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

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by stsasser

Shouldn't that be 'time passes more slowly' in the pocket reality?

Ummm... No. Lu leaves after her first visit. In the pocket, years pass. The spider ladies get older. Lu pops in for a visit, looking young - she was outside, where only a few days passed. She leaves. More decades pass in the pocket universe. She comes back in - she is still young (because again only a few days have passed for her). I describe that as time running quicker inside the pocket. I suppose I can see it being described the other way round, too.

My problem with the idea is how she stopped herself from aging when working in the pocket universe (because she must have at one point when developing Othertech, if Klaus is to be believed). Although the last part of the story is when she pops in pregnant, at which point she expelled the spider lady telling the story, and the story ends.

So, speculation: after she expelled the spider lady, she births Agatha, the brothers rescue Agatha. Lu is trapped in the pocket, and over decades in-pocket (which are only a few months outside the pocket) she becomes the other. She breaks free, and starts conquering the world with her 50-decades-in-development tech. Klaus comes back, finds the world destroyed by othertech, and he wonders how Lu managed to cram 50 years worth of development into the 5 years or so he was missing.

(Yes, the timeline needs some work. But the general idea more or less works)

Edit: Going one step further, maybe she did age. (Edit: and eventually died of old age,) [t]hat's why the conquest stopped. Part of her tech was a method to copy herself into other bodies precisely to compensate for the years spent in the pocket dimension.

Grey Wolf

[BRC]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

Ummm... No. Lu leaves after her first visit. In the pocket, years pass. The spider ladies get older. Lu pops in for a visit, looking young - she was outside, where only a few days passed. She leaves. More decades pass in the pocket universe. She comes back in - she is still young (because again only a few days have passed for her). I describe that as time running quicker inside the pocket. I suppose I can see it being described the other way round, too.

My problem with the idea is how she stopped herself from aging when working in the pocket universe (because she must have at one point when developing Othertech, if Klaus is to be believed). Although the last part of the story is when she pops in pregnant, at which point she expelled the spider lady telling the story, and the story ends.

So, speculation: after she expelled the spider lady, she births Agatha, the brothers rescue Agatha. Lu is trapped in the pocket, and over decades in-pocket (which are only a few months outside the pocket) she becomes the other. She breaks free, and starts conquering the world with her 50-decades-in-development tech. Klaus comes back, finds the world destroyed by othertech, and he wonders how Lu managed to cram 50 years worth of development into the 5 years or so he was missing.

(Yes, the timeline needs some work. But the general idea more or less works)

Edit: Going one step further, maybe she did age. That's why the conquest stopped. Part of her tech was a method to copy herself into other bodies precisely to compensate for the years spent in the pocket dimension.

Grey Wolf

Yeah, that makes sense. Does this mean there is an old-lady Lucy running around somewhere?

[douglas]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

My own private, barely supported theory is that Lu tried to pull her "bad side" out of her mind to become one of the good guys. That bad side is the Other - a kind of distilled version of Lu's bad side which, out of the constraints of a conscience, managed the massive leap in power.

That's one reasonable theory.

Another possibility I've come up with is that Lu managed to produce a clank body that could theoretically be more intelligent and sparky than her but had a blank for a mind. She then transferred herself into it, and that clank (or a further upgraded version of it) became the Other.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

So, speculation: after she expelled the spider lady, she births Agatha, the brothers rescue Agatha. Lu is trapped in the pocket, and over decades in-pocket (which are only a few months outside the pocket) she becomes the other. She breaks free, and starts conquering the world with her 50-decades-in-development tech. Klaus comes back, finds the world destroyed by othertech, and he wonders how Lu managed to cram 50 years worth of development into the 5 years or so he was missing.

(Yes, the timeline needs some work. But the general idea more or less works)

You've got the order backwards. The Other War happened before Agatha's birth and ended with her rescue.

A clank version of her using that time dilation for tech development could explain othertech, though.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by BRC

Yeah, that makes sense. Does this mean there is an old-lady Lucy running around somewhere?

I meant to say (but somehow forgot) that the war ended when Old!Lu died, and Klaus arrived when there was only mop-up left to do.

Originally Posted by douglas

You've got the order backwards. The Other War happened before Agatha's birth and ended with her rescue.

I'm not doubting you, but what are you basing this on? My understanding is that she was very pregnant when she started the war by blowing up the Kestle, went to the spider ladies, and then the war went on for some time. It cannot have been just a few weeks that remained of pregnancy, more like months if not years. But I may be getting it wrong, so if it is not too much bother, can you walk me through your evidence?

Grey Wolf

[eee]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

I meant to say (but somehow forgot) that the war ended when Old!Lu died, and Klaus arrived when there was only mop-up left to do.

Or when the Boys found her and finished her. Or, if she'd transferred herself into a mechanical body - which we've gotten several hints toward - managed to shut her down or lock her away so she wasn't around to continue the war.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

I'm not doubting you, but what are you basing this on? My understanding is that she was very pregnant when she started the war by blowing up the Kestle, went to the spider ladies, and then the war went on for some time. It cannot have been just a few weeks that remained of pregnancy, more like months if not years. But I may be getting it wrong, so if it is not too much bother, can you walk me through your evidence?

Grey Wolf

When the Castle blew, Lu was apparently pregnant but not showing. That's why so many people refused to believe Agatha was a Heterodyne, and Carson - who would have seen Lu just a few days at most before that night - stated it was flatly impossible for Agatha to be Bill's daughter. Circumstances and der Kestle have proven them wrong; but it would appear several months passed between the attack on Castle Heterodyne and Lu very pregnantly waddling into the arms of the Geisters. Where she was during that time is a part of the missing puzzle piece...

Your theory on how Lucrezia got such sophisticated Other tech IS sound, though. (thumbs up)

[Rockphed]

Well, once you reach a certain age, it becomes hard to tell how old you are. I personally think the age range is between 25 and 40. So if Lucrezia didn't really age much physically over that range, she could get in about 10 more years of research than expected, which might be a massive enough leap to impress Klaus.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Originally Posted by Rockphed

Well, once you reach a certain age, it becomes hard to tell how old you are. I personally think the age range is between 25 and 40. So if Lucrezia didn't really age much physically over that range, she could get in about 10 more years of research than expected, which might be a massive enough leap to impress Klaus.

If Lucretzia looked that good at 40 she has very good genes

[Deme]

Originally Posted by eee

When the Castle blew, Lu was apparently pregnant but not showing. That's why so many people refused to believe Agatha was a Heterodyne, and Carson - who would have seen Lu just a few days at most before that night - stated it was flatly impossible for Agatha to be Bill's daughter. Circumstances and der Kestle have proven them wrong; but it would appear several months passed between the attack on Castle Heterodyne and Lu very pregnantly waddling into the arms of the Geisters. Where she was during that time is a part of the missing puzzle piece...

Your theory on how Lucrezia got such sophisticated Other tech IS sound, though. (thumbs up)

My personal theory has always been that the inciting incident for the whole Castle Attack thing...Was Lucrezia confirming that she was pregnant (most likely an Exactly as Planned bit) with Agatha.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Deme

My personal theory has always been that the inciting incident for the whole Castle Attack thing...Was Lucrezia confirming that she was pregnant (most likely an Exactly as Planned bit) with Agatha.

OK, lets say that is true. That would place her at at least one month pregnant. I think I assumed it had to be closer to the end because it seems she was waiting to confirm it was a girl, but lets assume she had sparkily developed a chromosome fetal test and could check as soon as she missed a period.

Still, from Mekkan's narration the OtherWar lasted years. It could not have started and ended within a single pregnancy - sorry, douglas. [edit: ignore this, I misunderstood douglas' point]

So instead, lets assume that she was quite pregnant (and staying in her secret rooms, thus why Mekklan wouldn't know of it). She confirms she has a girl, blows up the Kestle, and runs for it. But the Boys catch up sooner than expected, so she takes refuge in the pocket dimension in high distress.

Now, it is implied she left Agatha in their care and left: Agatha was rescued while she was away, and they had time to despair, rebuild the temple and wait before Lu came back and booted the High Priestess out.

Interestingly, the last return of Lu seems to be a clank-looking one, not unlike the one in the first temporal window.

Unfortunately, there is no way to match the end of Mekkan's story to the end of the High Priestess. Does anyone know of any other evidence that tells us if when the Spider Ladies came into the world, it also marked the end of the OtherWar?

Grey Wolf

[Knight13]

Did she manage to shoot that warrior while unconscious? This reminds me of that one 8-bit Theater strip where Thief's squad of lawyer-ninjas somehow manage to deploy on cue, despite having long since died of starvation.

Thief: "They are exceptionally trained."

[petersohn]

Originally Posted by Oracle_Hunter

If Lucretzia looked that good at 40 she has very good genes

It's a drawing (as everything else in this comic, of course). And drawings can be misleading.

[tyckspoon]

Originally Posted by Knight13

Did she manage to shoot that warrior while unconscious?

Not completely unconscious, apparently.. probably spending most of her effort on not dying/screaming in agony.

[datalaughing]

So apparently the people on the vespiary squad have extremely good reflexes in a fight, but only against bugs. Against people they're just great big pin cushions waiting to get stabbed. You'd think in all that anti-bug training they might have spared a little time on fighting people.

[Icedaemon]

Originally Posted by BRC

You don't buy that Tarvek is a Powerful (to use my tier list from earlier) spark. Okay, it's possible he just cribbed everything from Lucy, and that building a Van-Riji style clank isn't actually all that difficult if you have one to study. I can accept that you don't see him as a powerful spark right now because he hasn't demonstrated much in the way of real innovation. However, you're also saying you don't WANT him to demonstrate that uniquely Sparky innovation. You're "Afraid" he will be a powerful spark, thus proving you wrong.

His central point seems to be 'the character would be better if his skills and accomplishments are due to good education and training and a meticulous mindset combined with 'merely' middling spark talent, rather than due to him being a master spark on par with Agatha and Gil. It is not strictly speaking a bad suggestion. Showcasing that talent can be secondary in importance in some instances even within this comic's universe would be nice. I might not strictly speaking support his hopes, but neither do I object to them.

On the topic of today's comic: How did he pile those books on her when picking her up?

[Ailurus]

Originally Posted by Icedaemon

On the topic of today's comic: How did he pile those books on her when picking her up?

Its possible that she was able to help lift them up (since she can still raise a gun). I'm going to say the Weasel did it, though. Yay Conscience Weasel

[Traab]

Originally Posted by datalaughing

So apparently the people on the vespiary squad have extremely good reflexes in a fight, but only against bugs. Against people they're just great big pin cushions waiting to get stabbed. You'd think in all that anti-bug training they might have spared a little time on fighting people.

They have jaegers and battle clanks for that. I get the feeling that a lot of the barons troops are highly overspecialized. Kickass incarnate on their specialty, kinda useless outside of that narrow field.

[Brother Oni]

Originally Posted by tyckspoon

Not completely unconscious, apparently.. probably spending most of her effort on not dying/screaming in agony.

Screaming in agony takes effort, which when you're badly injured is much better spent trying not to die. It's why when you're assessing casualties in first aid, you always check the quiet but apparently unharmed ones first.

Originally Posted by Ailurus

Its possible that she was able to help lift them up (since she can still raise a gun). I'm going to say the Weasel did it, though. Yay Conscience Weasel

From a mechanics point of view, he picked her up, went down on one knee and rested her legs on the raised knee while he gathered the books, then picked her up.

From a more interesting point of view, the Conscience Weasel helped - it's got 8 legs, it must have enough appendages at enough angles to act as a makeshift opposable thumb and be able to grab books.

While "Dook!" is a very cute mini-minion sound effect, I doubt it's going to replace my favourite "Nyar!".

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by datalaughing

So apparently the people on the vespiary squad have extremely good reflexes in a fight, but only against bugs. Against people they're just great big pin cushions waiting to get stabbed. You'd think in all that anti-bug training they might have spared a little time on fighting people.

Maybe they've been trained to shoot on cue - there is some subtle noise/smell/etc. that tells them that the bug is about to strike, leaving itself open to being shot in their weak spot for massive damage*. Humans don't produce the same subtle indication, and thus their reflexes are useless against them.

Grey Wolf

*I do apologise for this reference.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Originally Posted by datalaughing

So apparently the people on the vespiary squad have extremely good reflexes in a fight, but only against bugs. Against people they're just great big pin cushions waiting to get stabbed. You'd think in all that anti-bug training they might have spared a little time on fighting people.

Odds are, the goons in black are as highly-trained as the Vespy squads, only in the art of killing people instead of killing bugs. Way I see it, it's not that the Vespies are useless in a regular fight. The other guys just /really/ outclass them since it's their area of expertise.

Tarvek may kick their asses, but the Baron wouldn't have them around if they weren't really good at what they do.

[BRC]

Well, how recently did they discover the true nature of revenants? If they're only trained to fight wasps and shambling zombie 'nants, that could explain things.

Also, the Wulfenbach Stealth Fighters are probably pretty good themselves. They've just been going up against the Jaeger Generals (Who all have centuries of battle experience on top of being Jaegers), and two of them against Tarvek, who has Smoke Knight training on top of main character powers.

And remember, they're Stealth Fighters, Wasp Girl got sneak attacked with a knockout dagger. With all the noise and confusion it wouldn't be hard to sneak up on her.

Plus, you know, Klaus wouldn't send the WSF unless he felt they could take on the Vespiary Squads.

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by Traab

They have jaegers and battle clanks for that. I get the feeling that a lot of the barons troops are highly overspecialized. Kickass incarnate on their specialty, kinda useless outside of that narrow field.

Well, he does 'inherit' a lot of his more exotic minions from Sparks he's defeated in battle, so that kind of makes sense. 'He always did know the right monster for the job' and all that.

[eee]

Woo! And left handed, too! I REALLY like her!

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

<snip>

So instead, lets assume that she was quite pregnant (and staying in her secret rooms, thus why Mekklan wouldn't know of it). She confirms she has a girl, blows up the Kestle, and runs for it. But the Boys catch up sooner than expected, so she takes refuge in the pocket dimension in high distress.

<snip>

Grey Wolf

I don't quite understand this idea Lucrezia had to be in the last stages of pregnancy when the Castle was blown up. That's not something you can hide very well. She would have had to stay out of sight of Carson, his son, the Jagers, AND der Kestle, and - given that she WAS Lady Heterodyne and in Bill's absence, the one in charge - doing so for the months this would have been necessarily would have excited major suspicions. And I imagine der Kestle was suspicious of her, anyway ("Master Bill has married a dangerous, treacherous Spark. Which is all to the good, really, and far more than I expected of the boy. It's almost like old times! But if she kills he and Master Barry before having a child, there goes the Heterodyne line. I better keep an eye - SEVERAL eyes - on her, and if she does anything I don't like... well, accidents like blocks falling and crushing someone DO happen."). On the other hand, if she left before she started showing, spent the next few months as the Other waging war on Europa and avoiding Bill and Barry's constant efforts to find her, and only went to the Geisters when Agatha's approaching birth meant she would be incapacitated and needed additional protection... that would make sense.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by eee

I don't quite understand this idea Lucrezia had to be in the last stages of pregnancy when the Castle was blown up.

It's the logical consequence of her waiting to know the sex of the fetus. In our world, that requires a very advanced level of pregnancy, and even then quite powerful imaging instruments. I highly doubt that Lu would burn her bridges before she was certain she had the right kind of pregnancy.

Makes sense? You don't have to buy the premise (you can assume chromosomic-reading spark machine instead, which I suppose it's as likely as spark ultrasound machine), but you see where I'm coming from, at least?

Originally Posted by eee

But if she kills he and Master Barry before having a child, there goes the Heterodyne line. I better keep an eye - SEVERAL eyes - on her, and if she does anything I don't like... well, accidents like blocks falling and crushing someone DO happen."

Small correction here: Kestle already had the next of line. Klaus Barry was a 1 year old at the time of Agatha's pregnancy. Kestle would be paying attention to him, not Lu, who at best was gestating a spare in Kestle's eyes.

Grey Wolf

[Deme]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

It's the logical consequence of her waiting to know the sex of the fetus. In our world, that requires a very advanced level of pregnancy, and even then quite powerful imaging instruments. I highly doubt that Lu would burn her bridges before she was certain she had the right kind of pregnancy.

Makes sense? You don't have to buy the premise (you can assume chromosomic-reading spark machine instead, which I suppose it's as likely as spark ultrasound machine), but you see where I'm coming from, at least?

Yes, but.... I'll say that my theory, at least, rests on one relevant fact: the Mongfish family has the capability to successfully ensure, through some sort of control or method, that a "suitable heir" (of a specific sex) can happen for the Storm King's line. What if she had ensured already, as it sounds like she could do, that her next pregnancy would be a girl? And when that was done and took successfully, it was time to vamoose for...Whatever reason.

I think that no one in the entire town (including her husband, who probably did not expect the evil just yet) knew she was pregnant if she waited all that long is...Well, unless she managed some sort of hologram thing, sounds like it'd be more trouble than it's worth.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Deme

Yes, but.... I'll say that my theory, at least, rests on one relevant fact: the Mongfish family has the capability to successfully ensure, through some sort of control or method, that a "suitable heir" (of a specific sex) can happen for the Storm King's line.

You say this is a fact - where was this machine mentioned in the comic? I don't remember it at all, but I can accept that I have not paid full attention to all the spark tendencies the Mongfish are famous for.

Edit: ok, thinking about it some more, I vaguely remember a mention of creating heirs. Can I get the reference, though? Are we sure it could specify sex? And how would the Heterodyne genes be part of it?

Originally Posted by Deme

I think that no one in the entire town (including her husband, who probably did not expect the evil just yet) knew she was pregnant if she waited all that long is...Well, unless she managed some sort of hologram thing, sounds like it'd be more trouble than it's worth.

Her husband was away (we know the boys didn't like to stay at the Kestle for long - Lu probably stayed behind to "take care of the baby"). She had secret rooms beyond the eyes of the Kestle. And something like a third of the staff working at the Kestle got killed in the Other's attack, including the seneschal, Lu's assistants, and someone that worked in Lu's lab (from the blood in the room). Since we, unlike Mekkan, know that the attack was initiated by Lu, she could perfectly have targeted anyone who knew about her pregnancy -the fact that the assistants, are specifically mentioned is very suspicious, in fact.

Grey Wolf

[BRC]

I'm still not entierly convinced we know Lu's plan. With the Knights of Jove she worked with the idea to unite Europa by creating a Storm King (Tarvek), and marrying him to a Heterodyne Princess (Presumably Agatha).
However, the best way to make that happen would be to just have said Heterodyne Princess, and use her influence to set up the marriage. Why bother with the whole Other operation at all.

The "Attack" is the strange part. Which lends some credence to the "Evil Lu" theory (That Lucrezia somehow extracted her "Evil" and that turned into the Other).

Hrmm, maybe it goes like this.

Lucrezia marries Bill, and decides that maybe she should give this whole "Good Guy" thing a try. She knocks out Klaus, sending him to Skifander, assuming he will happily live out the rest of his life in the kingdom of the green-haired fertility worshiping amazon babes (She's good now, remember).

Worried that she'll be tempted back to Villainy (Especially with Castle Heterodyne just waiting to do something interesting), she decides to extract the "Evil" part of herself.
At some point, probably before she marries Bill, she starts working with the Knights of Jove. (Klaus last saw her before her wedding, and he remarks that Aaronev was "always lucretzia's slave").

At some point, while working with her mind transfer tech, she get's zapped and The Other takes over. She now blows up Castle Heterodyne and flees Mechanisburg. She runs around Europa for a while, setting up the Mind Transfer Machine, at some point "Storing" a copy of herself that will later get transformed into Agatha.

Now, all this time the Geisters have been living somewhere, maybe in an alternate dimension, maybe in an underground kingdom. Lu, now in full-on Other mode, returns to them, has Agatha, and then leaves the baby with them while she goes back to continue her conquests. Bill and Barry show up, wipe out the Geisters, and take Agatha. Lu then returns and banishes her surviving priestesses, ordering them to find Agatha.
During this time, Lu is fighting a campaign to wipe out Europe's sparks.
This is apparently the first appearance of the Wasps.
At some point, Klaus shows up and begins his conquests. Original Lu and Bill both vanish. Barry helps raise Agatha before vanishing himself.

It's a patchwork theory. At some point Lu develops Othertech, and spent some time running around Europa leaving Slaver Engines and sowing chaos.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

You say this is a fact - where was this machine mentioned in the comic? I don't remember it at all, but I can accept that I have not paid full attention to all the spark tendencies the Mongfish are famous for.

Edit: ok, thinking about it some more, I vaguely remember a mention of creating heirs. Can I get the reference, though? Are we sure it could specify sex? And how would the Heterodyne genes be part of it?

IIRC, there's no mention of a machine, just the Mongfish familiy talents (bioengineering) being applied to create a suitable Storm King heir. Since girls can't be Storm Kings, setting the baby's sex would logically be part of the procedures.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Originally Posted by BRC

Lucrezia marries Bill, and decides that maybe she should give this whole "Good Guy" thing a try. She knocks out Klaus, sending him to Skifander, assuming he will happily live out the rest of his life in the kingdom of the green-haired fertility worshiping amazon babes (She's good now, remember).

Worried that she'll be tempted back to Villainy (Especially with Castle Heterodyne just waiting to do something interesting), she decides to extract the "Evil" part of herself.

This is an interesting link I hadn't personally made before. A straight-up Jeckle/Hyde motivated by a desire to actually be a "Good Guy" fixes a lot of problems.

I'll elaborate later, but the desire to reform ties together why she'd be experimenting on herself. Love, after all, makes you do crazy things.

[Egneil]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

You say this is a fact - where was this machine mentioned in the comic? I don't remember it at all, but I can accept that I have not paid full attention to all the spark tendencies the Mongfish are famous for.

Edit: ok, thinking about it some more, I vaguely remember a mention of creating heirs. Can I get the reference, though? Are we sure it could specify sex? And how would the Heterodyne genes be part of it?
*Snip*

I think the page you're looking for is this one.

[datalaughing]

Originally Posted by BRC

I'm still not entierly convinced we know Lu's plan. With the Knights of Jove she worked with the idea to unite Europa by creating a Storm King (Tarvek), and marrying him to a Heterodyne Princess (Presumably Agatha).
However, the best way to make that happen would be to just have said Heterodyne Princess, and use her influence to set up the marriage. Why bother with the whole Other operation at all.

The way I've always figured it, the plan was like this, first you create chaos. The Other attacked everywhere, creating zombies (though we know that was more of a side effect than anything else) and basically scaring the **** out of everyone because this was an enemy they couldn't see, couldn't fight, couldn't stop. No one even knew what the Other wanted. Think about how frightening that would be. Something horrifying and powerful is attacking. You can't fight it because you don't know what it is. You can't appease it because you don't know what it wants. You can't run from it because you never know where it will strike next. You can't even surrender to it because you don't know where it is. It would be terrifying beyond belief.

At the same time the Other is destroying the most powerful sparks, the ones with the strength to protect the people and the charisma to lead them. Before long, all of Europa would be hiding in their homes, shaking, praying that it will all end, and the only people powerful enough to help were the first against the wall, before they even had a chance to group up or try to figure a way to fight back.

Then come the Storm King and the Heterodyne princess, just like in the old legend that everyone knows and, somewhere deep down, everyone thinks might be true. Terrified people would be flocking to them before they'd even done anything. They'd be hope, the first and only hope in a very long time. Then, if they Other "disappeared" and they claimed to have defeated him/her/it (maybe they even produce a scary-looking corpse), they'd be the heroes of the entire continent. With no powerful leaders left, they would be the unanimous choice to rule all of Europa. If Lucrezia is inhabiting the mind of that Heterodyne princess, then it's a win-win for her. She gets to rule the world like she always wanted as a villain (well, probably that's what she wanted who knows for sure), and she gets to do it as the good guy. She's not ruling by conquest and fear. She's loved and adored. The people are begging her to be their queen.

So she develops the mind-transfer tech, gets all of her pieces in place and waits until she knows she's pregnant with Bill's daughter (given what they did for Tarvek, and how rarely the Heterodynes produce girls, maybe she even arranges that herself). So when she knows the Heterodyne princess is on the way, it's time to disappear because for maximum effect the appearance of the princess and the Storm King should be a surprise, and at the same time she starts the terror flowing, using the first Other attack to cover her escape. She's gotta figure that after 15 years or so of attacks by the Other, the people will be willing to do anything to make it stop.

But then, the same thing happens that happened every time she tried to put an evil plan into motion, the Heterodyne Boys showed up and it all went horribly wrong.

Anyway, that's how I've always figured it went. All this stuff about Lucrezia splitting herself or doing something that accidentally or intentionally made her extra evil, I just don't see it. She already was a bad guy. People just don't want her to be so bad for some reason. Though, I guess you could argue that, in the long run, she would have been saving Europa from the constant wars between sparks, maybe creating a better world for everyone when it was all said and done.