Girl Genius XXXII: The scientific method at work!

[Grim Portent]

She might make it indestructible or something instead, you never know.

Or able to talk. Which come to think of it would be a very handy thing in a wasp-eater. Make them smart like Krosp and the bears.

[Divayth Fyr]

Or able to talk. Which come to think of it would be a very handy thing in a wasp-eater. Make them smart like Krosp and the bears.

Unless smart wasp-eaters are like smart cats...

Considering the rats, probably flying, venomous and potentially size-changing.

Got the easy prediction right ;)

[Shining Wrath]

And Monahan continues to register on the villain-o-meter. But we know from Albia that she may die due to not being fully ascended.

Wings for the fuzzypillar probably are useful, but I don't think they add up to "saving you from crazy Lucrezia".

[Thomas Cardew]

No, but not killing Zeetha for conflating rats and weasels PLUS giving it wings probably does. To her twisted mind at least.

Also, girl just Really wanted to give Something wings.

[Rockphed]

Also, girl just Really wanted to give Something wings.

She is a spark after-all.

[Radar]

Now that I think about it, the way Monahan insisted on giving Agatha a present reminds me of Star Trek TNG episode, where Q wanted to do Pickard a favor. In both cases the recipient was less than thrilled at the prospect.

[Shining Wrath]

Now that I think about it, the way Monahan insisted on giving Agatha a present reminds me of Star Trek TNG episode, where Q wanted to do Pickard a favor. In both cases the recipient was less than thrilled at the prospect.

For similar reasons - gifts from immensely powerful entities of dubious sanity. I think Monahan is more malevolent than Q, though.

[Traab]

For similar reasons - gifts from immensely powerful entities of dubious sanity. I think Monahan is more malevolent than Q, though.

I always kind of liked Q because of the mystery involved. He claims to be helping humanity through testing them but he also acts like a kid playing with his ant farm. Its hard to be sure exactly what his aims really are. Its even likely that its both for fun and improvement along with a dozen other reasons. Though on further thought it feels a bit eye rolling that of course humanity is the race in star trek that attracts the attention of these omnipotent beings because we are so gosh darn interesting and have oh so much potential. Every other race is basically nothing but a single character trait with a bumpy face. Honor, money, logic, craftiness, backstabbery etc.

[geoduck]

Q also has the other members of the Continuum watching over his shoulder; in one episode they even temporarily stripped him of his powers. Monahan is running around with only Aliba, maybe, as a blocking force.

[Radar]

I always kind of liked Q because of the mystery involved. He claims to be helping humanity through testing them but he also acts like a kid playing with his ant farm. Its hard to be sure exactly what his aims really are. Its even likely that its both for fun and improvement along with a dozen other reasons. Though on further thought it feels a bit eye rolling that of course humanity is the race in star trek that attracts the attention of these omnipotent beings because we are so gosh darn interesting and have oh so much potential. Every other race is basically nothing but a single character trait with a bumpy face. Honor, money, logic, craftiness, backstabbery etc.

Keep in mind that we simply do not know what other members of the Continuum were doing all this time. Q does have quite a fascination with humans, but the others might vet some other species in their own way. As for the simplistic and monolithic description of other races, DS9 did a great job of showing far more complexity - lots of beautiful dialogs and nuances to cherish there.

[Laurentio III]

No, but not killing Zeetha for conflating rats and weasels PLUS giving it wings probably does. To her twisted mind at least.

PLUS telling them the secret of Albia's garden, which all considered is quite a dumb move on her part.
Albia is going to know and she could be less that thrilled.

[Traab]

Keep in mind that we simply do not know what other members of the Continuum were doing all this time. Q does have quite a fascination with humans, but the others might vet some other species in their own way. As for the simplistic and monolithic description of other races, DS9 did a great job of showing far more complexity - lots of beautiful dialogs and nuances to cherish there.

Honestly, from the way it sounds, most of the Q have already done everything anyways and are just kind of existing. We do see at least one other Q who was involved with humans, iirc the one that wanted to suicide spent time on earth. That sounds bad when I phrase it that way....

[The Glyphstone]

Isn't that the Q plot line in the Picard show, that he's done and seen everything possible except death?

[Traab]

Isn't that the Q plot line in the Picard show, that he's done and seen everything possible except death?

That was literally the suicidal Q plotline where the question was, should he be allowed to self terminate? Or is the risk to the continuum so great as to justify keeping him imprisoned? He basically said that he has done everything and is tired of existing, though i think he also said he was doing it to give the Q the jolt they need to start experiencing something new. I cant remember but I think it was voyager.

[Shining Wrath]

That was literally the suicidal Q plotline where the question was, should he be allowed to self terminate? Or is the risk to the continuum so great as to justify keeping him imprisoned? He basically said that he has done everything and is tired of existing, though i think he also said he was doing it to give the Q the jolt they need to start experiencing something new. I cant remember but I think it was voyager.

So - how bored is Albia?

[Gez]

So - how bored is Albia?

Probably not bored at all, because right now she has several problems that she cannot solve.

1. Her flame is in a waning phase, so her powers are much less than they have been prior, and despite the boost Agatha gave her, she needs to resort to bluff to keep the Polar Lords at bay
2. Lucrezia/The Other is still around, and has killed a lot of other Queens, Albia only barely survived her latest encounter with one of Lucrezia's bodies
3. Her kingdom is also still sinking ever deeper, which means the pressure exerted on the domes keeps increasing, which results in an exponential increase in structural problems.

[Traab]

So - how bored is Albia?

Living in a single timeline where new stuff is constantly happening and you arent beyond contestation as the most powerful thing present is WAY different than having experienced an infinite number of variations of the timeline over billions and billions of years of existence.

[Shining Wrath]

Neena makes a surprise entrance.

"I have confidence in you guys" would have made a good thread title if I thought that months hence we would remember the context. Not nominated, though, because we'll have forgotten the setup to the punch line in 30 pages.

[Rockphed]

Thread title: "Fanciest Airship Chronicles"

[MPHJack7]

Neena is very aware of what webcomic she's in.

[geoduck]

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they never even make it to Mechanicsburg, but get diverted off somewhere.

[locksmith of lo]

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they never even make it to Mechanicsburg, but get diverted off somewhere.

oh they're totally going to get diverted, the minute they depart. they're already talking about it, so it's a certainty. "off to mechanicsburg, whoops!"

[Manga Shoggoth]

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they never even make it to Mechanicsburg, but get diverted off somewhere.

oh they're totally going to get diverted, the minute they depart. they're already talking about it, so it's a certainty. "off to mechanicsburg, whoops!"

I believe we are due an Africa next?

Thread title: "Fanciest Airship Chronicles"

Noted.

"I have confidence in you guys" would have made a good thread title if I thought that months hence we would remember the context. Not nominated, though, because we'll have forgotten the setup to the punch line in 30 pages.

Not noted.

That said, who needs context?

[Grim Portent]

I believe we are due an Africa next?

I'm wondering if they might skip Africa and go straight to Skifander, or go to Skifander then to Africa to track something down. They did do that whole continuity checking break, and I think they may have tweaked their plans for the story.

Currently there seems to be enough pieces in play to make freeing Mechanicsburg and fending off the Polar Lord army that's headed there the next arc, followed by using the gate under Mechanicsburg to travel to Skifander. I can't think of anything currently pointing anyone towards Africa.

[geoduck]

I believe we are due an Africa next?

That was the next stop listed in an interview that Phil did. So far, they've stuck to the rest of the list, but it was many years ago now, and as Grim Portent says, the Foglios may have changed their mind, especially after their year-long plot reworking.

I've probably said before, but it's my firm belief that the original plan was to somehow pick up Embi as a guide, and have Agatha and Co visit his homeland. (Which would explain why he was one of the few Circus folk to give an info-dump about his past.) His life-extending vow was probably made to the local Queen, who has a working Mirror which gets them to Skifander. (And she probably is/was You Know, Her, who appeared on a Works game-card back in the day.) But they may have decided to just cut out that whole segment, and get Our Heroes to Skifander via the Mechanicsburg Mirror. We'll see if they engage in their love of diversions, or struggle to keep the plot more streamlined.

[Radar]

I have to admit that is an interesting development - either Zola managed to kidnap her grandmother thanks to previously unrevealed revenants, or gradma wanted things to appear this way. Both possibilities mean trouble frankly.

[Shining Wrath]

Well, we know the family servants were wasped. Grandma may be cunning beyond belief, but if the Baron can be affected by a wasp, so can she - and I don't know if she's a Spark.

But if she were wasped, wouldn't it be better to leave her in place and have her serve Zola from the inside?

I'll guess Zola managed to kidnap Grandma, and that Grandma is working to make her regret that decision with whatever tools are at her disposal in custody.

[Traab]

Well, we know the family servants were wasped. Grandma may be cunning beyond belief, but if the Baron can be affected by a wasp, so can she - and I don't know if she's a Spark.

But if she were wasped, wouldn't it be better to leave her in place and have her serve Zola from the inside?

I'll guess Zola managed to kidnap Grandma, and that Grandma is working to make her regret that decision with whatever tools are at her disposal in custody.

Or its a deeper plot by granny to run zola as her own disposable pawn.

[Shining Wrath]

Or its a deeper plot by granny to run zola as her own disposable pawn.

Well, since it's Granny, plots within plots are a given. But having her own servants wasped is a serious sacrifice - good servants are hard to find - and using Zola as a disposable pawn seems easier if you aren't actually traveling with Zola.

Plus, how does Granny keep herself from being murdered in her sleep? Trust Zola? Not likely. Loyal guards? They, too, can be wasped. Sparky gadgets? Zola has access to her own Sparks.

Does Granny have the ability to mind control Zola even with Zola's own protections?

[geoduck]

Sigh, why couldn't we have spent a year watching these two hyper-competent schemers plot against each other instead of following Franz's dungeon crawl?