Girl Genius

<confused_rambling> Neuralistic singularity..... Hmm, neuralistic is a made up word that contains neural, as pertaining to a nervous system. A neuralist could be a user or an aficionado of a nervous system similar to a motorist. That would be pretty much everyone, but would really be only remarkable for Klaus-copies and Lu-copies, who overtook another's nervous system. It could also refer to wasps.

So 'neuralistic' = "in the manner of or pertaining to a nervous-system-user"?

A singularity is a point where a given mathematical object is not well behaved or not defined.

Could a neuralistic singularity define a point where a nervous system user is not well behaved (in a technical sense) and/or exceeds it's operational parameters? And if the key contains or represents such a point, what is it's use? It can hardly be an Anti-Lu-measure, because it is associated with van Rijn, Valois and the Muses, who don't have problems with 'Neuralists'. </confused_rambling>

edited 11th Jul '14 6:57:46 PM by blauregen

I'm reading it as the neuralistic singularity detector was build to track the key, not in the key.

Googled "neuralistic definition". Got this. A theory that can't account for quantum mechanics, but might still be extant in GG Land.

Interesting quote: "CNT (a.k.a. neuralism) accepts that, with one exception, matter is in all respects insentient. The exception is for special arrangements of special, electrochemically active matter in certain neurons in restricted parts of the nervous system, which are considered to be necessary and sufficient for conscious awareness." (emphasis mine)

What do Sparks do best? (Besides death rays.)

edited 11th Jul '14 7:04:02 PM by Candi

I think an enemy as distractable as this one shouldn't be too hard to defeat, especially for a Jaeger backed up by the Corbettite monks combat cohort and Agatha's death ray. But it will make for an amusing week I suspect.

Rant.

I assumed that a neuralistic singularity detector detects neuralistic singularities, but you are right. It could be a detector for anything, that detects by way of neuralistic singularities. It could also be a neuralistic detector of singularities.

I am starting to like him. It is somehow cute how proud and happy he is, about having puzzled together what he is there for.

edited 11th Jul '14 7:21:00 PM by blauregen

Candi — It is certainly possible that it is not a device that detects neuralistic singularities.

I followed the same neuralism path and ended up with a bunch of Descartian mind/body dualism stuff, which is part of why I leaned toward the technological singularity vs. gravitational singularities. That and, you know, the scary good/possibly sentient AI that is a Muse.

Oh, I know... He's totally adorable. "With my magnet — so score." :D

edited 11th Jul '14 7:24:00 PM by nectarbug

I actually feel some sympathy for him. At my age I become increasingly concerned with the Hereafter. I walk into a room and ask, "What am I here after?"

Ever done it with the internet...? I'll open a tab in my browser, and then the reason just goes right out of my mind. :D

Heh... can we keep him? I know Dimo would like to adopt him. And, I'm pretty sure he'd be well looked after...

Seriously, he's like a Sparky golden retriever. "I wanna do this. Why am I doing this? Oh, squirrel!"

edited 11th Jul '14 7:56:03 PM by Euodiachloris

I can only imagine what Agatha could do with a suit like that... She's gunna be ecstatic when she gets a look at it...

And we still do not have consensus on Lady Selnikov's given name.

I read it as a neural-based detector of singularities. So, apparently the key is some sort of singularity?

I really do hope it turnes out to have something to do with the Muses. Aren't they due to be reintroduced, anyway?

Maybe we get new ones to the set over time. Gil or Tweedle, either Stormking-aspirant would likely profit a lot from being endorsed by the muses.

Um... what part of this page indicates that the Book and the Key have something to do with the Muses? Did I miss something?

Also, this guy is fun! Tell us more, Forgetfullman!

Khil brought up the Muses deck◊. We don't really know whether it is the depicted book and the King's key, that Marge stole, but the timing would fit.

I'm betting that the key is the Clef du Roi and the book is the diary of or how to manual by whatisname, the guy who built the Muses.

The book certainly looks like it. What happened to van Rijn's notes, btw? Last I remember Moxana brought them to Tarvek.

It was a rather large book, so if he brought it with him, it would likely have been found in the hospital and if not, I guess Klaus' people went through what was left of the Sturmhalten castle with a fine comb. I don't really see Tweedle having it.

I don't know whether this book is Van Rijn's notes. I don't think Moxana ever had the Key, it sounds like it's been being kept to be given only to the King, maybe. Margolotta ran off with it because Tweedle's getting close to being crowned and would be given it if so? Either way, it sounds like the book might have been being kept with the key, in which case it's something other than the notes. Although the picture of it contains drawings of Muses, which does make it look like the notes (but Valois didn't make the Muses or understand them, why would he need the notes?).

As for who gets endorsed by the Muses... three out of nine Muses endorse Tarvek. And one of them is time stopped, so even if it's an end game thing we don't get a full set of Muses back until we get Tarvek back with them.

Trying to trace Tinka and Moxana. The last we saw of Tinka she'd been beheaded and left on the floor of Sturmhalten. Tarvek probably had enough control over the situation left to have someone pick her up rather than just leaving her there. Having Van Rijn's notes probably meant he could have fixed her, too, but it's unclear whether he would have had time. Either way she's not seen again. She might be hidden (if Tarvek was trying to keep her safe from Lu), or simply placed somewhere out of the way (if he didn't think Lu would be interested in doing anything to her). She was also still somewhat conscious, at least immediately after being beheaded, but he doesn't keep her around to talk to the way he does Moxana.

Moxana was being kept close by Tarvek since he was asking her for advice. But once things start to get going she's not seen again. Did Tarvek hide her? He couldn't have taken her with him when leaving. If the Muses were simply left in Sturmhalten it seems like Gil should have them, since the Wulfenbach forces would have found them. But if Tarvek hid them away then they might well still be there — especially since neither is able to leave under their own power with Tinka beheaded.

edited 12th Jul '14 5:39:48 AM by khil

Thank you.

I think they and the notes went to Klaus. I don't have really any hints towards it, but there is a suspiciously muse-like Clank around, that doesn't sport the usual Wulfenbach-triple-eye-design, and Klaus is known to have a penchant for reinventing other Spark's creations bigger.

@Euo: So you put this individual as the dogs in Up ?

Random thoughts on the topic of the muses: what does Higgs have to do with them? He still seems to have his Rozen Maiden hat...is that just a shout-out, or is there some significance to it? Because the premise of the Rozen Maiden manga — dolls given sentience by legendary doll maker — just screams "muse!" to me. I haven't actually read the series, so I don't know how deep the similarities go, if at all, but if it's just a shoutout, why did it appear on Higgs' hat, of all places?

Nope: just scatterbrained dogs in general. But, Dug is a good example of the lot (and, being more than he seems, to boot).

Higgs does seem to know something about the design of the Muses. When fighting Castletilia he's able to recognise what's wrong/what's fixable.

I thought Higgs was just making that up, to hide the fact that he is super strong.

He diagnoses her leg joints and hip bearings quite confidently before that. And I am still wondering whether Tarvek simply agreed with him because the guy just bisected a clank with one hit with a blunt instrument, or because he knows something about Higgs we don't.

No, that was all during the confrontation with Castle/Otilia... He's dodging her and passing it off like she can't hit him because she is in poor shape. As soon as she starts to remember him, he ends it with the same story. In reality, she was working well enough to climb up a huge pit and slam him into a wall.