Inanna Harth
Jedi Knight
"The tyrant dies and his rule is over
The martyr dies and his rule begins."
- Soren Kierkegaard
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To codify a piece of lore for RP purposes and finally allow
Alicio Organa
to see that Shi'ido opera. - Image Credit: Michael McRae | lorlandchain
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links:
- "Wicked Game"
- To'polism
- Alicio Organa
- Inspired by Philip Glass' Akhnaten
- Media Name: The Heretic King
- Format: Hologram Recording/Live Performance
- Distribution: Common
- Length: Long
- Description: A famous Shi'ido opera depicting the legendary life of King Ashur bosch Khun, an ancient monarch who defied the powerful clergy by introducing a monotheistic religion to his kingdom, with tragic results.
- Author: Unknown Shi'ido composer(s) | Translated by Inanna Harth
- Publisher: Self
- Reception: As the first official Basic version of one of, if not the most famous Shi'ido opera ever, the Heretic King was greeted with much fanfare. It has been termed a translation, but this is something of a misnomer—Shi'idese has no written format, so the opera has simply been passed down orally through the generations. While Shi'ido are famous for their mimicry, changes have been made to the story, melodies, and lyrics over time. Thus, this could more accurately be called an adaptation of the opera into the common vernacular, not a literal translation. Moreover, Inanna Harth is a bestselling novelist, not a scholar or a librettist (though she did work with such individuals on the project); many critics have expressed skepticism about her ability to accurately interpret the complexities of her mother tongue into her second language. But far from being a novelty for the curious, the opera has proven very popular with the public. It seems the Heretic King may even be added to the galactic operatic canon.
The Heretic King premiered on Alderaan in the city of Maranatha. Its first performance was interrupted during the first act by the attempted assassination of Count Alicio Organa, who had been invited to the premiere as part of his visit to Maranatha. A second premiere was arranged and filmed for posterity. This version is widely available on the Holonet and other mediums. The original cast toured the Galactic Alliance, performing on various planets. Since then it has been performed live continuously in one part of the galaxy or another, exclusively by Shi'ido.
CONTENT INFORMATION
The opera begins with a traditional orchestral piece which gradually transitions into the more alien sounds of a Shi'ido funerary chant. The whole of the opera relies primarily on the voices of the Shi'ido performers, who can use their skill in mimicry to imitate musical instruments, but mostly they harmonize their voices.
Act I
Scene 1: Outside the tomb of King Ossian
King Ossian, ruler of the ancient Shi'ido kingdom of Goshen, has died of natural causes. Mourners gather on the stage to perform his funerary rite. Among them is the heir to the throne, Prince Ashur. Ashur is a strange boy, a dreamer who experiences visions. He sings alone in contrast to the chanting and drums of those around him as his father's body is laid to rest inside a stone tomb. He does not want to be king.
Scene 2: The magician's lair
After the funeral, Ashur visits his tutor Arimanes, a magician who lives in an underground cavern. Arimanes is something of a jester (or kolinahr in Shi'idese) and one of the most amorphous characters in the play. He is constantly changing shape, even growing into a massive dragon that encompasses the entirety of the stage at one point. The boy seeks his teacher's advice, but his tutor's answers are cryptic.
Ashur has a particularly intense vision. Arimanes guides him through it, asking him questions about what he sees. Ashur interprets the experience spiritually, and is convinced that a god has revealed themselves to him. He calls this deity To'pol, and insists that they encompass all other deities—an idea which contradicts the current national religion, enforced by the powerful and influential clergy. Arimanes warns Ashur not to tell anyone about this, as it could be dangerous.
Scene 3: The throne room
Ashur's coronation is held in the throne room. While the ceremony takes place in the background, the scene is instead dominated by Mithras, the high priest, and his daughter Syreeta, Ashur's lover. Mithras wants to use his daughter to influence the young king, but she refuses. As their argument grows more intense, so does the music, until Ashur suddenly has another vision, causing him to collapse.
The vision is depicted musically, with wordless singing and no visuals. It is more of an ecstatic feeling than anything concrete.
Act II
Scene 1: A study
Syreeta is writing a farewell letter to Ashur. She and the king are deeply in love, but she insists that their relationship must end when he becomes king. Her conflicting desires are shown; she writes that she would still like for them to be friends, then crosses this out, reasoning that it would be too painful to be around him knowing they couldn't be together.
Ashur arrives to find Syreeta upset and with her letter still unfinished. She tells him they cannot be together. Told through a duet; he asks why, and she eventually breaks down, revealing her father's plans. Fresh off his visions of To'pol, Ashur sees this as yet another sign from the god. He tells Syreeta he has a plan, and asks her to marry him. She trusts him enough to say yes.
Scene 2: At the royal court
Ashur gathers the members of his court for a meeting. He announces that he intends to take a bride, which is met with cheers. Then he says he has had a vision from a god, which garners less excitement. Finally, he banishes Mithras from the kingdom, an act which shocks them all into silence. Mithras is enraged and vows not to go down without a fight.
Scene 3: The jungle wedding
Mithras attempts to sabotage the royal wedding by bribing the eligible female guests into fighting for Ashur during the ritual pursuit. Despite this, Syreeta manages to catch Ashur, and his plans are foiled. Ashur takes this as another sign that he has the favor of a god, while Mithras whips the people into a frenzy, calling Ashur a heretic.
Scene 4: Hymn to the Force
Ashur sings a hymn to his new god in the form of an aria. Later, part of a more recent To'polism religious psalm is sung. The two texts have many similarities, implying a shared spiritual ancestry.
Act III
Scene 1: Mithras' tent
Years later, the Shi'ido of Goshen are in the midst of a civil war between two factions: one led by Mithras, and the other led by Ashur. Ashur is losing. Mithras is on the verge of a major victory when Arimanes arrives in the enemy camp to act as a messenger. To his surprise, Arimanes begs him to call off the attack. Ashur has completely withdrawn from reality, he says, and they can simply take over the country without him even noticing.
Scene 2: The palace
Wanting to see for himself what has become of Ashur, Mithras disguises himself as a servant and sneaks into the royal palace. Sure enough, he finds that Mithras spends all his time at home with his wife and daughters, ignoring important dispatches from his troops and foreign vassals warning him that his lands are being seized and plundered by his enemies. The king remains oblivious to his kingdom falling apart.
Scene 3: The attack
After seeing this, Mithras expresses pity for the delusional king. What he attributed to malice was actually madness. Arimanes continues to pluck at his sympathies, but ultimately it is not enough. Mithras decides to attack. For this Arimanes kills him, but the magician's power is not enough to stop the army from swarming the palace, slaughtering the king and his family before his eyes. In a final act of grief, Arimanes prays to To'pol, asking that Ashur be martyred and his story never forgotten.
Scene 3: The ruins
In the present day, the ruins of the palace remain untouched. A young Shi'ido (usually played by the same performer who plays Ashur) explores the site while singing the earlier Hymn. The boy is implied to be the reincarnation of Ashur.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Ashur bosch Khun was an ancient monarch whose kingdom encompassed the modern region of Goshen. Little is known about his life, but he is credited as the first monotheistic ruler on Lao-mon. He is sometimes credited as the founder of To'polism, the largest world religion on Lao-mon, but most scholars agree that his visions were retroactively claimed to be from To'pol, and may not even have been the result of Force Sensitivity. A popular theory suggests that the king suffered from a form of epilepsy or schizophrenia.
Despite this skepticism, his legend remains popular. Music and ballads about him entered the vernacular shortly after his death and have been sung by the Shi'ido ever since. These fragments of music, passed down orally over the millennia, make up the framework of the Heretic King. It is estimated that the opera in its current form was first performed some seven hundred years ago (only a couple generations for the Shi'ido), building on the work of previous adaptations of the story.
After the invasion of Lao-mon and genocide of the Shi'ido by the Brotherhood of the Maw, the survivors were forced to wander the galaxy. Eventually they found a home in Maranatha, a refugee city they were permitted to build on Alderaan. As part of a celebration of their new home and a token of thanks to the leaders who helped them, a translation into Basic was prepared. Inanna Harth, a Shi'ido writer and diplomat, oversaw the project.
Last edited:
