Organizations of the Dune universe

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Suk doctor
)
Shaddam IV, from the 2000 Dune miniseries

Multiple organizations of the Dune universe dominate the political, religious, and social arena of the setting of Frank Herbert's Dune series of science fiction novels, and derivative works. Set tens of thousands of years in the future, the saga chronicles a civilization which has banned computers but has also developed advanced technology and mental and physical abilities through physical training, eugenics and the use of the drug melange. Specialized groups of individuals have aligned themselves in organizations focusing on specific abilities, technology and goals. Herbert's concepts of human evolution and technology have been analyzed and deconstructed in at least one book, The Science of Dune (2008).[1][2][3] His originating 1965 novel Dune is popularly considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time,[4] and is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history.[4][5] Dune and its five sequels by Herbert explore the complex and multilayered interactions of politics, religion, ecology and technology, among other themes.

We've a three-point civilization: the Imperial Household balanced against the Federated Great Houses of the Landsraad, and between them, the Guild with its damnable monopoly on interstellar transport.

As Frank Herbert's Dune (1965) begins, the known universe is ruled by

folded space".[6][7]

The

Butlerian Jihad. The doctors of the Suk School are the universe's most competent and trusted; those who have received the "Suk Imperial Conditioning" are incapable of inflicting harm. The Swordmasters of Ginaz are an elite group of master swordsmen whose fighting skills are prized and unmatched. Equally fierce in battle are the native Fremen of the desert planet Arrakis, known as Dune. Naturally honed to excellence in harsh conditions rivaling the planet on which the Imperial Sardaukar are trained, the Fremen are misunderstood and underestimated by the other powers in the universe.[6]

Arrakis is the only natural source of the all-important spice melange, and by leading the Fremen to seize control of the planet in Dune,

prescient vision, in Children of Dune (1976) Paul's son Leto II devises a plan to save humanity but becomes a symbiote with the sandworm of Arrakis to gain the extended lifespan needed to see this plan to its end.[9]

Thirty-five hundred years later in

the Scattering
.

Fifteen hundred years later, as

New Sisterhood with shared abilities is their best chance at survival against the approaching enemy who had driven the Honored Matres into the Old Empire.[12]

Bene Gesserit

The Bene Gesserit are a key social, religious, and political force in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. The

Kwisatz Haderach
.

Bene Tleilax

The Bene Tleilax, also called Tleilaxu

Hedley Tuek with a humming language, but fails due to the copy's complete assimilation into its new form.[11]

The original series

The Tleilaxu control a number of planets but are originally connected with Tleilax, the sole planet of the star Thalim. Herbert's 1965 novel

concubine Chani, in exchange for his abdication. Paul refuses, and kills Scytale.[8] Duncan further ponders the Tleilaxu legacy of his creation in Children of Dune (1976).[9]

Over 3,500 years later in

By the events of

Sequels

In

Khrone, who cannot be detected by even the Bene Gesserit. Despite having the technology to create gholas, the Lost Tleilaxu do not know how to manufacture melange in axlotl tanks, the process for which died with the original Tleilaxu Masters. Their immediate goal is to rediscover this secret to break the Bene Gesserit monopoly. The Lost Tleilaxu leadership has been infiltrated and overtaken by Khrone's Face Dancers, however, and soon the last true Elder, Burah, is killed. The Face Dancers have also secretly gained control of many similar power bases across the Old Empire.[15]

A minion of the powerful independent Face Dancers

Hellica. Uxtal is tasked to pacify Hellica by producing the orange adrenaline-enhancing drug used by the Honored Matres with axlotl technology. Khrone, however, has his own agenda for domination of the universe, and believes that, like the Tleilaxu, Daniel and Marty can be fooled.[15]

While the universe at large is unaware that the no-ship carries the secret to producing melange in axlotl tanks, The

Legends of Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Anderson.[15]

In the series finale, Sandworms of Dune (2007), it is revealed that Khrone and his legions of autonomous Face Dancers seek to overthrow their machine "masters". Secretly in control of Ix and its technology production, Khrone manipulates the Spacing Guild and New Sisterhood, setting them up for disastrous failure in their final battle against the thinking machine forces of Omnius. When Khrone asserts dominance over even the machine empire, a smug Erasmus activates a fail-safe built into all enhanced Face Dancers, instantly killing Khrone and all of his minions across the universe.[16]

Prequels

In the

Project Amal, an early attempt by the Bene Tleilax to create synthetic melange in order to eliminate dependence upon the planet Arrakis; intending an eventual Tleilaxu takeover of the universe, Ajidica sends "improved" Face Dancers off to unexplored systems.[17] The ancestors of the Bene Tleilax are featured in the Legends of Dune (2002–2004) prequel series by Brian Herbert and Anderson. They are a civilization of human merchants known as the "Tlulaxa", who specialize in slaves and replacement organs. They claim that the organs are grown artificially in organ farms, but in reality, the vast majority of the organs are harvested from slaves. The Tlulaxa do have working organ farms, but they are used mainly as a front for the slave harvesting operations and provide only a small fraction of the replacement organs.[18]

Emperor: Battle for Dune

The Tleilaxu are one of the five subfactions in the 2001 computer game Emperor: Battle for Dune.

CHOAM

The flag of CHOAM, based on its description in Dune (1965)

The Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles (CHOAM) is a universal development corporation in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe, first mentioned in the 1965 novel Dune. CHOAM controls all economic affairs across the cosmos, though it is still at the mercy of the Spacing Guild's monopoly on interstellar travel. In a 1980 article, Herbert equated CHOAM with OPEC, the real-world intergovernmental organization which is a major power in the petroleum industry.[19] He writes in Dune:

"Few products escape the CHOAM touch ... Logs, donkeys, horses, cows, lumber, dung, sharks,

Duke Leto Atreides
, Dune

CHOAM's management and

Landsraad, the assembly of noble Houses, with the Spacing Guild and the Bene Gesserit as silent partners
. Because of its control of interplanetary commerce, CHOAM is the largest single source of wealth in the Empire; as such, influence in CHOAM is a central goal of political maneuvering. In Dune, Herbert notes:

"You have no idea how much wealth is involved, Feyd," the Baron said. "Not in your wildest imaginings. To begin, we'll have an irrevocable directorship in the CHOAM Company."
Feyd-Rautha nodded. Wealth was the thing. CHOAM was the key to wealth, each noble House dipping from the company's coffers whatever it could under the power of the directorships. Those CHOAM directorships — they were the real evidence of political power in the Imperium, passing with the shifts of voting strength within the Landsraad as it balanced itself against the Emperor and his supporters.[6]

Before the climactic battle in Dune,

Harkonnen enemies. Instead, the Emperor raises the flag of CHOAM, as a reminder to all of the combatant parties that economics trump political considerations.[6]

In 2011, Forbes ranked CHOAM as the largest fictional corporation.[20]

Prequels

In the Great Schools of Dune novels that take place eight decades after the end of the Butlerian Jihad, Josef Venport, the director of Venport Holdings (Venhold), the largest foldspace transportation company in the universe and the only company utilizing Navigators, forms Combined Mercantiles to mine spice on Arrakis. While ostensibly an independent company, it's an open secret that Combined Mercantiles works for Venhold. Presumably, the company eventually evolves into CHOAM.

Fish Speakers

The Fish Speakers are the all-female army of the God Emperor Leto II Atreides in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe, appearing primarily in God Emperor of Dune (1981). Named so because "the first priestesses spoke to fish in their dreams," the organization is founded by Leto after the events of Children of Dune (1976).[10]

In

Siona Atreides.[10]

By the time of

the Scattering following Leto's death.[12]

Fremen

The Fremen are a secretive and misunderstood tribe of humans in the Dune universe. As the resident population of the desert planet Arrakis – who came there after thousands of years of wandering the universe – when Dune (1965) begins they have been long overlooked by the rest of the Imperium and are considered backward savages; in reality they are an extremely hardy people and exist in large numbers, their culture built around the commodity of water, which is extremely scarce on Arrakis.

Honored Matres

The Honored Matres are a fictional

Waff notes that they are "far more terrible than Reverend Mothers of the Bene Gesserit." Scholar Kara Kennedy views the Honored Matres, in the context of the discussion of women's sexual agency in the novels, as "a foil to the Bene Gesserits' attitude towards sexuality".[21][22]

In Heretics of Dune, the Honored Matres capture the teenage

Darwi Odrade
is also killed, and Murbella secures the leadership of both groups, per Odrade's plan. Murbella intends to merge the two orders into a New Sisterhood, which displeases some women on both sides.

Sequels

The Honored Matres also appear in

Butlerian Jihad
, but amassing a force to finally exterminate humanity. Through Other Memory she witnesses the Honored Matres' first encounter with the unknown Enemy. A young Matre commander had invaded an area controlled by the remnants of the machine empire, with initial success. However, the thinking machines' retribution had been terrible, especially when they had realized that humans still existed. The machines had destroyed the Honored Matre empire, and the remnants had then fled back to the Old Empire to build a new dominion.

Ixians

The Ixians are a technological culture in

fold space
.

By the time of the events described in the 1965 novel

Siona Atreides as part of his own plan for the universe.[10]

The Ixians had kept Hwi's development a secret through the use of their new invention, the no-room (later called a

ghola suggests that Leto had never "suppressed" Ix because "he was fascinated by the idea of human and machine inextricably bound to each other, each testing the limits of the other."[12]

Prequels

In the

Rhombur Vernius as the ruler of Ix, all the records of Project Amal are destroyed.[17]

Landsraad

The Landsraad is a political body in

Sardaukar, and of the planet Arrakis and its priceless melange, a source of endless wealth. The Landsraad represents the unification of all the other ruling families, known as Houses, to create a check against the individual power of the Emperor, a theoretically comparable force. Both the combined Houses and the Emperor are in turn dependent on the Guild for interstellar travel. This delicate balance of power initially serves to prevent any particularly ambitious or destructive faction or individual from upsetting the stability of society.[6][7]

In "Terminology of the Imperium," the glossary of Dune (1965), Herbert specifies a House as a "Ruling Clan of a planet or planetary system," with major Houses holding planetary

Butlerian Jihad (itself 10,000 years before the events of the novel) by approximately 2000 years.[27] It was at some point referred to as the Landsraad League, and held influence over more than 13,300 worlds immediately after the Jihad.[28]

The word Landsraad is a compound word meaning "council of the land" (the 's' indicates possessive case). The word exists in several

Danish
until the spelling reform of 1948 saw it changed to landsråd. Herbert borrowed the word from a Scandinavian language. When asked, he defined the Landsraad thus:

Q: In the novel Dune, what is the Landsraad?

Herbert: Well, Landsraad is an old Scandinavian word for an assembly of landowners. It's historically accurate in that it was an assembly and the first meetings of the legislative body—an early one, yes. The Landsraad—it's the landed gentry.[29]

Prequels

It is established in the

Faykan Corrino to the new Imperial throne, the Landsraad is formed by the League in order to keep the power of the Corrinos in check.[30]

Mentats

A Mentat is a type of human, presented in

Ecaz. Repeated use leaves a permanent "cranberry-colored stain" on the user's lips.[6]

In

Other Memory
that the Order of Mentats was founded by Gilbertus Albans.

Prequels

The origin of the first Mentat is later explored in the

Erasmus
argues that any human can become brilliant. Omnius picks a nine-year-old, blond-haired boy who appears to be the wildest and most unkempt of all, and challenges Erasmus to prove his theory. Erasmus calls the boy Gilbertus Albans, thinking that this sounds like a smart human's name. After initially failing to make progress by using a system of benevolence and rewards, he switches to a system of strict supervision and punishment, and the method works. By emulating Erasmus, whom he has come to consider his father, Albans becomes the first human to display computer-like cognitive and calculation capacity on the level of thinking machines. Because of Gilbertus' remarkable memory, organizational ability and capacity for logical thinking, Erasmus nicknames him "Mentat", created from the words "mentor", "mentee", and "mentation".

Padishah Emperors

The Padishah Emperors

Kaitain.[34][36]

As Dune begins, the 81st Padishah Emperor is

Ghanima.[8] Young Leto ascends the throne in 1976's Children of Dune, becoming a human-sandworm hybrid to achieve superhuman physical abilities and longevity.[9] Leto rules as God Emperor for over 3,500 years; his assassination in God Emperor of Dune (1981) effectively abolishes the Imperial throne.[10]

Prequels

Several

atomics. The Imperial throne had been relocated to the planet Kaitain, where it remains for millennia.[37]

Rakian Priesthood

The Rakian Priesthood is a priestly body that worships the Divided God, Leto II Atreides. They rule Rakis during the time the Lost Ones are returning from the Scattering, approximately 1500 years after Leto II's death. They are presumably descendants of the Fish Speakers priestesses. The Rakian Priesthood maintain that both Muad'Dib and his son Leto II were hallowed, and that Leto was God Himself. Their canon details how, after his death, Leto divided into the sandworms and became Shai-Hulud, hence the term "Divided God". The Priesthood is largely populated with individuals who lack insight, but possess ambition. After Leto's death, they maintain a brutal rule over Rakis, marked by random executions. Other powers from the Old Imperium, including the Bene Gesserit, the Fish Speakers, and the Bene Tleilax, have come to find them a troublesome, ignorant group. The Bene Gesserit, however, enjoy a particularly great influence over the priesthood.

At the time of the discovery of

Honored Matres.[11]

Sardaukar

The Sardaukar are a military force from

weaken opponents with terror. Their uniforms are described as gray with silver and gold trim.[6]

As Dune begins, the 81st Padishah Emperor

Aramsham to humiliate himself by surrendering. However, Aramsham's Sardaukar stoicism is so great that he will not even give his name until Paul uses the Voice again. The defeat of the Sardaukar and Paul's stranglehold on the supply of the all-important spice melange allows him to depose Shaddam, marry his eldest daughter Princess Irulan, and ascend the throne.[6]

In

Fish Speakers. Leto believes that male-dominated military organizations are essentially predatory and will turn on the civilian population in the absence of an external enemy.[10]

A line of Dune action figures released by toy company LJN in 1984, styled after David Lynch's film, included a figure of a Sardaukar warrior.[38][39]

Spacing Guild

The Spacing Guild is an organization in the Dune universe whose

heighliner starships from planet to planet instantaneously. Essentially apolitical, the Guild is primarily concerned with the flow of commerce and preservation of the economy that supports them; though their ability to dictate the terms of and fees for all transport gives them influence in the political arena, they do not pursue political goals beyond their economic ones.[6]

Suk School

The Suk School is a prominent medical school in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. Suk doctors are the universe's most competent and trusted physicians. Those who have received the "Suk Imperial Conditioning" are incapable of inflicting harm upon their charges. These individuals bear a black diamond tattoo on their foreheads, and wear their hair in a special silver ring.[6]

The fallibility of Suk training is proven in

Piter De Vries
notes:

Emperor. Great store is set on Imperial Conditioning. It's assumed that ultimate conditioning cannot be removed without killing the subject. However, as someone once observed, given the right lever you can move a planet. We found the lever that moved the doctor.[6]

To gain such leverage against Yueh, Baron

Leto Atreides the means to kill the Baron (though Leto fails to do so).[6]

Later in the series, in Heretics of Dune (1984) and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985), many Bene Gesserits are trained by Suk Schools to become doctors for the Sisterhood.[11][12]

Prequels

The origins of the school are explored in the

Butlerian Jihad. After the war he sets out to establish a medical institution which will assure "that no threat of machine, war, or plague can ever harm us again."[40]

Swordmasters of Ginaz

The Swordmasters of Ginaz are a school of martial artists in

Grumman."[41] Duncan Idaho is noted to be a "Swordmaster of the Ginaz,"[6] which leads to his body later being sold to the Tleilaxu as "a master swordsman, an adept of the Ginaz School."[8]

Prequels

The school's origins are detailed in the

Thinking machines

cymek (left) and Erasmus) from the cover of Dune: The Machine Crusade
(2003)

Thinking machines is a collective term for

back-story of the Dune universe.[42][43] The thinking machines are first mentioned in 1965's Dune
, the glossary of which includes the following:

JIHAD, BUTLERIAN: (see also Great Revolt) — the crusade against computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots begun in 201 B.G. and concluded in 108 B.G. Its chief commandment remains in the

O.C. Bible as "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."[42]

In

Scytale notes that "From the days of the Butlerian Jihad when 'thinking machines' had been wiped from most of the universe, computers had inspired distrust."[8] Herbert refers to thinking machines and the Jihad several times in his later works in the Dune series, but does not give much detail on how he imagined either.[43] In God Emperor of Dune (1981), Leto II Atreides
indicates that the Jihad had been a semi-religious social upheaval initiated by humans who felt repulsed by how guided and controlled they had become by machines:

"The target of the Jihad was a machine-attitude as much as the machines," Leto said. "Humans had set those machines to usurp our sense of beauty, our necessary selfdom out of which we make living judgments. Naturally, the machines were destroyed."[10]

Later in the same novel, Leto tests

Golden Path — mankind's extinction at the hands of "seeking machines":[44]

He knew this experience, but could not change the smallest part of it. No ancestral presences would remain in her consciousness, but she would carry with her forever afterward the clear sights and sounds and smells. The seeking machines would be there, the smell of blood and entrails, the cowering humans in their burrows aware only that they could not escape . . . while all the time the mechanical movement approached, nearer and nearer and nearer ...louder...louder! Everywhere she searched, it would be the same. No escape anywhere.[10]

Herbert's death in 1986 left this topic unexplored and open to speculation.[43]

Prequels

Chronicling the Butlerian Jihad, the

Battle of Corrin.[18]

Sequels

In

Giedi Prime several decades earlier, uploading versions of Erasmus and Omnius.[15]

Titans

The Titans are a group of warlike

.

Over 11,000 years before the events of Frank Herbert's Dune (1965), a group of 20 ambitious humans see the stagnation of the Old Empire and realize that their small band can take control of it with the aid of

References

  1. .
  2. ^ "The Science of Dune". SmartPopBooks.com. January 2008. Archived from the original on March 16, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
  3. ^ Evans, Clay (March 14, 2008). "Review: Exploring Frank Herbert's 'Duniverse'". DailyCamera.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2008 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ ran a poll of readers on April 15, 1975, in which Dune 'was voted the all-time best science-fiction novel...It has sold over ten million copies in numerous editions.'"
  5. ^ "SCI FI Channel Auction to Benefit Reading Is Fundamental". PNNonline.org. March 18, 2003. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2007 – via Internet Archive. Since its debut in 1965, Frank Herbert's Dune has sold over 12 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling science fiction novel of all time ... Frank Herbert's Dune saga is one of the greatest 20th Century contributions to literature.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Herbert, Frank (1965). Dune.
  7. ^ a b c d Herbert, Frank (1965). Dune. We've a three-point civilization: the Imperial Household balanced against the Federated Great Houses of the Landsraad, and between them, the Guild with its damnable monopoly on interstellar transport.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Herbert, Frank (1969). Dune Messiah.
  9. ^ a b c d Herbert, Frank (1976). Children of Dune.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Herbert, Frank (1981). God Emperor of Dune.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Herbert, Frank (1984). Heretics of Dune.
  12. ^ a b c d e Herbert, Frank (1985). Chapterhouse: Dune.
  13. ^ "Audio excerpts from a reading of Dune by Frank Herbert". Usul.net. Archived from the original on November 11, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
  14. ^ Herbert, Frank (1981). God Emperor of Dune.
  15. ^ a b c d Herbert, Brian; Kevin J. Anderson (2006). Hunters of Dune.
  16. ^ Herbert, Brian; Kevin J. Anderson (2007). Sandworms of Dune.
  17. ^
    Prelude to Dune
    .
  18. ^
    Legends of Dune
    .
  19. ^ Herbert, Frank (July 1980). "Dune Genesis". Omni. DuneNovels.com (Internet Archive). Archived from the original on June 16, 2008. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
  20. ^ Noer, Michael (March 11, 2011). "The 25 Largest Fictional Companies". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 1, 2014. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  21. ProQuest 2739477367. Archived
    from the original on 2024-03-28. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  22. from the original on 2023-08-21. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  23. ^ Herbert (1965). "Terminology of the Imperium (House-Houses Major-Houses Minor)". Dune.
  24. ^ Herbert (1965). "Terminology of the Imperium (Faufreluches)". Dune.
  25. ^ Herbert (1965). "Terminology of the Imperium (High Council)". Dune.
  26. ^ Herbert (1965). "Terminology of the Imperium (Judge of the Change)". Dune.
  27. ^ Herbert, Frank (1965). "Appendix II: The Religion of Dune". Dune. The major dams against anarchy in these times were the embryo Guild, the Bene Gesserit and the Landsraad, which continued its 2,000-year record of meeting in spite of the severest obstacles.
  28. ^ Herbert (1965). "Appendix II: The Religion of Dune". Dune. Historians estimate the [anti-ecumenism] riots took eighty million lives. That works out to about six thousand for each world then in the Landsraad League.
  29. ^ "Vertex Interviews Frank Herbert" (Interview). Vol. 1, no. 4. Interviewed by Paul Turner. October 1973. Archived from the original on May 19, 2009. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
  30. Legends of Dune
    .
  31. ^ a b c d e f g h Bueno, Rose (July 30, 2019). "Who Are the Mentats in Dune?". Nerdist. Archived from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  32. ^ Lorenzo, DiTommaso (November 1992). "History and Historical Effect in Frank Herbert's Dune". Science Fiction Studies. #58, Volume 19, Part 3. DePauw.edu. pp. 311–325. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2009.
  33. ^ Padishah (پادشاه) is a Persian title meaning "great king" or "king of kings", which was historically given to Persian emperors and kings.
  34. ^
    Salusa Secundus
    .
  35. ^
    Shaddam IV is noted to have ended in 10,196 A.G. (After Guild
    ).
  36. Kaitain
    . Salusa Secundus is homeworld of House Corrino ...
  37. Prelude to Dune
    .
  38. ^ Daniels, James (January 12, 2014). "Toys We Miss: The Long Forgotten Figures From Frank Herbert's Dune". Nerd Bastards. Archived from the original on January 27, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  39. ^ "Toys". Collectors of Dune. Archived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  40. ^ Herbert, Brian; Kevin J. Anderson (2004). Dune: The Battle of Corrin.
  41. ^ Herbert, Frank (1965). "Terminology of the Imperium: Ginaz, House of". Dune.
  42. ^ a b Herbert, Frank (1965). "Terminology of the Imperium: Jihad, Butlerian". Dune.
  43. ^ a b c MacDonald, Rod (January 6, 2009). "Review: Dune: The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson". SFCrowsnest.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
  44. .