Diplomacy, Relationships & Tactics: the Art of War [Monday, Period 1]

[atreideslioness]

Another semester, another batch of bright and shining students. Ghanima sat on her desk, hiding her smile behind her tea as they filed in; mentally cataloging the new and familiar faces.

The moment the bell rang, her eyes snapped from the door to the children seated around the room. "Good afternoon and welcome," she said in a clear voice that carried effortlessly. "This is the Art of War, and I am Lady Ghanima Atreides. You may address me as Miss Atreides, Lady Ghanima, Miss Ghanima, or some variation thereof. If you are in the wrong class, please feel free to leave at this time. For those of you whom I have had in class before," she smiled suddenly, looking far less severe. "Welcome back."

"The Art of War." Scooping up her two piles of handouts off her desk, Ghanima began wandering up and down the rows of chairs as she talked. "A Chinese military treatise that was written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time. It is divided into 13 chapters, or P'ien, and the collection is referred to as being one Ch'üan, or chronicle."

"The book is not only popular among military theorists, but also among political leaders and those in business management. The book addresses strategy in a broad fashion, despite the title, touching upon public administration and planning. The text outlines theories of battle but also advocates diplomacy and cultivating relationships with other nations as essential to the health of the state."

"Sun Tzu himself is a bit of a mystery, and historians debate whether or not he was a real historical figure. Which, really, is par for the course with anyone truly interesting." Ghanima smiled at the class brilliantly. "If you're larger than life, they'll never believe you were real."

"For our first lesson," Ghanima moved to the front of the room, picking up her chalk to write quickly;

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will fight without danger in battles.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

"Know thy enemy, know thyself. We'll cover it more in-depth later, but for today I would like you to go around the room and introduce yourselves. Give us your name, class, and some random fact about yourself. Pay attention to what your classmates have to say, you never know when such information could come in handy."

Comments

Sign-In #1

[atreideslioness]

Tactically!

Re: Sign-In #1

[justice_undone]

Breq

Re: Sign-In #1

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot

During the Lecture

[atreideslioness]

Take notes, pass notes, chatter, today's one day Ghanima might be inclined to be lax about discipline.

Re: During the Lecture

[justice_undone]

Breq was beginning to think that this class might actually be interesting. As a two thousand year old tool of war, she had felt she might be overqualified, but perhaps not.

And was the teacher drinking tea?

Re: During the Lecture

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot was intrigued about all of this, yes. She had no interest in participating in war herself; that was something she'd been made to want to avoid at all costs. But that didn't mean there wasn't some use in what these lessons had to offer all the same. She had her phone out and was tapping out notes as Lady Ghanima lectured, nodding along the entire time.

Re: During the Lecture

[studyingfear]

Rufus was actually bothering to take a useful class this semester, rather than one that would inspire much creative storytelling back home.

He wondered if that would concern various parties.

Still, he thought he'd enjoy it, as he, like Peridot, took notes on his PHS.

Re: During the Lecture

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Sidon tried not to shift too uncomfortably in his chair; at first, he didn't think it would be a problem, but he never realized how little time he spent just sitting on things until he was expected to do it for his new classes, it seemed. There was a mild note of distress in the downward curve of his mouth, and if his face wasn't already so pale naturally, it would have completely drained of color once he received the hand-outs from the teacher, confronted once again with the fact that the style of writing that they used in this world looked like complete and total nonsense to him.

He had to get on to making a Hylian-English codex for himself, and soon.

Re: During the Lecture

[studyingfear]

Rufus was not usually prone to acts of charity but, well, impressions and all of that.

Besides, it was easier to be charitable when he was throwing someone else under the bus.

Sorry not sorry, Peridot--though he didn't think she'd be too mad at him since it'd give her a chance to show off her intelligence and be useful at the same time.

He leaned over and said quietly, "If you can't read English, maybe try asking Peridot to help you. She went through the same thing when she got here."

Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[atreideslioness]

Name, rank, and fact, if you please! Feel free to tag to each other's threads, and let chaos reign. YAY NEW STUDENTS!!!

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[justice_undone]

"Breq," she said. "Junior. I am very fond of music."

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[atreideslioness]

"Welcome, Breq," Ghanima replied. "Any type of music in particular?"

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[era_two_triangle]

"I'm Peridot, Facet 2F5L, Cut 5XG," Peridot said, feeling kind of compelled to use her full Cut and Facet identification when talking to this particular instructor. "I've been promoted to what the school classifies as a sophomore, now, and yes, I am actually a Gem."

She figured she'd clear that one up before anybody else asked why she had the nerve to be green.

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[justice_undone]

Breq had no objections to anyone being green.

"Excuse me, but are Gems animate where you are from?"

She had already figured out that the "where you are from" was a relevant addition to any question.

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[atreideslioness]

"Hello, Peridot," Ghanima said with a smile. "Please let me know if there's any way I can make the class more applicable for an inorganic society. While it will tend to focus on theory and decision-making tactics, I'm interested in hearing about the differences, and ways you could adapt Tzu's works."

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Ah! Peridot!" Sidon said as the way in which she classified herself caught his attention, inspiring a big grin and an eager fist. "There is another reason you must come visit my homeland one day! If you are a Gem, then I can only imagine you will be most intrigued by the Goron people, as they are Rock!"

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[studyingfear]

"Rufus Shinra," he said simply. "Sophomore. I care about my dog more than I care about people."

Which was actually true. Rufus didn't think it would cost him anything to admit that. Most people around here weren't going to hurt him, let alone hurt Dark Nation.

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Now this, this was something Sidon was far more comfortable with, talking to others about themselves and himself, too. His distress quickly vanished as he set his materials aside and stood for a proper introduction.

"I am Sidon," he said, and anyone who met him at the picnic would easily recognize the fist-pumping, devilish smile pose that went along with the words. "The Zora Prince! I believe I have been given the class designation of sophomore here, and I once defeated the largest Octorok Hyrule has ever seen from within its very stomach!"

It was one of his proudest moments, after all.

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[spell_chucker]

"I'm Khadgar, I think I'm a junior now, and I used to be schooled in a city entirely of magic users," he said. "I like this kind of environment a lot better, I have to admit."

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[thatsweirdright]

"Jason," he introduced himself. "I'm a junior. And I'm here in Fandom because I quote 'threw away my future' unquote." Yeah, Fandom had been nowhere near as bad as he'd been expecting, but now that the official school year was starting and it wasn't just weird-ass summer camp, that resentment at his situation was starting to creep back in.

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[junebug1500]

"I'm June, and in Fandom I'm a freshman," June said, barely concealing her annoyance at the lowly rank. "It was so demeaning to be classified by age. "My best friend at home is probably my dog. His name is Ollie."

Re: Know Thy Enemy/Ally (Introductions)

[not_of_the_nora]

"I'm Aloy, I'm a junior, whatever that is," Aloy said, watching the woman move. "And I'm only in this class until I figure out how to get off this island."

Talk to Ghanima

[atreideslioness]

Before or after class.

Re: Talk to Ghanima

[intraspective]

Ino was not a student, so she waited patiently until Lady Ghanima's class was done before poking her head inside.

"Lady Ghanima?" she said. "Hey. You got a minute?"

OOC

[atreideslioness]

To keep the OCD in place on a Monday.