Skifander
From Girl Genius
The Lost City of Skifander, “the Warrior Queen's Hidden Jewel”, is primarily known as the homeland of Zeetha, Daughter of Chump.
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[edit] Sociology
Skifander appears to be a matriarchal society with a strong warrior tradition, but most things about it are mysterious — so mysterious that hardly anyone has even heard of the place. According[1] to Zeetha, its patron goddess is Ashtara — "she who controls fertility" or love. Another entity used to call upon is Gwangi, who judging from the context, is possibly a warrior god or goddess, or a legendary hero.[2]
Skifander has its own language called Skiff.
[edit] Knowledge in Europa
Characters with apparent first-hand knowledge of Skifander include Zeetha herself, Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, Lucrezia Mongfish, and Barry Heterodyne. Agatha and the members of Master Payne's Circus of Adventure have all heard about it second-hand. As Klaus had been resident in Skifander during his exile, he reacts strongly [3] when he sees Zeetha for the first time. Lucrezia, by contrast, just sees Zeetha's Skifandrian roots as another thing to be exploited — as usual. We don't know anything about Barry's views, except that he once told Agatha a story about the "Warrior Queen's Hidden Jewel".
[edit] Characters from Skifander
- Zeetha, of course
- Warrior Queen of Skifander in flashback (Madame Olga's telling of Zeetha's story).
- Chump is presumably from Skifander, but we don't know anything about Chump except that Zeetha is his or her daughter. [4]
[edit] The Works
In addition to Zeetha and Zantabraxus, The Works contains a card showing a fairly young girl, Noopta, dressed in a manner consistent with the little known of Skifandrian royalty.
[edit] Possibly relevant outside information
Lost matriarchal cities are common pulp and Victorian fiction tropes - Edgar Rice Burroughs' Opar is a good example.
The movie The Valley of Gwangi featured an independent-minded cowgirl as its heroine, and the lost valley of the title was located in a remote area of California. Zeetha's own dialog has, on occasion, included idiomatic expressions of the kind one would associate with teenagers, and perhaps even teenagers from the San Fernando Valley.
Also, Gwangi in "The Valley of Gwangi" was an Allosaur or Tyrannisaur (sources differ) who put up an impressive defense of his valley. Skifandrians might well think of the beast as a quintessential Noble Warrior.
[edit] Questions and theories
Quite a bit more has been hinted at than actually spelled out in canon. For example, it has been confirmed in an interview[5] that this is where Lucrezia sent [6] [7] Klaus; this renders the hidden city the presumed birthplace [8] of his son. (The same interview confirmed that the protagonists will indeed travel to Skifander.)
If Gilgamesh is from Skifander, he and Zeetha could furthermore be closely related.[9]
Baron Wulfenbach's statement that he "kept [Gil] alive" hints at the old story that Amazons (to whom the tribeswomen of Skifander bear more than a passing resemblance) kill all of their male children. Whether this is accurate, of course, would be known only to Zeetha, to whom the question has not yet been put.
See Forum:Gil's mother for further discussion of what effects Skiff blood may have.
References
- ↑ "Our holy days are FUN! (cha cha cha!)"
- ↑ "By Gwangi! I'll make a warrior out of you yet!"
- ↑ "YOU!! Djorok'ku Skifandias VON?"
- ↑ The knowledge that Chump is a male came from a daily vote incentive on TopWebComics.com, as Zeetha introduced herself to readers of the series. There has also been a running joke among some fans that Klaus could be the "chump" in question, which is entirely possible, but no one knows anything for certain yet.
- ↑ TGT Webcomics Podcast, Interview: Phil Foglio @ 12:00
- ↑ immediately before: Vol. IV, p. 34
- ↑ Lucrezia learns of his escape: Vol. V, p. 92
- ↑ Klaus thinks Zeetha is there to kill Gil: Vol. VII, p. 61
- ↑ Even as close as fraternal twins, eh? We only know that Gil and Agatha don't have the Luke-and-Leia thing going.
