Tahiri Veila (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
weetuskenraider) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2016-03-08 11:54 pm
weetuskenraider) wrote in fandomhigh2016-03-08 11:54 pm
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Diplomacy, Relationships, & Tactics: The Art of War, Week 9 [Wednesday, Period 2]
Students had been directed to the Danger Shop today, where rather than the usual classroom setup they'd find themselves in a small outdoor amphitheater setup.
"We're changing things up today," Tahiri began, then realized she probably hadn't been speaking loud enough to carry in the space and shook her head and repeated, grinning sheepishly, "We're changing things up today, and not just for fun. If you read ahead to the section we're covering today then you might get why."
"'The student of war who is unversed in the art of war of varying his plans, even though they be acquainted with the Five Advantages, will fail to make the best use of their men,'" Ghanima quoted cheerfully. "Consider this your lesson in always varying your plans, and always being prepared for the generals to shake things up on you."
"Now, today's chapter covers a wide variety of ideas, almost more than some of the other chapters combined," she continued. "My personal favorite, for playing 'This Plan Will Fail Bingo,' is the Five Dangerous Faults Which May Affect a General: recklessness, cowardice, a hasty temper, a delicacy of honor, over-solicitude. Generally speaking, if an army is completely defeated, you'll find one of these five issues is to blame."
Generally speaking, you could probably say all five were represented in class, but Tahiri wasn't actually going to say that out loud. "Force knows, I can claim at least three of those myself," she said instead, with a self-deprecating grin. "I can tell you I definitely had to be careful not to spend too much time worrying about my pilots when I commanded a fighter squadron. One of the things Sun Tzu's trying to say in this chapter is that things aren't always going to go according to plan -- now there's an understatement -- and as good as it is to try and stay out of trouble in the first place, you won't always succeed, so you're going to want to be able to get yourself back out of it too: 'The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him.'"
Having to get out of trouble that she'd managed to get herself into in the first place? She excelled at that.
"Oh, I'm rather sure each of the five finds a home in the members of my family," Ghanima sighed. "Those of us who must handle power could only wish to be blessed by being free of them all."
Only as reckless as necessary. LETO.
"Even if you are cursed with one or more of the five, there is still hope. 'If, on the other hand, in the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune.' Flexibility is the parent of victory."
Interpret that one as you will, kids. "So in the interest of exercising flexibility," Tahiri said with a straight face (because she was an adult and absolutely not using Jedi techniques to keep her composure right now, nope), "there's a few different scenarios for you to work through today. Feel free to run through all of them if you want to, but we'd like you to focus on the ones that don't play to your strengths. If you like to resort to the straightforward approach, go for the ones that call for a more delicate touch, and vice versa. We don't expect you to become masters of diplomacy when you'd rather knock heads together, but it's useful to have an idea of how you'd handle situations outside your skillset."
"You cannot always play to your strengths, especially if that is what a foe is expecting," Ghanima agreed. "So, today, you're going to need to try and follow a new road."
"We're changing things up today," Tahiri began, then realized she probably hadn't been speaking loud enough to carry in the space and shook her head and repeated, grinning sheepishly, "We're changing things up today, and not just for fun. If you read ahead to the section we're covering today then you might get why."
"'The student of war who is unversed in the art of war of varying his plans, even though they be acquainted with the Five Advantages, will fail to make the best use of their men,'" Ghanima quoted cheerfully. "Consider this your lesson in always varying your plans, and always being prepared for the generals to shake things up on you."
"Now, today's chapter covers a wide variety of ideas, almost more than some of the other chapters combined," she continued. "My personal favorite, for playing 'This Plan Will Fail Bingo,' is the Five Dangerous Faults Which May Affect a General: recklessness, cowardice, a hasty temper, a delicacy of honor, over-solicitude. Generally speaking, if an army is completely defeated, you'll find one of these five issues is to blame."
Generally speaking, you could probably say all five were represented in class, but Tahiri wasn't actually going to say that out loud. "Force knows, I can claim at least three of those myself," she said instead, with a self-deprecating grin. "I can tell you I definitely had to be careful not to spend too much time worrying about my pilots when I commanded a fighter squadron. One of the things Sun Tzu's trying to say in this chapter is that things aren't always going to go according to plan -- now there's an understatement -- and as good as it is to try and stay out of trouble in the first place, you won't always succeed, so you're going to want to be able to get yourself back out of it too: 'The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him.'"
Having to get out of trouble that she'd managed to get herself into in the first place? She excelled at that.
"Oh, I'm rather sure each of the five finds a home in the members of my family," Ghanima sighed. "Those of us who must handle power could only wish to be blessed by being free of them all."
Only as reckless as necessary. LETO.
"Even if you are cursed with one or more of the five, there is still hope. 'If, on the other hand, in the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune.' Flexibility is the parent of victory."
Interpret that one as you will, kids. "So in the interest of exercising flexibility," Tahiri said with a straight face (because she was an adult and absolutely not using Jedi techniques to keep her composure right now, nope), "there's a few different scenarios for you to work through today. Feel free to run through all of them if you want to, but we'd like you to focus on the ones that don't play to your strengths. If you like to resort to the straightforward approach, go for the ones that call for a more delicate touch, and vice versa. We don't expect you to become masters of diplomacy when you'd rather knock heads together, but it's useful to have an idea of how you'd handle situations outside your skillset."
"You cannot always play to your strengths, especially if that is what a foe is expecting," Ghanima agreed. "So, today, you're going to need to try and follow a new road."
During the Lecture [AoW 9]