On the 19th of February, 1911, in an obscure European republic, an assistant tailor had a migraine that ruined her life. This show is the mostly historical account of what happened next.
Set against the backdrop of the rising political tensions leading up to World War One, The Kingmaker Histories is the story of Colette Geise, a woman who, on her 25th birthday, discovers that she is the vessel for an incredibly powerful alien doomsday weapon- the titular Kingmaker diamond. What follows is an insane road trip as Colette, joined by a pair of Venturous Smugglers in a souped-up transit van, dodges the various parties who would like to use her powers for evil.
The Kingmaker Histories started on October 7th, 2022 and is written by the same people responsible for Less is Morgue.The irreverent sensibility of that show definitely bleeds through into this one, despite the wildly different setting.
It can be listened to on Apple Podcasts
, Spotify, Podbean and YouTube
The Kingmaker Histories provides examples of:
- Abstract Eater: The Obelos, a Kehrseite carrion bird, is said to season its food with the residual energy from spells being cast.
- Accidental Murder: The inciting incident of chapter one is Colette unwittingly causing the death of her boss.
- Alien Fair Folk: The Good Neighbors, a humanoid race hailing from Another Dimension.
- Alliterative Name: Eisen Iyer, Maxim Moretz, Genevra Genevieve "Jenny" Ostertag. Then there's the VSR's capital- Crystal City.
- Alternate History: Where magic is real and there's a country called Valor that trades with other dimensions.
- Amphibian at Large: The Tritons, which resemble giant axolotls.
- Badass Normal: Military sniper Ferdinand Kruger, who, despite being a Muggle is easily able to go toe to toe with magic users in a gunfight.
- Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: Colette gets this treatment by the villains of chapter 18.
- Big Damn Kiss: Telesphore and Eisen get one in the season one finale.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: Telesphore, Colette and Eisen, in that order.
- Bioluminescence Is Cool: Much of the official art includes glowing alien plants.
- Birthday Beginning: The prologue and first chapter of the show both take place on Colette's birthday, 25 years apart. It's also the date of the Valorian Revolution.
- Bloody Hilarious: As to be expected from the team behind Less Is Morgue.
- Body Horror: There's a school of magic in this universe called 'fleshcraft'.
- Brotherhood of Funny Hats: The Dumbwaiter Fraternity, former members of the royal kitchen staff who formed a secret society to support one another after the revolution. Telesphore is a member and makes use of their information network.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Ariadne doesn’t remember Eisen’s parents, but admits that torturing them to death sounds like something she’d do.
- Clingy McGuffin: The Kingmaker diamond, being grafted to Colette’s brain.
- Cold Iron: In chapter 20 Telesphore mentions that steel isn’t good for his biochemistry, which is why he shaves with a straight razor made from volcanic glass.
- Compelling Voice: Rudy Klein, a mentalist who can command people do do anything he says.
- Cool Car: The Iyer and Winterlich van, which doubles as a Base on Wheels and is Bigger on the Inside.
- Crossover: With Forgive Me!, courtesy of Accidental Time Travel on Eisen's part.
- Dirty Cop: All of the police we meet in the VSR are insanely corrupt.
- The Edwardian Era: The story kicks off in the spring of 1911.
- Eldritch Location: In Episode 7 the gang visits a Kehrseite expat colony and find that distances are somewhat... subjective.
- Enchanted Forest: The Seltsamwald, the forest surrounding the portal to the Good Neighbors' home dimension. The background magic there produces exotic creatures ranging from mobile plants to wolfmen with praying mantis claws.
- Enfant Terrible: Dieter Fellman, Moretz's bratty trash-talking 13 year old nephew, who is a novice mentalist and set to inherit his uncle's criminal empire.
- Evil Chancellor: Ariadne, a sadistic blood witch and confidant of the king — not that the king seems much better.
- The Fair Folk: The "Good Neighbors" from the Kehrseite, who largely look human save for their oddly colored eyes but have some inherent magic. But don't say "thank you" to them, it's legally binding.
- "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: Chapter Five has the gang enter the lungs and stomach of a buried giant to retrieve a valuable artefact.
- Fictional Holiday: Koenigstodestagnote , the VSR's national holiday, commemorates the execution of the former king.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Eisen Iyer, one of the main characters and best artificer in the revolutionary army.
- Gaslamp Fantasy
- Great Escape: The very aptly titled episode 'Nothing Like a Good Prison Riot', where Eisen and Telesphore break out of a high-security military prison.
- Handicapped Badass: From episode 12 onwards, Eisen walks with a leg brace and a walking stick. Ariadne, meanwhile, is missing an eye.
- Hello, Sailor!: Invoked with the title of the pornographic Dime Novel that Eisen keeps in his bedside drawer.
- Historical Domain Superperson: Vincenzo Peruggia used Mentalism in order to steal the Mona Lisa.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Episode 2 is dedicated to establishing how Colette’s symbiosis with the Kingmaker works.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The soldiers of the lost platoon, due to being lost in the Seltsamwald since the 1880s and going thoroughly insane, mostly live off of "rat meat", which turns out to be the flesh of other lost travelers.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Chapter 18 has Colette being forced into a hideously frilly 1890's-era dress.
- Jabba Table Manners: Jan Balek in episode 15, a sleazy brothel owner who meets the gang while sloppily eating a rabbit pie.
- Leitmotif: Ariadne is always accompanied by a piece of music called 'Chasing the Moon'. The Kingmaker Diamond is associated with a piece called "the Door".
- Mayfly–December Romance: Eisen and Telesphore, given that Telesphore's people age extremely slowly compared to humans.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Many creatures of the Seltsamwald resemble blends of earth animals. The two that feature most prominently in the official art are the cerphon, a black, quadruple-winged deer the size of a horse, and the mantalope, a green-furred monster with a theropod-like body, lupine head, and the front limbs of a mantis.
- Narration Echo: A very common gag in the series.
- Our Mages Are Different: The VSR's magic users are split among four schools- Nature Magic (which controls the forces of nature), Fleshcraft (which controls living bodies, including plants), Artifice (which controls anything man-made), and Mentalism (which controls the mind).
- Outlaw Couple: Eisen and Telesphore are partners in crime. They're also dating.
- Phlebotinum-Induced Steampunk: The more anachronistic parts of this world are either explained as artificer-made Magitek or powered by crystals like the Kingmaker.
- Playing with Fire: Cyril Fashingbauer, a hot-headed cop who bursts into flames whenever he's angry.
- Power Perversion Potential: Discussed in reference to Nixe- a shapeshifting sex worker the gang meet in episode 15.
- Psycho Electro: Lucas Lando, an adept air mage who can manipulate lightning, has a sadistic personality and penchant for committing war crimes.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Ariadne's 27-year old son is introduced having just finished building a model train set, and about to set it on fire.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilised: The show opens on a huge riot where the people of Crystal City kill the royal family and blow up the castle.
- Rubber Man: Frankini, the criminal escapologist, a contortionist who uses fleshcrafting to enhance his natural flexibility.
- Ruritania: The Valorian Socialist Republic/Kingdom of Valor, the fictional European nation where the series takes place.
- Secret Pet Plot: Episode 7. Clytemnestra is revealed to have a habit of 'adopting' human men, keeping them as pets, and keeping them secret from her guardians.
- Sinister Minister: The gang meet one who can control water in episode 6.
- Shout-Out:
- The Devil's Maw is based on Mystery Flesh Pit National Park
- Jenny's suite number is 217, the same as the cursed room in the original novel of The Shining.
- Episode 15 has an inn called The Three Frogs, a reference to the anime Monster.
- Technicolor Magic: the four schools of magic each have their own color signature- nature is yellow, flesh is red, artifice is green, and mentalism is purple. Then the Kingmaker's energy blasts are blue, prompting a Title Drop in Episode 2- "What the hell is blue?"
- Venturous Smuggler: Both Eisen and Telesphore — they run a business together.
- Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Ariadne, the cunning, ruthless and terrifying master of fleshcraft, and Leonid, her idiotic son.
- Villain Over for Dinner: Ariadne rents a room in Ninette's house while looking for Colette.
- Voodoo Doll: Eisen uses something called a Synecdoche to make the van Bigger on the Inside, which he explains as being what a voodoo doll is to a person, but for a building. It gets mistaken for a dollhouse and given to a cop's daughter.
- Wretched Hive: Hundekopf, a seedy town full of whorehouses and gambling dens.
- Year Outside, Hour Inside: What happens to people who get lost in the more untamed sections of the Seltsamwald.
