It's up: http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,42289.0.html

I apologise for the length of the first thread but I was combing two in one so the other posts won't be NEARLY so long-winded.  Anyways, you're each required to make two posts for the 2nd lesson and considering there are only two PCs in the class, I suggest you two be part of the same group.  Play two rounds of chop, and decide whether or not your char will try to bluff the other.

OOC: this is a bastardisation of Telcia/Espara original "Intro to Daes Dae'mar" class.  Information for the game of chop was taken from the second chapter of Jordan's Shadow Rising book.

IC:

Lesson 1: Intro to The Great Game

The Wheel had a cruel sense of humour.

Actually, it could have been nudging from any one of a half-dozen Aes Sedai in the Tower that gave the Mistress of Novices the insane notion of asking Estel bloody Liones to teach a class of Accepted the use of Daes Dae’mar – of course the request had been phrased in such a manner that refusal would incur the wrath of the humoured Aes Sedai.  Hell, it could just be the new Mistress of Novices, Larindhra, but thus far Estel hadn’t managed to cross paths with her; mind you, the woman was Red and it could just be the colour of her Shawl directing attention her way.  More likely though, it was someone else with a keen knowledge of this particular subject and a sarcastic wit which the blundering Blue was intimately familiar with.  Likely this class was meant as a lesson for her as much as for the pupils.

Estel watched the unfortunate Accepted straggle into the classroom in their banded dresses.  Paranoia whispered darkly in her mind, warning her that these deceptively innocent-looking girls had heard the thousand rumours coursing through every hallway of the White Tower – they were here to learn the Great Game after all and how could one play the Game without knowing every bit of possible information?  These were Accepted after all, one step away from their Shawls and the webs of manipulation spun by Aes Sedai.  On second thought, the webs had already begun.  Serena and Carise had attached threads to her while she was still in Whites.  Not that their manipulation had been malicious, as Sirayn’s had been... was; all the same, without Serena Estel might not have chosen the Blue Ajah and she and without her attachment to Carise early on, they never would have formed the, long-defunct, pact.  How many strings had already been tied to these girls?

They sat and looked to her expectantly – Estel felt like a fraud.  She towered over each of them formidably, at six feet she towered over everyone.  Her long midnight blue dress fell elegantly over her thin frame, her hair shone with oil, and pastels accentuated her face.  Physcially she was every inch the Aes Sedai but the serene mask was barely skin-deep; even now she was showing more bitterness than the most severe Aes Sedai would find appropriate.  Hardly the face of a master of Daes Dae’mar and yet here she was teaching the art to Accepted.  Well, if nothing else the girls would learn what not to do.

“I am Estel Sedai of the Blue Ajah.  This is a class about the Great Game, if you’re supposed to be elsewhere, I suggest not showing up next week.”  She paced to the back of the room and shut the door, daring an Accepted to try and leave; there was nothing she enjoyed more than a screaming match.  “While I am sure a thousand Aes Sedai have already explained Daes Dae’mar, I do not necessarily trust your intelligence and for the sake of redundancy shall explain it again.”  If any of her students found her abrasive manner offensive, they didn’t show it.  As if impatient with her own lecture, Estel continued to pace as she spoke.

“The Great Game of Houses refers to the style of politics used in every court in the known world, though the extent to which the Game is played differs from place to place: Cairhien and Tar Valon are known as capitals while the Borderlands and Andor pride themselves for their straightforward politics.  While the Game has no “set rules”, there is a set of guidelines and basic laws that define it.  At its most basic, Daes Dae’mar is the art of achieving one’s goals by whatever means necessary, whether on a social level or any other.  These goals can be as long-term and as large as bringing about the end of a full-scale war to keeping secret the nature of a relationship.

“When in public, every action may have a consequence in the Game; every show of emotion may be perceived as a threat, a challenge, or a sign of weakness.  This is why Aes Sedai refuse to show emotion in public.  There is no way to know who may plan to use the Great Game to manipulate you in some fashion or another.  As Aes Sedai, you are given a social and political station equal to the most influential nobles in every country.  Even if you have no interest in the Game, you will have developed important contacts: nobility, working class, and especially other Aes Sedai.  There isn’t an ambitious noble in any country that wouldn’t jump at an Aes Sedai’s weakness in the hopes of gaining access to her network of connections – there are Aes Sedai who will happily exploit a younger Sister’s weaknesses if she may prove useful.”  Didn’t she know it.

“Even now as Accepted you may be used in a Sister’s scheme.  It would be prudent to begin to evaluate everything around you for its potential either for or against you.  The most difficult aspect of Daes Dae’mar is avoiding becoming so paranoid of others that you misevaluate and act on in incorrect notion that you are being challenged and destroy a relationship with a friend before you realise they had no intention of using you.

“This is why the Tower insists on giving you a thorough background of the Great Game.  Like the Tower Guards who train the young men and women that come to them using the philosophy of The Flame and the Void or The Spring, the Tower teaches its initiates the philosophy of The Three Arts.”  Estel scribbled this on the chalkboard.  “You may have decided to train with the Warders to learn the use of a physical weapon, but as Aes Sedai you will be forced to use Daes Dae’mar for your own means as well as to defend yourself from being used for others’ means. 

“Depending on your location and the people you come in contact with, the stakes in the Game change.  If you “lose”, you may find yourself manipulated into helping a Lord hide an affair from his wife, the Head of the House, or maybe you will be forced to help him usurp the throne; meanwhile, if you had “won” you might have been able to tell his wife of his affair so she might disown him or else avoid a possible civil war.  Perhaps you are supporting a claimant for the throne while another Aes Sedai is supporting his opponent, using the Great Game you might be able to manipulate her into also supporting your claimant while, by the same token, you might find yourself forced to support hers.  Your reputation and even your life may be forfeit should you fall victim to a better player.

“The Three Arts are: Disguise, Misdirection, and Deception.”  She added the three words to the chalkboard.  “Next week we will begin with the Art of Misdirection.  In addition to you notebooks, I would like you to bring money or, lacking it, things of monetary value.”  With a smirk for her pupils’ confusion and curiosity, Estel dismissed the class.

Lesson 2: The Art of Misdirection

The door had barely shut behind the last pupil when Estel began the day’s lecture.  As she had the day before, the Blue Sister paced while speaking.

“As I mentioned in the previous class,  today will be focused on the Art of Misdirection.  This “art” is perhaps the most ambiguous since it can be classified as a form of deception; just as disguise can also be called a form of misdirection and, by extension, deception.  It is true that the three arts bleed into one another, but for the purposes of teaching it is easier to categorise certain aspects of deception into these three distinct categories.

“To misdirect someone is to focus your opponent’s attention on something so they are distracted from your true intentions.  There are a number of ways to accomplish this, the chief of which, used by Aes Sedai, is rumours.  Should a servant or known gossip overhear a conversation about a house’s plot to damage the political standing of a rival, the rival will immediately take action, perhaps creating a civil war where the end result is the end of a tyrant’s reign.  Maybe your intention is on a much smaller scale: the high seat of the house hears the rumour and asks the conveniently visiting Aes Sedai for her advice on the matter.  By telling him you will take care of it, he is indebted to you without the necessity of creating an actual problem.

“For a simple rumour, of little consequence and with few stakes, it is easiest to discover the most prodigious gossip in your audience’s circle of confidants.  Stereotypically, an excellent example is a lady of mediocre standing, and therefore little else to do, will use gossip as a tool to gain herself more friends and increase her standing through them.  However, with some work, the origin of the rumour can be traced back to you.  To avoid this, it is better to remove yourself from the seed of the rumour.  Servants are excellent tools for this, often they wile away their hours gossiping about their employers; it is incredibly stupid to view lower-class as inanimate objects – they often overhear more information than their lieges collect through networks of eyes-and-ears.  Eventually, the rumour will make it to the ears of your target after passing through enough people that no one will remember who began it.  Unfortunately between tellings, the rumour may be changed and thus miss its original purpose.

“It is possible to go to great lengths to make sure the correct information reaches the correct ears – in itself, this becomes an art.

“Another facet of misdirection is one constantly in use by Aes Sedai: facial expression.  Hopefully, sometime in the next few years you will be asked to complete the one hundred weaves all the while maintaining perfect calm during stressful situations.”  Estel wondered if any of the Accepted were paying enough attention to noticed the thinly-veiled bitterness in her voice.  After so long with the weight of a Blue Shawl on her shoulders and all it had taken from her, she cursed the day Sariene Kajira had given it to her.  “Facial expressions are a powerful tool, both the ability to read others’ and the ability to control your own.

“I find the best way to learn anything is through trial and error.”  Light knew if she learned at all it was only through error.  “This is why I asked you to bring money.  How many of you are familiar with the game chop?”  Estel hid a smirk.  There were Aes Sedai who would have her head for encouraging Accepted to gamble – therein lay her attraction to “hands on” teaching.  It was probably self-centered of her to care little for what the students took away from the class but she was already so jaded she didn’t care.

The Blue Sister held up four decks of cards.  “For those of you unfamiliar with the game, there are five suits: flames, cups, rods, coins, and winds.  The highest card in each suit is the ruler.  At the beginning of each round, every player is dealt three cards.  They then place a bet to “buy” their fourth card, if you feel you cannot possibly win, you can stop playing by “stacking” your cards facedown on the table; this is repeated a second time to buy your fifth card – five cards is a full hand.  The players then place bids, either meeting the bid of the player before them or raising the bid.  Betting is finished when every player has folded or met, “seen”, the bid before them.  The remaining players reveal their hands and the highest hand takes the money that was betted, called the “pot”.

“The list of hands from lowest to highest is this:” Estel picked up a chalk and wrote them on the board.

5 of a kind – 5 cards of the same number

Straight flush – five cards with consecutive numbers in the same suit

4 of a kind

Full house – 3 of a kind & a different pair

Flush – five cards of the same suit

Straight – five cards with consecutive numbers

3 of a kind

2 pair – 2 different pairs

Pair

High card

“Use misdirection to fool your opponent as to what kind of hand you have.  I expect you all to actually bet.  The hardest lesson in Daes Dae’mar is learning how much to bet and when.”  She split the class, of about twenty, into five groups and watched with a sudden craving for a glass of brandy and the smell of tabac – if not for all the white dresses, they might have been in an upscale tavern.

OOC: You each need two posts (min.250 words) for this lesson.  Decide whether or not your char will succeed in bluffing her opponents over two rounds of chop.

The fool whined.

Fighting back the need to strangle some sense into the idiot child, Nasty sneered.  “Don’t play stupid with me, child.  Even your minimal level of intelligence should know that to prank an Aes Sedai in the middle of the night to get your jollies off would come back to bite... no, rip you to tiny little shreds!”  It was amazing the anger that could be expressed without raising one’s voice.  Her tone was iron, red hot, searing into the girl’s flesh.  Light, she must have been a Questioner in another life.

Despite her threats, the Accepted’s face was still blank, of answers at least.  Actually, giving it a second thought, the prank had been far too obvious.  Could it be she had the wrong culprit?  Oh well, too late to back down now.  No Aes Sedai liked being seen to be wrong – least of all Natascia.  “Don’t wet yourself, child.  Out with it!  What in the Light’s name were you thinking?”

indeed :D

well, I'll try to get the first class up by Monday for you two

the class is still open for other Accepted as well

Jerinia and Melianna being taught Daes Dae'mar by Estel...

you have NO idea how hard I am laughing at the moment...

Daes Dae'mar for Dummies indeed...

LMFAO!!!!

wooohooo!  I have one!  any other takers?  Pweeeeeease?

*patpat*

every group has those Novices... or Accepted... or Aes Sedai :P

naw...just lacking a physical body these days with which to thwap you into line ;)

mentee, quit corrupting the Soldiers ;)

welcome Claire

[/haunting of Isha's spirit]

heh, that might make the class actually more interesting to RP.

*baits*

:D let me get through this training RP with Linten and I'll definitely get that started

by the way... once I finish getting good little Linten up to Ashie, up for actually RPing his demise... not that Eqwina has anything to do with that, of course...

ignore the Asha'man behind the curtain ;)

those Bonded to Eqwina seem to have a bad habit of dying :P

note the word "too"

I am therefore no more pathetic than you are

go post for me damnit! I'm going stir crazy!  I'm obeying Sam just because I have nothing else to do!

I applaud you

Alrighty, so I've pretty much got a month in which I am expected to finish three exams and find a job.  This leaves me with WAAAAAAAY too much time on my hands so I'm running a class.  I'm afraid the class is only open to Accepted since Estel will be having the students putting their developing skills to the test.

Any takers?

DM Blue Ajah tradition is that the newbie Bluebie takes one last streak before calling her wild days quits ;)

Forced to forego the massive cane he used to help walk and keep as much weight off his legs as possible, Isha internalised a wince as he stumbled to the side; it was not wise to stay in one place too long during a duel and this was especially true considering the opponent.  The big man loved that damn boy and could ignore most of Linten’s darkness but only a fool would trust him – he would not be a fool whatever his feelings or duty.

~Your duty to the Black Tower and the good of every sane person here is to kill that animal!~

‘This is my fight, not yours!  Hell, this is my Light-forsaken head; get out of it!’

~You’re in my head fool!~

‘Am not!’

~Don’t be childish.~

‘Would you just shutup?  You’re going to get us killed!’

~Kill him before he kills us!~

With that, Abrem tried to wrest control of saidin from Isha.  Distracted, he cut Linten’s weaves as they came at him; if Abrem got hold of the Power, Light help Linten.  After a few intense moments, the madman abdicated and let the Shienaran continue their physical fight.  The boy was fiddling with a wall he’d erected of Earth.  The barricade was a good line of defence but Isha hoped not the only one.  Bits of the fortification tumbled down towards him, easily blocked by shields of Air.

Keeping the shields and splitting his flows, the Shienaran used his own puny strength with Earth and added a little Fire.  Rocks near the bottom of the wall combusted assaulted by massive amounts of heat.  Shrapnel and bits of the wall crashed into Isha’s shields of Air as he stumbled around to Linten’s side of the considerably shorter wall, throwing Fireballs as he rounded the makeshift structure.

If only she had the foresight, Addison might have asked one of the stableboys to have a horse prepared for her that morning.  Instead, she was left to quickly saddle the unfortunate animal she had requested the day before, praying she’d pulled the saddle strap tight enough and grabbed the right bit.  Following much cursing, one crushed toe, and the subsequent tear or two, Addi was finally galloping her horse across the yard to catch up with the departing party.

In a pathetic attempt to explain to Thera her lateness, she felt the need to announce aloud that “This has not been a good morning.”

Growing up on a farm, Addison had thought she was an excellent rider.  However, there were a number of key differences between a plough horse and a rouncey; notably, the former was a great deal more docile than the latter.  Of course Addi, in her naïve insistence that she follow as many clichéd warrior nuances as possible, had picked out a fiery stallion for herself.  The hormone-driven animal was constantly snapping at the other male horses; she did her best to keep it away from the mares.  She spent so much energy just staying on White Thunder, as she called the unruly white horse, that she was completely exhausted and sore by the time they stopped for the night.

Soldiers did not cry or whine.  At least that was what Addi kept telling herself while Thera ordered her and Llewelyn, whom she had yet to meet, off on a foraging mission.  Again, her lack of foresight came back to bite her in the rear: no twine!  She could have made a few traps and set them up in strategic locations; by morning they might have had a rabbit or bird and she might have scored a few points with Thera to make up for the rest of her missteps.  Instead she sighed, looked for a few landmarks to mark their camp, and set off into the woods.

Addi took special care to ensure they could navigate their way back to the camp – the last thing she needed was to look like an even bigger idiot in front of the Mistress of Trainees.  At least her rural background came in handy here; it was maybe an hour before they came across a stream.  Considering the spring weather it was unlikely they would find any wild produce worth eating but fish were plentiful.  If they would find a few nuts still in season Thera should be more than happy – had she felt a little surer of herself, Addison might have tried to find a few herbs but considering her unfamiliarity with the local flora, decided against it.

“Are you any good at fishing Llewelyn?”

Ici

A Night of Reflection?

Natascia's "Nastyness" makes her the target of a Sister-to-be.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Estel and Maegan return to the White Tower.

A Sorrowful Return

Returning after a month away, Estel meets up with another homecoming Blue.

And With the Dawn, Came Change

Estel meets up with an old enemy who is in a worse position than she.

Think I got them all.

"...no matter how badly a thing is hurting us, sometimes letting it go hurts even worse."

- Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy "Love/Addiction"

The Aes Sedai’s imminent departure was no secret in the Academy and the woman in charge of the kitchens servicing the acolytes and resident scholars dared shoot Estel a sceptical glance.  Like an arrow, the woman’s eyes pierced her with self-loathing.  The past month would all be for naught if she gave up, sinking back down into the bottle – Light, was she exhausted of swimming already?  Pathetic, a failure: waves of self-loathing beat against her tired limbs.  On the distant shore the Blue Ajah stood to welcome her home, proud of their rehabilitated Sister; but the shore was too far away and she too weak to close the distance.

Corkscrew in hand, the social masochist set out to own her pathetic life.  A month’s work wasted.  What had made her think a month could change things a century hadn’t?  Wasn’t the definition of insanity to keep trying the same thing, expecting different results?  Carise had tried, Serena had tried, Sirayn had tried, Darienna had tried; one after another, Estel had disappointed each of them.  Why did she still fail every time when so many had put so much effort into fixing her tragic flaw?  Which of her defects lay at the root of all the others?  Why did she insist on this melodramatic need to complicate her life?  Why couldn’t she fix it?  Why couldn’t anyone fix it?

Now it was Maegan’s turn to try, Estel was about to fail her too.  Burn her, she hated caring so much about the Red’s pending disappointment – she hated being such a disappointment.  The voices of her frustrated mentors yelled together in her head: “Then just stop!” she replied: “I can’t.”  Above all, Estel hated herself.

Ever too concentrated on her own issues to notice reality around her, the Blue practically ran into the woman whose judgment she was dreading.  As religious servants of the Light, Aes Sedai tended to believe fate played a role in one’s life; so, perhaps it was no coincidence that Maegan provided a physical barrier between Estel and the craved bottle of brandy.  Not exactly a devoted prophet of the Pattern or destiny, she still wondered whether the woman’s timely arrival might be more than lucky coincidence.  Carise absent, Serena unaware of events, Sirayn always after the fact, Darienna a victim of poor timing.  Thus far, Maegan was conquering the pitfalls of every benefactor that had come before her.

She braced herself for a lecture and display of disappointment; the Red satisfied neither expectation.  Hell, the woman hardly mentioned the bottle at all despite Estel’s obvious intentions.  Somewhat dazed, the mystified Aes Sedai took her bags from the woman.  Instincts said to pick a fight and obtain the expected outcome; perhaps she was so accustomed to the usual tirades from her Sisters that she’d come to need them.  Perhaps her inability to leave a good thing alone was her fatal flaw.

Astonishing herself, Estel kept a firm hold on her temper and simply smiled sheepishly.

“Never ready but like you said, let’s get this over with.”

Squeal!  “You are a muse!  Mind you, macho man that he is, wouldn’t he just er...” how exactly did on say this?  “Use our “present”?  Should we maybe give her some sort of instructions so we can really embarrass him?”  A moment’s pause and a rather cruel thought occurred to Addi.  Back in Badon’s Hill, this sort of thing was not talked about but as she’d travelled the world, Addison had developed a more liberal mindset – or so she thought, anyway.  “What if we sent him a male prostitute?  Or even if we just paid some man to pretend?  Considering the chauvinist that he is, I think that might sting below the belt.” 

Addison grinned and cackled – despite the rather racy, at least for a naïve little farm girl, topic.  “Can you imagine his face?  It shouldn’t be hard to sneak someone into the room as long as I’ve got some time off while he’s still training.  As long as something has the twins distracted, it’ll be a piece of cake!”