I’m tryna figure out how to elevator pitch this au and put all the stuff i have for it in one place. Lucrezia’s a Good Mom but still the other. Agatha and Tarvek are arranged to be married. They hang out alot. They get to be teens together and it goes about as well as you’d expect.
This was supposed to be for the day two prompts @girlgeniusevents but in a state of delirium I got it completely wrong and drew something from Beetlesburg asdfghjkl
@girlgeniusevents: Day One- Fairy Tale / Alternate Universe / Crossover
This was supposed to be so much bigger!! There was going to be lightning!! And cleaner lines!! But events transpired that this is as good as it’s gunna get.
I could feel myself falling from an aeroplane I hear static when I close my eyes I imagine one day things settling And I think about what that might be like
I never mentioned this in the original post but the lyrics are from The Plan (F**k Jobs) which is the Most Gil Song I Know
Every magical girl’s relic has an ultimate summon. An entity that’s heads and shoulders above all other summons. The Heterodynes and the Trilobite Relic have always had Der Kestle, their terrifying castle summon. Gil and the Flying Baron Relic have the airship city, Castle Wulfenbach. The Wasp Queen Relic has the engimatic and apocalyptic Other, and the Great Tower Relic has the great city of Paris.
Now, it is a common fact that summons can be traded or stolen. Switched from one book to the other, willing or otherwise. There are many ways it can be done, depending on the nature and power of the summon in question. Sometimes it can simpy be a matter of the summon in question deciding it likes a different magic girl better. Such as the case with the Waspeater Weasels making an initially unnoticed migration from Gil’s to Tarvek’s book. Much to the amusement of Gil. Or it could be the case of Korsp, the mercenary cat summon who originally belonged to the Beastmaster Relic, but decided to go independent for undisclosed reasons.
The Book of the Flying Baron Relic is infamous for containing summons that originated in other books, and Gil has found entire sections that appear to have been spliced in. On the other side you have the Trilobite Book, which holds nearly all its original spells and summons, and is famous for the deep loyalty of its Jager summons. The Storm Queen relic on the other hand, has been ravaged over the centuries as people have fought over its power and the prestige it represents. Its summons and spells have been picked away piecemeal, and even its ultimate summon, The Legendary Muses, has been seperated into its component summons and scattered. When Anevka, and later Tarvek, first get the relic there is only one muse left, Tinka.
That, among all the indignities that have been visited on the Storm Queen Relic, bothers Tarvek the most. For all his conflicting loyalties and personal pressures, it is the restoration of the Muses that is closest to Tarvek’s heart. Of course being lost, he has no idea where to even begin searching. That changes when a hunt for a mechanical chest summon takes them to Mr. Paynes Carnival and Circus Museum. There they discover that the dusty replica in the corner is not a replica. When all is said and done, Tarvek has a new summon in is book, and the hope that maybe, he can actually do this.
The third muse they find, was one they had had all along. Agatha had summoned the Lady Von Pinn before, but the more they explore the mystery of the first Storm King and his supposed arch-nemisis, the more a suspicion starts to grow in her mind. Its not until the hoard of Fun-Sized Mobile Agony and Death Despensers hidden under the local amusment park wake up, that things start to crystalize, and she makes a gamble.
It is a commonly known fact that the first time a magic girl summons a new summon, that that summon is empowered by the new contract. This first summoning is often used as a trump card, as summons empowered this way can often fight well above their metaphysical weight class. So she send Von Pinn over to Tarvek and yells at him to summon her.
Otilia appears, restored and returned to her proper place among her sisters, as radiant as she was in the days before the Storm Queen Relic was plundered of its summons, and empowered with the strength of a first summoning. With her help its not long before Agatha is summoning Der Kestle and rounding up all the Agony and Death Despensers back into its depths.
Of course, the mystery as to how such a summon ended up in Agatha’s book in the first place, is not answered so easily.
Agatha’s main day to day buisness is rounding up all the rogue summons her ancestors have unleashed on the city and country over the centuries and which are now starting to wake up and go on rampages. This is mainly done by weakening the monster through combat (or you know, talking it into going quietly) then summoning her ultimate summon, Der Kestle, which then appears, casts out black chains, and then drags the monster of the week into its depths. To aid in this endevor she has of course her family’s Magic Relic, the Triolobite Relic, and the accompaning book of spells and summons. She also has her two friends, Gil and Tarvek.
Gilgamesh Wulfenbach holds the Flying Baron Relic, which originally belong to his father. He is currently under the impression that his oftentimes overprotective father has no idea that he has this relic, and that he needs to keep it secret from him. What he doesn’t know is that his dad knows exactly what he’s doing, because he was going the same thing when he was Gil’s age, he just hasn’t caught him at it. Many surprising conincidences that result in Gil nearly being revealed are in fact no such thing. He is also freqently briding his psychotic ex-priate bodyguard, Bang, not to reveal his secret to his father. (Not realizing his dad already knows.) His costume of course resembles a mix between a Prussian Baron and a swashbuckling pirate. Complete with pantaloons, and a large hat with a feather in it. Agatha runs into him on her first night on the job. Unfortunately they were both in the middle of a jump between rooftops. The resulting fall, five stories, face-first, into a concrete sidewalk, demonstrated just how supernaturally tough magic girls are.
Tarvek Strumvoraus holds the coveted Storm Queen Relic. It originally belonged to his older sister Anevka, except she is currently comatose in the hospital. Thanks to the magic of the Storm Queen Relic, she is currently possessing a clockwork doll styled after the legendary Muses of the Storm Queen Relic. Tarvek takes his possession of the Storm Queen Relic very seriously, and one of his major goals is to find the Nine Lost Muse summons that once formed the ultimate summon of the Storm Queen Relic. While he is dedicated to keeping the city safe and to helping Agatha round up her family’s rogue summons, he is also facing pressure from his father as what exactly he should be using the powers of his Relic to do. His costume includes a golden crown and a burgandy silk cape. He also has a long, complicated, and sometimes antagonistic history with Gil.
Aiding their endevors are Agatha’s two normal friends, Zeetha and Violetta. Zeetha is Gil’s twin sister, and the crown princess of a remote society of women warriors who live in the depths of the amazon jungle. Violetta is Tarvek’s cousin, and has literally gone to school to study the ways of the mythical Smoke Nights, the order of Europan ninja, who specialized in stealth and poison. Both consider themselves to be the normal ones of the group. The rest of the school does not agree.
Of course there are other things that stand in their way. Xerxsephnia Von Blitzengaard, another one of Tarvek’s cousins, is very angry with Tarvek because according to the ancient traditions of female inheritance when it comes to Magical Relics, she should have gotten the Storm Queen Relic when Anevka went comatose, not Tarvek. Of course with Magical Relics, possession is nine-tenths of the law. Its very hard to steal a relic from a Magical Girl that is actively using it, due to the fact they will know immediately if someone touches it, and they have magical powers that allow them to defend it. Thankfully, her brother Martellus holds the powerful Beastmaster Relic and is always willing to help his little sister out. Resulting in him and his Knights of the Hunt becoming a major pain to Agatha and her friends.
There is also the shining Zola Malfezium, a rival magical girl who holds the Queen of the Dawn Relic. On the surface she looks like your standard friendship and rainbows magical girl, abet one who is frequently duped by less scrupulous people. Below the surface she looks like a deeply insecure teenage girl who is trying her hardest to get people to like her and is determined to try and cast herself in the best metaphorical and literal light. Below that however, there are a lot of dark mysteries and unanswered questions. First among those is the fact that her Relic is nothing more than an expensive and beautiful, but otherwise normal piece of jewelry. Demonstrated by the fact Violetta was able to steal it undetected in the first place. Which begs the question, where is she getting her powers from then?
Then there is the perpetual mystery of Agatha’s ancestor Euphorosyina, and her relationship with the legendary Storm King, Andronicus Valois. A story which is increasingly revealed to be much more complicated and twisted than the contemporary story would suggest. A mystery made particularly relevant when they encounter the furious corpse ghost of the man in a hidden tomb under the city of Paris.
And behind that there is the dark and troubling mystery as to what agenda Tarvek’s dad is pursuing, and its increasing connection to the mysterious Geisterdamen summons, the deadly hive engines, and their connection to The Other, the ultimate summon of the Wasp Queen Relic, the same magical relic held by Agatha’s mother Lucrenzia.
Completely normal teenage girl Agatha Heterodyne has just lost her uncle, and is forced to move with her two guardians into the very-much-not-sleeply suburb of Mechanisburg. With its faux-european buildings and abundance of skull motifs, the whole place manages to scream, creepy tourist trap. The ancestral family manor she is apparently going to be moving into is even worse. It comes complete with a lovingly tended garden of horribly poisonous plants, a wrought iron fence complete with six inch spikes and screaming face decorations, and an honest to god looming bell-tower.
She’s spending her first night in her new room in this creepy house when she feels a draft, finds a concealed door in the walls, accidently presses a switch which causes the door to open to reveal… an on-suite bathroom. Further exploration reveals more secret doors, a whole network of them. Deathtraps too. Including trap doors and an literal hallway of swinging blades. Eventually she comes across a library of all things. A big library with lots of dusty books, and cloth covered reading chairs. And on one of the tables she finds a locket, embossed with a trilobite, complete with a brass choker to wear around her neck. Thinking it just a cool piece of jewlery, she puts it on.
When she turns around, she sees a book. Its large and heavy with a metal cover and this moving clockwork visible between gaps in the binding. She’s not sure how she missed it, and when she picks it up the grinning face on the back bites her. She barely has time to register the fact she is bleeding, when a great red eye opens on the cover and a deep female voice says.
“FINALLY!”
The book then reveals that she is the latest in a long line of villianous magic girls. The feared Heterodynes. That her father and uncle were one of the few male children born to that line and that they forsok their family’s powers in order to live a life of social activism and philanthropy. But now, NOW, there is finally some new blood to take on the mantle. Now the world will tremble before a new Heterodyne magic girl.
Then there is a surge of red light and Agatha’s clothes are replaced with a black-silk dress puffed up with gold lace, and gold plated bones. A great castle with russian domes looms behind her, and the words come to Agatha as the transformation sequence completes. “TREMBLE BEFORE ME!”
And the bell at the top of the looming bell tower rings.
DOOOOOOOOM!
Then the Jagers, the most loyal and powerful of the Heterodyne’s summons appear and all swear allegence. There’s explainations, about the power of the relic and how to use its powers. The spells and summons contained in her book and how they work. A great show of power that goes into the night.
The events last night seem more like a weird dream, as Agatha staggers into the kitchen to have breakfast the next morning. She doesn’t even notice, the strange look that passes between her guardians before Adam finally says, “We know what happened last night.”
“Everyone knows,” Lilith adds as Agatha chokes on her ceral. “We all heard the Doom Bell ring. Everyone who grows up in this town knows what it means. They even printed a special edition of the Mechanisburg Menacer.”
Sure enough, the front page of the newspaper is blazing with the headline. “NEW HETERODYNE CLAIMS THE TRILOBITE RELIC! DEATH, DOOM, AND A 25% DROP IN UNEMPLOYMENT PREDICTED! TAKE THAT RECESSION!”
What the hell, Agatha thinks, you don’t need that much water to drown yourself. Her bowl of ceral will do in a pinch.
Mechanisburg had been unaware of the space race when it first started. Otherwise they would have made sure the first person put into orbit around the planet was actually intended to survive the experience.
As it is, they are very shocked and offended that there is apparently a space race going on, and not only were they not invited, they are already loosing. The Soviet Union has already launched the first working satalite. The resulting tantrum from the Heterodyne sees the first potted geranium, the first live duck, and the first ant farm launched into space. (The sentient ants that ran the farm got used to it pretty quick, but did wish they had had some warning first.)
After that they get serious, to make up for lost time they launch the first eastern european entertainment broadcast satalite. (Which featured such Mechanisburg Favorites as “The Snail Kitchen,” “Death Devestation and Horror,” “DYI Surgery,” “Best Rants of the Heterodynes,” and “The Happy Funtime Hour.”) Every household in America was watching Mechanisburg TV programs. At least until people finally, finally, figured out how to turn them off.
The pride of the Mechanisburg space program however was the first space-ship they launched. The bronze dragon head on the prow was really the first clue that they had taken the concept of a “space ship” a bit too literally.
What they build is basically a giant viking longboat crossed with galleon, with a giant glass dome over the deck, two huge rocket engines attached to the side, and which is pointed straight up to the sky. And since this is to be the pride of Mechanisburg, the first cosmonauts the Heterodyne puts into space are naturally their best. (Though not necessarily their brightest.)
The Jagermonsters.
General Gkika is chosen the captain this first space ship and charged with getting the jagers picked for the mission ready for it. Which mostly involves them seeing how long they can hold their breath in case they get a leak in their suits. There is also the tricky question as to wether they should wear their hats on top of their fishbowl helmets or should make the helmets big enough to fit their hats inside. Launch protocols are just the unspoken understanding that they’ll hold unto the back of their seats during launch. At least until the ship gets into space and straightens out.
Bewildered international reporters, (who were kidnapped from their hotels at spear-point), report on a cermony that looks like something out of John Carter of Mars, complete with the multicoloured people and the large melee weapons, and get first hand views of “The Loonie Bin of the Eastern Bloc” launching a giant bronze viking ship into space, and hear the cheers when it clears the atmosphere and is able to hoist the solar sails.
The crew on the soviet space station is even more suprised. The cosmonaut that first spots it thinks they are hallucinating. Then they get the radio message telling them to prepare to be boarded. The jagers wearing fishbowl helmet space-suits throwing grappling hooks and “swigging” over, do nothing to make the who scene any less sureal.
In truth Mechanisburg’s first space voyage is rather boring actually. There’s nothing up there to fight. The scientists on the space station surrendered on the spot and had nothing to loot except research data. The Jagers on the ship really have nothing to do while they sail around earth except drink and brawl. (Which is admittedly what they would have been doing back on earth anyway.) So they mostly bum around earth’s orbit, vandalize a few satalites, and are forced to turn back when they start to run out of booze.
There is nothing like watching a flaming viking ship re-enter the atmosphere and make a firey crash landing in the Black Sea. However once the waves calm down and the steam clears, the jagers waste no time in heading back home. The mechanical oars pop out of the side of the ship and they began rowing towards the Danube, the Dyne, and home.
This is a world where everything is exactly the same. Except Mechansiburg exists, and it is exactly the same as it is in GG cannon. AKA this heavily armed and very militaristic eastern european city state that was successfully contained sometime in the 1800s, but has never stopped trying to conqure the world.
In fact, this narrative remains more or less unchanged right up until World War II, where german troops invading eastern europe are greeted with “Oh thank god you’re here! Quick, the Heterodynes are breaking out!”
The Nazi high command would have normally dismissed the stories that come back as a bunch of bullshit being spouted by cowards. Except the Heterodynes made sure there was a designated survivor, left alive to spread the tale. Well, left alive is not exactly correct. More like they were brought back to life so that their severed head could tell the tale to Hilter and the Nazi high command.
As a result german forces do not retreat from the Mechanisburg Valley until they are forced out by the Red Army, and then Mechanisburg is Stalin’s problem. The Soveit Union never admits it, but they come close several times to having the Heterodynes break out of the Mechanisburg Valley. Especially when the Heterodyne respond to the Katyusha rocket launchers by building a mobile pipe organ capable of wiping out an entire battallion.
As the Cold War heats up, Mechanisburg finds itself as this small little stain on the Iron Curtain, the one spot in eastern europe that is not communist and has brutally resistened any attempt to make it so. (The Soviet Leadership are too scared to even try dropping a nuke on the town, because sure as hell Mechanisburg already has nuclear defenses anyway.) And despite the fact that Mechanisburg is only the size of a particularly large city state, it is an enthusizastic participant in the arms race.
Yes it may not have the same size nuclear stockpile as the two superpowers, but neither the US or the Soviet Union has a giant death ray pointed at the moon. The rest of the world watching this tiny city state parade this truely bizzare array of weapons, monsters, and historical war loot thinks the people of the Sovereign Nation of Mechanisburg (AKA the Heterodyne Empire) is completely nuts (It is) and is bluffing to try and puff up its ego. (It’s not.) This is not helped by the occasion addresses to the UN, which are basically hour long, winding rants, read off by a member of the Von Mekkhan family with the best poker face.
The Space Race is no better. Yes the Soviet Union may have launched the first satillite, the US may have put the first man on the moon, but Mechanisburg put the first human into orbit. (Granted, the fact that they didn’t survive was the whole point) and they have a big head start toward being the first nation to put a jagermonster on Mars. Nevermind the fact that American astronauts on the moon had a lot of reasons to pray diplomatic relations with Mechanisburg didn’t suddenly dip.
Thankfully by the time the Berlin Wall comes down, a new Heterodyne has taken control of Mechanisburg. Bill and Barry have a different vision for their homeland then their ancestors did, and set out opening a new and friendlier Mechanisburg to the world. This includes things like recognition in the UN, the development of a tourist industry in Mechanisburg, and things like signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (After the definition of “human” is expanded significantly and horrifically.) They also show their good will by dismantling the giant death ray pointed at the moon. (They use the parts from that to build the Great Hospital) As well as cutting back the number of nuclear weapons to only a “couple of the nicer ones,” disbanding the biological weapons team, closing that portal to the hell dimension, disbanding the chemical weapons team, promising to stop arming local bears, disbanding the psychic weapons team, and so on.
Now, how Bill’s daughter, Agatha, found herself being raised by a pair of engine mechanics in Zurich involves a car full of killer wasps, her parent’s best friend being dumped deep into the middle of the amazon jungle, a creepy cult her mom started up, one very very big bomb, and is quite frankly, a story for another time.
Mundane au Agatha inherits Mechanicsburg, a microstate with an absolute monarchy, & introduces a constitution that includes the right to vote & the right to revise the constitution. Before the month has passed Mechanicsburg votes to remove their right to vote from the constitution.
The photo companying the press release is just Agatha face down on her desk, silently screaming.
Better yet, Agatha enacts the democratic reforms to great excitement and cheers from the Mechanisburg population. This is because most of the people actually think Agatha is making these reforms to make Mechanisburg and herself look good to the wider world (and they’re all for it.) Agatha does not find this out until Van comes up to her and asks her what she wants the election results to be.
Mechanisburg never really clues in that these democratic reforms really are supposed to free of interference and for the benifit of the people of Mechanisburg. Cue the whole election process turning into a complete gong show.
You have people complaining to the media that the whole thing is being pushed through too fast and that there’s no good system in place to tell people who are assigned to vote for. You’ve got vicious smear campaigns that are so out there that half the stories have to have been made up by a team of writers stoned out of their gourds. (Just not the half you think.) You have people running against Agatha who are only running because they think they have to, and so run campaigns that actually flatter her in a roundabout way.
Election day is even worse. UN observers have never seen so much blatant tampering in their lives. You have people trying to intimidate voters (but who have no clue who they are supposed to intimidate people to vote for), you have people trying to intimidate the intimidaters. People are casting votes on behalf of their pets and livestock. Children keep stealing the ballot boxes and messing with them. There’s more votes cast in the entire election than there is people in all of eastern europe. Not that any of that matters because the question on the ballot is worded in such a roundabout way that no one knows who they’re even voting for anyway.
Moloch, who has been put in charge of the election, just has the ballot boxes thrown in the river and has everyone make their vote by dropped a colored bead into a jar as they leave the polling station.
In the end, the official tally suggests Agatha won the election with 68% of the popular vote. When UN monitors finally manage to calculate what they actually result would have been without the tampering, they discover that Agatha should have won with 98% of the vote.
(Inspired by a post I saw on tumblr, which for the life of me I cannot find again in order to properly credit.)
From the beginning Mechanisburg was a city of alchemy. Ht’rok-din, the first Heterodyne, settled there because it intersected three major alkahestry lines. Its people made their living through banditry and raiding, and soon horrible stories began to arise that claimed the Heterodynes were unholy sorcerers who used black magic to preform miraculous feats.
Anyone who knows anything about alchemy today would recognize the stories of horrible fused monsters, walls being torn down with just a single slip of paper, and of the city’s cathedral being built in a day, as merely ancient examples of alchemy being mistaken as witch-craft.
Today, Mechanisburgers no longer spread terror and death to the surrounding lands. The city in fact is now a hotbed of tourism, and milks both its bloody and alchemical history for all its worth. Maps sold to tourists will proudly boast things, such as the supposed fact that the entire city is actually a giant transmutation circle.
It’s true too.
If you stand at the top of one of the observation towers, you can see it. A gigantic transmutation circle laid out in the walls and streets of the city. Those that have ever come close to creating a philosophers stone will recognize it. At least in part.
Mechanisburg has a long and bloody history. Anyone who would brave the very deepest depths of Castle Heterodyne would find a spring bubbling up from the ground. It’s water is red as blood and glows with power. The Heterodynes call it the Source of the Dyne. Anyone who died within the walls of Mechanisburg will find their soul trapped, trapped and channeled into this spring. This spring is the secret to how the Heterodynes of old became such powerful alchemists, and were seemingly able to flout the laws of alchemy.
There are few who would recognize the gates of Mechanisburg from anywhere else. Those that can, would realize what it implies. Human transmutation has never been taboo, it been a proud tradition for centuries. The Heterodyne’s chimera soldiers, the Jagermonsters, have always proudly been a volunteer army. Every Jager that swears the oath knows the procedure will be painful, they know that there is a ninety percent chance they will die. Yet young men and women have been lining up for centuries in order to subject themselves to alchemical transformation so they could better serve their lords.
A river flows from the castle. Many think its source is from a spring deep under the castle. They are right. Long ago Egregious Heterodyne devised an array to transmute souls into water, and from that day forward a river has flown through Mechanisburg. The castle itself is alive, it speaks and moves and rearranges its rooms, hallways and deathtraps at whim. Centuries of careful maintenance have kept the soul of Faustus Heterodyne housed within the very stones of the castle as the undying guardian of his family and their secrets.
But the most frightening thing of all, is that these secrets are not secrets, at least not to the people of Mechanisburg. Every week, sermons in the Red Cathedral speak of every Mechanisburger’s “Second Service” to their lord and city, and of the alchemical value of the human soul. The Jagers are respected citizens of Mechanisburg because of the ordeal they went through and the transformation they underwent, not in spite of it. The old bloodstained alter of the Red Cathedral is carved with a transmutation array, the same one built into the city itself. (Many an ancient enemy was sacrificed on that alter back in the old days.) That same array is tattooed on the bodies of many Mechanisburgers as a sign of their loyalty to the house of Heterodyne and their acceptance of their second service. Every year, a festival of thanksgiving is held for the ancestors of the city, in thanks for their sacrifice in making the waters of the Dyne continue to flow.
In fact to many outsiders, the people of Mechanisburg seem superstitious. For they seem to credit their dead ancestors for everything form keeping the street-lamps lit, the walls and defenses in good repair, and the river flowing towards the sea.
Some more ideas for units, upgrades, and technologies for the Europa Strategy game I came up with. You can tell I like tooltip descriptions as a means of lore building.
Dingbot Horde (Heterodyne): Capable of detonating itself in order to inflict massive damage on all units in a region. Four inches of fiery death.
Don’t Make Me Come Over There (Empire): Everyone knows the presence of Castle Wulfenbach means the Baron is coming. Castle Wulfenbach now suppress rebellions in whichever region it is currently in.
Since Time Immemorial (Fifty Families): The various Fifty Families have often ruled their lands for generations, over that time they have become a part of the territory as the landscape and people. Territories held by the Fifty Families for a certain length of time gain a bonus to resistance against invasion.
Mindless Revenant (Other): Instead of taking direct control, slaver wasps can create units of mindless revenants in a region. Unlike normal revenants, mindless revenants cannot be controlled and will rampage across the map mindless until stopped.
Treaty Diplomacy (Heterodyne): Phrases such as “abject submission,” “utter destruction,” and “Or else,” help clarify treaties and remove ambiguities.
Tribute State (Heterodyne): Instead of conquering a defeated region, the Heterodynes can instead install a local government which pays fealty to Mechanisburg in return for its continued existence. Tribute states cannot be directly controlled, but contribute a portion of all their production, capacities, and support to the Heterodynes.
Vespiary Squad (Empire): These elite units are trained specifically to destroy the Other’s hive engines and the wasps they spawn, and receive a special bonus when fighting against all insectoid opponents.
Wasp Eaters (Empire): The development of the wasp eaters allows vespiary squads to detect the presence of revenant infiltrators within the region they are stationed in.
Bogz for dinner! (Heterodyne): Expansion of the Jager’s dietary preferences allows them to more effectively live off the land, reducing the upkeep of all Jagermonster units. It also provides them with an added bonus against insectioid monsters.
Doom Weapon, Operation Marigold (Fifty Families): This last ditch plan involves the assassination of everyone of importance in Europa. Everyone. When activated every region with a smoke knight stationed in it will suffer a complete assassination of all personnel vital to the running of the region. (This includes territories belonging to the Fifty Families as well.) This will impose a massive penalty on all aspects of the effected region’s production and support. It will also cost all the Smoke Knights employed in the operation.
Deadly Queens (Other): Improvements to the hive engines result in them also spawning a deadly Slaver Wasp Queen in addition to their contingent of warrior wasps.
Yellow Codex (Fifty Families): New training techniques for the smoke knights both improves their ability to succeed in espionage, but also provides a bonus against espionage in all regions you control.
Set ‘em on Low (Empire): By dialing down the power, many deadly weapons employed by the empire can be put to effective civilian use in everything from road construction, to fire fighting, to communications. This allows military units stationed in a region to assist in construction as if they were a civilian construction unit.
Another form of robbery (Heterodyne): When at peace, Mechanisburg draws in a steady stream of tourists who provide an income directly proportional to the Heterodyne’s reputation.
Consciousness Transfer (Other): The application of consciousness transfer allows the other to transmit an units veterancy and specialization bonuses to another unit. This is useful when trying to upgrade units or radically retool your army.
The Beast (Heterodyne): Unleash the Beast of the Rails! This ravenous locomotive will devour the the infrastructure, resources, and towns of the region it is currently stationed in. However if the beast should run out of resources in the region it is currently in, it will automatically move to a nearby region and begin devouring the resources there, irregardless of who owns it.
Personal Smoke Knights (Fifty Families): By providing each major noble child with their own personal smoke knight swore to their protection, it becomes increasingly difficult to effect assassinations in regions controlled by the Fifty Families.
Papal Approval (1 out of 7) (Fifty Families): The Pope of Belfast now supports you, and with them, the Corbite Monks are forced to provide nominal support. The Fifty Families can now expand Corbite railways in regions they own and use them to transport troops.
The Airship City (Empire): Castle Wulfenbach is now a city unto itself, capable of supplying most of its own needs itself. All units stationed on Castle Wulfenbach now take no upkeep.
The Castle is Watching (Heterodyne): Castle Heterodyne’s awareness now stretches across the entire length of Mechanisburg. Mechanisburg gains additional defense against espionage and infiltration.
Basically I was thinking and suddenly my mind came across the idea for a grand strategy game set in the Girl Genius Universe. The basic idea would be something like Europa Universalis. Basically, become the one to finally unite Europa and bring peace at last. (Through war, bloodshed, assassination, marriage and mind control)
There are four factions: The Fifty Families, The Empire, The Heterodynes, and The Other.
THE EMPIRE:
The Empire would be kind of like the “balanced” faction. In keeping with the wide-spread and cosmopolitan nature of the Empire, it has access to a wide variety of troops for any situation drawn from all corners of Europa. It also would have access to a grab-bag of upgrades drawn from all the sparks that have been captured by The Empire and now technically serve it.
Castle Wulfenbach: The Empire’s capital is a gigantic airship which can be moved across the map to wherever it is needed the most, providing home-territory bonuses to whichever region it is currently in. It also makes it extremely hard to seize the Empire’s capital.
The Right Monster for the Job: The Empire is open to all who are willing to serve it. The Empire has a chance of absorbing defeated monsters, clanks, and soldiers into their forces as a new unit.
Black Item Number IX: The defeat of Petrus Teufel and the Black Mist Raiders has resulted in the Empire seizing the raiders stockpiles of chemical weapons. Normally actually using them would be out of the question, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Doom Weapon, Take Five Bomb: when used on the map it renders a region completely unusable by all sides for a set length of time.
THE FIFTY FAMILIES:
The Fifty Families would work on the whole, noble knights and deadly court kind of image. Their own inter-family warfare have made them very good and espionage and intrigue. Not to mention as the preexisting government of Europa, they have an easier time solidifying control over conquered regions.
The Storm King!: A true heir to the Storm King has arisen! A New Age is upon us! Rejoice! News that the Lightning Throne has been claimed sends a new wave of hope through Europa. Newly acquired territories will have no unrest, and receive a brief bonus.
Smoke Knights: Extremely deadly spies and assassins, Smoke Knights can infiltrate enemy territories to spy, with no chance of detection. They can also have a much higher chance of sabotaging infrastructure and assassinating officials.
Knights of the Hunt: A unit capable of shifting between two forms, wolf and human. In human form they look no different from normal solider units. (But transform upon engaging in combat.) In wolf form they have increased attack and defense as wells as increased speed. (Allowing the Fifty Families to bait enemies into battles they only think they can win.)
The Muses: A series of nine legendary clanks which must be found and repaired individually. While they cannot fight, each Muse provides a specific bonus to whichever territory they are stationed in as well as a general boost to happiness and morale in the region.
THE HETERODYNES:
Proud heirs to a long legacy of terror, chaos, and murder, the Heterodynes represent one of the longest and most feared Spark lineages in Europa. Their proud tradition as raiders and brigands allow the Heterodynes to devastate their enemies’s infrastructure while simultaneously filling their own coffers. While their sparky traditions give them a leg up in quickly researching their extensive tech tree. However, their terrifying reputation and focus on Mechanisburg means that the Heterodynes have difficulty expanding and holding territories.
The Jagermonsters: the elite solider-monsters of the Heterodynes, the Jagermonsters are tough nuts to crack. With high defense and the ability to regenerate their health under any circumstance, a unit of Jagermonster can very quickly become a thorn in your enemy’s side. However their need to protect the secrets of their biology means that Jagers cannot be healed by medics and must instead rely on the Heterodyne paying personal attention to them.
The Defenses of Mechanisburg: The Heterodyne capital starts the game with significant defensive upgrades already constructed, along with the potential to upgrade those defenses to nearly 4X that of other factions. However, this focus on the defense of Mechanisburg means that the Heterodynes cannot construct or improve defenses in other territories they control.
A Town of Minions: Nothing excites the people of Mechanisburg like a spark at work. This enthusiasm, coupled with an innate ability to understand sparkwork within the population of Mechanisburg, allows any science and sparkwork facilities constructed in Mechanisburg to receive a double production bonus.
Doom Weapon, The Toaster: It can toast an entire town.
THE OTHER:
A terrifying and mysterious figure, the Other caused massive upheaval and Chaos in Europa which has only now begun to subside. However, the Other is not out of the picture yet, and with its army of Geisterdamen, along with its hive engines and slaver wasps, the Other is capable of rapid recovery from seemingly crippling defeats.
Slaver Wasps: Slaver wasps are a one-use unit that allows the Other to infiltrate enemy solider units and cities. Once a unit or city has been successfully targeted by a slaver wasp, revenants will begin undermining the target and if successful will pass control of it over to the Other.
Hive Engines: Once activated, a hive engine will spawn several armies of warrior wasps in the region in which it was activated. Unactivated hive engines can also be smuggled into enemy territories in order to launch devastating surprise attacks.
Mind Copying: The Other’s technology allows them to copy their mind into another unfortunate host, essentially duplicating the Other and allowing them to work in multiple places at once. (As well as providing a backup in case something should happen to the others.) This procedure is not without risks as the Other will be unable to act while they are copying their mind, and there is a chance that the procedure may not work at all, and if a copy is the Other is used, there’s a chance the procedure will kill them as well.
Geisterdamen: These other-worldly ladies are fanatically devoted to the Other and are unable to be converted or swayed by another faction. They also have the ability to infiltrate cites, allowing for hive-engines or slaver wasps to be smuggled in.
So I got back into Girl Genius recently and as my mind does I got to thinking.
What if it was the Heterodynes that made the Muses and Van Rijn who made the Deadly Sins clanks.
Like say to celebrate the union between Euphrosynia and Andronicus, one of the Heterodynes makes a set of nine clanks as a betrothal gift to the new Storm King. They’re called The Muses.
This being the Heterodynes, these clanks are not the delicate, mysterious and subtle beings we know in cannon. The Heterodynes could not resist the urge to add in built in death-rays, concealed blades, and other nasty surprises. Add in the Heterodynes own direct nature, their taste in aesthetics, and what things inspire them, you get a very different set of legendary clanks running around. For example, Moxana has a map table in front of her instead of a card table, complete with everything you need to map out a battle. Not to mention a massive concealed death-ray within her chair.
Instead of these ethereal, graceful clanks standing behind Andronicus in the pictures, the Storm King is flanked an honor guard of armored horrors with fanged grins and a large assortment of weaponry.
However appearances are deceptive, and despite their appearance the Muses are advisors, and they advised the Storm King. Andronicus, finding himself more and more surrounded by sycophants and intrigue, comes to value The Muse’s direct manner, straightforward advice and blunt opinions. Much to the worry of the rest of the court, who fear the Storm King is falling more and more under the sway of the Heterodynes.
When Andronicus’s empire collapses, many try to destroy the muses as Heterodyne abominations, dismantle them to see how they work, or seize them for themselves. Not only is it quickly discovered that not only had the Heterodynes given the Muses free will, but it is also forgotten that nothing made by a Heterodyne will just stand passively by while someone tries to take it apart. Those that try are quickly reminded. From there on the Muses drift where fortune takes them, they split, reunite, and split again. They serve many different rulers, and even disintegrate a few when said rulers don’t react well to assessments they don’t want to hear.
Eventually we get to the present where Otilia is serving Klaus, looking after the education and well-being of the future rulers of Europa; a long-lost Heterodyne heir has been found; Tarvek proclaims his right to the Lightning crown before Tinka and is tested in a way many Heterodynes would find very familiar; and everyone discovers the Muses also share the Heterodyne’s opinions on Monogamy. (Especially when it comes to uniting three powerful political factions.)
Now on the other side of the board. During his life Van Rijn made seven clanks for Andronicus who danced for him, played music, ran messages, and acted as his personal servants. They faded into the background, rarely noticed or remarked upon as anything other than as another curiosity made by Van Rijn.
Van Rijn called them the Deadly Sins. They were supposed to keep Andronicus’s hands clean, by doing his sinning for him. They were assassins and killers, designed to protect the Storm King and eliminate his enemies. They were made to blend in, to avoid notice, and to kill with the greatest subtlety and secrecy. They could pose as servants, delivering poison to where it was least expected. They could turn allies against each other and play on people’s desires and emotions to get them to do the killing for them. They were silent knives in the midst of a crowd, and brutal murders in places people thought they were safe.
They did not fare so well. Their own mandate of secrecy prevented them from revealing their true purpose, even to protect their existence from those that went after them trying to learn the secrets of Van Rijn. Those that survived the collapse of the empire slipped into the shadows of anonymity. With no clear candidate as Storm King, and thus no master to serve, they scattered across Europa killing as whim and circumstance warranted, watching, searching, waiting.
Now the candidates have narrowed. Aaronev Tarvek Sturmvoraus and Martellus von Blitzengaard are the two best candidates to become the Sins’ new master. The games of the Fifty Families become even more deadly as the Sins work to protect their two potential kings. As to who they will ultimately serve, the Sins agree. Whichever boy survives, will be the one worthy enough to wear the Lightning Crown.
“The rest is pointless” marks the moment the narrative stopped beingable to kill Tarvek. When your reality bending heroine has just announced that Tarvek’s death will put the entire rest of the plot on hold until she’s got him back you really have no choice but to let him live.
