The Other War

From Girl Genius

The Other War is so called not to distinguish it from some better-known original Europan war, but because the enemy (of pretty much everyone) was the mysterious Other. The first battle, if something so apparently one-sided can be describe as a "battle", was an attack on Castle Heterodyne, in which the Lady Lucrezia Mongfish Heterodyne disappeared for reasons still unknown, among many other casualties^[1] — including infant Heterodyne heir Klaus Barry. The Other primarily targeted sparks all over Europa, working through revenants, and managed to exterminate forty-three major houses and terrorize the whole continent.^[2] Bill and Barry Heterodyne appear to have led the resistance while searching for Lucrezia.

The war ended about a year later, concurrent with the Heterodyne Boys' disappearance, but after nearly two decades the aftershocks still haven't died away.^[3] Leftover revenants roamed the countryside until the Baron returned from exile in a very bad mood (and even after he eliminated those, there turned out much later to be a distressing number of sleepers); the disruption of the status quo must have been a major factor in the reigning violent chaos that prompted him to go conquering.^[4]

References

1. ↑ "Sixty-three of them [Castle Heterodyne staff] died that night."
2. ↑ "People thought it was the end days."
3. ↑ "Few can control their emotions."
4. ↑ "Things were worse than ever."