Fandom High School

Students today arrived to a wealth of treats and beverages laid out along one side of the classroom. "Welcome to the end of the semester," Ghanima said cheerfully, as she bounced Trebor in her arms. "Hopefully, you're walking away with information that you didn't have at our first meeting."

"As promised, today is the day you tell me about an assassination that has captured your attention. It can be something from this world, your world, a movie you want to pick apart... it does not matter if we've already covered the event. I'm interested to hear you put what you've learned to use, when thinking about assassination, its history, and its cultural impact."

She then took a seat on one of the pillows with everyone else, setting Trebor in her lap and gesturing for someone else to stand. "Now, it's your turn to teach, and mine to learn."

"Good morning," Ghanima said crisply, gathering handouts off her desk and beginning to distribute them. "Today we are going to talk about one of the big assassination powerhouses in the modern era. The Russian Government."

"Don't worry, we'll get to the Americans next week."

( You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world, Mr. Putin, will reverberate in your ears for the rest of your life. )

Students would arrive to find Ghanima regarding them skeptically, Trebor balanced on her hip as he attempted to eat her hair.

"Capitalism is destroying your city, and you are showing up to class," she said dryly. "What part of 'assassination is a tool to bring down unjust systems' have you all not yet absorbed from my lessons?"

Her suite at the Arms was now a Motel 6. This was unacceptable.

"I hope you wore walking shoes, because Trebor and I are going into town, to find and evaluate potential targets. If you want to stay here and continue your mental vacation from last week, I did bring a movie you can stay and watch, but I will be disappointed in you."

Ghanima marched over to the DVD player and hit 'play' before heading to the door, deftly removing her hair from Trebor's mouth and instead offering him a... wooden toy shaped like a knife.

"Chew on that instead, dearest," she said absently. "Come along then, those of you who'd like to be productive. If we can't find a shadowy cabal behind all this we can string-up, perhaps we can find a formerly-abandoned warehouse turned McDonalds that you can burn down in a collaboration with Professor Beaker."

Ghanima and Trebor were back today, Trebor being minorly fussy in his pack-and-play until Ghanima gave in and popped him into the baby sling right before class began.

"You really have to get used to not being carried everywhere," she murmured to him, dropping a kiss on his head as he got settled. "Your Fremen aunties are going to throw a fit about what a loud, spoiled baby you are."

To be fair, by Fremen standards, he was a very loud baby.

( Sicarii, Hashshashin, and Ninjas, OH MY. )

"Now, I'm curious. How do these organizations fit your concept of assassins? Do you have anything similar where you are from? Is any of this new information to you, or does it fit your understanding of assassination organizations?"

As students arrived today, Ghani was putting a very awake and chatty Trebor into what resembled a pack-and-play, except that when she pushed a button, a force field surrounded it.

Look, you deal with assassination threats your way, Ghanima handles them in hers.

"So!" she said, as Trebor made babbling sounds in the background. "Some of you have wondered what is the difference between assassination and murder."

"Perhaps some of you will say money, because a professional killer is historically involved in the vast majority of assassinations, with personal assassination only really coming into fashion in the last few centuries."

"However, the answer is simple: how much of a public figure is the victim? An assassination is the murder of a public figure, and they are often politically motivated. If someone kills your dog, regardless of if they were paid to do it or not, that’s not an assassination, that’s just murder -- unless, perhaps, your dog was running for mayor and there was a disagreement on policy."

This was Fandom Island, Ghanima ruled out nothing.

"So, to be clear, first up, we have homicide," she said, actually walking over the board to write the word large across it. "Homicide is a manner of death, when one person causes the death of another. Not all homicide is murder, as some deaths caused by another person are manslaughter, and some are lawful; such as when justified by an affirmative defense, like insanity or self-defense."

"Then we have murder. The unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another. The victim is a regular person, and the motive is often personal. He murdered her because he suspected her of having an affair. She murdered him for his inheritance. Or it was an impulsive murder fueled by an argument of some kind."

"Then, finally, crowning the pile, is assassination. A murder by sudden or secret attack of a public figure, often for political or religious reasons."

"The earliest known use of the verb "to assassinate" in printed English was by Matthew Sutcliffe in A Briefe Replie to a Certaine Odious and Slanderous Libel, Lately Published by a Seditious Jesuite, a pamphlet printed in 1600, five years before it was used in Macbeth by William Shakespeare. However, assassination as a tool is far older than our use of this particular word for the act."

"The Egyptian pharaoh Teti, of the Old Kingdom Sixth Dynasty in the 23rd century BCE, is thought to be the earliest known victim of assassination, though written records are scant and thus evidence is circumstantial. Two further ancient Egyptian monarchs are more explicitly recorded to have been assassinated; Amenemhat I of the Middle Kingdom Twelfth Dynasty in 20th century BCE is recorded to have been assassinated in his bed by his palace guard, meanwhile contemporary judicial records relate the assassination of New Kingdom Twentieth Dynasty monarch Ramesses III in 1155 BCE as part of a failed coup attempt. Between 550 BC and 330 BC, seven Persian kings of Achaemenid Dynasty were assassinated."

"Both The Art of War, a 5th-century BC Chinese military treatise, and Chanakya's political treatise Arthashastra cover assassination, and its costs. I will teach Art of War either in the spring, or next fall."

"Now, I'm curious. How do you feel about the lines between homicide, murder, and assassination?"

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."