Girl Genius

I was just going to say. Isn't nearly everyone watching right now?

Most peoples' attention is going to be drawn toward Tweedle and the Sparky festivities, but Colette at the least would be running to her father's side with all due haste.

So, about the new weapon shown in today's comic...

Huh, the blade doesn't seem to have any crest or symbol on it when Beausoleil pulls it out, and it seems like two concentric circles at that point. But it looks more ovoid and possibly with wavy lines a la the Heterodyne sigil when it's lit up in the last panel. I mean, that could be any number of things - coincidence, lack of detail when further out, just what the power source looks like when it turns on... but yeah, I think Beausoleil is trying to frame someone here. Though kind of an odd combo - electric weaponry certainly seems more of a Storm King move, but the sigil of the Storm King appears very similar to the fleur de lis (as seen on the previous page), while of course the sigil in question kinda resembles (forigiving a comparative lack of detail) the Heterodyne trilobite. Of course, Beausoleil might be trying to frame both parties - not unreasonable, since at least two factions of the Knights of Jove have plans for Agatha. So the question is, just who is Beausoleil's patron? I feel like we still don't know all the players here.

And if past history is any guide, we won't know for years, if ever.

edited 16th May '17 10:17:43 AM by Nohbody

That improves the frame-up theory. "Look, the so-called new Storm King stabbed our beloved Master in the back with a Heterodyne-supplied weapon!!"

@49755 Or the slightly related "Look, the Heterodyne and her Jagers stabbed the master with a gift from the Storm King!" You could play it either way, and they're both pretty complicit in either version. I guess it depends on just who you wanted to lay more blame upon.

I thought that sigil on the sword was the sigil people kept talking about in previous pages of this thread, but you make it sound like no one's talked about the one on the sword before now. What were people talking about before, then?

edited 16th May '17 1:23:20 PM by shigmiya64

@49757 I don't know where you get the idea that I make it sound like nobody discussed it before. I hadn't discussed it before, but that's pretty self-evident.

I held off on discussing it because what was previously posted was both monochrome and a bit sketchy, so I wanted to see some detail before I brought it back up. Now that we've got inking and coloring done, I see more what the art was trying to do.

Comic for Wednesday, May 17, 2017: sneaky gate permalink

Nice historic reference. Also, it does look like everyone has run off after the Storm King Parade . . . the square looks abandoned. Poor Voltaire.

I admit, this one annoys me. Where the hell did Colette get off to?

And now it is one of those references I am not picking up... then again I am not a master in European history... care to explain?

Well, there's "I am the state", or in this case, "I am the city".

Specifically, "l'état, c'est moi" ("I am the state") is usually attributed to Louis XIV [citation needed].

edited 16th May '17 10:36:38 PM by Pyrite

I'm not ruling out that the stabbing was necessary for a greater good, making The Master's death mean something specific or maybe transferring his consciousness into the city's systems. Admittedly, the latter might not be something he's for if he's hoping for a "Rest good and faithful servant" ending.

I hope there's a good reason Colettes not there. And yeah, I'm also wondering who Beausoleil's patron could be.

So basically the Louis Quote of "I am the State"... the paraphrase and sleepiness did a number and then again... I might have recalled in the translations which in french could be like:

Je suis l'état.

instead of:

L'état, cest moi.

Then again I saw it more like "I am the State" not "The State, is me."

"The state, it is me."

"I am the State, and the State is me. God bless the State, and God bless me."

(Not like I actually understand French.)

I'm not the expert, but I know a fair amount of French history (French language and literature is on my bachelor's, after all).

Supposedly, Louis XIV (the Sun King) said it to the Parliament of Paris, but this attribution came almost 120 years after his death (let alone when he supposedly said it), so it's generally treated as apocryphal. People widely believe it in part because he was the longest-serving monarch in French history (and one of the longest-serving monarchs of all time, at over 72 years), and in part because his reign was one of the heights of France's political and social influence.

That said, Beausoleil might want to keep in mind a line that Louis XIV actually said - "Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours." Translated - "I'm going away, but the State will persist forever." This is probably intentional on behalf of the Foglios - Beausoleil may think the apocryphal quote is appropriate in this situation, but the best fit would be to swap in "la ville" - Paris will persist.

While the calls onto "I am the State" and how they are translated in some languages, as well as how some sources pick it up are into some situations as is.

While the translation differs, in some accounts it is known as "I am the State" but in others it is in the whole question included... don't know how much of it is Quote Mining and how much of Memetic Mutation in practice.

I've been re-reading the comic, and I've come to a conclusion: The Storm King conspiracy is nothing but a bunch of spoiled rich kids complaining that the poor kid who works hard is doing a better job than him, and is therefore clearly cheating.

They call Wulfenbach an "usurper," but there was nothing for him to usurp. The Lightning Throne had been empty for over two hundred years, and Klaus's rule had nothing to do with it. Calling it a "stolen empire" is just childish and stupid. What's worse is that they appear to be winning the public relations battle, meaning that the people of Europa are willing to believe that the people who brought the Long War back are more trustworthy than the ones who kept it at bay for decades. Martellus is an idiot, so I'll give him a pass, but Tarvek has displayed a similar sentiment.

It just pisses me off so much that all these intelligent people are so set in their stupid power games that they can't accept that someone else has already achieved exactly what they wanted, and if they had backed him instead of fighting him, they could have saved countless lives.

I'm still confused as to why Grandma is apparently backing Martellus again over Tarvek, but I'm guessing it's the long game. Tarvek has every advantage over Tweedle—he's smarter, more likable, more careful, better at diplomacy, and has been accepted by three muses, the Heterodyne, and Wulfenbach. All Tweedle has going for him is that he's really good at killing people, and honestly the fact that he killed the original Storm King should probably be a point against his claim. So we'll see what Grandma's plan is.

edited 17th May '17 1:33:00 PM by Discar

I believe that particular gripe was addressed in this comic. It was mentioned that Baron Wulfenbach broke the rules of noble privilege and entitlement by keeping the title of baron. I think it was Martellus that said that, if Wulfenbach had declared himself emperor, the noble families would be fighting over who'd get to lick his boots first.

As it stands, though, with a baron lording over them, the noble families are in danger of losing everything if they don't at least pretend his rule is illegitimate.

There's also the fact that Klaus is a construct, breaking another rule, although this status has only been semi-officially noted in the actual comic.

People have a point in worrying about Colette; I'm hoping that the abrupt disconnect with the city didn't hurt her so badly she's unable to reach her father. I cannot see her willingly being away from him right now, as she was clearly worried about him.