Arrakis - Dune, Rakis
A desert planet that the books revolve around.
Arrakis was the sole source of the spice, melange which was widely used
in
the universe. The major inhabitants of the planet, a race known as the
Fremen,
referred to the planet as Dune because of its complete-desert
topography.
To the rest of the Imperial Universe, it was known as Arrakis. (All
books)
Bene Gesserit - Sisterhood,
Reverened Mothers
The Bene Gesserit race play a major role in
every Dune story. They are solely made up of a race of females who are
portrayed as cunning, secretive and manipulative and can usually be
seen anywhere there is power, always acting as the "advisor." They were
notoriously famous for creating the Kwisatch
Haderach through their
Breeding Program which ran for over 10,000 years before one was finally
produced.
Many Bene Gesserit women train to become
something known as a Reverened Mother, a person who possesses the
ability to communicate with their ancestors through the genetic line
that everyone carries with
them. All Bene Gesserit share one common goal that is important above
all
else, including their individual lives and that is the survival of the
Sisterhood at any cost. It's this mindset that has created for some
interesting stories. What some Reverened Mothers may consider
destructive to the Sisterhood, others would deem necessary for
survival, creating the occasional conflict within their own ranks and
what also becomes the main premise for Heretics of Dune. (All)
Dama - Great Honored Matre, Spider Queen
Great Honored Matre over all of the Matres who had returned from the Scattering to conquer the Old Empire. Held an interest in studying
their ancestors,
the Bene Gesserit (although the Matres would never admit to being
descended
from them), particularly their immunity to all diseases and poisons.
Interrogated
Reverend Mother Lucilla about the Sisterhood and consequently ended up
feeding
her to a Futar when Dama could not extract any useful info. Also agreed
to
a meeting with Mother Superior Odrade as another chance to learn about
the
Bene Gesserit. Odrade's nickname for Dama was The Spider Queen. Dama
succumbed
to chaumurky when her chief aide, Logno had
poisoned
her drink and assumed the title of Great Honored Matre at the end of
CD.
(CD)
Dune, Planet
See Arrakis.
Fremen
The Fremen were a race of people who were
persecuted and banished over several millennia and finally came to
inhabit a desert planet they called Dune. These people were
originally part of a religion known
as Zensunni Wanderers who originally settled on Arrakis in 1381 BG
(Before
Guild). They broke from that and formed their own sect and thrived on
Dune.
They are excellent survivors living on a hostile planet and are known
for
their ability to waste little water, since it is a rare commodity on a
completely
desert planet. When they die, the corpse is rushed to a Death Still to
reclaim
the body's water leaving only ashes. They manufacture and wear
Stillsuits,
a garment that captures and recycles their water from their sweat and
urine
so that they may survive on this planet.
In 10,191, the Fremen met their Mahdi, (Fremen
for Messiah) when the Atreides took governorship of Arrakis on orders
from
the Padishah Emperor. The son of Duke Leto Atreides, Paul Atreides was
the
person that fit into the Fremen legends. Paul was forced into hiding
when
the arch nemesis of the Atreides, the Harkonnens (who were being
supported
by the Emperor, ah treachery!), attacked Arrakis and killed his father
the
Duke. Paul and his mother Jessica were force to flee into the desert
and
take refuge with the Fremen where Paul took on the Fremen name
Muad'Dib.
He ended up training the Fremen into great warriors and in 10,193, took
revenge
of his father's death by unleashing an army of well trained warriors
mounted
on giant sandworms and attacking the Harkonnens who had taken the
Arrakis
governorship from the Atreides. The Emperor himself, Shaddam the IV,
who
was on Arrakis at the time of the attack was forced to relinquish the
Imperial
throne to Paul Muad'Dib, who claimed rightful rule of the Known Universe. The rest of the Imperium was
forced
to acknowledge his rule because he and his Fremen had control of the
only
planet that could manufacture the spice melange and they claimed that
they
would destroy it if they didn't bow to Paul Muad'Dib Atreides as their
new
emperor. This is the premise of the first book, Dune. (Dune, CoD, DM)
Gammu
See Giedi Prime.
Giedi Prime - Gammu, Harkonnen Homeworld
In the first three books, Giedi Prime served
as the home planet for the House Harkonnen, residence of Baron Vladimir
Harkonnen. After the Baron was killed on Arrakis in 10,193 and Paul
Atreides assumed rule over the Imperium, the Atreides people began to
populate the planet, fixing it up. Eventually, they renamed it Gammu
where it is heavily featured in HoD as the training ground for the
ghola Duncan Idaho. Idaho was a native of Giedi Prime and having him on
Gammu would help reawaken his ghola memories.
In HoD, Gammu was attacked by the Honored Matres who were in search of
Duncan Idaho. The Bene Gesserit were forced to flee with Duncan back to
their homeworld, Chapterhouse. Later, in CD with their newly revived
military leader, the ghola Teg Miles, they returned
an attack on Gammu, forcing the Matres back to their military outpost
on Junction.. (Dune, HoD, CD)
Honored Matres
The Honored Matres are an aggressive race of
female hunters. The Bene Gesserit have theorized that when The Scattering went out into the
universe after Leto II's death, the Bene
Gesserit and Leto's Fish Speakers combined to form the Honored Matres
after three millennia of being away from the Old
Empire. Upon their return in HoD and CD, the Honored Matres sought
to eliminate the Bene Gesserit "witches" (the Bene Gesserit in turn
referred to the Matres as "whores") and any
others who would stand in their way of conquering the Old Empire. The
Tleilaxu
were actually exterminated by the Honored Matres upon finding out that
they
had developed a ghola (Duncan Idaho) with the same sexual talents that
the
Matres had, a talent the Matres used to enslave men and obtain power
over
populations. Duncan of course, could use the ability on women and
actually enslaved an Honored Matre with it. The information of Duncan's
ability was intentionally leaked by the Mother Superior Alma Mavis
Taraza of the Bene Gesserit as part of a plan to manipulate the Matres
into destroying Arrakis for the Sisterhood, which they consequently did
at the end of HoD.
The Honored Matres as well as other people of
the Scattering, still worshipped Leto II long after his death but
referred to him as Guldur or Dur. (HoD, CD)
Ix - Ixians
A name for a race of people as well as their
planet, known mainly for their superior skills in developing machines,
including Guild
Heighliner ships. Competed against another race of people from the
planet
Richese, who were an alternate source to supply needed machines. It has
been
argued that the Ixians developed machines that conflicted with the laws
of
the Butlerian Jihad (which outlawed thinking machines), whereas people
of
Richese avoided violating the Jihad laws at all costs. Ixians generally
profited
more from their trade because they were able to provide better
technology than what Richese could develop.
Many characters speculated as to the origin
of the Ix name. The Ixians took pride in their secrecy and
enjoyed knowing they were the only ones who knew it actually
represented the symbol of being the ninth planet in their solar system,
using an Old Terra numeric system long
forgotten called roman numerals. (All)
Kwisatz Haderach
The term Kwisatz Haderach, coined by the Bene Gesserit means "Shortening of the
Way" and
they were responsible for bringing one into existance. To them, a
Kwisatz Haderach was a genetically superior human being male who
possessed all of the abilities of a Reverened Mother plus a few
of his own. Many men have tried to "awaken" the powers of the Kwisatz
Haderach in themselves by drinking the Water of Life, but every man who
tried died by the poisoning effects of the liquid. Paul Atreides was
the first Kwisatz Haderach. He drank the water of life and survived,
awakening the abilities that every Reverened Mother could carry. The
Bene Gesserit were able to create this super being with their Breeding
Program, manipulating breeding lines for over 10,000 years.
Their plan was to be able to control the Kwisatz Haderach who would
then
take rulership of the Universe, placing the Sisterhood in surpreme
control of millions of worlds. However, they were not able to control
Paul and when he did usurp the Imperial Throne from Padishah Emperor
Shaddam IV in 10,193, a million worlds came under his control, which included
the Bene
Gesserit.
Leto II - Leto Atreides, the Tyrant, God
Emperor, Guldur, Dur
The fourth book in the Dune series, God
Emperor
of Dune, is all about Leto II's Imperial reign which lasted 3500 years.
Leto II was born as a human to his parents Paul Muad'Dib Atreides and a
Fremen named Chani. Paul and Chani had a child previous who they named
Leto II, after
Paul's father Leto I, but the infant was killed by the Padishah
Emperor's Sardaukar in 10,193. At the end of Dune Messiah, Chani gives
birth again, this time to twins. A boy named Leto II and a girl named
Ghanima. Since their father had the powers of a Kwisatz Haderach,
the twins had awareness of their existence while they were still in the
womb. This awareness in the womb gave Leto access to all of his
ancestral memories and the lives they all led including both male and
female lines all the way back to the beginning of time, an ability the
Bene Gesserit have when they ingest the Water of Life
and become Reverend Mothers (although they can only follow the female
side
of their ancestral memories). When Leto was nine, he was forced to take
the
Water of Life, a test from his paternal grandmother, Jessica Atreides
to
see if Leto had the same Kwisatz Haderach powers as his father. The
Water of Life give him prescient powers that allowed him to see
millennia into the
future. What he saw was the eventual extinction of the human race whose
origins
could be traced back to his own father, when Paul and his Fremen
followers
usurped the Imperial throne from the Padishah Emperor in 10,193 and
unleashed
a Fremen Jihad on all of the planets in the Known
Universe and force the members of his newly acquired empire to
conform
to Paul's ideals. Leto was naturally concerned with the extinction of
all
mankind and at the chronological age of nine (although he was the
oldest
person alive because of his memories), set a plan into motion that
would
save themselves from dying out. Leto referred to this plan as the
Golden
Path, the continued survival of mankind.
In order to enforce his Golden Path, he would need
to turn all of the civilizations upside down and force them to conform
to his style of living or else they would all die out. The plan would
take thousands of years to implement so Leto set out to extend his life
so that he could personally see to it that the Golden Path endured. An
indigenous lifeform on Arrakis, the sandworm, had a lifespan of several
millennia. Because of his Water of Life ingestion plus his ancestral
and prescient memories that told him how to do this, the sandtrout of
Arrakis (sandtrout are a part of the life cycle of a worm) latched on
to Leto and over the course of 3500 years,
slowly transforming him into one of the sandworms of Arrakis so that he
may
live out an extended life and see that his Golden Path endured. After
three
millennia after Leto's death, Arrakis, renamed to Rakis, was populated
with
sandworms again except this breed had a "pearl of awareness" of Leto in
each
one, as goes with the Bene Gesserit ability of Other Memories. In
essence,
the sandworms of Rakis were prescient and just from their existence,
locked
humanity on Leto's plan for humanity. Mother Superior Taraza sensed
this
and executed a plan that would break Leto's hold on them so that they
would
be free to grow on their own. (DM, CoD, GEoD)
Logno, Honored Matre
An Honored Matre, chief aid to Great Honored
Matre, Dama. Responsible for poisoning Great Honored Matre Dama and
taking her title as supreme leader over the Matres. Surrendered herself
and all Honored Matres to Mother Superior Odrade and the Bene
Gesserit's assault force when they were attacked on Junction. (CD)
Old Empire - Known Universe, Million
Planets.
References to all of the charted area of space
before The Scattering took place.
Also referred to as the Known Universe in Dune. The people from the
Scattering
also referred to it as A Million Planets. (All)
Old Terra - Earth
Several references have been made to Old
Terra,
linking the Dune stories to what they view as ancient Earth and is
actually
contemporary for us. Several sayings, inventions, memories and
equipment
have made it into the futuristic story. (All)
Reverened Mother
See Bene Gesserit
Scattering, The - The Famine Times
This term is used to refer to the trillions of
people who fled the Old Empire in search
of a
better life. After Leto II's death at the end of GEoD, a power struggle
for
control ensued and the whole structure of civilization fell. During
Leto's
reign, all of the sandworms had ceased to exist on Arrakis. No
Sandworm,
no spice. After Leto's Death, the spice hoard he kept eventually ran
out
and those addicted to it died from withdrawal. This was called the
Famine
Times and gave further incentive to go out with the Scattering and find
a
new life. At the end of GEoD, the people of Ix had
perfected
the technology of a no-globe which was used to develop no-rooms and
no-ships. No-ships were used in The Scattering so that prescience could
not be used to determine the destination of all the people who were
fleeing. They were free to develop their own civilization out in the
uncharted regions of space. Their return to the Old Empire in HoD and
CD came as a culture shock to the inhabitants of the Old Empire and
they were forced to learn how to deal with the massive immigration. The
most difficult of all were the Honored
Matres, a race of women intent on killing everyone. (HoD, CD)
Taraza, Alma Mavis - Mother Superior, Tar,
Reverened Mother
Supreme ruler of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, aka Mother
Superior. Taraza was in charge of the Sisterhood during HoD, almost
2000 years after the death of Leto II. She is
responsible for keeping the Idaho Duncan ghola project alive in hopes
the Sisterhood would have a tool to control a person who Leto foretold
of when he was Emperor. That person being Sheeana, a Rakis
native who had the ability to
command sandworms. Mother Superior Taraza also orchestrated the
destruction of Rakis by indirectly revealing to the Honored Matres that the Duncan Idaho
ghola, had inherent abilities similar to the Matres, that is the
ability to enslave a being using the skills of sex. After the Honored
Matres destroyed Gammu (where Duncan was raised and trained), they set
their sights on Rakis after hearing that Duncan had escaped their
attack and fled there.
Mother Superior Taraza died on Rakis when the
Honored Matres attacked, but not before passing her Other Memories to
Reverend Mother Odrade, who then assumed leadership of the Bene
Gesserit. (HoD)
Teg, Miles - Bashar, Supreme Commander
Miles Teg is a
prominent character is the last two books of the series. He was the
most trusted male in the Bene Gesserit
ranks and served as their military leader when the Sisterhood needed
him. He was specifically bred to
serve the Sisterhood as was evident by the fact that his mother, a
Reverened Mother, raised him in the ways and special abilities that a
Bene Gesserit live their life, perhaps more so then the Sisterhood
would have liked any male to know. Teg served as military leader of the
Bene Gesserit and also fathered several of their children for them as
part of the Sister's Breeding Scheme. One of the children he fathered
was Darwi Odrade, the Mother Superior in Chapterhouse Dune. He also
fathered Reverned Mother Lucilla, an Imprinter. Teg descended from the
Atreides line (with a strong resemblance to Duke Leto Atreides from
5500 years before!) and despite the best efforts of the Sisterhood's
attempt to breed out the gene that provided the ability of prescience
to all
Atreides, it persisted and actually flourished in Teg and his
offspring, including
Odrade. Teg was able to utilize this ability into detecting no-ships,
which
were supposedly invisible to prescience and it came in very handy in
two
instances. First, when he needed to hijack a Matre no-ship on Gammu and
get
to Rakis in HoD and secondly in CD when he led the attack on Junction
where
the bulk of the Honored Matres were camped out. Teg detected the
no-ships in orbit around the planet and was able to set them off in an
explosive chain reaction, negating the planet's defenses.
Miles has other super-human skills as well. He
had the ability to move lightning fast, probably a result of his
intense
prana-bindu training and some of the forbidden abilities taught to him
by
his mother. This speed ability left him extremely famished if he used
it
for just a few seconds.
Miles Teg was killed when the Honored Matres attacked Rakis. He provided time for Odrade, Duncan and
their latest captive, Murbella, an Honored Matre, to escape to the
sancutary of planet Chapterhouse. Before the
Bashar's death, Odrade was able to take a cell scraping from her
father's neck by scratching it lightly, storing the contents under her
fingernail. She carried the genetic material back to Chapterhouse where
Miles Teg could be cloned, grown from an axlotl tank, unlike a ghola
since a ghola's cells are taken from the cadavre. In Miles' instance,
he was still alive when the cells were taken and as a result would not
even remember his death.
Miles Teg was revived by cloning his cells in
CD. He was recruited by the Sisterhood once again to help their fight
agasint the aggressive Honored Matres. The clone Miles Teg, grew up on
Chapterhouse and when he turned nine, his previous memories before his
death were reawakened by Reverned Mother Sheeana who used an
Imprinter's sexual abilities to restore his memories. The ghola Duncan
Idaho was asked to restore the Bashar's memories using the technique of
applying psychological pressure, the common method used to reawaken a
ghola's memories (It's how the original Miles Teg reawakened
Duncan's!). Due to the extreme loyalty Duncan held for the Atreides,
and since
Miles Teg looked too much like his old friend the Duke, he was unwiling
to
go through the process and demanded that the Sisterhood find another
way. At this point, Duncan suggested trying to Imprint Miles and even
guessed that
Miles' mother had gone against Bene Gesserit requirements and taught
her
son how to resist an Imprinter's methods. This provided the sufficient
psychological
pressure to reawaken a ghola/clone's memories and at the chronological
age
of nine, Miles Teg once again became Supreme Commander for the Bene
Gesserits leading a very successful attack against the Matres on Gammu and Junction in CD. (HoD, CD)
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