Girl Genius XVIII: Invisible Hand of the Legendary Smoke Knights

[Porthos]

The Master IS living in the Tower it seems. (I had not noticed that). That really is a big step towards Eiffel being the Master (not proof yet) as in the real world after the Tower was built Eiffel, lived there for the rest of his life.

According to The Works (the non-canon card game released before the comic) the Master of Paris is...

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"Simon Voltaire"

Which... could be interesting on a few levels if he follows his RL namesake at all.

[Jimorian]

Exposition via puppet theatre. GG GG.

[Narkis]

According to The Works (the non-canon card game released before the comic) the Master of Paris is...

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"Simon Voltaire"

Which... could be interesting on a few levels if he follows his RL namesake at all.

How accurate has the card game been in the past?

[Porthos]

How accurate has the card game been in the past?

Mostly. Some character designs have changed here and there. And some of the early plots ideas hinted at in The Works (Gil becoming a villain for a while) were completely dropped and/or radically reworked very early on. But it's been more or less accurate. In broad strokes, at least. It's best viewed as a peek at the universe of GG when it was still in a formative stage. Things that appeared early on in the story are far more likely to be accurate than things that appeared years later (or are yet to appear). Hence the non-canon tag.

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Speaking of which, knowing that, in the early days at least, Gil was indeed going to take a stroll down the Dark Side (this was also hinted at in the the Secret Blueprints) and that Klaus was supposed to be killed outright early on, one can sorta see it how it would have played out in the Long Term Metastory.

There are echos of it with Klaus being removed from the story by getting trapped in the time bubble (instead of getting killed far earlier). Gil being forced to rule the Empire with a copy of daddy in his head and his slightly psycho behavior because of his refusal to sleep is, in a way, having Gil serve the narrative role of being a villain without actually being one. The wedge that was supposed to be driven between Gil and Agatha is still present, if different. Just goes to show that one can still have a (Very) Long Term Metaplot and make numerous changes along the way.

[eschmenk]

2015-05-27 Update: OK, the Master's name is Voltaire, as with The Works card. Why do the Parisian puppets (but not the Klaus one) have such dark skin? Tanning beds? Background radiation? Artistic license on the part of the puppeteers?

Parnassus - (Greek mythology) a mountain in central Greece where (according to Greek mythology) the Muses lived; known as the mythological home of music and poetry; "Liakoura is the modern name of Mount Parnassus"

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[thorgrim29]

Also Montparnasse is a district in Paris (I think because revolution-era french leaders had a HUGE boner for everything vaguely greek or roman).

[eee]

RE the Klaus puppet: The Master may expect him to come back, so why switch to a Gil puppet?

I would imagine the Master already knows Agatha is in Paris and she's going to be under constant observation. Maybe she should just go and ask to see him. If not, they're probably going to have to find a place to stay. I wonder what their plans are.

[Grim Portent]

2015-05-27 Update: OK, the Master's name is Voltaire, as with The Works card. Why do the Parisian puppets (but not the Klaus one) have such dark skin? Tanning beds? Background radiation? Artistic license on the part of the puppeteers?


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Well the implication is that those puppets weren't built, but rather used to be people who committed some wrongdoing and were punished for it by being used as parts for artistic projects, so that's probably their natural skin colour.

The skintone is probably meant to reinforce that Paris is a multicultural haven that has a population composed of people from numerous parts of the world gathered together in a somewhat dystopian society focused on art and creation and ruled by a tyrannical dictator.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Why do the Parisian puppets (but not the Klaus one) have such dark skin? Tanning beds? Background radiation? Artistic license on the part of the puppeteers?

IRL, France had a lot of colonies in Africa and the Caribbean, and relatively little racism, so a lot of French citizens have been black or mixed blood. Probably the most famous would be Alexandre Dumas, whose father was a nobleman, a high ranking military, and son of a black slave. The latter seem to have marked him not at all.

In GG, it seems this has been exaggerated, which is fine by me.

Grey Wolf

[factotum]

Wow. Amazing how menacing a cartoon puppet can be...

[Kislath]

Whoa! Somebody sure called it on Monday; these puppets used to be PEOPLE!

[eee]

RE the Master's threat to deal harshly with anyone who causes trouble in Paris: I doubt this is anything Agatha didn't expect. Remember, she used to be the student (and according to the novels, secretary) of Dr. Beetle; and you broke the law in Beetleburg, you'd be sealed in a giant glass bottle so people could watch you die slow and horrible. Klaus' SOP was/is "DON'T make me come over there!"; and if they DID make him come over there, they regretted it. And she herself told the prisoners in Castle Heterodyne they'd get the full force of her killer castle on the backs of their necks if they didn't obey her. Absolute monarchs are absolute.

I also doubt the Master is prepared for the kind of trouble Agatha is going to create just by being in his city, though.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I can't wait to see what kind of clusterfluffle Agatha manages to get Paris involved in. Then again, maybe this time she manages go to a town, stay there a bit, and leave without the town going up in flames (or worse) by the time she leaves.


Oh, who am I kidding. Paris is doomed.

[Aquatosic]

I can't wait to see what kind of clusterfluffle Agatha manages to get Paris involved in. Then again, maybe this time she manages go to a town, stay there a bit, and leave without the town going up in flames (or worse) by the time she leaves.


Oh, who am I kidding. Paris is doomed.

And I can't wait to see her kick the Master's smarmy butt.

[The Glyphstone]

...Maybe the Master is actually a friendly, charming, and inviting person? Our only sources as to his demeanor so far are a puppet show designed to intimidate visitors into not causing trouble, and Othar who is Othar.

[Traab]

...Maybe the Master is actually a friendly, charming, and inviting person? Our only sources as to his demeanor so far are a puppet show designed to intimidate visitors into not causing trouble, and Othar who is Othar.

Considering his city is pretty much THE tourist destination for all sorts of people including academics, party lovers, and dilettantes of all shapes and sizes, I would imagine he probably is. His town is pretty clearly not run by fear or else it wouldnt be so popular. I imagine its actually more of a pax transylvania theme small scale. "Dont make me come over there" Follow the simple rules and you will never have a problem with him. Break the peace and there WILL be a problem.

[Narkis]

...Maybe the Master is actually a friendly, charming, and inviting person? Our only sources as to his demeanor so far are a puppet show designed to intimidate visitors into not causing trouble, and Othar who is Othar.

I actually thought he was fairly likeable in his dealings with Othar.

[eschmenk]

...Maybe the Master is actually a friendly, charming, and inviting person?

What would be the fun in that?

Based mostly on Othar's tweets, I expect him to be rather like Terry Pratchett's Discworld character Havelock Vetinari. Similarities: incredibly intelligent; benevolent tyrant; not really "likeable" because he won't allow anyone to get close enough to him; prefers to operate in the shadows; generally tolerant, but ruthless towards anything that threatens his control; believes that the end justifies the means and sometimes (other) people need to make sacrifices for the greater good; very manipulative; generally plays people against each other rather than confront them directly; pragmatic; Machiavellian; has an incredible intelligence network.

The thing that would make Vetinari different than a spark is that he doesn't seem to need to create things. I get the impression that the Master does create art or things that enable it or showcase it. That's probably the biggest difference between the two that I can think of. Another is that Vetinari probably thinks that art is generally superfluous and he hates mimes, but I think the Master of Paris loves art and would support mimes as performance art.

FWIW, Bloody Stupid Johnson, the architect who designed some of the things at Vetinari's palace, seems to have been more like a spark, though. Also, there is Leonard of Quirm, who Vetinari keeps in his dungeon, but he's not really mad enough to be a spark.

[Porthos]

Snerk.

That is all I have to say, really.

[Ailurus]

It is a verra nize hat.

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Of course, we may also be seeing an angry visit to a haberdasher soon, and/or a discussion on royalties

[eee]

It is a verra nize hat.

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Of course, we may also be seeing an angry visit to a haberdasher soon, and/or a discussion on royalties

Royalties? Maybe not. Agatha doesn't focus on money much.

Using her name without permission? That's probably going to rankle a bit, but she IS a public figure. And she's not like her forefathers, who would lay waste countrysides for minor matters.

Showing her bare shouldered and wearing nothing but a sheet and hat? Somebody's going to die. O_O;

(It HAS been 2.5 years since Mechanicsbuerg was frozen. The public and Paris hat makers may not even know Agatha's out and about. She may not have to visit them, they may come running to her to beg forgiveness. And get marketing deals...)

[Landis963]

If anything, she should be in that dress from her Sturmhalten debut, just, you know, recolored to match the hat. Just putting her in a sheet doesn't really do her (or the hat) justice.

[multilis]

If anything, she should be in that dress from her Sturmhalten debut, just, you know, recolored to match the hat. Just putting her in a sheet doesn't really do her (or the hat) justice.

There is a time when advertisers use pretty girl in nize dress, and a time when they use word "sin" and suggestion "just drop the sheet and she would be naked". It is quite ironic that this sort of advertising may bother Gil more than Agatha.

[Ellen]

I'm getting a not-quite-human vibe off the master. It may just be the scary sparkiness. Unless he's a Drow. . . .

[Emperordaniel]

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I think I laughed out loud when I saw Gil and Agatha on the opera poster there.

[Lethologica]

Black Market, that way!

[factotum]

So, is *all* of Paris in an underground cavern, or just the bit around the train station?

[The Glyphstone]

Probably just the bits near the station - after all, we know the Eiffel Tower exists. Though I suppose that could also, technically, fit inside a big enough cavern.

[Traab]

Probably just the bits near the station - after all, we know the Eiffel Tower exists. Though I suppose that could also, technically, fit inside a big enough cavern.

There is absolutely no reason that a spark wouldnt have been able to trigger an earthquake so powerful it dropped all of paris into an underground cavern. Think of it like that mythical earthquake in demolition man that sank half of los angeles. You can see it underground in the museum, mostly intact.

[halfeye]

There is absolutely no reason that a spark wouldnt have been able to trigger an earthquake so powerful it dropped all of paris into an underground cavern. Think of it like that mythical earthquake in demolition man that sank half of los angeles. You can see it underground in the museum, mostly intact.

Dropping it into a hole is one thing, putting a stable roof over it is another thing entirely.