Girl Genius: XXXenophile Edition

[lord_khaine]

Honestly its likely a combination.
She did send him off to a place so obscure basically noone else in europe even know the name.
Zeetha almost went mad thinking it a fever dream herself. Likely just figuring out where the heck Europe were would be a massive undertaking.
Singelhandedly making the trip likely even more so.

All that while lacking significant strings to europe, and being surrounded by the warrior womens of a matriarchial culture.
So of course Klaus hook up with an exiled princess, help restore her to the throne, gets his happy ending.
Except whoops.. twins..

Suddenly having a child to protect is likely one of the few cases that could have Klaus do something as desperate, as make a jump though the local queen mirror.
Sending him back to a world in ruins

[Divayth Fyr]

I wouldn't be surprised if Lucrezia did some scheming to make it more likely Klaus hooks up with the queen (or someone else in Skifander), at which point he'd be much less likely to return to Europa. If not for the twins, he'd probably choose the happy family life he had going there, leaving the old country in the good hands of the Heterodyne Boys (or so he'd hope anyway).

[Shining Wrath]

When Lucrezia sent Klaus away, the Heterodyne boys were in charge of Mechanicsburg, Bill and Lucrezia were about to be married, and Europa was in relatively good shape by historical standards. So far as he knew, he didn't need to hurry back, other than to seek vengeance upon Lucrezia. It may well be that Gil was the trigger for him deciding to leave.

We also don't know how Barry came back from Mars or where he went after giving Agatha her locket. It may be that coming back from Mars is not much more difficult than Skifander.

[Vinyadan]

By the way, even Albia, as a queen, took years to get back from wherever the meeting with the mirrors was held. https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/com...?date=20181226 If getting out of Skyfander was comparably difficult, it makes sense for Lucrezia to be surprised.

[Divayth Fyr]

By the way, even Albia, as a queen, took years to get back from wherever the meeting with the mirrors was held. https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/com...?date=20181226 If getting out of Skyfander was comparably difficult, it makes sense for Lucrezia to be surprised.

Albia wasn't coming back from there. Queen Sianna threw her through one of the mirrors before they went dark.

[lord_khaine]

It may well be that Gil was the trigger for him deciding to leave.

Its kinda a crazy concidence that Klaus decides to leave a month after his is born otherwise xD

It may be that coming back from Mars is not much more difficult than Skifander.

There is a significant difference between going somewhere of your own accord.
And waking up in a unknown location.

[MDR]

Hey, I was rereading parts of the series when I noticed this mention of ancient dance rituals. Related? Maybe not, but perhaps so :)

https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/com...3#.YaWVddDMKUk

Dance rituals that are a bit...risque...sounds Skifanderian after all

And if it is related, it makes me wonder if Steelgarter might have no relation to the deposed priestesses, but instead just found the rituals to gain the other two arms. She does have a reputation of sending out explorers, who knows what they might have come up with. Though being Skifandarian would explain her combat prowess, enough to fight off a smoke knight.

[lord_khaine]

Nahh.. i think thats jumping to many conclusions.
For a start a large part of dances are basically about the risque stuff. Thats hardly a unique trait for skiffander.

And as we also know. Adding a pair of functional arms are childs play for even a mid level spark.
No need for skiffandrian rituals there.

[theangelJean]

Hey, I was rereading parts of the series when I noticed this mention of ancient dance rituals. Related? Maybe not, but perhaps so :)

https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/com...3#.YaWVddDMKUk

Dance rituals that are a bit...risque...sounds Skifanderian after all

And if it is related, it makes me wonder if Steelgarter might have no relation to the deposed priestesses, but instead just found the rituals to gain the other two arms. She does have a reputation of sending out explorers, who knows what they might have come up with. Though being Skifandarian would explain her combat prowess, enough to fight off a smoke knight.

Nahh.. i think thats jumping to many conclusions.
For a start a large part of dances are basically about the risque stuff. Thats hardly a unique trait for skiffander.

And as we also know. Adding a pair of functional arms are childs play for even a mid level spark.
No need for skiffandrian rituals there.

I actually wonder if it's both. On the one hand, she's a librarian after all. Adding extra arms is just practical. But on (one of) the other hand(s), she's in charge of the Library of Lost Libraries, which means she gets access to long lost knowledge from ancient civilizations. While in our world that gets you shopping lists and legal documents, in the world of Girl Genius that probably means Rosetta Stones, magical rituals and clues to unknown power.

[Shining Wrath]

Given that Lady Steelgarter is the sole heir to vast wealth and a title, in England, her developing an extra set of arms would have drawn attention and perhaps even been a scandal. I'm guessing she was born with them. She is shown with them as a young woman in 20211126. That may simply push the Sparky shenanigans back a generation.

I note that araucaria araucaria is the Monkey Puzzle tree, while an acrostic is a crossword. Her family became wealthy selling trees that grew crossword puzzles, which sounds eminently Sparky to me.

I guessing her family did something to give her the arms at an early age.

[lord_khaine]

Given that Lady Steelgarter is the sole heir to vast wealth and a title, in England, her developing an extra set of arms would have drawn attention and perhaps even been a scandal. I'm guessing she was born with them. She is shown with them as a young woman in 20211126. That may simply push the Sparky shenanigans back a generation.

We have basically been told the opposite.That its not a big thing.
Apperently "people just do stuff like that"
When people walk around with seahorse or unicorn heads, then i cant see bonus arms being noteworthy.

[Shining Wrath]

We have basically been told the opposite.That its not a big thing.
Apperently "people just do stuff like that"
When people walk around with seahorse or unicorn heads, then i cant see bonus arms being noteworthy.

It may depend upon one's social circle, but yeah, the unicorn head was a Sir - although I'm not sure he wasn't born a unicorn, there's other sources of weird besides Sparks.

[Grim Portent]

The unicorn was a lord as I recall. Lord Womble to be precise.

It's possible he was born as he is, was born human and transformed into a unicorn man at some point after birth, or that he was constructed as an adult and isn't a 'man' as such.

Hell, he could have been a gift from a spark with similar talents to Martellus.

[Ellen]

So, we have what looks like a Geisterdamen who's been modified and has extra arms. Is the color change something that came with the extra limbs or something else?

She also has no respect for Queens. So, is this justified or is this the kind of blind belief Lucy's servants have in her being better than everyone else? I'm betting on buying into Lu's advertising. It's the kind of thing that leads to fatal mistakes even in our world. It'll be interesting to see what it does in GG's world. I'm betting on something very messy.

[wingnutx]

It only went to one place, and that place is

Spoiler

Show

Skifander

IMHO

[Fyraltari]

Huh. We knew Lucrezia had been faraway in time, but I expected her to have been mostly jumping up and down the timeline, not living through so much of it. Makes me wonder how human her mind still is and how much it has become something... Other.

Also, I'm starting to think the people who built the mirrors were extra-terrestrials.

So, we have what looks like a Geisterdamen who's been modified and has extra arms. Is the color change something that came with the extra limbs or something else?

She also has no respect for Queens. So, is this justified or is this the kind of blind belief Lucy's servants have in her being better than everyone else? I'm betting on buying into Lu's advertising. It's the kind of thing that leads to fatal mistakes even in our world. It'll be interesting to see what it does in GG's world. I'm betting on something very messy.

Who are you talking about? Steelgartner?

[Gez]

So, we have what looks like a Geisterdamen who's been modified and has extra arms. Is the color change something that came with the extra limbs or something else?

That's weird. Here she is seen with extra arms on panel 4, but there, there is no trace of them on panel 1. The rest of the panels are inconclusive as they never go enough of her to tell.

[Vinyadan]

The unicorn was a lord as I recall. Lord Womble to be precise.

It's possible he was born as he is, was born human and transformed into a unicorn man at some point after birth, or that he was constructed as an adult and isn't a 'man' as such.

Hell, he could have been a gift from a spark with similar talents to Martellus.

Lord Womble gets a pass because the arms of the British Monarch have a Scottish unicorn standing on its hind legs. In a way, he is a symbol of Scotland.

But I like the idea that Womble is something of an equivalent to Boris -- a visually striking invention by a spark, that is so skilled as to become the personal aide of a great ruler.

[Rakaydos]

That's weird. Here she is seen with extra arms on panel 4, but there, there is no trace of them on panel 1. The rest of the panels are inconclusive as they never go enough of her to tell.

If we're not talking Steelgarter, I see nothing about extra arms. Just a clank with a millennia-old Lucrezia in it.

[Fyraltari]

So, we have what looks like a Geisterdamen who's been modified and has extra arms. Is the color change something that came with the extra limbs or something else?

She also has no respect for Queens. So, is this justified or is this the kind of blind belief Lucy's servants have in her being better than everyone else? I'm betting on buying into Lu's advertising. It's the kind of thing that leads to fatal mistakes even in our world. It'll be interesting to see what it does in GG's world. I'm betting on something very messy.

That's weird. Here she is seen with extra arms on panel 4, but there, there is no trace of them on panel 1. The rest of the panels are inconclusive as they never go enough of her to tell.

Seriously, where are you seeing a Geisterdame? The presents are : Steelgarter, the redhead rat-doctor in a gaz mask, the museum's curator/spy on the other side of the mirror and Lucrezia-in-Anevka's clank. Is the latter the one you think is a Geister with extra-arms? Because those are wires hanging off her helmet.

[Rockphed]

It does almost look like Clankrezia has 3 arms in Monday's panel 4, but it is just the bottom of her ribcage and holding the candle close to her chest. Otherwise I'm not sure what Gez and Ellen are talking about.

It only went to one place, and that place is

Spoiler

Show

Skifander

IMHO

Um, why would it be Skifander when Geisterland is much more likely?

[slayerx]

Um, why would it be Skifander when Geisterland is much more likely?

I agree. That mirror could be how Lucrezia first found out about the geisters. Not to mention we do know that the geisters had a working mirror that allowed them to send their priestesses to Europa in the first place

What i think about the Lucrezia and klaus situation is that Lucy sent klaus on a one way trip to skifander the old fashioned way. She expected that without any bearing for where he was and no ships to work with, it would take him years to find his way back. What she would not expect is that Skifander may have had a barely working mirror just like the one her family found and klaus was able to get it working just long enough to return

[MDR]

I agree. That mirror could be how Lucrezia first found out about the geisters. Not to mention we do know that the geisters had a working mirror that allowed them to send their priestesses to Europa in the first place

What i think about the Lucrezia and klaus situation is that Lucy sent klaus on a one way trip to skifander the old fashioned way. She expected that without any bearing for where he was and no ships to work with, it would take him years to find his way back. What she would not expect is that Skifander may have had a barely working mirror just like the one her family found and klaus was able to get it working just long enough to return

Maybe, but Zeetha did say the Professor that 'found' their city for Steelgarter was flying a ship the likes of which they had never seen before (if I remember correctly), which means the 'old fashioned way' would not have been a lighter-than-air ship. Unless she was just talking about herself. And if it was by boat or foot I would have thought their land was close enough to never have been lost.

As for today's strip...I really don't think Lucrezia has the patience to sit still for that long. Especially after what we saw in Van Rijn's study where she was kept imprisoned for so long. Honestly, if it wasn't for her talking about her Daddy once before (how her Daddy didn't come to save her), I would suspect this isn't even her.

[Shining Wrath]

Perhaps Lucrezia was watching the mirror for 500 years because she couldn't do anything else? If she got herself trapped somehow, without a proper lab except a few instruments, that might have been the best use of her time. Also, I find it difficult to believe that there was no way to record the instrumental data and analyze it; staring at dials for 500 years to me indicates some sort of mental disorder, not a brilliant Spark making good use of immortality.

Or she may be just lying.

I'm going to agree with Fyraltali that the mirrors are not from around here. I think we're getting closer to some sort of big plot reveal, possibly the biggest one since "Agatha is the Heterodyne heir".

[Rockphed]

Perhaps Lucrezia was watching the mirror for 500 years because she couldn't do anything else? If she got herself trapped somehow, without a proper lab except a few instruments, that might have been the best use of her time. Also, I find it difficult to believe that there was no way to record the instrumental data and analyze it; staring at dials for 500 years to me indicates some sort of mental disorder, not a brilliant Spark making good use of immortality.

Or she may be just lying.

Since time manipulation is on the table, perhaps she watched the mirror though 500 years sped up by some factor. Or she might have been doing other things too, but she was mostly watching the mirror.

Also I am fairly certain that Lucrezia had completely moved herself into a mechanical body at some point. When you have mechanical bodies and time travel, sitting down in front of some instruments and watching them for a long time might make sense. Perhaps she loaded a copy of herself into a head, checked in on it every few years to make sure it was still recording data, and then merged the personality from the head back into her main body. It seems like a decent way to get the data and do the analysis. Considering Lu's egomania, perhaps she felt that there really wasn't any point in trusting any possible minions.

I'm going to agree with Fyraltali that the mirrors are not from around here. I think we're getting closer to some sort of big plot reveal, possibly the biggest one since "Agatha is the Heterodyne heir".

Here I thought the biggest reveal was "Lucrezia was the Other", though I can't remember exactly when that happened.

[Manga Shoggoth]

But I like the idea that Womble is something of an equivalent to Boris -- a visually striking invention by a spark, that is so skilled as to become the personal aide of a great ruler.

I imagine that, like Boris, he ends up picking up all the rubbish as well...

Here I thought the biggest reveal was "Lucrezia was the Other", though I can't remember exactly when that happened.

Around the Sturmhalten arc if I recall correctly. Around the time we start to find out about the Geisters in Vol. 5.

In fact here: Connection made between Lucrezia and the Slaver Wasps; , Openly stated by Agatha and confiimed by the Geisters.

[Ellen]

Seriously, where are you seeing a Geisterdame? The presents are : Steelgarter, the redhead rat-doctor in a gaz mask, the museum's curator/spy on the other side of the mirror and Lucrezia-in-Anevka's clank. Is the latter the one you think is a Geister with extra-arms? Because those are wires hanging off her helmet.

Sorry, tired reader looking over the previous comic and thinking a blue-ish Geisterdame with four arms had shown up instead of Lucrezia-in-Anevka's clank. I'd had a long day.

Although, it's still a good bet her arrogance is going to come back to bite her.

Rereading the earlier comics, I'm getting a better perspective on how things looked to Klaus. When he left, Europe seemed to be in a golden age of peace and stability. He finds a good life, a beautiful queen, does a bit of adventuring, and is in the middle of his happily-ever-after, when twins. He uses the mirror to come home but probably wasn't expecting to be gone forever or maybe not even very long. He might have been thinking Bill and Barry would help him figure out how to protect Gil.

And, there's his old castle blown to bits with people he knew all lying around dead.

And Bill and Barry are gone. The whole world is in worse chaos than ever. All that's left of their accomplishments are Heterodyne shows.

[Rakaydos]

And Bill and Barry are gone. The whole world is in worse chaos than ever. All that's left of their accomplishments are Heterodyne shows.

In which Wulfembach plays a Dimo type... at best.

[Grim Portent]

In which Wulfembach plays a Dimo type... at best.

He was probably treated more respectfully before he came back, he was sort of a hero when he was friends with Bill and Barry, a lost figure of better days. Once he returned and became the domineering tyrant who everyone both respected or resented the Heterodyne Plays would have become a 'safe' medium for venting about him.

[Squire Doodad]

Incidentally, what should we call this group? The Steelgarter Cabal?

Also, seeing Lucrezia in a non-Agatha environment is actually very entertaining. It's developing her character far more both on a personal level and on a more grandiose, mythological level (repairs I've set in place over the last several thousand years). A significant upgrade and much more of a threat than before.
I do wonder if the Muse of Time in the beginning is going to be derived from this body, but it's far too soon for that.