Minions are characters who have a Sparky master (or mistress; this is Girl Genius, after all). Many constructs have a loyalty imperative to their creator built in, and ordinary people may hold loyalties for any number of reasons including having succumbed to their strange charisma, but beyond those cases this term is ill-defined — opinions vary on whether disobedient servants, or someone who has no real choice in whom to serve, ought to qualify. For more discussion, see the relevant Forum.