The Heterodyne’s Muses and Van Rijn’s Sins

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.