Teacher

An illustration of Teacher by @toshdoesart

> *"Hooray! [...] Into the River with us, boys! Fifty can school like fishes!"*
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**Teacher**, who takes his name by virtue of standing in the stead of The Emperor who calls himself Teacher, is the primary caretaker and servant to the First House. In the absence of The Emperor, he and his priests (as well as an army of bone construct servants) maintain the house and welcome the Lyctoral candidates.

## **Biography**

### **Early Life**

Little is known about the early life of Teacher. It can be assumed that he was likely an ordinary inhabitant of the First House, before being brought into the experiments of the original eight disciples of the Emperor. In an experiment undertaken by the the Sixth House Lyctor team, Cassiopeia and Nigella Shodash, Teacher was turned into a unique and monstrous creation.

Based on a binder full of photographs of ordinary peoples' faces, including one of Teacher, and the inscription *"FIVE HUNDRED INTO FIFTY. IT IS FINISHED!"* , it is assumed that Cassiopeia and Nigella methodically sorted through options of First House inhabitants before consolidating many souls into one singular creature—Teacher. Cytherea the First claims that he is a *"holy terror"* and was *"nearly demented"*  by what they did to his soul.

The bone construct servants of Canaan House were likely made in the same process, as they too are souls inhabiting a physical shell—though it is unclear how many souls or why (or if) Teacher was chosen to remain flesh and blood.

### **Gideon the Ninth**

#### Act I

Teacher greets Harrow and Gideon warmly as they disembark from their shuttle at Canaan House. He settles the discrepancy of Ortus's absence, and mentions that two other ships, that of the Third and the Seventh, have been held back for similar discrepancies. As the other Houses disembark, he gossips openly with Harrow before shepherding the arrivals inside of Canaan House. Inside the House, the priests serve their guests tea. Teacher begins the conversation with the traditional prayer of the Seven Houses, and then asks Harrow to favor them with the intercession of the Locked Tomb. He presents each of the cavaliers with an iron key ring, and then he begins his explanation.

Teacher informs the gathered group that they are being called upon to undertake the impossible task of replicating the first Lyctor's ascent to immortality and replacing the Saints who have perished in battle. Practically, he assures them that they will be provided with rooms, servants, space, and food. They will not be allowed letters, visitors, or any outside communication. The only rule that the must follow is to *"never open a locked door unless you have permission."*  To the dismay of the guests, Teacher has no further instruction to offer-- the priests of the First House have no knowledge of how to become a Lyctor. With that, he sends them to their rooms.

#### Act II

Teacher frequents the postulants meal times, making conversations and taking questions-- although he rarely offers any substantial answers. He does not seek to further anyone's attempt to reach Lyctorhood, but instead encourages inter-House mingling and cooperation. The postulants largely do not take his recommendation. A few sharp-minded necromancers: Harrow, Silas, Palamedes, Dulcinea, and Ianthe, secure Facility keys from teacher in the first few days at Canaan House by asking for them, thus getting "permission" to open a locked door.

Before Abigail and Magnus' anniversary dinner party, Teacher seats himself near Harrow and Gideon, gossiping wryly about the other necromancer-cavalier teams. He suggests that Gideon has valuable knowledge about their competitors from her time spent among them. He enjoys the dinner immensely, and is caught after dinner by Harrow, who questions him on the progress of the other Houses. He reveals that Abigail and Silas have both discovered the Facility.

#### Act III

After many hours of the necromancers attempting to raise the spirits of Abigail and Magnus, and Silas' nearly-successful attempt, the Second House brings Teacher to the hatch. He climbs down a few steps down the ladder, but refuses to come down further. Teacher claims they are all in grave danger; that if Silas were to "empty" the Fifth House they would *"become a nest for something else."*  He is insistent that they return upstairs immediately, and bring the bodies of Abigail and Magnus with them.

An hour later, when all of the bodies have been moved into a temporary morgue and the priests of Canaan House have distributed tea to the remaining guests, they get to talking. Judith Deuteros raises that she would like to inform and involve the Cohort, a suggestion with Teacher vehemently rejects. He protests the claim of murder, insisting that each of them was told that entering the Facility would mean their death.

> *"I told you all that you were walking into the most dangerous place in the system of Dominicus, and I meant it. There are monsters here. [...] They are not coming for the the guardians of Canaan House ... yet."*
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Stubbornly doubling-down, Judith insists that the Cohort (and she, as the highest ranking member of the Cohort present) has a right to seize control of the situation and carry out a thorough investigation. Teacher re-iterates the rule against off-planet communication and refuses again. Coronabeth and Naberius come to his defense, stating the Cohort (and by extension Judith) have no authority here.

The conversation turns to keys-- who has them and who has been into the Facility. Trust gives way to paranoia, and Corona again takes command and insists that they must not suspect each other. Palamedes puts forth that they operate under the impression that Teacher is correct about the existence of a "malevolent force" in the Facility, and in the spirit of cooperation promise to warn each other if anyone were to notice something unusual in the Facility. Teacher finishes the conversation by prodding Ianthe into admitting that she has also gotten a key to the Facility, much to the surprise of the other postulants. He speaks quietly with Isaac Tettares, before checking in on Eighth House and ensure Colum returns safely.

The next evening, Teacher is in the Dining Hall when Coronabeth approaches him and asks for a key to the Facility. He explains to her that the key is Naberius' by right, and there is only one key for each cavalier present. She asks for the Fifth's key, and he explains that Magnus was already in possession of his when he died and they do not know where it is. Palamedes offers to take her to the Facility, but explains that the laboratory keys are unique and Corona cannot win the keys her sister already possesses. Upon this realization, Teacher re-iterates his sermon from the first night in Canaan House-- *"...here the Emperor is the only law. No writ, no interpretation. I gave you his rule. There is no other."*

Despite Coronabeth's suggestion that the competition become an exercise in teamwork, the tone of the competition changes sharply with the final understanding that *nothing* is off limits. Coronabeth disappears to regroup with her House and Second House clears out shortly after her. Teacher, answering Palamedes, explains that Magnus claimed his key the night that he died and asked Teacher to hold on to Jeannemary's for safekeeping-- which she still has yet to claim. He sips at a cup of tea and says a prayer to The Emperor, seeming rather lost in his own thoughts.

When Protesilaus has gone missing and Dulcinea Septimus is found collapsed on the garden terrace, Teacher has her moved to a small room in the priests wing of the house so that she can receive care around the clock. As the postulants question him, he explains that no one in the House has died recently (and that they do not bury their dead in the incinerator). He organizes a search for Protesilaus with the skeleton servants, and asks the postulants to search their own rooms. When dueling finally breaks out of the limited keys, Teacher appears resigned and leaves the room, refusing to watch.

#### Act IV

When the bodies of Jeannemary Chatur and Isaac Tettares are brought to the morgue, Teacher prays over them. After her tea with Eighth House, Gideon stumbles upon Teacher in the Atrium. He talks about his hatred for water, but she soon walks on to the training room. Later, Palamedes and Harrowhark gather the remaining postulants and bring them to Dulcinea's sick room. With Protesilaus' decapitated head in hand, Palamedes proposes that Protesilaus has been dead the whole time and has been reanimated by flesh magic called the beguiling corpse-- which Dulcinea confirms easily. Teacher does not interject except to forbid Judith from communicating off-planet and to promise to keep watch over Dulcinea.

At some point, Teacher leaves Dulcinea in order to lock a door. He is found by Judith and Marta, who locate the communication room and attempt to send an SOS. Proving to be much more powerful than he appeared, Teacher intercepts them and blocks their efforts to restrain him. Marta uses disabling force, and Teacher retaliates, destroying her eye. Judith and Marta work together to fatal wound Teacher, but Marta dies in the process. Judith sustains grave injuries, but is successful in contacting The Emperor himself. Sixth and Ninth find her there, and she recounts her story. Teacher, fading, finds the strength to reiterate that Judith has betrayed the Emperor and that *"one of them has come back--."*  Judith stays in the communication room with Marta's sword to prevent Teacher's return.

### **Harrow the Ninth**

#### Fourteen Months Before the Emperor's Murder

Inside Canaan House, Teacher asks the Ninth House to favor the postulants with the intercession of the Locked Tomb. Ortus supplies the prayer, and finishes with *"a rare epithet"* that delights Teacher. For this, Teacher thanks him and offers a blessing. Ortus asks to be blessed to rest in the Anastasian monument, the burial place of warriors, which Teacher grants. Teacher hands out one key attached to a key ring to each cavalier. He follows this with a lesson on the history of Canaan House, the original Lyctors, and the laboratory Facility they built to study Lyctorhood. Finally, he introduces the Sleeper, but assures the postulants that they are safe upstairs. Teacher wishes his guests luck and has the construct servants lead them to their various rooms.

#### Six Months Before the Emperor's Murder

Rain begins to fall at Canaan House, creating a cold fog around the base of the buildings. Teacher supplies the postulants with umbrellas, and complains that the unseasonable weather is months ahead of schedule and ruining his herbs. His attitude is abysmal and he regularly expresses the desire to die.

#### Two Months Before the Emperor's Murder

The weather in Canaan House turns—rain becoming sleet becoming snow that blankets the House. Additionally, fleshy organs begin growing up through the cracks in the building. Teacher, drinking thistle shrub, comes into the room. His demeanor is somewhere between drunk and mad, and he begins to ramble about the original inhabitants of Canaan House. He warns Harrow, Abigail, and Ortus that the Sleeper is waking and that they are doomed. He appears to believe that the Sleeper is the same as Alecto, the enemy sleeping in the Locked Tomb, as he refers to her as a devil, monster, and saltwater creature and alludes to the Lyctors role in her death. Abigail offers to let him sleep and live with them, protected, but he refuses, seemingly excited for the opportunity to die. He celebrates, throwing his bottle, and leaves.

## **Appearance and Personality**

Gideon first describes Teacher as thus:

> *"A little old man stood in front of them. He was small and reedy, in the way that reminded Gideon of the oldest of the House of the Ninth, but he had the straightest back and the rudest good health of any old man Gideon had ever seen. He was like an old and twisted oak still covered with leaves. He was bald, with a neat, clipped white beard and a golden circlet at his brow. His white robe had no hood and was long enough to brush his calves, and he wore a half-cloak of brushed white wool. [...] Everything about him was ageless and pristine."*
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Teacher's personality trends toward something far more youthful than he actually is. Excited and eccentric, he is welcoming and jovial with his new guests. It is only when events take a turn for the sinister that another side to his personality is reveal. Dark and forbidding, he becomes cautious, superstitious, and much more religious. The most that goes wrong, the more he seems resigned to catastrophe. Even in these times of stress, he is never unkind nor unwilling to help, though he refuses to be a party to actions he views as violent or self-destructive.

## **Possessions**

* **Golden Circlet and Belt:** Teacher wears a golden circlet around his head as well as a shimmering gold belt with *"a multitude of jewel colours in intricate patterns and shapes*" embroidered on it.

## **References**

1. ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act IV, Ch. 35
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Gideon the Ninth," Act IV, Ch. 35
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Gideon the Ninth," Act IV, Ch. 32
4. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 8
5. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act III, Ch. 17
6. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act III, Ch. 18
7. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act III, Ch. 21
8. ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 8
9. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 7
10. ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 7