Someone is trying to kill — or control the narrative around — the young heir.
The Question
Who attacked Baahir at the dockside party, and who is spinning the rumor mill afterward?
What We Know — The Dockside Attack (S2)
- Venue: a dockside watering hole of ill repute, at a party hosted by Harim al-Faisal (“second center” of Baahir’s court).
- Method: conspirators pre-poisoned all the drinks in the bar with a mild non-lethal poison (affecting everyone, including the party), then assassins struck under magical darkness.
- The party teleported Baahir to a nearby safe location (a random apartment with alarmed citizens).
- Princess Ensah arrived with a royal protection detail and pulled Baahir out.
What We Know — The Rumors (S3)
Rumors of “an attempted assassination of Baahir” circulate in three versions:
- An elf tried to kill him (fits the older rumor of Baahir “hanging around with a seductive elf,” S1)
- Prince Ikram tried to kill him
- A secret cabal of Imperialists did it
Per Ari’s contacts: the elf version appeared very quickly, and elves are already being attacked for it. See The Elf Scapegoating.
What Uncle’s Men Say (S6)
Ismad, asked directly:
- The attempt appeared to have been thrown together hastily.
- It seems to have included three people.
- They were very professional.
- On Harim al-Faisal: he is “someone’s useful idiot.”
Observation: hasty and professional
Those two are not a contradiction — they are a description. Professionals were available on short notice. Somebody either kept a team on retainer in Isbi’liyyah or could hire one within days, and then had to improvise the operation around an opportunity (Harim’s party) rather than plan it. That points at a principal with money and connections but not advance knowledge of Baahir’s movements — reacting to something, not executing a design.
Observation: "someone's useful idiot" settles half a mystery and opens a better one
The wiki has asked since S2 whether Harim was used or complicit. Uncle’s Men say used. So the question is now whose — somebody steered him to that venue on that night, and Ismad’s phrasing suggests his people have a type of person in mind even if not a name. Ask him.
Observation: a second set of professionals, one summer, one city
Three professionals at the dockside (S2, per Ismad in S6) — and unlocated professional snipers working the rooftops during the riot at the Ulpia estate (S6). Two hire-able teams in Isbi’liyyah in one year, or one. Worth testing before assuming either.
Analysis
Observations
- Mass-poisoning a whole bar takes inside access to the venue — Harim al-Faisal’s party, his venue choice. Used or complicit?
- Magical darkness: the Dark sphere is a Deceiver sphere (see Magic and Casting Traditions) — the attackers used forbidden magic, or something that mimics it.
- The non-lethal poison is odd for a kill team: meant to degrade defenders, or was capture (not murder) the goal?
- Ensah’s fast, well-equipped arrival needs an explanation (see Princess Ensah).
- The three rumor versions conveniently implicate three different enemies — consistent with someone seeding narratives. Who benefits from each?
Next Steps
- Investigate the venue and staff (who poisoned the drinks?)
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Figure out Harim al-Faisal’s role— used, not complicit (Ismad, S6) - Ask Ismad whose useful idiot Harim is. He offered the phrase; press it
- Ask Ismad whether the riot snipers and the dockside three are the same crew — both “very professional,” same city, same year
- Trace the origin of the elf rumor — and of the newer “elves brought plague” line (S6)
- Determine how Ensah knew to come