s sent fee images from the plaza floor into apartments surrounding the area, occupied by those considered unimportant or sufficiently out of favor to deny them a direct look at Leto From a spot m the center of the plaza floor at the tune appointed for the Viewing for Great Sharing as it was sometimes called), ' Leto ascended from die Sacred Chamber beneath the plaza by way of a special presentation stage The stage lifted him into the air, providing a clear view to all those watching No protective devices were used during die Viewing, Leto rested on the stage itself, without even the shielding of his Royal Cart between himself and those in attendance He remained in this position for two hours, during which time his subjects were free to come and go At no time during the ceremony were any of them openly checked for weapons or prevented from climbing out to the extreme edges of the balconies for a better look A legend fostered by the God Emperor compared the Viewing to a ritual undergone by an ancient ruler who was required, on one night a year, to walk unprotected among his subjects The ruler was further required to dress m a luminescent suit, while his subjects (not searched for weapons) dressed in black and thronged in the streets at will According to the legend, if the ruler survived his walk, it was then obvious that he was a good ruler, by parallel if the God Emperor survived the Viewing, he did so only because of the love and loyalty of those he ruled The second, less public ntual for which the Festival City served as location was Siaynoq This ceremony, reserved for Leto's Fish Speakers, was conducted prior to the Viewing m the Sacred Chamber located beneath the plaza Between Festival years, all sectors of the city other than those occupied by the few perpetual tenants-sectors which totalled over 250 square kilometers-were shut down A crew continually maintained the closed sections, keeping the city prepared for the next decade's Festival, but the workers themselves resided m surrounding suburbs, the God Emperor did not intend that his Festival City be used for any lesser purposes Security was provided by the Onn gamson, a group of Fish Speakers second only to the Citadel Guard in the ranks of Leto s military These women patrolled the streets, detained any unauthorized entries and maintained order among the various factions who occu pied the Embassy Quarters While relatively few disturbances occurred, primarily owing to the Fish Speakers rigorous protection, those which did were generally extremely violent Perhaps the best known example was the Sargus Rebellion of 12293, when a group of malcontents commanded by a renegade Bene Gessent and an Idaho ghola attempted to demolish the Fish Speakers school with a pirated store of high explosives The attempt very nearly succeeded being foiled only by the defection of a minor member of the conspiracy The Fish Speakers, outraged at this attack on their school, their students and, by extension, their God called for volunteers who deafened tiiemselves for protection against the Voice, and assaulted the Bene Gessent embassy By the time the God Emperor's order to withdraw could reach the troops, the Idaho ghola and every Bene Gessent, from Reverend Mother to lowliest acolyte, had been killed Leto earned the undying enmity 402 ORAL HISTORY of many of the Sisterhood by commending his soldiers and demanding an apology from Wallach IX before allowing a new delegation to be sent to Arrakis After the God Emperor's Fall, Onn underwent a series of drastic changes Hie Fish Speaker school was closed, the Sacred Chamber was sealed, the plaza was drastically redesigned, with much of the floor area used as building sites Homesteading of most of the unused buildings was encouraged, and within a few decades the city was indistm guishable from any other oa the planet Using maps and charts found among the Rakis Hoard, archeologists have located the sections of the city once occupied by the Sacred Chamber and other places important to the city during its millennia of use in Festivals Excavations which should shed still more light on die history of Onn are expected to begin early next year, because of these plans, those sites have been cleared and are now as empty as they were in between-Festtval years during the God Emperor's time C W Further references; FISH SPEAKERS, SIATNOQ, Mustava S Aletari, The Psychology of Political Rituals (Chusnk Salre)iaa), Krosia Frtnalaz ' Excavation at Oan, ' Archaeology, 91 17 34 OPAF1RE A precious jewel highly valued by the aristocracy of the old Impenum Opafire was a hard, highly luminescent substance found mainly on Aarafan, where the Ixians maintained mining and refining operations Jewels of opafire were notable for their soft, iridescent colors, ranging from pink to various shades of blue The most desirable gems were of blue or turquoise Princess Irulan Atreides-Comno possessed a famous collection of opafires, now lost, to which she refers m passing in her volume, Conversations with Muud'Dib Lady Margot Fearing demonstrates the social significance: of opafire in Arrakis and After, when she alludes to the fact that only Duke Gorslci, of all her lovers, made her a gift of a fine opafire gem known as the "Heart of Laura '* She cherished the gem all her life, as well as the memory of the man who gave it to her The importance of opafire diminished along with the power of the aristocracy during the Atreides period It is noted, however, that Emperor Leto had a private opafire collection, and was occasionally known to reward a loyal retainer with the gift of a gem ORAL HISTORY.