| abstract
| - The Geisterdamen (en: Ghost Ladies) - also known as Weißdamen (en: White Ladies), Spider Riders, and Ghost Ladies - are an order of priestesses in the service of Lucrezia Mongfish, inasmuch as she is the manifestation of The Other. How precisely this state of affairs came to be is still unknown. At least some Geisterdamen are themselves or qualify as, [ revenants] [[Chronology - Volume #|✣ ]] for testing purposes. According to the Girl Genius Complete List of Absolutely Everybody! (under the Lucrezia entry) they live near the "secret base/summer home" of Lucifer Mongfish. However, the population currently in "the Shadow World" were [ sent to search] [[Chronology - Volume #|✣ ]] for their goddess's "Holy Child", brought through by a gateway device built by Lucrezia and stranded by its destruction. Image:Spiderrider.png As their names imply, the Geisterdamen are all female and ghost-white, with a number of similarly pale beasts presumably brought with them from their own world. The most iconic are the giant spiders, of course, but others have been spotted, including what one might term a "Geisterdragon". Folklore has it that they steal babies, cause revenants, blight crops, and all the other standard ills that get attributed to the strange and creepy — though we've learned that the service of their mistress, and their search for the Holy Child, may account for at least the first two of those, as well as the general dearth of female sparks in Europa. Some have hypothesized that they and their beasts are truly white, not simply pale. Image: GeisterGil.png They wear a white uniform consisting of a wrapped or lamina-style bodice with shoulder caps (no sleeves), and a loincloth; the High Priestess is apparently marked out only by a gold necklace. A Gilgamesh Wulfenbach from the Future has been seen wearing a similar outfit, as shown in the picture to the left, a fact apparently too strange even for much theorizing. Among themselves, [ they speak a language] [[Chronology - Volume #|✣ ]] that one might term "Geisterspeak". It is distinct from the common language of Europa and incomprehensible to run-of-the-mill Europans, although learned by the royal family of Sturmhalten ([ Prince Tarvek] [[Chronology - Volume #|✣ ]], [ Princess Anevka] [[Chronology - Volume #|✣ ]] and by implication the late Prince). Othar Tryggvassen used a Parisian device to communicate initially with Oslaka; there is an implication that he taught her a Europan language later, or they taught each other. Lady Vrin is also fluent in Lingua europa, and later Eotain and Shurdlu are able to speak (evidently) French. Geisterdamen we know by name include Lady Vrin, Loremistress Milvistle, Eotain and Shurdlu, and Madame Velix. All Geisterdamen we have seen so far have apparently been one of a contingent of The White Elite three thousand strong. See Agatha H and the Clockwork Princess
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