When students arrived today, they would find that Ghanima had removed all desks and chairs from her classroom. Instead, the space was filled with large piles of pillows, some divans, and various cushioned footstools. Ghanima had had quite enough of sterile classrooms, thank you very much, and she was much more comfortable sitting this way, and after Sidon's difficulties with 'typical' classroom furniture, Ghanima had decided to forgo it entirely unless absolutely needed.

Once the last of them 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!"

Ghanima was not sure if it was a mark of approval in her choice in subject matter, or if her students were simply masochists.

She was not ruling out either option.

"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, bright blue-on-blue eyes sparkling. "Lady Atreides is my grandmother, and I will not answer to it."

"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. 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, shifting to sit seiza on her cushion. "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 mentally 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 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."