Spoiler Alert! By its very nature, this page will give away the plot.

BASIC BACKSTORY
Girl Genius has been being written for some time now, and there have been a lot of twists and turns in the story. Not all of that is covered here, because really, beyond a certain point it's just easier to read the story itself, but this should be enough to get you up to speed:

The setting: In a time when the Industrial Revolution escalated into a full-on war, rival mad scientists, (“Sparks” to be polite), are the ruling powers in most of Europe. Keeping them all in line is Baron Wulfenbach, a particularly powerful and cranky Spark who, when someone starts causing trouble, simply steps in and makes them stop. His captial is the gigantic airship fortress Castle Wulfenbach.

The main character: Agatha Clay was a student at Transylvania Polygnositc University, who had truly rotten luck until she was revealed as a Spark. (Some might argue that this, also, was rotten luck.) She has also recently discovered that she is the last of the famous Heterodyne family—beloved heroes who disappeared under mysterious circumstances many years ago. Folk legend claims that they will someday return, but so far they haven’t managed it.

THE CURRENT STORYLINE
Currently traveling with Agatha is Krosp I, a failed experiment created to be the “Emperor of all Cats,” Zeetha, the lost princess of the lost city of Skifander (she can't find her way home.) and Ardsley Wooster, a British spy sent to keep an eye on Agatha. (She is about to cause a lot of trouble...)

Agatha has recently traveled (with lots of adventures along the way) to the fortress town of Mechanicsburg, home of the Heterodyne family. It turns out that, Agatha's father and uncle aside, the Heterodynes have been a pretty bad lot. Mechanicsburg was, for most of its history, a nest of highwaymen, grave-robbers and other sorts of people you'd expect to find hanging around voluntarily serving the evil madman in the castle. After an incident in the local coffee shop where Agatha

(This is where Kaja got tired and wanted to stop working. Also, the stiff drink Phil fixed her earlier is starting to kick in, and she's starting to write garbage. She hopes to have more written soon. The date is Saturday, October 20, 2007.)