The KNOWN UNIVERSE
We begin in the year 10,191 of the Imperial calendar, a time of feudal politics, deadly assassins, and political rivalry in a universe where humanity has spread out across thousands of planets.
In this age, humanity has not just advanced but evolved. Some people have minds like computers, able to store and process data with perfect accuracy. Others have learned unique martial arts skills that allow them incredible control over their nerves and muscles, making them lightning-fast, lethal combatants. Some have even developed strange powers of deduction and prophesy, and for this, they are often called ‘witches’.
Then there is the spice.
This substance is the driving force behind the entire civilization of the Imperium. Without it, space travel would be impossible, and several factions would be unable to use the abilities that grant them their power. Even for the less developed people of the Imperium, spice extends human lifespan, even doubling it, and the promise of more years will make some people do daring and desperate things…
Spice is only found on one planet in the entire universe: Arrakis. It is a hostile desert world of deadly sandstorms and great worms, where no drop of rain has ever fallen. The indigenous people of Arrakis - the Fremen of the deep desert - know it by another name.
They call it ‘Dune’.
The universe of Dune is a complex and fascinating place. Below, we offer a brief overview of the key players and aspects of this incredible and rich setting.
- PADISHAH EMPEROR -
- THE LANDSRAAD COUNCIL -
- CHOAM -
- THE SPACING GUILD -
- SPICE MELANGE -
- ARRAKIS (AKA ‘DUNE’) -
- FREMEN -
- SHAI-HULUD (AKA ‘SANDWORMS’) -
- BENE GESSERIT -
Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV
In the time of the Imperium, humanity has spread so far into the universe that Earth is nothing but a distant memory.
The Known Universe of the human empire is ruled by the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV, the descendant of an imperial line - House Corrino - which has ruled the universe for tens of thousands of years.
The Golden Lion Throne upon which Shaddam IV sits is the center of power in the Known Universe and unassailable due to the fearsome reputation of the deadly Sardaukar legions. This is the heart of the Imperium, where even the slightest decision can affect the destinies of whole worlds.
A ruthless and fickle man, Shaddam IV holds more power than any other individual in the Known Universe; however, this power is balanced by the Landsraad.
CHOAM
While power in the Imperium is largely held between the Landsraad alliance of Houses Major and Minor and the Emperor, a third force exists: a coalition between the Spacing Guild and the omnipresent business conglomerate known as CHOAM. a
CHOAM - also known as the Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles - is an immense organization that governs and regulates all trade and commerce in the Known Universe.
Every House within the Landsraad has shares in CHOAM and draws profits from it. Even so, the collective power of CHOAM itself is such that all must bow to its dictates or face an audit, or potential financial ruin.
CHOAM’S directorate is one of the most powerful organizations in the Imperium. Seats on the board of directors are highly coveted, carrying with them the opportunity for stupendous wealth and the ear of the Emperor.
SPICE Melange
One thing makes the existing power structure within the Imperium possible: the spice melange, an organic substance which bestows longevity, enhanced awareness, and allows prescient visions of the future to come.
Despite its beneficial qualities, the spice is a double-edged sword: it is highly addictive, and withdrawal can often be deadly.
This miraculous substance is found in only one place in the entire universe: the planet Arrakis. This desert world is the most important place in the universe.
Wars have been fought over possession of the spice, for the one who controls the spice controls the universe. No commodity in the known universe is more valued than the spice melange. At times, the value of a single decagram of spice has ranged as high as 620,000 solaris.
FREMEN
Descended from the Zensunni Wanderers who sought refuge from persecution, the ancestors of the Fremen have been upon Arrakis since before even before the Imperium. Their early years upon the planet are lost to legend, though it is known that they adapted quickly to the strange and harsh environment of Arrakis and came to live in harmony with it.
The Fremen mastered the riding of sandworms, the most colossal of all living things, and learned to coax water - life itself - from the desert where there is none. They were on Arrakis when melange became the most sought-after substance in the universe. Even as their planet became the most important in the cosmos and as they became the subject of curiosity, inquest, and hostility, the Fremen remained.
Theirs is a culture dedicated to a single principle: survival. Almost every aspect of their existence is dedicated to this overriding goal. Survival at all costs. How else could they have lived so long on Arrakis?
The Landsraad Council
All the Houses - Major and Minor alike - are governed collectively by a council called the Landsraad, headed by the hereditary Emperor Shaddam IV. The Landsraad is organized through a set of rules known as the Great Convention, the political compact that governs all. All within the Landsraad swear allegiance to the Emperor, but most Houses within the Landsraad strive and scramble for influence and power at the expense of the others.
Meanwhile, the Emperor sits above it all, picking favorites and allying discretely with one House against another.
The rules of the Great Convention prevent open warfare unless sanctioned by the Emperor; however, a safety valve exists in the form of ‘kanly’, the art of vendetta, providing a legitimate means of one House waging war against another through assassins.
The SPACING GUILD
All Houses have some means of conventional space travel; However, the means of traveling from one star system to another is the sole purview of the Spacing Guild. As such, the Spacing Guild itself is the most critical entity within the Imperium.
Without the ability to move goods across the universe, all trade would grind to a halt, and all diplomacy would break down, plunging the Known Universe into chaos.
The Spacing Guild is quite aware of this, and acts accordingly, extracting every solari it can from those who use its services, and working in tandem with CHOAM to ensure a status quo that maintains their highly profitable monopoly. The Spacing Guild seeks to sustain its existence and must always have access to the spice melange, the most precious substance in the universe.
ARRAKIS
(AKA ‘DUNE’)
Arrakis. Dune. The desert planet. A hell of sand, dust, and heat. Little grows, the skies are clear of anything resembling a cloud. The only time the horizon becomes obscured is when the vast sandstorms begin to fill the sky, sweeping down upon the unsuspecting with sufficient ferocity to strip flesh from bone, to mulch metal.
It is a world without pity, a world without the capacity for weakness or mercy. Those unprepared for its harshness are doomed to die, flesh reddened, mummified by the heat - every drop of liquid drained from their flesh.
On Arrakis, one’s own skin becomes a threat, an impediment to survival. Every pore is an enemy—a means by which moisture can escape, costing minutes of survival.
Everything that exists on Arrakis is in some way inimical to human life. Almost every animal species is hostile. Even plants, the sparse grass and hardier flowers, are just competitors for water. There is only one reason anyone would choose to live on Arrakis: the spice melange.
Shai-Hulud
(AKA ‘Sandworms’)
The most impressive and dangerous of Arrakis’ inhabitants is the sandworm. These gigantic beasts live beneath the sand, burrowing deep below the surface, where they form vast networks of tunnels. Called ‘Shai-Hulud’, or ‘Makers’, by the Fremen, the sandworms course through the planet, posing a terrible threat to any who travel carelessly across the surface of the sand.
The largest of the species, found in the deep deserts, often stretch to 400 meters in length and even the most junior is usually capable of swallowing spice mining rigs whole in a few delirious moments of violence. The thick, sand-colored hide of the sandworm is nearly impenetrable and is lined with something like scales.
To all but the Fremen, the sandworms are terrifying monsters. They lurch up from the sand, consuming anything that they encounter, their huge sightless heads splitting into a mouth lined with endless teeth. Drawn by any rhythmic noise on the surface of the sand, sandworms can surge upwards and towards such noises with terrifying speed and, against creatures of such size, there are almost no weapons which can drive them off.
BENE GESSERIT
This mysterious Sisterhood is one of the most ancient schools of the Imperium. On the damp, inhospitable planet of Wallach IX, the Bene Gesserit Mother Superior guides humanity with a subtle hand from the massive Mother School complex.
Women from around the Imperium go there to endure the physical and mental conditioning the Bene Gesserit are famous for. So renowned are they, that even the Houses Major and Minor pay to have their daughters educated there. In the school complex, initiates learn control, discipline, and loyalty to the Sisterhood.
This arcane organization has a plan for all of humanity. With gentle coaxing, political alliances, social maneuvering, the occasional veiled threat, and the rare assassination, the Sisterhood focuses the Imperium on the direction of its choosing and toward the future they believe is the correct one.
Their most secret goal is to create the Kwisatz Haderach, a being who could acquire knowledge even beyond the Reverend Mothers with their Other Memory and connect or manipulate space and time. In pursuing this agenda, they have manipulated several bloodlines in secret for centuries.
Their unique combination of communication ability, information-gathering expertise, and emotional manipulation makes them formidable spies, and the Sisterhood maintains its own spy network that extends to nearly every House within the Imperium, with few exceptions. Even those Houses that do not have a Bene Gesserit-trained member as a counselor, spouse, or concubine, may have one or more operatives working clandestinely within their households and reporting to the Sisterhood.