Girl Genius XXVII: Hoy! Hennybody else not dead?

[Manga Shoggoth]

Love how Tweedle got faced there. And it seems the Muses do think Tarvek has a good claim.

Well, Tarvek does (or did) get on very well with Tinka and Otilia, and may have got on with well with Moxana (although that was a brief meeting under strained circumstances). I don't think Prende has met him yet.

But I don't think Orotine is directly supporting him, but staying neutral. She simply mentions other lines rather than specifying Tarvek (and Tarvek has mentioned other claimants to the line as well, so we could be dealing with even more claimants).

(Alternately, according to the novels the Muses were "programmed" not to give direct answers (particularly to the Storm King), so this could simply be indirection of some form)

EDIT: As I recall, both Tinka and Otilia have directly acknowledged Tarvek as such; Moxana may have done so offscreen.

[Vinyadan]

If I understand correctly, she said "in neither case", meaning that there are two lines whose seniority on each other is disputed, but Martellus is from a third line, which either doesn't have a claim, or has lower seniority than the other two.

It's also true that Gil has been proposed as a Storm King, so he could be one of the two main contendants.

Spoiler

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Unless the other claimant is Agatha or her dad/uncle. Andronicus married an Heterodyne, after all.

[Gauntlet]

Seffie getting her dance with Gil at last. One of the things that I think makes Seffie an interesting character is that she genuinely likes Gil, rather than just having him as a piece in a political game. She's playing a political game, of course, but she's playing for Gil because she likes him, rather than just because he is a valuable piece. And, of course, they do seem to get on well together (and we know that Gil trusts Seffie to a point).

Remember that the last time we saw Seffie, she was having a "request" made of her by Albia.

[geoduck]

If I understand correctly, she said "in neither case", meaning that there are two lines whose seniority on each other is disputed, but Martellus is from a third line, which either doesn't have a claim, or has lower seniority than the other two.

It's also true that Gil has been proposed as a Storm King, so he could be one of the two main contendants.

Spoiler

Show

Unless the other claimant is Agatha or her dad/uncle. Andronicus married an Heterodyne, after all.

Or Orotine thinks that the only legitimate line would be directly through Euphrosynia; as far anyone knows, she didn't die, but disappeared while meddling in Van Rijn's lab. It's not clear if she and Andronicus were actually married at that point, or had consummated said marriage, but if they had, and she was pregnant..

[Manga Shoggoth]

Remember that the last time we saw Seffie, she was having a "request" made of her by Albia.

Oh, indeed. That's a possibility. The thing is, it is strongly hinted that Albia set Trelawney on to Gil in the first place (as a distraction from Agatha and to get a line on the Wulfenbach empire), so that would mean that she is going against her earlier plan. Plans may have changed, but I don't think we have seen that in comic.

[Rogar Demonblud]

I was wondering when that would crop up again.

Martellus' claim on the throne is one small smidgeon behind Tarvek's, seeing as how they're cousins.

[Traab]

That is where my money lies, but I thought they had fixed it.

Agatha has her weasel to get around needing to touch martellus, but it turns out its both ways and aside from a quick boost when he was on the verge of death they havent worked on "fixing" this problem.

[The DM]

I wonder if Seffie is the elder sibling. I’d love it if Orotine smacked Tweedle down with some absolute cognatic inheritance. That would be delicious.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Tweedle being Tweedle, it would create a distinct possibility that Seffie would have an 'accident'.

[HandofShadows]

I wonder if Seffie is the elder sibling. I’d love it if Orotine smacked Tweedle down with some absolute cognatic inheritance. That would be delicious.

Now that would be funny. Instead of a Storm King it would be a Storm Queen. Honestly though, I don't think she wants something like that.

[Fyraltari]

The first Storm King’s named was Andronicus Valois.
In real-life, the Valois line came into power after the death of the so-called Accursed Kings left the king of England as the legal heir to the throne of France (his mother was the daughter of Philippe IV of France). To stop the French crown from falling into English hands, the peers of the kingdom « rediscovered » (read « made up ») the Salic Law which states that women can neither inherit not transmit lands: i.e. pure male line succession law. With this in place, the next in line for the throne was Philippe IV great-nephew Philippe de Valois.

Martellus is a von Blitzengard and Tarvek a Sturmvoraus, maybe their precious genealogy goes through a woman or two before reaching the Storm King?

[BRC]

IIRC Tarvek's claim to the lightning crown is through his Mother, and we've seen at least one Muse acknowledge Tarvek as the heir.

Edit: Ah yes, Here http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comi...6#.XwiblShKiUk

Tarvek's claim to the throne is through his mother, so that's clearly not an issue.

[Rockphed]

I wonder if Seffie is the elder sibling. I’d love it if Orotine smacked Tweedle down with some absolute cognatic inheritance. That would be delicious.

Are you also a man of taste and culture who enjoys reinvigorating the Basque empire in CK2?

The first Storm King’s named was Andronicus Valois.
In real-life, the Valois line came into power after the death of the so-called Accursed Kings left the king of England as the legal heir to the throne of France (his mother was the daughter of Philippe IV of France). To stop the French crown from falling into English hands, the peers of the kingdom « rediscovered » (read « made up ») the Salic Law which states that women can neither inherit not transmit lands: i.e. pure male line succession law. With this in place, the next in line for the throne was Philippe IV great-nephew Philippe de Valois.

Martellus is a von Blitzengard and Tarvek a Sturmvoraus, maybe their precious genealogy goes through a woman or two before reaching the Storm King?

Get Medieval (a comic set during the Hundred Years War) involves a Frenchman explaining the cause of the war and then getting mad when asked if the English really do have a better claim.

[Brance_a_Lot]

We just need a CK II mod to really tie together all of the dynasty of the Storm King...actually on second thought that's a terrible idea.

[BRC]

We just need a CK II mode to really tie together all of the dynasty of the Storm King...actually on second thought that's a terrible idea.

I mean, I have often fantasized about some sort of GG-setting RTS or 4x Strategy game. A map filled with Great Houses and Minor Sparks. Your individual Sparks can augment your forces with their creations and inventions.

Sturmvarious/Storm King Conspiracy has big bonuses for Diplomacy, good at recruiting traditional troops.

Wulfenbach are the Mega-Man of factions, they're very good at incorporating defeated factions into their armies, especially when it comes to Monstrous troops, plus they have very good Airships.


The other big playable faction would be the Heterodynes, who suck at diplomacy, but their Leaders (Sparks) have very high stats, they have Mechanisburg as their capital, and they have the Jaegers. Any towns they control outside of Mechanisburg will be very prone to unrest, since everybody hates them, but Mechanisburg itself is almost always high-morale.

[keybounce]

I just noticed

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20200601

Orotine calls Tarvek "Your Majesty". She considers him to be the proper heir.

[Vinyadan]

Nice catch... yes, that would be the title for a king, while Martellus is being called "highness", whose use is much more variable.

EDIT: It took me a month to understand the pun here: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comi...5#.XwkZaygzaUk "You look very sweet." "They like the candy thing!"

[Manga Shoggoth]

I just noticed

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20200601

Orotine calls Tarvek "Your Majesty". She considers him to be the proper heir.

OK, so that's three out of the five-ish known muses declaring for Tarvek at one level or the other (Otilia, Tinka, Orotine, leaving Moxana, Prende {that's five} and Vengance {that's the ish} undeclared).

[HandofShadows]

Vengeance was not one of the Storm King's Muses. We know who all of the Storm Kings are and Vengeance wasn't one of them.

[PraetorDragoon]

Vengeance was not one of the Storm King's Muses. We know who all of the Storm Kings are and Vengeance wasn't one of them.

Maybe the initial concept changed and the Muse of Vengeance is part of it. She could also be restyled into Vengeance after the 'Death' of the Storm King.

[Rockphed]

OK, so that's three out of the five-ish known muses declaring for Tarvek at one level or the other (Otilia, Tinka, Orotine, leaving Moxana, Prende {that's five} and Vengance {that's the ish} undeclared).

I am fairly certain that Moxana acknowledged Tarvek's claim.

[Ellen]

Orotine seems to think there are two family lines that could claim to be the Storm King's rightful heir. She says "in neither case" implying either A or B. Tarvek is A, so who is B?

[Ailurus]

What she did makes sense, but is anyone else just a little sad that Agatha didn't let the King's Touch finish off Martellus there?

[Kantaki]

What she did makes sense, but is anyone else just a little sad that Agatha didn't let the King's Touch finish off Martellus there?

Just a bit.
Too public though.
And when she needs Tweedle dead Agatha can always kill him herself.

[Traab]

Also it would both take too long to kill him, and cause his agents to unleash a lot of bad things trying to get to agatha. She doesnt want open conflict yet.

[Thomas Cardew]

Only a little. I'm with Agatha on this one.

[Deliverance]

Orotine seems to think there are two family lines that could claim to be the Storm King's rightful heir. She says "in neither case" implying either A or B. Tarvek is A, so who is B?

Gilgamesh, who doesn't know it.

My reasoning has little to do with anything we've been told in the story and everything to do with studio Foglio's frustrating ability to derail their own plots with urgent sideplots that must be resolved.

It seems to me to have a lot of potential for setting Gilgamesh and Tarvek at odds and throwing a wrench into Tarvek's "the baron (Gilgamesh) has already acknowledged me Storm King" position, that he's been telling doubters, should Gilgamesh or Tarvek suddenly be informed by one of the muses that Gilgamesh has the senior claim at a time when they are pissed off with each other.

And if the studio has plotted it that way all along, then once revealed things we could earlier saw as indirect references to his Skifandrian royal heritage (such as using his title of "highness" if he didn't want to use "baron", www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120120) becomes direct references to his Storm King descent -- and a stronger and more acceptable reference to European rulers, since the Skifandrian heritage relates to a country and people unknown and unacknowledged in Europe, while the Storm King is historical fact, where people may quibble over the details of descent.

Of course a direct argument against that is that Boris, in the comic referenced above, presents the "highness" title as being one of "yours", which is naturally read as it being a title that Gilgamesh has but not Klaus, which is a strong indicator that it refers to his Skifandrian royal mother rather than anything inherited from his father's line. But it wouldn't be the first time studio Foglio engaged in misdirection. And, it almost goes without saying, he could have royal descent and claims through both lines.

I really hope I'm wrong with this guess, but given how often they've thrown in giant monkey-wrenches derailing their story, which to be fair to them they set up years in advance showing good plotting skills... I just might be right.

[Scarlet Knight]

What she did makes sense, but is anyone else just a little sad that Agatha didn't let the King's Touch finish off Martellus there?

Well, there goes any idea of her sneaking off by herself.

[xroads]

Gilgamesh, who doesn't know it.

My reasoning has little to do with anything we've been told in the story and everything to do with studio Foglio's frustrating ability to derail their own plots with urgent sideplots that must be resolved.

[...]

I really hope I'm wrong with this guess, but given how often they've thrown in giant monkey-wrenches derailing their story, which to be fair to them they set up years in advance showing good plotting skills... I just might be right.

There is some more evidence to support this. In the story the Baron tells the storyteller at the hospital, the image of the Storm King's son looks a bit like Gil.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110511

Now this could easily be the Baron's bias and/or a red herring by the Foglios (and frankly, I hope it is).

But it could also be a hint.

[Fyraltari]

There is some more evidence to support this. In the story the Baron tells the storyteller at the hospital, the image of the Storm King's son looks a bit like Gil.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110511

Now this could easily be the Baron's bias and/or a red herring by the Foglios (and frankly, I hope it is).

But it could also be a hint.

That’s because this story isn’t about the Storm King at all. It’s the baron’s way to tell Gil to kill him before allowing Lucrezia to control his empire through him.