They are two sides of the same coin. They do not form new connections easily, because for every connection that one might make, the other chooses caution. They are careful, for their own sake’s, and they balance each other. They do not gather those they would protect as Otilia once did, or love all they inspire, as Tinka had. They do not make friends as easily as Contasia, or as deeply as Artimo. The do not hide as Prende does.

They gather marks, but slowly.

They are careful, they are consistent, and for this, they are alive.

Contasia is broken.

When stories are told of the muses that were found by sparks and taken apart, never to be put together again because nobody has the skills, she is what they mean. She does not know if her sisters are safe. Her marks are still colored. They are still clear. Her sisters are alive, but not safe. Her king and creator are... are...

Contasia is in mourning, in pieces, in a ruined castle’s basement.

She plays a funeral dirge.

She plays it again.

If she plays it enough times, perhaps the Spark that lives here will finally let her go.

Or put her out of her misery.

Or maybe there’s nobody here, and she’s just playing a cry for help that nobody is going to hear.

(Someone save her.)

Artimo hides behind fabric and rubber masks, clever little things that make it impossible to see who she truly is. She is mistaken for a construct as often as not, but nobody assumes she’s a muse and tries to take her apart.

It hides her markings, and it means that she cannot gain new ones, but it keeps her safe.

Orotine is in pieces.

She can see Prende’s marking on her left hand, three yards away.

She can see Otilia’s on her shoulder, on a desk a few feet further.

“Now, let’s see how that spine works...”

Help.

Help.

Help.

[iridescentoracle]

like, okay. tarvek isn’t the storm king. i mean, he is, obviously, but [gestures at all the stuff i just reblogged] the wulfenbachs have stolen all of the symbolism and he’s the euphrosynia or the van rijn, not the andronicus in this story. tarvek likes politics and the muses and only wants power and the spotlight so he can use them, not because he enjoys them for their own sake.

and then there’s gil, who hates politics and being the baron and likes throwing himself at danger and saving people and is perfectly content to be a distraction so other people can get things done.

whatever the endgame scenario here is, politically, all of that feels like it has to factor in but i don’t know how and i can’t stop thinking about it

[divinegiftofarticulatespeech]

So, spoiler alert for things not revealed in the comic.

Again, if you don't want to know things that may be revealed in the story later, ignore this and have a nice day!

So, the Girl Genius roleplaying source book, which is cowritten by the Foglios, actually answers this question. Gil is a biological descendant of the Storm King, although it doesn't day through which parent.

It also confirms that Gil and Zeetha are twins

This makes Orotine's comment that Martellus is a "distant third at best" candidate for heir make sense because Gil and Zeetha (and maybe even Klaus) are potential heirs as well

(ALSO 200 years is enough time that Tarvek and Gil are probably barely more related than any other two Europans picked at random. Less so if Gil is heir through Zantabraxus, so if they don't kiss by the end of the series then I'm calling foul)

You know, we had a whole thing about how Agatha had a secret legacy on her mother's side. what if Gil is heir to the storm king through his mother? you know, the queen?

Well, it's pretty clear that Gil counts as a potential Storm King Heir... somehow.

The most common speculation in the Fandom that I've seen that it's all about his 'Call Down the Lightning' trick back from the start of the Mechanicsburg Arc.

That it somehow made him Storm King by deeds (rather than being like Tarvek, a Storm King by blood), but....

It could be through his mother... although due to the heavy heavy implications that Gil is half-Skifanderian and Zeetha's twin brother, that would also imply that the current Skidanderian Royal Family has relation to the House of Valois. So... we'll see how that goes I guess.

[iztarshi]

Um so i guess i got the gist of the gurps spoilers but like would you mind sharing some more deets please? how does tarvek the neat-story-breaking victorian waif finally fit in then?

I think the entire thing was just "Gil has Storm King blood, only a few people know about it" (I don't own the GURPs book and can't find the picture of it which was posted). Combined with Orotine saying there's conflict among the Muses about which of Andronicus' lines to consider ascendent this makes it sound like he has an equal claim to Tarvek.

I may not be the best source of information since my amusement over this has led me to overstate the case, Gil's claim isn't necessarily superior - I suspect the Foglios are also unsure whose claim they want to consider superior right now.

As for Tarvek...

There's been Word of God that he originally wasn't meant to be a big part of the story post-Sturmhalten, but Kaja really liked him so he stayed. He may have been intended to die, but I don't have a source on that.

I do have a theory, which is really just me theorising, and have had for a while that Tarvek's original role in the narrative was to introduce the Storm King, the prophecy, the Muses, etc. because Gil doesn't care enough about those myths to be the one to do it. So when Gil started taking on Storm themes and Otilia was revealed we'd know the significance. (I did not suspect Gil of being blood related, oddly enough, I just thought maybe the Storm King wasn't as hereditary a title as commonly supposed, since Andronicus himself hadn't inherited anything.)

I suspect that's what Brawl was referencing by calling him Fridge Bait XD

The story breaking is speculation on my part. The Foglios had book 2 planned before book 1, iirc, and Tarvek wasn't intended to exist when they planned it. So Gil being Storm King by blood has sent me into conniptions because I'm looking at the story going... oh wait, if Tarvek wasn't here I'd know exactly where this was going and I wonder if the Foglios are in the same boat.

[knitordeath]

Oh man these latest updates to Girl Genius have me in tears. Like, what are the odds that Orotine doesn't know that both Gil and Tarvek died during the whole Si Vales Valeo procedure? My guess is low. And yet the muse still ranks Tweedle as a third best canidate for the crown.

[inbarfink]

So um, Gil is TOTALLY the other Storm King contender Orotine was hinting at. I have no idea HOW Gil counts as a Storm King heir (I guess the ‘calling down the lightning’ stunt, unless Gil’s family has any currently-unknown Valois connections) but he is totally the other Storm Heir she was talking about.

[monstersqueen]

Actually let me propose something.

per legend, the One True Heir is the one who wins "the Heterodyne girl"'s heart. Boring, annoying, reduces Agatha to a crown provider, saved only by the fact that she actually made it very clear already that she won't choose. Does explain why everyone is still on 'but who Will She Choose' and also why orotine asked krosp if he had any idea.

much better : to avoid history repeating, being in love with "the Heterodyne girl" disqualifies one from being the heir. Woops. Martellus is now head of the list xD. Also hilarious to imagine the boys finding out.

So I know that post about Gil stealing the lightning imagery was going around but the GURPS Sourcebook has been out for a while now and uhhhhhh anybody want to talk about this?

[minutia-r]

I like how Gil asked Orotine for advice about his relationship with Agatha but what he’s getting is advice* about his relationship with Tarvek

* for values of advice that include “gently nudging Gil into realizing what he already knows”

[the-lunar-system]

Tarvek: I am not so easily distracted from politics by pretty women and science as Gil or Agatha, i must remain immune to the machinations of court and-

Orotine: Hi

Tarvek: sdhsywbaocibaJXNSJ A MUSE?!?!?!

[iztarshisdragons]

Anyone in Lightning want to help with the creation of a Muse? I’m breeding for Orotine and I need to borrow a nest.

[aelloposchrysopterus]

What if a beauty pageant is how they determine who gets the Storm King title?

In a distant third place (thanks to that one Orotine scene) comes Tweedle, better known by his actual name of Martellus von Blitzengaard. He flubs it. He doesn't know what he's doing. They give up on getting him into a swimsuit. His only talent is making people mad. The judges give him no points.

In second place comes Tarvek Sturmvoraus. He knows what he's doing. He slays every single outfit he wears and is always on point. Sure, his talent may be described by the judges as "booooring" and "better than melatonin for falling asleep", but he has a talent. He is the perfect, well-mannered gentleman and is furious when he looses to...

Seffie (or Xerxesphina) von Blitzengaard, who only entered because she was not going to let the Storm King title go to a Sturmvoraus and Tweedle wasn't going to take it seriously, so somebody had to step up in this family, and dammit, she was the only one with any kind of backbone. She has style. She has panache. She has flair. And most importantly, she has charisma. She gets crowned the next Storm King hands down.

(The judges are Albia, Krosp, and Zantabraxus. Agatha, Colette, and Gil were invited to judge but recused themselves.)

Storm king beauty pageant