fandomhigh | The History of Assassination. Wednesday, First Period [9/6]

Those returning to Ghanima's classroom would find a surprise today.

While the classroom was set-up in her usual arrangement of floor cushions, huge pillows, and an assortment of chaise seating on lush carpets and with a hydration station over by the door, the surprise was Ghanima herself.

Instead of being clad in her usual formal Imperial gowns, with an impeccable hat or complicated hairstyle, the Ghani sitting on the teacher's desk was clad in a Fremen tunic, pants, and her hair braided back sensibly.

...And with a sleeping infant strapped to her chest, small wisps of red hair poking out the top of the sling.

Her blue-on-blue eyes still sparkled with mischief, despite all the other changes.

"Good morning," she said crisply, once the last student had made it in. "And welcome to The History of Assassination."

"For those of you who do not know me, I am Lady Ghanima Atreides. Princess Royal of House Atreus, and Empress of the Known Universe. You may call me Ghanima, or Miss Atreides if you must, but I do not answer to 'Lady Atreides.' That is my grandmother, and I am nowhere near as dignified as the Lady Jessica."

She grinned impishly. "Suffice it to say, I have survived more than my fair share of assassination attempts -- over three hundred, last time I bothered checking -- and the fact I am standing here today is proof I have thwarted each of them so far. In my role as Empress, I have also ordered an assassination or two, though it is not my preferred form of statecraft."

If only because Ghanima preferred to do it herself rather than delegate to staff. If something is important enough that the assassination was the only route forward, then it was her responsibility to handle it herself. It was the only way to make sure it was done right.

"To be explicitly clear: this class is discussing the history of one of the oldest political tools on this planet, and on many others. Your final will be you presenting on an assassination of your choice to the rest of the class; be it one we cover here, or one you find particularly interesting yourself."

"We are not here to cry about ethics, or moralize at each other. We are discussing the lives -- and deaths -- of real people. Respectful debate is encouraged, name calling will get you detention. With me."

"So, I would like to hear from you! Please share with us your name, and why you are interested in this class or what you hope to learn from it."

She pointed to a person randomly in the room. "You first."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ready to assassinate!

Alara Kitan

Arden Finch

Gray

Lana Beniko

Listen, take notes, pass notes, get distracted by the BABY...

Everyday, something new to wrap her head around. Today, it was royalty. 'Empress of the Known Universe'? How do you get a title like that? Is that just something you decide to call yourself? How do you get other people to agree that this was a totally normal thing to be called?

Cute baby though.

"So, I would like to hear from you! Please share with us your name, and why you are interested in this class or what you hope to learn from it."

She pointed to a person randomly in the room. "You first."

"I'm Alara Kitan," Alara said when it was her turn, "I want to go into security for the military when I graduate and I thought this class might help me prepare for that."

She wasn't expecting to actually assassinate anyone but still graduation was getting closer, she wanted to be prepared as she could possibly be.

"Hello, Alara, and welcome," Ghanima said warmly. "Depending up the culture and politics of a world, the assassination of military leaders is not uncommon."

"Hopefully this class will give you an idea of situations that should set-off your personal alarm bells."

She needed to stop signing up for classes that made personal questions part of their introductions.

"I'm Arden Finch, she/her--" Ghanima hadn't asked, but Mr. Sims had and it seemed a good thing to incorporate into her introductions and not just because it padded them out "--and it seemed like an interesting class, I guess."

Again, technically true was the best kind of true.

"Hello, Arden," Ghanima replied. "I certainly hope it is interesting -- and educational -- for everyone involved. Understanding the history of assassination is, at times, key to understanding history as a whole."

"For instance, the history of the United States as a whole would not be be what it is today, if Americans were not so enthusiastic about killing their political leaders," she continued cheerfully, "--I think I can name at least a dozen times American leaders have been targets of assassination off the top of my head."

"I can admire the passion behind it, even if I despair of the lack of subtlety involved."

"Czolgosz," Arden agreed.

"An infection!" Ghanima groaned, shaking her head. "Not even a proper poison... an accident from not shooting him properly in the first place!"

"On top of that, he set the actual Socialist cause back at least a decade. Completely ineffective."

"I'm Gray," Gray said, "and...Arden already stole my first answer, so I guess I'll go with, I was interested to hear what a teacher would have to say about it."

There was nothing about Gray--slouched and sleepy-looking in his seat, with bedhead-messy golden curls and a just-rolled-out-of-bed 'fit of an anime t-shirt, basketball shorts, slide sandals, and pale blue knee socks with fluffy clouds on them--to suggest that when he'd told his brothers about his schedule for the semester Castor had yelled, "Aren't you the history of assassination?" at the phone, but one must always remember Little Tiffany.

"Well, this teacher has practical experience, given that the first time someone tried to assassinate me, I was not yet born, and the last time was last week," she said, far more zen about it than that sentence warranted. "And I have plotted the assassinations of political opponents."

"But my universe legalized and codified the laws of assassination a very long time ago, in an attempt to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction. That isn't to say the Great Houses don't break the rules of engagement, because of course they do, but the appearance of abiding by them is deeply important to our society."

"That's interesting," Gray observed. "I don't know of a society in our world that has laws regarding assassination other than, y'know, 'don't.'" Which was really 'don't get caught,' if you asked him. "Maybe the fae..."

"From what I've heard, the fae have rules about everything, so that wouldn't surprise me."

"Even when people publicly disapprove of the practice, I've found that almost everyone has additional rules beyond 'don't do it,'" Ghanima mused. "They might dress it up in terms of warfare, or euphemisms, but it is most likely there somewhere."

"You may have to read between the lines for it, but hopefully this class will give you the framework to find what's unwritten and unspoken."

Lana gave Ghanima a polite bow. "Lana Beniko. I'm interested in learning more about how other cultures handle political assassination. It's largely disorganized and individual in the Empire, and the Republic keeps it quiet. So call it professional curiosity."

Ghanima made a face as if she'd just eaten something distasteful. "Every time I learn more about your universe, I become more convinced that you are your own worst enemies," she sighed.

"Remind me, and I will give you copies of the Assassin's Handbook of my world, along with the rules of the Great Convention and the code of kanly. Perhaps you can bring some civility to that chaos."

"I would certainly love to try," Lana said. "The Alliance is still starting out, so there's room for introducing new ideas. And the new Empress is fairly rational and into making necessary changes, too, so you never know."

"Vi," she said with a shrug. "DOn't know, seemed interesting to see how some people dress up shivving someone."

"We will go over that, Vi," Ghanima promised, "though the main difference is motive."

"Murder is generally a crime of passion or personal material gain. It is honest in its aims and desires. Assassination is politics, which often means 'murder but with a side of self-righteousness for a cause.'"

She -- and Trebor -- are around, before and after class.

Let's gooooooooooooooooooo!

The History of Assassination. Wednesday, First Period [9/6]

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During the Lecture

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Talk to Ghanima

ooc