The Corbettite Monks are to all appearances an Ireland-based religious order that builds and operates a railroad between certain locations in Europa, a service they provide more or less free of charge to all travelers. They also attempt to collect and lock away dangerous Sparky artifacts, ✣ a task they have been engaging in for hundreds of years.
History[]
In terms of internal chronology, the oldest mention of the Corbettites comes during the era of Agatha's ancestor Robur Heterodyne, 300 years before the main action of the comic. Robur's experiments in time manipulation resulted in the accidental summoning of the Dreen. At Robur's pleading ✣ , the Corbettites hauled away the device which summoned the creatures, evidently prompting them to follow along. In exchange, Robur agreed to stop despoiling Corbettite territory, a promise he atypically kept.
During the Storm King era, 100 years later, the Corbettites maintained a large fortress stronghold in the catacombs under Paris, where they conducted their work with the assistance of Master Spark Van Rijn. One of the items which was stored there was Robur's device, which was still causing alarming effects. At some point this fortress was abandoned by the Corbettites, and became the Van Rijn-founded Incorruptible Republic of the Immortal Library, with the monks' storage-vaults sealed off and mostly forgotten.
According to professor Tarsus Beetle, after the fall of the Storm King (and presumably Van Rijn's disappearance) the Corbettites were believed to have been given ✣ Prende's Chronometric Lantern.
More recently, Agatha's grandfather, Saturnus Heterodyne, gifted to the (less than enthused) Corbettites his creation: the sentient train called the Beast.
Background[]
Until Act 2, what little was known about the Corbettites came from sources that were of questionable canonicalness. This material is discussed in the mad page. These sources include Othar's Twitter and The Secret Blueprints. The only mention of the Corbettites in Act 1 of Girl Genius, which comes early in the story, is when Baron Klaus Wulfenbach proposes to cover ✣ the cost of materials for a new "Corbettite terminal" in the town of Hufftberg.
Among other ✣ things, they also make and sell fudge to support their railroad construction and other good works, according to Othar Tryggvassen. If it can garner enough sales to help support a railroad, it is presumably very good fudge.
The motto of the Corbettite Order seems to be Ite Animose. This is a Latin phrase that can be translated as "go courageously." Alternatively, it can be rendered in English as "boldly go," which bears a striking resemblance to a phrase heard during the opening credit sequence of a certain popular science fiction television series. This phrase is seen on the steps of at least one train car ✣ and the caps of the monks ✣ working on the train.
Of the seven available Popes, the Corbettites acknowledge the authority of the one in Belfast.[1]
In the Comic[]
Agatha first encounters the Corbettites in Volume 1 of Act 2 of the comic, when, in her attempt to reach Paris from the environs of Mechanicsburg, she travels incognito ✣ (at least initially) aboard the Corbettite train the Wyrm of Limerick. Unfortunately, Lady Selnikov is also a passenger on the train, and so Agatha and her companions get sucked up in the latter woman's all-too-successful scheme to gain access to the artifact-vaults of the Corbettite Depot Fortress of St. Szpac, probably in a failed effort to find the Lantern mentioned above. Her frantic rummaging through said vaults leads to the release of The Beast, who is eventually defeated by the combined efforts of the Monks, Agatha, Violetta, Tweedle, Count Wolkerstorfer, and Krosp's newly-acquired army of Swartzwalders. Agatha then assists in the completion of a Sparky new super-train run by the transferred intellect of the late-ish Corbettite Brother Ulm, with the former Swartzwalder leader König serving as an engineer. The train takes Agatha on to Paris by tunneling underground and linking up with that city's extensive subterranean transport network.
Known Members :[]
- Father Gerät
- Brother Ulm
- Brother Matthias
- Brother Osterman
- Brother Dinsy
- Brother Gabriel
- Brother Vadaxxus
- Young Ness
- Brother Marcus
Members by Employment:[]
- The Beast (was derailed, tricked, and impounded out of the Corbettite Order by the Corbettites for being a heretic of the Order's beliefs.)
- The Wyrm of Limerick
- Humongulus
- Ulster Men
- König
References