Ghanima Atreides (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
atreideslioness) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2025-01-07 10:05 am
atreideslioness) wrote in fandomhigh2025-01-07 10:05 am
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Mad Kings & Queens: Raving Royals and How To Survive Them [Tuesday, 2nd Period]
Ghanima was sitting on her desk, absently eating lemon drops and sharing them with Trebor as they watched the students wander into the room. As usual, the space was filled with large piles of pillows, some divans, and various cushioned footstools. Ghanima disapproved of sterile classrooms, thank you very much, and both she and the students tended to be more comfortable this way.
Once the last of her class had arrived, her face lit up with a smile.
"Well now," she said, her voice carrying effortlessly. "It seems I have both new and familiar faces!"
"For those of you that are new, I am Lady Ghanima Atreides, and this is Mad Kings and Queens. If you have not had one of my classes before, you may call me Lady Ghanima, Miss Ghanima, or Miss Atreides, whichever you are more comfortable with," Ghanima announced, smiling. "Lady Atreides is my grandmother, and I will not answer to it."
"This fine fellow," she continued, putting a hand on Trebor's head. "--is my co-teacher, Trebor. Dearest, your manners?"
The boy looked at her, looked at the assembled students, stood up on the desk and managed what was...honestly, not a half-terrible bow for a toddler who was not yet two? Ghanima smiled and offered him another lemon drop, which he greedily grabbed and popped in his mouth before sitting down again.
"This is a class intended to give you a basic grounding in the history of royal insanity here on Earth, as well as providing a few tips on how to survive an unstable monarch, should you ever have the misfortune to encounter one." Ghanima hopped off her desk to wander the room. "We will not be covering every ruler who has been termed 'mad', if we tried, it would take years rather than a single semester."
"If you have a delicate constitution, this is not the class for you. We will be discussing mental illness, torture, sexuality, violence, and murder. While I do not intend to sensationalize the topics, I will not sugar coat them for you either. I will not think any less of anyone who chooses not to return next week, I prefer that you are honest with yourself about your ability to handle the subject matter."
"You may think that madness is rare," Ghanima mused. "It is not. As the Roman philosopher Seneca once said, 'There is no genius free from some tincture of madness.' He was correct."
"Caligula of Rome had his father, mother and two brothers killed to become emperor. Nero had his mother and first wife killed. These two emperors were hated so much by the people that all references to them were deleted from official Roman documentation."
"The first French king, Clovis II, went mad after stealing the arm of a martyr. His great-grandson, Childeric III was known as "the idiot". The mother of Louis IX complained that he was 'not sound of mind'. And his younger son, Robert of Clermont went mad after being hit on the head with a sledge hammer. Then there was Charles VI, called Charles the Mad, who ruled France from 1380 to 1415. At stages, he believed that he was made of glass and inserted iron rods into his clothing to prevent him from breaking."
"The Habsburg Kings of Spain descended from Queen Juana la Loca of Castile, who was allegedly unstable. Her ancestors increased her inheritance by inbreeding. These incestuous marriages resulted in the mentally and physically handicapped King Carlos II of Spain, who had an enormous, misshapen head, and a chin exaggerated to almost caricature-like proportions rendering him unable to chew and barely able to speak."
"Very few of these people were stupid," Ghanima said sternly. "Inbred, yes. Perhaps intellectually or emotionally challenged. However, you do not hold a throne by stupidity, but by ruthlessness, fear, and a good dose of violence. To hold that balance intact takes at least a shrewd cunning, if not a reasonable intellect. To be otherwise is to be a puppet king, kept in place by those who are the real power behind the throne."
"Now, I am hoping you'll all indulge me," she said. "Hands up, those of you whom have already had to deal with a power-mad leader of some sort or another." The grin on her face as she took count was not exactly reassuring. It was not meant to be. "Interesting! Rather than start you off with nothing but lecture, I'd like each of you to share your experiences with those in power, be they positive or negative. Feel free to be as general or as specific regarding the situation as you like, no one will judge you here."
Once the last of her class had arrived, her face lit up with a smile.
"Well now," she said, her voice carrying effortlessly. "It seems I have both new and familiar faces!"
"For those of you that are new, I am Lady Ghanima Atreides, and this is Mad Kings and Queens. If you have not had one of my classes before, you may call me Lady Ghanima, Miss Ghanima, or Miss Atreides, whichever you are more comfortable with," Ghanima announced, smiling. "Lady Atreides is my grandmother, and I will not answer to it."
"This fine fellow," she continued, putting a hand on Trebor's head. "--is my co-teacher, Trebor. Dearest, your manners?"
The boy looked at her, looked at the assembled students, stood up on the desk and managed what was...honestly, not a half-terrible bow for a toddler who was not yet two? Ghanima smiled and offered him another lemon drop, which he greedily grabbed and popped in his mouth before sitting down again.
"This is a class intended to give you a basic grounding in the history of royal insanity here on Earth, as well as providing a few tips on how to survive an unstable monarch, should you ever have the misfortune to encounter one." Ghanima hopped off her desk to wander the room. "We will not be covering every ruler who has been termed 'mad', if we tried, it would take years rather than a single semester."
"If you have a delicate constitution, this is not the class for you. We will be discussing mental illness, torture, sexuality, violence, and murder. While I do not intend to sensationalize the topics, I will not sugar coat them for you either. I will not think any less of anyone who chooses not to return next week, I prefer that you are honest with yourself about your ability to handle the subject matter."
"You may think that madness is rare," Ghanima mused. "It is not. As the Roman philosopher Seneca once said, 'There is no genius free from some tincture of madness.' He was correct."
"Caligula of Rome had his father, mother and two brothers killed to become emperor. Nero had his mother and first wife killed. These two emperors were hated so much by the people that all references to them were deleted from official Roman documentation."
"The first French king, Clovis II, went mad after stealing the arm of a martyr. His great-grandson, Childeric III was known as "the idiot". The mother of Louis IX complained that he was 'not sound of mind'. And his younger son, Robert of Clermont went mad after being hit on the head with a sledge hammer. Then there was Charles VI, called Charles the Mad, who ruled France from 1380 to 1415. At stages, he believed that he was made of glass and inserted iron rods into his clothing to prevent him from breaking."
"The Habsburg Kings of Spain descended from Queen Juana la Loca of Castile, who was allegedly unstable. Her ancestors increased her inheritance by inbreeding. These incestuous marriages resulted in the mentally and physically handicapped King Carlos II of Spain, who had an enormous, misshapen head, and a chin exaggerated to almost caricature-like proportions rendering him unable to chew and barely able to speak."
"Very few of these people were stupid," Ghanima said sternly. "Inbred, yes. Perhaps intellectually or emotionally challenged. However, you do not hold a throne by stupidity, but by ruthlessness, fear, and a good dose of violence. To hold that balance intact takes at least a shrewd cunning, if not a reasonable intellect. To be otherwise is to be a puppet king, kept in place by those who are the real power behind the throne."
"Now, I am hoping you'll all indulge me," she said. "Hands up, those of you whom have already had to deal with a power-mad leader of some sort or another." The grin on her face as she took count was not exactly reassuring. It was not meant to be. "Interesting! Rather than start you off with nothing but lecture, I'd like each of you to share your experiences with those in power, be they positive or negative. Feel free to be as general or as specific regarding the situation as you like, no one will judge you here."
Sign-In #1
Re: Sign-In #1
Re: Sign-In #1
Re: Sign-In #1
During the Lecture
Introductions!
"As I stated previously, I am Lady Ghanima Atreides. If you have taken one of my classes before, you know I do not believe in the concept of tests or syllabi."
She sat down on top of her desk, regarding her students curiously. "I have chosen to teach this class because I have a sneaking suspicion that many of you will find yourselves in need of such information, and I have intimate knowledge of the effects that royal madness can have on a population. My office hours are on Wednesdays, and please feel free to stop by."
"Next," she said, randomly pointing at a student.
Re: Introductions!
Though speaking of titles...
"I'm dr. Pamela Isley," she said, as she dropped her hand. "And I assume you mean me when you talk about newcomers."
Re: Introductions!
Re: Introductions!
Re: Introductions!
"If you have particular favorite plants that do well in hot, dry, and hostile conditions, I would be most interested."
Re: Introductions!
She tilted her head. "Though I'll admit I'm curious about the terraforming. Both the what and the why."
She wasn't going to assume this was some 'abandoning the Earth for Mars' thing, but...
Re: Introductions!
"In a way, it directly ties to the class for me, personally. While I am the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Imperial Planetologists and native Fremen, I am also a daughter of the Great Houses, and have more than a few power-mad leaders and 'prophets' in my family. Where do I balance my duty to Arrakis, my duty to both my families, and my larger responsibility to the Imperium and the future of the human race?" She held up a hand, tipping it back-and-forth. "In my royal role, will I be a visionary? Or a madwoman? Only time and history will tell, I suppose."
Re: Introductions!
As she spoke, a few stray strands of hyphae curved outward from under the collar of her overalls, laying the foundations of a fruit against her neck.
Re: Introductions!
"Though there will always be some desert on Arrakis. Wherever the sandworms came from before, we are now their last refuge. I would never allow for their complete extinction."
Leto had promised. Ghanima had to hold fast to that promise, and trust.
Re: Introductions!
Re: Introductions!
"There's more, possibly, under the polar ice caps in caves we have not yet explored, but the introduction of the sandworm changed everything. Nothing new evolved after that, simply the species that were equipped to survive continued onwards."
She smiled slightly. "There is nothing that thrives on Arrakis, besides the sandworms, and yet the Fremen endure, and revere every bit of green that manages to survive. That's why Pardot entrusted them with the cultivars he found in his research, and with the seeds he synthesized based-off fossils they unearthed. He had a five hundred year timeline, to start the gradual restoration of the planet."
"He was not very good at being a human, but he was a very good ecologist."
Re: Introductions!
Re: Introductions!
Re: Introductions!
Lana shook her head at that. "The rest of us didn't appreciate that. Also, he was cheating on us with another empire," she added wryly. "Which became bloodily apparent when they attacked us."
Talk to Ghanima & Trebor
ooc