Myth Into History, Week 10: Eastward Ho! [Thurs/1st Period, Danger Shop]
The Danger Shop was set up today to look like a chamber in a Chinese palace, which left Janice looking ridiculously out of place (well, more so than usual) in her leather jacket, fedora, and khakis.
Not that this stopped her from sitting cross-legged in the center of the low table, a large book in her lap. Inexplicably, a pile of stone rabbits was on the floor in front of her.
"We're going pretty far east today," she told the class once they'd all arrived. "To China, that is, in case you couldn't tell."
Tapping the book in her lap, she held it up. "Some of you may have heard of the Tao Te Ching. You may be under the impression that it was written by Lao Tzu. You'd be wrong; it was actually written by his wife, Lao Ma. Lao Tzu himself, a vicious tyrant, was too ill, and his wife ruled in his name. She also wrote this book under his name to save his reputation. What does this have to do with this class? Hang on, I'm getting to that."
She handed the Tao to the nearest student to pass around and peruse, then continued: "After her attempted crucifixion -- complete with broken legs -- by Caesar, Xena went east toward China with intentions of wreaking vengeance against the entire human race. Lao Ma rescued her from being hunted by Ming Tzu's forces, and taught her, using the philosophies in this book, how to tap into a kind of power she'd never been able to use before. From what the Scrolls say, it was a lot like telepathy. Or something."
"Of course," Janice went on, "this later came back to bite Lao Ma in the figurative ass when Taoist philosophers ended up discovering the formula for black powder. I say figurative, because she was dead by then, executed by her own son, the Green Dragon, Ming T'ien. Xena killed him for it, but that's a whole different story that kickstarted a plotline 90% of fandom would like to pretend never happened. So anyway, years later Xena, Gabrielle, and --" she cast a brief, irritated glance in Joxer's direction -- "some other guy got called back to China and got mixed up in a war, because you know, that's what she does."
She clicked the Danger Shop remote and one wall disappeared, giving the students a good view of a massive army of stone soldiers on a plain. "I love this about the twenty-first century," Janice said with a predatory grin. "This Terracotta Army is in Shaanxi Province in China. It wasn't discovered in my time; it only got unearthed in 1974, but it sure as hell explains one part of the Scrolls that Mel and I have been scratching our heads over for God only knows how long now. And yep, this all ties back into Lao Ma and the Tao Te Ching, since it was Xena, using those powers that Lao Ma taught her about, who did this. It's not a representation of an emperor's army, like they're theorizing now. It actually was an army."
Janice waved an arm at the steps that led down from the room they were in to the plain. "Unlike the ones on the actual dig site, these figures aren't going to suffer too much if you examine them up close. Feel free to wander around and take a look at them. As realistic as they are, do you think it's possible they weren't the work of craftsmen?"
[OOC: Class Info Post. Class open for play throughout the weekend, as always. OCD is up. Have at!]
Not that this stopped her from sitting cross-legged in the center of the low table, a large book in her lap. Inexplicably, a pile of stone rabbits was on the floor in front of her.
"We're going pretty far east today," she told the class once they'd all arrived. "To China, that is, in case you couldn't tell."
Tapping the book in her lap, she held it up. "Some of you may have heard of the Tao Te Ching. You may be under the impression that it was written by Lao Tzu. You'd be wrong; it was actually written by his wife, Lao Ma. Lao Tzu himself, a vicious tyrant, was too ill, and his wife ruled in his name. She also wrote this book under his name to save his reputation. What does this have to do with this class? Hang on, I'm getting to that."
She handed the Tao to the nearest student to pass around and peruse, then continued: "After her attempted crucifixion -- complete with broken legs -- by Caesar, Xena went east toward China with intentions of wreaking vengeance against the entire human race. Lao Ma rescued her from being hunted by Ming Tzu's forces, and taught her, using the philosophies in this book, how to tap into a kind of power she'd never been able to use before. From what the Scrolls say, it was a lot like telepathy. Or something."
"Of course," Janice went on, "this later came back to bite Lao Ma in the figurative ass when Taoist philosophers ended up discovering the formula for black powder. I say figurative, because she was dead by then, executed by her own son, the Green Dragon, Ming T'ien. Xena killed him for it, but that's a whole different story that kickstarted a plotline 90% of fandom would like to pretend never happened. So anyway, years later Xena, Gabrielle, and --" she cast a brief, irritated glance in Joxer's direction -- "some other guy got called back to China and got mixed up in a war, because you know, that's what she does."
She clicked the Danger Shop remote and one wall disappeared, giving the students a good view of a massive army of stone soldiers on a plain. "I love this about the twenty-first century," Janice said with a predatory grin. "This Terracotta Army is in Shaanxi Province in China. It wasn't discovered in my time; it only got unearthed in 1974, but it sure as hell explains one part of the Scrolls that Mel and I have been scratching our heads over for God only knows how long now. And yep, this all ties back into Lao Ma and the Tao Te Ching, since it was Xena, using those powers that Lao Ma taught her about, who did this. It's not a representation of an emperor's army, like they're theorizing now. It actually was an army."
Janice waved an arm at the steps that led down from the room they were in to the plain. "Unlike the ones on the actual dig site, these figures aren't going to suffer too much if you examine them up close. Feel free to wander around and take a look at them. As realistic as they are, do you think it's possible they weren't the work of craftsmen?"
[OOC: Class Info Post. Class open for play throughout the weekend, as always. OCD is up. Have at!]