Girl Genius XVIII: Invisible Hand of the Legendary Smoke Knights

[HandofShadows]

I really don't think he minds being a monster one bit.

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Seffie's connection to Gil seems to be getting stronger. Someone may need to do an archive troll for flashbacks and see if she was a student on Castel Wulfenbach.

[SZbNAhL]

Someone may need to do an archive troll for flashbacks and see if [Sephie] was a student on Castle Wulfenbach.

I'm pretty sure that she wasn't, but this actually raises an interesting question: why not? Sephie and Martellus should by all logic have been students on the Castle with Gil and Tarvek, yet weren't. Did the Baron consider their families to be insufficiently important? Did he think that Tarvek would be enough to keep the entire family in line? Were these recognisable and prestigious nobles somehow hidden from him?

[Traab]

I dont think agatha really needs martellus' help to fix her issue, she just has yet to get the spare freaking time to work on it what with being constantly under attack, working under absurdly short deadlines, etc etc etc. She was able to create a work around quickly enough after all.

[eschmenk]

New comic:

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I was surprised that it's Martellus, rather than Seffie, that Colette wants to keep busy. Not that Colette wouldn't want to to keep Martellus busy, but Martellus isn't particularly vain nor social. He thinks that he needs to impress everyone else in order to get people to accept his claim to be the Storm King, though, so that makes this masked ball important to him.

I'm pretty sure that she wasn't, but this actually raises an interesting question: why not? Sephie and Martellus should by all logic have been students on the Castle with Gil and Tarvek, yet weren't. Did the Baron consider their families to be insufficiently important? Did he think that Tarvek would be enough to keep the entire family in line? Were these recognisable and prestigious nobles somehow hidden from him?

The students were supposed to be hostages, but as members of their family, they would probably have been safer aboard Castle Wulfenbach. That's a bit backwards.

I think that each family was handled differently. I doubt that all of the children were meant to be hostages. For example, I doubt that Dr. Sun's daughter would have been a hostage. Both of Gil's cover stories said that the rest of his family was dead, so he wouldn't have seemed to be a hostage. Tarvek didn't seem to be treated as a hostage. OTOH, if a family really didn't want their child aboard Castle Wulfenbach and could offer some other guarantee that they would behave, Klaus probably wouldn't take the child. Perhaps things had to escalate before he took a child as a hostage.

[halfeye]

New comic:

No, the second post on this page mentioned it, though without, it's true, a link.

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I was surprised that it's Martellus, rather than Seffie, that Colette wants to keep busy. Not that Colette wouldn't want to to keep Martellus busy, but Martellus isn't particularly vain nor social. He thinks that he needs to impress everyone else in order to get people to accept his claim to be the Storm King, though, so that makes this masked ball important to him.

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Martellus is very social and very vain. He doesn't listen to anyone else but himself, because he thinks everyone else is very inferior, but he really does care that there should be inferiors for him to lord it over.

[lord_khaine]

Well.. it does look and sound like there are some sort of thing between her and Gil.

Even though knowing how obsessive Gil is then its mostly onesided.

[eschmenk]

No, the second post on this page mentioned it, though without, it's true, a link.

Yeah. When I wrote that, I thought the last comment on the previous page was the last comment in the thread. I hadn't spotted the new page yet.

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Martellus is very social and very vain. He doesn't listen to anyone else but himself, because he thinks everyone else is very inferior, but he really does care that there should be inferiors for him to lord it over.

I disagree. Martellus is incredibly power hungry and does whatever is necessary to gain power. That requires him making other people inferior. Martellus, however, freely admits that Seffie is much more clever than he is and does listen to her. He listened to the cook. He has some vanity, but he doesn't let it prevent him from learning from others, even from someone who says that he is stupid while explaining things to him. He makes lots of mistakes, but isn't too vain to recognize that they were mistakes fairly quickly (most of the time) and bounce back from them. He acts as if he would rather be surrounded by his sparkhounds than people. I'm certain he is approaching the masked ball as a project and opportunity in which it will be necessary for him to impress others, rather than as an event that would be fun for its own sake.

Of course, claiming to be the Storm King requires some vanity, but Martellus isn't nearly as vain as he could be. Martellus can be social, but that just seems to be an act. He just does it in order to manipulate people.

[halfeye]

Martellus can be social, but that just seems to be an act. He just does it in order to manipulate people.

That's social.

Asocial is not caring about other people or their opinions.

[hajo]

(Seffie) it does look and sound like there are some sort of thing between her and Gil.

When Martellus was still missing, the plan was to make Gil the new Stormking.
That probably involved arranging a marriage

[eee]

Interesting character fact reveal today: Evidently, Lucrezia could be dangerously jealous. Enough so that Grandmother worries Seffie could be in danger if Agatha takes after her mother, and believes she and Gil are too intimate.

I doubt Grandmother's maiden name was Mongfish. But she seems to know a lot about people, past and present.

[lord_khaine]

When Martellus was still missing, the plan was to make Gil the new Stormking.
That probably involved arranging a marriage

With the people we are dealing with here it could just as easily have been a consolidation of power as anything involving the least shread of affection.

[memnarch]

Interesting character fact reveal today: Evidently, Lucrezia could be dangerously jealous. Enough so that Grandmother worries Seffie could be in danger if Agatha takes after her mother, and believes she and Gil are too intimate.

I doubt Grandmother's maiden name was Mongfish. But she seems to know a lot about people, past and present.

You know, while Grandmother probably doesn't know it, Agatha might actually have a jealous streak. Good catch there.

[eschmenk]

That's social.

Asocial is not caring about other people or their opinions.

No. I know what social and asocial mean. Martellus isn't particularly social, as I said.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social:

1.
pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations:
2.
seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious.
3.
of, pertaining to, connected with, or suited to polite or fashionable society:
a social event.

Those don't describe Martellus particularly well. (I'm not saying that he's asocial, though.)

I doubt Grandmother's maiden name was Mongfish. But she seems to know a lot about people, past and present.

I've been a little surprised that she doesn't know Agatha better than she does. Of course, she's never met her and wouldn't have particularly good information about her. I'm also not sure that Grandma knows how obsessed Gil is with Agatha, either. She seemed to think that Seffie would have a better chance with Gil than she has. Again, Grandma wouldn't have had a chance to observe Gil directly, though, at least not recently.

[halfeye]

No. I know what social and asocial mean. Martellus isn't particularly social, as I said.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social:



Those don't describe Martellus particularly well.

Maybe not, but I don't think this does either:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asociality

Asociality refers to the lack of motivation to engage in social interaction, or a preference for solitary activities. Developmental psychologists use the synonyms nonsocial, unsocial, and social disinterest. Asociality is distinct from but not mutually exclusive to anti-social behavior, in which the latter implies an active misanthropy or antagonism toward other people or the general social order. A degree of asociality is routinely observed in introverts, while extreme asociality is observed in people with a variety of clinical conditions.

Asociality is not necessarily perceived as a totally negative trait by society, since asociality has been used as a way to express dissent from prevailing ideas. It is seen as a desirable trait in certain monastic traditions, notably in Catholicism, Buddhism and Sufism.

...

Asociality in psychopathology
Schizophrenia

In schizophrenia, asociality is one of the main 5 so-called negative symptoms, the others being avolition, anhedonia, reduced affect and alogia. Due to a lack of desire to form relationships, social withdrawal is common in people with schizophrenia.[3][4][5] People with schizophrenia may experience social deficits or dysfunction as a result of the disorder, leading to asocial behavior. Frequent or ongoing delusions and hallucinations can deteriorate relationships and other social ties, isolating individuals with schizophrenia from reality and in some cases leading to homelessness. Even when treated with medication for the disorder, they may be unable to engage in social behaviors such as maintaining conversations, accurately perceiving emotions in others, or functioning in crowded settings. There has been extensive research on the effective use of social skills training for the treatment of schizophrenia, in outpatient clinics as well as inpatient units. Social skills training (SST) can be used to help patients with schizophrenia make better eye contact with other people, increase assertiveness, and improve their general conversational skills.[6]

Personality disorders
Avoidant personality disorder

Asociality in people with avoidant personality disorder (AvPD) is common. They experience discomfort and feel inhibited in social situations, overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy. Such people remain consistently fearful of social rejection, choosing to avoid social engagements as they do not want to give people the opportunity to reject or accept them. People with AvPD actively avoid occasions that require social interaction, leading to extremely asocial tendencies. These individuals usually have few or no close friends. Their asocial behavior is not due to lack of social skills, but rather a lack of confidence, and fear of ridicule and embarrassment.[citation needed]

People with AvPD may also display social phobia, the difference being that social phobia is the fear of social circumstances whereas AvPD is better described as an aversion to intimacy in relationships.[7]

...

Mood disorders
Depression

Asociality can be observed in individuals suffering from major depressive disorder or dysthymia, as individuals lose interest in everyday activities and hobbies they used to enjoy, which may include social activities, resulting in social withdrawal.[citation needed]

Social Skills Training can be adapted to the treatment of depression with a focus on assertiveness training. Depressed patients often benefit from learning to set limits to others, to obtain satisfaction for their own needs, and to feel more self-confident in social interactions. Research suggests that patients who are depressed because they tend to withdraw from others can benefit from social skills training by learning to increase positive social interactions with others instead of pulling back. [14]

Social anxiety disorder

Asocial behavior is observed in people with social anxiety disorder (SAD), who experience perpetual and irrational fears of humiliating themselves in social situations.

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Hmph, I think you edited your post since I started writing mine.

[Ellen]

Oh, one of those differently alive people. Or, as Count Dracula said, "I prefer the term 'nonbreathing.'"

[Gez]

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20151007

"Eau de humanity" is a terrible, terrible pun.

[runeghost]

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20151007

"Eau de humanity" is a terrible, terrible pun.

Yes, yes it is. (I missed the zepplin in the poster background on my first viewing.)

The same strip also has "Rossumovi Universal Mechanical Men", which is a reference to Czech writer Karl Kapek's play "Rossum’s Universal Robots" aka. "R.U.R.", which introduced the word 'robot' to the world.

[petersohn]

There is also "Agatha della Heterodynes", though that one has appeared before.

[BannedInSchool]

I don't think I want to know what Heterodyne style snail cheese is.

[factotum]

I don't think I want to know what Heterodyne style snail cheese is.

I'm not sure I want to know what *any* kind of snail cheese is...

[eee]

EDIT: I rather like Agatha's new outfit. I wonder where she's getting these clothes...

Yes, yes it is. (I missed the zepplin in the poster background on my first viewing.)

The same strip also has "Rossumovi Universal Mechanical Men", which is a reference to Czech writer Karl Kapek's play "Rossum’s Universal Robots" aka. "R.U.R.", which introduced the word 'robot' to the world.

Yes, I caught that. There are usually all sorts of jokes and oddities in a Foglio crowd scene; you've got to be pretty knowledgeable (AND keen-eyed) to catch them all.

RE all the Heterodyne inspired goods and items: I keep being amazed at just how much impact Agatha has had on popular culture in such a short period of time...

Having a market under a looming statue of Death is rather... French.

[Rodin]

I'm a bit confused about Zola's comment about sour cream. I thought goulash was a stew?

[Emperordaniel]

I'm not sure I want to know what *any* kind of snail cheese is...

Like casu marzu, but with snails?

[BannedInSchool]

Like casu marzu, but with snails?

Maybe they're lactating snails?

[Radar]

I'm a bit confused about Zola's comment about sour cream. I thought goulash was a stew?

1. Zeetha, not Zola.
2. Goulash is indeed a stew (with meat being the predominant ingredient). Just as with many soups, sour cream can be a very good addition to stews in general and goulash in particular.
2.a) As a side-note: both goulash and sour cream go excelent with potatoes.

[eee]

I don't think I want to know what Heterodyne style snail cheese is.

Maybe it's like head cheese, but with snails.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_cheese

[eschmenk]

I don't think I want to know what Heterodyne style snail cheese is.

Today's Dinosaur Comics strip probably won't help: http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2888

[Kislath]

Perfume ad poster: "Eau de Humanity" featuring a zeppelin in the background.

Hindenberg crash: "Oh, the Humanity!" was coined by a reporter on the scene and it became instantly famous.

Pretty funny!!

[Lethologica]

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"Certified." Yeah, and certifiable too, I bet.

[Rockphed]

My word, that alone is a good enough reason to keep the Castle scrap with them. Sometimes the Foglios are geniuses.