Girl Genius XIII: "Gott's Leedle Feesh in Trousers!"

[Grif]

Moloch's expressions are really adorable in this page.

[datalaughing]

If you read the second novel you find out that the reality of the Storm King's story is somewhat different from the legend.

For the purposes of the plan that the Knights of Jove have going, though, he's basically King Arthur. Everyone knows the legend, and while they understand that it's just a legend, there's some part of them that wants it to be true. It's stronger than the Arthur legend, actually, because more of it is based on historical fact. Europa is in bad shape and even the people who are doing ok aren't really happy, and no one actually likes the Baron. And here's this legend with a prophecy about how Europa can only be at peace when the Storm King and the Heterodyne princess get together, like the Arthur legend saying he'll return when his country needs him most. So they've arranged for it to look like the legend is coming true, and the people of Europa, desperate to feel safe and secure and not oppressed under the thumb of a tyrannical madboy, will cheer and submit happily to them of their own free will, or that's the plan at least. It's really kind of ingenious. Does make you wonder, though, if the muses really did say something of the sort and how much they really knew way back when. Hopefully the third novel will go into it a bit more.

[Brother Oni]

Originally Posted by eee

Holy Roman Emperor (or would that be Caesar?)

A bit of digging on the HRE indicates the later rulers preferred 'Emperor'.


Also, assuming that the lightning bolt revives the Castle, we know how much energy it needs - 1.21 jigawatts.

[tonberrian]

Originally Posted by Brother Oni

A bit of digging on the HRE indicates the later rulers preferred 'Emperor'.


Also, assuming that the lightning bolt revives the Castle, we know how much energy it needs - 1.21 jigawatts.

That's heavy, man.

[Landis963]

This might be wishful thinking, but once the Baron actually dies, Gil, Agatha, and Tarvek might form some kind of Triumvirate or at least some inviolate series of treaties that divvy up conquered madboys between the Sparks themselves (relocated to Mechanicsburg or some other town of the Heterodyne empire), the clanks and constructs (moved to Gil's purview), and the people (moved to the Storm King's domain. Of course, there's still the Other and the remainder of the Knights of Jove to deal with, but if Tarvek can get some loyalists on his side then they should be OK. As for physical territory, I'm fairly certain they can just all claim that forested no-mans-land and have some more protected lands closer to the Europan border.

[Traab]

The problem is, sparks are the greatest weapon designers and builders on earth. Giving them all to agatha? That would make gils clanks outdated in a week, and tarvek has nothing but foot soldiers so he would be bottom rung.

Another way to describe it would be, divide up all of europe, all nukes and missiles go to great britain, france gets all the armored divisions, and spain gets all the infantry. Who is the biggest threat there? Sure spain has a massive army, and france has all the tanks and such, but britain can just carpet bomb them to hell and back before they ever even reach the borders.

[endoperez]

If Storm King and Van Rijn are references to real people, going purely by names, perhaps those people in question could be Louis XIV (aka Sun King) and Rembrandt (whose full name is Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn).

[Landis963]

Originally Posted by Traab

The problem is, sparks are the greatest weapon designers and builders on earth. Giving them all to agatha? That would make gils clanks outdated in a week, and tarvek has nothing but foot soldiers so he would be bottom rung.

Another way to describe it would be, divide up all of europe, all nukes and missiles go to great britain, france gets all the armored divisions, and spain gets all the infantry. Who is the biggest threat there? Sure spain has a massive army, and france has all the tanks and such, but britain can just carpet bomb them to hell and back before they ever even reach the borders.

hrm. I see your point. Maybe the person with the territory they're closest to gets first pick, or the sentient things get to choose. It's not a perfect system by any means. (although comparing Sparks to nukes is a touch hyperbolic. Effective, but hyperbolic) Although three combined nations with carpet-bombing capabilities, a wide array of armored divisions, and a vast infantry could prove a very serious threat to any of their neighbors.

[HandofShadows]

Originally Posted by endoperez

If Storm King and Van Rijn are references to real people, going purely by names, perhaps those people in question could be Louis XIV (aka Sun King) and Rembrandt (whose full name is Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn).

Van Rijin does seem to have been Rembrandt. But don't think the Storm King was Louis XIV, unless there was a HUGE personality transplant made on him. Also the Storm King seems to have been from an area somewhat close the Mechanicsburg which is South Eastern Europe/Modern Day Romania/Southern Germany. A very long distance from France. I suspect that the Storm King isn't a well known histroical figure (maybe a minor one ).

[Corgi]

A brief tangent, if I may be indulged, for a project in which Professor Wright was involved. Please go look at:

The World of Steam Kickstarter.

Take a look at their video, the project looks mindblowingly awesome. Scroll down through their Incentives to see the gorgeous poster the Professor created for them.

(Just imagine if they got licensed by Studio Foglio.... )

[Imgran]

Originally Posted by Traab

The problem is, sparks are the greatest weapon designers and builders on earth. Giving them all to agatha? That would make gils clanks outdated in a week, and tarvek has nothing but foot soldiers so he would be bottom rung.

Why are we assuming the sparks would be able to work together?

Besides, if Agatha needs sparks, she can just build them.

[Traab]

Originally Posted by Imgran

Why are we assuming the sparks would be able to work together?

Besides, if Agatha needs sparks, she can just build them.

Because she is the most powerful spark. It was mentioned before in the comics, that lesser sparks are drawn to those more powerful and tend to work for them. Like the next tier up from minion. The sparks would tend to flock towards agatha because she is the heterodyne. It may be like herding cats to get them to concentrate on specific tasks, but after wiping out the few too stupid to realize that rebelling against her is a bad idea, the rest would mostly fall in line.

[Kurald Galain]

Originally Posted by Brother Oni

A bit of digging on the HRE indicates the later rulers preferred 'Emperor'.

Guess what the word "caesar" means in numerous languages...

[ChowGuy]

Originally Posted by Kurald Galain

Guess what the word "caesar" means in numerous languages...

Salad?

[turkishproverb]

Poor Guy just can't accept he's a henchman.


YAY! OGIES BACK!

[Drascin]

Moloch makes the best |:( faces.

[Turalisj]

It's the full face beard, it gives a good framing to his face.

[Tanuki Tales]

So...

Anyone else think that Higgs could possibly be the secret general? (I know the answer is probably yes, but hey, got to start a conversation somewhere. )

[Scowling Dragon]

Man Im such an idiot. I only NOW got who Moloch reminds me of:

Rincewind.

As long as he doesn't want to be involved, he will both be involved and flourish.

[Grif]

Jager logic is best logic.

How to survive? Carry around the one minion that did survive criss-crossing the town!

[Morph Bark]

Originally Posted by Brother Oni

A bit of digging on the HRE indicates the later rulers preferred 'Emperor'.

To be fair, the German word for Emperor is Kaisar, which is pronounced the same as Latin Caesar.

Originally Posted by Traab

Because she is the most powerful spark. It was mentioned before in the comics, that lesser sparks are drawn to those more powerful and tend to work for them. Like the next tier up from minion. The sparks would tend to flock towards agatha because she is the heterodyne. It may be like herding cats to get them to concentrate on specific tasks, but after wiping out the few too stupid to realize that rebelling against her is a bad idea, the rest would mostly fall in line.

This is one reason why I believe Moloch to be some kind of thing in-between ordinary minion and Spark. It's like he has all the good stuff of Sparks, without the bad stuff.

[Traab]

Originally Posted by Morph Bark

To be fair, the German word for Emperor is Kaisar, which is pronounced the same as Latin Caesar.



This is one reason why I believe Moloch to be some kind of thing in-between ordinary minion and Spark. It's like he has all the good stuff of Sparks, without the bad stuff.

I dunno, I think its more you have people that are just natural born minions. Their mental makeup just predisposes them to obeying commands. Moloch isnt exactly that, but he is an ex soldier, so he both knows how to obey, and apparently how to bark out orders. Honestly though, I cant believe how well they are getting along considering their multiple less than happy early encounters.

[BRC]

Originally Posted by Traab

I dunno, I think its more you have people that are just natural born minions. Their mental makeup just predisposes them to obeying commands. Moloch isnt exactly that, but he is an ex soldier, so he both knows how to obey, and apparently how to bark out orders. Honestly though, I cant believe how well they are getting along considering their multiple less than happy early encounters.

Sparks are naturally charismatic. Getting people to obey them is kind of what they do.

Moloch is a good minion because he doesn't obey blindly. He obeys reluctantly, but efficiently. He's good at staying alive, he's got mechanical skills, and enough force of personality to boss around other minions.

Also, even if Agatha gets the castle working, you've already got wulfenbach troops inside the walls and wulfenbach airships in the sky, and a damaged town.

Just saying, this better be one hell of a lightning bolt.

[eee]

If Agatha had more of her mobile forces around her - Jagers, the Jager generals, her armor, Otilia and her Hellkitties (I wonder where they've gone?), Franz, Zeetha and Higgs (I wonder where THEY'VE gone?), the Paladins, etc, etc - she could just form a flying wedge and smash through to the Tower. But most of those are apparently being diverted to try to defend the town. So she'll have to get through with stealth, and cunning, and what she's got.

I'm surprised Snaug and Sanaa have let Moloch out of their sights long enough for him to be kidnapped. But maybe they're too busy watching each other.

Originally Posted by BRC

Sparks are naturally charismatic. Getting people to obey them is kind of what they do.

Moloch is a good minion because he doesn't obey blindly. He obeys reluctantly, but efficiently. He's good at staying alive, he's got mechanical skills, and enough force of personality to boss around other minions.

Also, even if Agatha gets the castle working, you've already got wulfenbach troops inside the walls and wulfenbach airships in the sky, and a damaged town.

Just saying, this better be one hell of a lightning bolt.

Ring the Doom Bell again. Existential despair will drop most of the organic troops, the Jagers and older Mechanicsburgers should be able to deal with what's left.

[Deliverance]

Objective: Get a critical fragile mechanical item through a warzone undamaged.

Solution: Rebuild/improve it until it is no longer fragile using materials scavenged from the warzone while traversing the warzone itself.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

[Turalisj]

LET'S FIND OUT! Bwaahahahhahaaa!

*ahem*

Yeah, I can only see this ending with explosions.

[BRC]

Originally Posted by eee

Ring the Doom Bell again. Existential despair will drop most of the organic troops, the Jagers and older Mechanicsburgers should be able to deal with what's left.

The Wulfenbach Clanks are a problem though. Their machineguns can chew through the Jaegers, and the Jaegers tend to fight with swords and claws, not exactly the best weapons for piercing heavily armored clanks.

But a recharged castle, or a few more franz-sized monsters can probably handle the Clanks.

[Miklus]

Did Dimo (whatshisname?) just get his arm back in the last panel???

[BRC]

Originally Posted by Miklus

Did Dimo (whatshisname?) just get his arm back in the last panel???

he's just borrowing somebody elses.

[lord_khaine]

Because she is the most powerful spark. It was mentioned before in the comics, that lesser sparks are drawn to those more powerful and tend to work for them. Like the next tier up from minion. The sparks would tend to flock towards agatha because she is the heterodyne. It may be like herding cats to get them to concentrate on specific tasks, but after wiping out the few too stupid to realize that rebelling against her is a bad idea, the rest would mostly fall in line.

I dont know, the Baron is proberly the most powerfull spark seen so far, and how easy was it for him to keep everyone in line?