Girl Genius XXV: It needs work! BUT THE CONCEPT IS SOUND!

[Rogar Demonblud]

Was it Exiern that had the diabolic insurance agency and the long line of people waiting for payouts? Including Vegeta, IIRC?

[Kareasint]

Was it Exiern that had the diabolic insurance agency and the long line of people waiting for payouts? Including Vegeta, IIRC?

Yes, it was.

[JavaScribe]

New comic.

Is it just because Higgs is really old, or does the Jaegerdraught actually modify how Jaegers interact with time?

[The Glyphstone]

Presumably he's just really, really old. Or maybe it sees the fourth dimension in both directions, and since Jaegers are the next best thing to immortal until something kills them (which is really hard), Higgs really is a leviathan.

[RedScholarGypsy]

Do we have an estimate to how old the Jaegers as a subspecies are? How long ago was the Jaegerdraught invented?

Also, this makes me wonder how old Oggie is if he can call Higgs 'kid'.

Presumably he's just really, really old. Or maybe it sees the fourth dimension in both directions, and since Jaegers are the next best thing to immortal until something kills them (which is really hard), Higgs really is a leviathan.

Are they ageless? We've seen what aging a Jaeger for a few centuries did to Vole, there was a change, but is there a limit?

And one last question: what odds would you give that we're just going to have the big portal event resolution happen off panel?

[factotum]

It's just because he's old, I think. The way Jaegers work with age seems a bit inconsistent, to be honest--normally they seem to get more monstrous as they age, as you can see with the male Jaegergenerals and Vole, but Mama Gkika could pass for human if it weren't for the fangs and the colour-changing skin, and as far as we know she's just as old as they are. If Higgs is, indeed, a Jaeger, then he *does* pass for human all the time, and yet is probably one of the oldest ones around.

[Rockphed]

And one last question: what odds would you give that we're just going to have the big portal event resolution happen off panel?

You have been reading too much Erfworld and Schlock Mercenary: I expect a splash page showing us either a) what "horrible monstrosity" has been summoned, or b) the reaction of the crowd of deluded sparks to a non-euclidean body. In other words, 1 on that bet will get you 200.

[Fyraltari]

Do we have an estimate to how old the Jaegers as a subspecies are? How long ago was the Jaegerdraught invented?

Also, this makes me wonder how old Oggie is if he can call Higgs 'kid'.

I think Oggie just didn't know who Higgs is.

[wingnutx]

I'm guessing that Higgs is older than all the other Jaegers.

They might actually be attempts to replicate Higgs' condition.

[Divayth Fyr]

I think Oggie just didn't know who Higgs is.

This is the most likely answer - Higgs secret wouldn't be much of a secret if all Jaegers could instantly recognize him.

It's just because he's old, I think. The way Jaegers work with age seems a bit inconsistent, to be honest--normally they seem to get more monstrous as they age, as you can see with the male Jaegergenerals and Vole, but Mama Gkika could pass for human if it weren't for the fangs and the colour-changing skin, and as far as we know she's just as old as they are. If Higgs is, indeed, a Jaeger, then he *does* pass for human all the time, and yet is probably one of the oldest ones around.

It may be one of their gifts (like her color-changing epidermis), that they age keeping a more normal look.

[HandofShadows]

I think Oggie just didn't know who Higgs is.

Oh, he certainly does. That's one reason he bugs him. Oggie doesn't show a lot of respect to anyone. Also his identity seems to be fairly commonly known to the Jaegers as in the bar fight at Mama's no seems to have tried attacking him and he just had to dodge a few things flying about.

[Calemyr]

I think Oggie just didn't know who Higgs is.

To quote a late, great smuggler and scoundrel: "It's not the years, kid, it's the mileage." Oggie may not be the brightest of the bunch (with Maxim getting Death's hat, he's probably the dimmest of the boyz), but it seems he has a broader range of experience than most. He at very least has a family tree that is still going (and always seems game to add another branch or two himself), while Maxim admits to having "never luffed" and Higgs admits that his connection to Zeetha is on a level he'd never experienced before. In the only dimension of life Oggie has reliably differentiated himself on, it's not hard to see him consider Higgs his junior despite the reality of their respective ages.

Of course, there's also two other factors to consider. There is no reason at all our new friend wouldn't see the full extent of a person's lifespan, including the future bits. So Higgs being around long enough for the Kestle to consider him an old friend combined with his near legendary (for a Jaeger, no less) toughness, who knows how long he's lived or will live? Besides that, however, he's not regarding the other Jaegers on the scene. Even with Superscience!!!, humans still have trouble outlasting a century, while Jaegers still count themselves young after a few.

Gotta wonder how exposure to a Jaeger's temporal mass will effect Tarvek - who is not just human, but still relatively young. This could be a valuable experience.

[halfeye]

Also, this makes me wonder how old Oggie is if he can call Higgs 'kid'.

I think Oggie is the original Heterodonk (spelt?), so he would be older than any other Jager.

[Rogar Demonblud]

If that were so, then the Storyteller is the legitimate heir to Der Kestle and Mechanicsburg.

[HandofShadows]

I think Oggie is the original Heterodonk (spelt?), so he would be older than any other Jager.

Very doubtful. General Zog is almost certainly nearly the first Jaeger if nor the first.

[halfeye]

Very doubtful. General Zog is almost certainly nearly the first Jaeger if nor the first.

AIUI, the Heterodonk (I still think that's not the right spelling) drank from the Dyne before there were any jagers. I don't think we know for certain that all elder jagers become generals, and certainly not all generals appear monstrous.

If that were so, then the Storyteller is the legitimate heir to Der Kestle and Mechanicsburg.

Not if his great...grandfather/mother were the second or later child of the Heterodonk. Once a part of a line is skipped, all the offspring in the other line have to die, for the passed line to become heirs again.

[Rogar Demonblud]

His name was Heterodyne. Well, H't'r'd'n, for some freaking reason. And the title has repeatedly passed to whatever cousin could sneak past the enemies to claim the throne, from what the Castle said in the Chapel. It's not about some arcane precedence quanta, it's about who can take and hold the castle against all others, including the Castle itself.

[Rockphed]

His name was Heterodyne. Well, H't'r'd'n, for some freaking reason. And the title has repeatedly passed to whatever cousin could sneak past the enemies to claim the throne, from what the Castle said in the Chapel. It's not about some arcane precedence quanta, it's about who can take and hold the castle against all others, including the Castle itself.

The Ht'Rok-Dyn. Seems to be a title of some sort. His son, Knife, founded the first castle.

[halfeye]

His name was Heterodyne. Well, H't'r'd'n, for some freaking reason. And the title has repeatedly passed to whatever cousin could sneak past the enemies to claim the throne, from what the Castle said in the Chapel. It's not about some arcane precedence quanta, it's about who can take and hold the castle against all others, including the Castle itself.

By that standard the storyteller still doesn't qualify, he's not the sneaking in looking for trouble sort.

[Ellen]

His name was Heterodyne.

Back before the invention of vowels

I noticed something that may or may not be important:

The Heterodynes, for unknown reasons (possibly the influence of Dyne water), rarely have daughters. They are unusually strong Sparks with talents that seem to be rare outside of their family even among gifted Sparks.

The origins of the queens are unclear, but the evidence seems to be that they were all female (hence, the name) and that they may have gone through a second breakthrough. If there were other factors involved in creating them, he haven't heard about them. It's also a little unclear how many of Albia's abilities were common to all queens and how many were unique--or to what extent any of the queens had significant, unique talents.

We also don't know if what happened to Lucrezia was something like what created a queen but it went wrong or if it was something else entirely.

So, here are the questions:

1) Are the Heterodyne talents genetically linked, tending to favor males (and the survival of male embryos)?

2) Was something done to the Heterodyne line that made female children less likely? Was this Heterodyne craziness, or was it done by someone who knew (because timey-wimey stuff) there might be problems someday with a daughter of the family?

3) From what Albia said, Agatha seems to be an early-stage queen. Does this mean she combines two, unique abilities? The rarely-seen-in-girls Heterodyne skills and the queen skills?

4) Is what happened to Lucy a third factor? If she were trying to become a queen and things went wrong, can they go wrong for Agatha? If something else happened to her, is it something that can happen to Agatha and become part of the cocktail of whatever-it-is happening to her? How well will these things coexist?

[Traab]

What I also wonder about is, is it only women who can break through twice? In addition, i vaguely recall WAAAAY back in the comic, mention of female sparks and issues involved there. Im not sure if they were implying female sparks are found and perhaps used as breeding stock, or if there are other nefarious possibilities. It does seem that in general female sparks are rare. So far I know of collette, the new master of paris, and that party spark. Lucrezia and the mysterious queens of course. There were also a couple of weak female sparks in master paynes circus, but in general, most sparks tend to be male.

[SZbNAhL]

The way I see it, we have three options:

1. Only female sparks can break through twice for some reason.
2. Male sparks can break through twice, but they're not allowed into the Queens' club because boys are icky, so we've just never seen one. After all, the only double-breakthroughs we've seen are Albia and those she met in flashback.
3. Some male sparks have the potential to break through twice, but the Queens (or someone else) identify those with said potential and kill (or otherwise neutralise) them first.

[slayerx]

What I also wonder about is, is it only women who can break through twice? In addition, i vaguely recall WAAAAY back in the comic, mention of female sparks and issues involved there. Im not sure if they were implying female sparks are found and perhaps used as breeding stock, or if there are other nefarious possibilities. It does seem that in general female sparks are rare. So far I know of collette, the new master of paris, and that party spark. Lucrezia and the mysterious queens of course. There were also a couple of weak female sparks in master paynes circus, but in general, most sparks tend to be male.

WAY back on castle wulfenbach it was Judy who said that female sparks have a tendency to just disappear. We also found out later that Tarvek's father has attempted to use Lucrezia's summoning engine on A LOT of girls all with disastrous results. I think the implication is that the reason why female sparks went missing is because Tarvek's father has been kidnapping them in his attempt to summon lucrezia.

[JavaScribe]

What I also wonder about is, is it only women who can break through twice?

One of the Old Heterodynes, Igneous, managed to do something similar, but exploded, which given what most Heterodynes were like, was probably for the best.

[InvisibleBison]

The Heterodynes, for unknown reasons (possibly the influence of Dyne water), rarely have daughters.

This doesn't really match up with my impressions of the family history. Do you have some evidence for this?

[Lethologica]

This doesn't really match up with my impressions of the family history. Do you have some evidence for this?

Der Kestle said so.

[InvisibleBison]

Der Kestle said so.

I'm starting to think I need to reread the comic again. Every time I come into this thread someone's linked to something I don't remember.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Tarvek is starting to scare me. Nobody likes a blithering master schemer.

[factotum]

Tarvek is starting to scare me. Nobody likes a blithering master schemer.

Imagine how bad he'll be when he shortly goes insane!

[PraetorDragoon]

Imagine how bad he'll be when he shortly goes insane!

Will it be different than being in the madness place?