#the guild? they combined the spacing guild and the bene gesserit

[insistent-daydreamer]

the more i learn about dune the more i realize how much last exile took from it.. like whole elements copied 1 to 1.. huh.

[racsow]

favorite bits from dune

There is probably no more terrible instant of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man - with human flesh.

When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.

Black is a blind remembering. You listen for pack sounds, for the cries of those who hunted your ancestors in a past so ancient only your most primitive cells remember.

Animal consciousness does not extend beyond the given moment.

What do you despise? By this you are truly known.

The terrified man fights himself.

Each man is a little war.

Prophets have a way of dying by violence.

Religion is but the most ancient and honorable way in which men have striven to make sense out of God's universe.

Scientists seek the lawfulness of events. It is the task of religion to fit man into this lawfulness.

The Guild had made the fatal decision: they'd chosen always the clear, safe course that leads ever downwards into stagnation.

The one-eyed vision of the past, the one-eyed vision of the present and the one-eyed vision of the future... all combined in a trinocular vision that permitted him to see time-become-space.

...his being translated beyond the boundaries of time by the poison that gives life.

Mercy is a chimera. It can be defeated by the stomach rumbling its hunger, by the throat crying its thirst.

"The mind can go either direction under stress - toward positive or negative: on or off. Think of it as a spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness and hyperconsciousness. The way the mind will lean is strongly influenced by training." - Bene Gesserit axioms

"Give as few orders as possible," his father had told him once, long ago. "Once you've given orders on a subject, you must always give orders on that subject."

The desert stretched like a static ocean... full of moon-silvered waves, shadows of angles that lapsed into curves and, in the distance, lifted to the misted gray blur of another escarpment.

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

I imagine Denis Villeneuve is saving the Spacing Guild for Dune Messiah where they play a more active role in the plot. Can also see him combining them with the Bene Tleilax to save time on explaining all the different factions and avoid confusion with the Bene Gesserit.

[sohelish]

For the worms and not much else. Dune AU

Helena is a daughter of a concubine and a redacted nobleman. She wasn't supposed to be born, an accidental result of an almost-love act, a moment of weakness, if you will. Helena's mother, the concubine, was meant to be a casual entertainer to the nobleman, nothing more. The mistake was, however, begrudgingly forgiven. In secret, the youngster was graciously accepted as a ward to the nobleman and treated as an equal among other children, her half-siblings. They grew up together and became close like a family should. Yet, when the opportunity to be educated by the Bene Gesserit presented itself, it was Hel who showed the most promise, having found her conniving Voice early. Unbeknownst to herself, she'd turn into an unintentional rival to her siblings. That, combined with her mother's sudden ambition, resulted in the unfortunate and untimely demise of the latter. Hel was sent farther away to train in secret. A Bene Gesserit with Hidden rank.

Trouble is brewing. If you do as we say, you'll get to see your family again. Lies - Hel could tell right away. They claimed enemies plotted against her mother, but she knew that other members of the Bene Gesserit, along with her father, removed the unnecessary complications. The girl was spared only for her potential usefulness, no reason to waste skill.

Helena absorbed as much training as she could, paying for it with atrocious acts of seduction and manipulation in the game against other Houses. Then, having festered connections with the Spacing Guild, she performed one last assignment at their request. They assisted Hel in return as the woman masterfully orchestrated her death and fled. She was an asset under their wing until she began to consume spice in such quantities that her mind transformed and visions began. Something was beckoning her to Arrakis. The sandworms were calling out to her.

[ray-moo]

Thematically I don't know if this fits because thematically the Bene Gesserit are kind of directly opposed to the theme of presience.

Just as the Spacing Guild looked to the future, the Bene Gesserit mirrored them in how they looked to the past. From the themes surrounding gender in Dune, I'm pretty sure this was intentional with the Spacing Guild representing masculine dynamism (corrupted) with the Bene Gesserit representing feminine hindsight (also corrupted). There's the sense of corruption in how both the masculine Spacing Guild is too passive while the feminine Bene Gesserit are too active.

The Kwizatz Haderach was originally intended to combine both the masculine and feminine, foresight and hindsight, but ultimately I think there was a strong theme of the masculinity of the Kwizatz Haderach being what enables them to take the step into a better future (note how Leto uses masculine forms of dominance and control in his tyranny rather than the subtle feminine manipulation the Bene Gesserit employed).

I'm not endorsing these themes, I'm just saying that these were probably the intended themes of Frank Herbert since he was pretty sexist in his weird complimentarian way.

Also regarding "maybe in a sense Paul didn’t deviate quite so far from the role the Bene Gesserit had planned for him after all":

I've thought a little bit about what might happen in an AU where the Bene Gesserit got the Kwisatz Haderach they wanted, and got an idea it might look fundamentally similar to canon but with the Bene Gesserit collectively playing the role Leto II did in canon.

My idea:

The Bene Gesserit wanted the Kwisatz Haderach as a means to the end of basically transhumanism through selective breeding: his intended purpose was to catalyze the creation of a political system that would give the Bene Gesserit enough control to apply their selective breeding techniques to the general human population, and once the Bene Gesserit had that level of control they'd use it to selectively breed humans for "humanity" (as they define it) and prescience and so on. Of course, as this breeding program worked the abilities of normal humans would converge toward the abilities of Bene Gesserit, so the Bene Gesserit would gradually lose their advantages and eventually be overthrown, triggering a Scattering-equivalent event (and leaving the Bene Gesserit damned in memory in approximately the same way Leto II was, as the worst tyrants in human history; the Bene Gesserit are creepy eugenicist elitists who consider you not human if you can't pass their edgy torture marshmallow test, so there'd probably be a lot of material to work with in creating an unfond historical memory of their rule). Like Leto II, the Bene Gesserit would see this end as a good thing and work toward it (maybe they'd try to breed some prescience-invisible humans to aid the revolution against them like Leto II).

I think the Bene Gesserit rule would last longer because they'd have goals besides the Scattering, and their rule would change humanity more, and their overthrow would take longer cause their empire wouldn't have a single point of failure like Leto II, but the ultimate arc of history in this AU might be fundamentally similar to canon.

[orangebaccarat]

If you’re writing Dune fanfic but you haven’t read the novel...

Hello, fellow kids! Perhaps you’ve enjoyed the 2021 Dune movie and you’re rearing to write some fanfic, but you’ve never read the novel or seen any other adaptions. Because older Dune fans love to talk people’s ears off about Dune, I thought I’d put together some of the details from the first half of the novel that were missing from the movie. I’ve aimed to avoid any information that might be a spoiler for part 2, although some of this may have been intentionally saved for part 2 even though it appeared earlier in the novel. I hope folks find it helpful.

-Dune takes place in a far flung future where all of humanity lives under ‘The Empire of A Thousand Worlds’, also called the Imperium, the Known Universe, or the Galactic Padishah Empire. Humanity is spread out over countless planets, with nobility often ruling multiple worlds. The power of the Empire and the Great Houses depends on interstellar travel, without which individual planets could declare independence without fear of reprisal. Because of the great importance of space travel, the Spacing Guild (aka The Guild of Navigators) seeks to maintain a total monopoly on travel within the Empire. -The Spacing Guild maintains an interstellar calendar that has been adopted to keep time consistent between planets. House Atreides arrives on Arrakis in the year 10191 After Guild. The 21st century of the Gregorian calendar would be approximately 14500 Before Guild. It is unknown how Guild years correspond to Gregorian years. -Guild spaceships travel faster than light by using Holtzman drives to fold space between destinations. However, navigation while folding space is difficult and prior to establishment of the Guild, FTL ships would often be destroyed during the journey. The Guild’s method of navigation is a closely guarded secret – travelers are isolated to their quarters during trips and no one outside of the Guild has ever met a Guild navigator. However, it is obvious that it depends on the Spice. -The Spice, also sometimes called Melange, is a mixture of psychoactive compounds found to natural occur on Arrakis. It is recognized that the Spice helps to unlock human potential. Nobility often microdose on Spice to enhance their intellect and extend their lifespan. The Bene Gesserit use the Spice to train their powers. By far, however, the Guild is the biggest consumer of the Spice. The Spice should be considered analogous to oil in its economic and political importance. -Spice mining is managed by CHOAM (Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles), a corporation whose shares are owned by the Great Houses of the Landsraad, including the Emperor’s House Cornello. This is why House Harkonnen were able to attack House Atreides without objection from the other houses – when House Atreides failed to keep up spice production, CHOAM profits dropped, alienating Atreides from the other shareholding houses.

-Dune takes place in a universe without computers. In the years 200 to 108 BG, a religious movement known as the Butlerian Jihad swept through the Known Universe. The Butlerian Jihad denounced artificial intelligence and outlawed all ‘thinking machines,’ as part of a revolt against rule-by-computer. By 10191 AG, the Butlerian Jihad refers to both the historical event and the religious prescription ‘Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.’ The exact boundaries of this prescription are not defined, although it seems to preclude any sort of digital memory storage or advanced processing. The spirit of the Butlerian Jihad is for the human mind to avoid letting its thinking be shaped by computer logic. -This means that many of the advanced tasks we depend on computers for are instead done by a human through intense mental training and performance enhancing drugs. The apex of this are the Mentats, who can retain vast databases in their memory and do mental calculations at the level of a supercomputer. Mentats are not common and often holding advisory positions with nobility. Thufir Hawat is a mentat working for House Atreides, while Piter de Vries does similar work for House Harkonnen. -The spirit of the Butlerian Jihad can be found in the Mentat’s creed: “"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion." -Unaware of the prophecy of the Kwisatz Haderach, Thufir Hawat and Duke Leto had privately discussed that Paul Atreides might qualify for mentat training. It is unresolved if this was a mistake on their part or if being a mentat is part of being the Kwisatz Haderach. -Mentats are usually trained on the planet Tlielax, which is infamous for its shadowy bioengineering research. The human-arachnoid pet kept by Piter de Vries is likely a Tlielaxu creation. -The planet Ix has a similar reputation for its advanced electronics manufacturing. Although the rulers of Ix are often suspected of flaunting the Butlerian Jihad, Ixian devices are highly valued among the nobility.

-House Atreides claims that they can trace their lineage back to King Agamemnon of Mycenae, one of the ancient civilizations of Greece. -The Atreides are one of the many noble lineages which the Bene Gesserit sisterhood have manipulated as part of their breeding program. Sister Jessica was born from unknown parents and raised from birth with the express purpose of seducing Leto Atreides and bearing his daughter. Although she and Leto Atreides are in love, Jessica is not trusted by several vassals of House Atreides because of her dual loyalties, including Thufir Hawat. -Because political considerations prevent him from marrying a Bene Gesserit sister, Leto Atreides has chosen to remain unmarried so that his patrimony passes to Paul. This has limited possible political alliances and fits into the general decline of Atreides power. -Paul’s childhood has been a continuous cloistered education, to ensure that he can assume his father’s mantel and to make sure he is trained to survive any possible attempts on his life. Because of this, Paul’s only opportunities for friendship have been the tutors who raised him – Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck, and Dr. Wellington Yueh. -Gurney Halleck was born into slavery under House Harkonnen and was purchased and set free by Leto Atreides. His body still has the disfiguring scars of Harkonnen punishments. -The small book Gurney can be seen reading and quoting from is the Orange Catholic Bible (a corruption of its older name, the Koranjiyana Zenchristian Scriptures). This is a popular religious text throughout the Imperium. It is a syncretic mix of Catholic, Buddhist, and Islamic thought. -Since tradition says that the Orange Catholic Bible was taken along by the first deep space explorers, Paul Atreides is given an antique copy of the OCB by Wellington Yueh is commemorate Paul’s first space trip. -The black diamond tattoo on Wellington Yueh’s forehead identifies him as a graduate of the Suk School, the Known Universe’s most accomplished school of medicine. Suk graduates are valued by nobility because they undergo mental conditioning to make them incapable of betraying their patients. Wellington Yueh’s betrayal of House Atreides is a historical first. (Piter de Vries takes pride in this accomplishment.) -Wellington Yueh was married to Wanna Marcus, a Bene Gesserit sister.

[beyondthecosmicvoid]

TERMINOLOGY OF THE IMPERIUM (A-D)

A ABA: loose robe worn by Fremen women; usually black. ACH: left turn: a worm steersman’s call. ADAB: the demanding memory that comes upon you of itself. AKARSO: a plant native to Sikun (of 70 Ophiuchi A) characterized by almost oblong leaves. Its green and white stripes indicate the constant multiple condition of parallel active and dormant chlorophyll regions. ALAM AL-MITHAL: the mystical world of similitudes where all physical limitations are removed. AL-LAT: mankind’s original sun; by usage: any planet’s primary. AMPOLIROS: the legendary “Flying Dutchman” of space. AMTAL or AMTAL RULE: a common rule on primitive worlds under which something is tested to determine its limits or defects. Commonly: testing to destruction. AQL: the test of reason. Originally, the “Seven Mystic Questions” beginning: “Who is it that thinks?” ARRAKEEN: first settlement on Arrakis; long-time seat of planetary government. ARRAKIS: the planet known as Dune; third planet of Canopus. ASSASSINS’ HANDBOOK: Third-century compilation of poisons commonly used in a War of Assassins. Later expanded to include those deadly devices permitted under the Guild Peace and Great Convention. AULIYA: In the Zensunni Wanderers’ religion, the female at the left hand of God; God’s handmaiden. AUMAS: poison administered in food. (Specifically: poison in solid food.) In some dialects: Chaumas. AYAT: the signs of life. (See Burhan.) B BAKKA: in Fremen legend, the weeper who mourns for all mankind. BAKLAWA: a heavy pastry made with date syrup. BALISET: a nine-stringed musical instrument, lineal descendant of the zithra, tuned to the Chusuk scale and played by strumming. Favorite instrument of Imperial troubadors. BARADYE PISTOL: a static-charge dust gun developed on Arrakis for laying down a large dye marker area on sand. BARAKA: a living holy man of magical powers. BASHAR (often Colonel Bashar): an officer of the Sardaukar a fractional point above Colonel in the standardized military classification. Rank created for military ruler of a planetary subdistrict. (Bashar of the Corps is a title reserved strictly for military use.) BATTLE LANGUAGE: any special language of restricted etymology developed for clear-speech communication in warfare. BEDWINE: see Ichwan Bedwine. BELA TEGEUSE: fifth planet of Kuentsing: third stopping place of the Zensunni (Fremen) forced migration. BENE GESSERIT: the ancient school of mental and physical training established primarily for female students after the Butlerian Jihad destroyed the so-called “thinking machines” and robots. B.G.: idiomatic for Bene Gesserit except when used with a date. With a date it signifies Before Guild and identifies the Imperial dating system based on the genesis of the Spacing Guild’s monopoly. BHOTANI JIB: see Chakobsa. BI-LA KAIFA: Amen. (Literally: “Nothing further need be explained.”) BINDU: relating to the human nervous system, especially to nerve training. Often expressed as Bindu-nervature. (See Prana.) BINDU SUSPENSION: a special form of catalepsis, self-induced. BLED: flat, open desert. BOURKA: insulated mantle worn by Fremen in the open desert. BURHAN: the proofs of life. (Commonly: the ayat and burhan of life. See Ayat.) BURSEG: a commanding general of the Sardaukar. BUTLERIAN JIHAD: see Jihad, Butlerian (also Great Revolt). C CAID: Sardaukar officer rank given to a military official whose duties call mostly for dealings with civilians; a military governorship over a full planetary district; above the rank of Bashar but not equal to a Burseg. CALADAN: third planet of Delta Pavonis; birthworld of Paul-Muad’Dib. CANTO and RESPONDU: an invocation rite, part of the panoplia propheticus of the Missionaria Protectiva. CARRYALL: a flying wing (commonly “wing”), the aerial workhorse of Arrakis, used to transport large spice mining, hunting, and refining equipment. CATCHPOCKET: any stillsuit pocket where filtered water is caught and stored. CHAKOBSA: the so-called “magnetic language” derived in part from the ancient Bhotani (Bhotani Jib—jib meaning dialect). A collection of ancient dialects modified by needs of secrecy, but chiefly the hunting language of the Bhotani, the hired assassins of the first Wars of Assassins. CHAUMAS: (Aumas in some dialects): poison in solid food as distinguished from poison administered in some other way. CHAUMURKY (Musky or Murky in some dialects): poison administered in a drink. CHEOPS: pyramid chess; nine-level chess with the double object of putting your queen at the apex and the opponent’s king in check. CHEREM: a brotherhood of hate (usually for revenge). CHOAM: acronym for Combine Honnete Ober Advancer y Mercantiles—the universal development corporation controlled by the Emperor and Great Houses with the Guild and Bene Gesserit as silent partners. CHUSUK: fourth planet of Theta y Shalish; the so-called “Music Planet” noted for the quality of its musical instruments. (See Varota.) CIELAGO: any modified Chiroptera of Arrakis adapted to carry distrans messages. CONE OF SILENCE: the field of a distorter that limits the carrying power of the voice or any other vibrator by damping the vibrations with an image-vibration 180 degrees out of phase. CORIOLIS STORM: any major sandstorm on Arrakis where winds across the open flatlands are amplified by the planet’s own revolutionary motion to reach speeds up to 700 kilometers per hour. CORRIN, BATTLE OF: the space battle from which the Imperial House Corrino took its name. The battle fought near Sigma Draconis in the year 88 B.G. settled the ascendancy of the ruling House from Salusa Secundus. COUSINES: blood relations beyond cousins. CRUSHERS: military space vessels composed of many smaller vessels locked together and designed to fall on an enemy position, crushing it. CRYSKNIFE: the sacred knife of the Fremen on Arrakis. It is manufactured in two forms from teeth taken from dead sandworms. The two forms are “fixed” and “unfixed.” An unfixed knife requires proximity to a human body’s electrical field to prevent disintegration. Fixed knives are treated for storage. All are about 20 centimeters long. CUTTERAY: short-range version of lasgun used mostly as a cutting tool and surgeon’s scalpel. D DAR AL-HIKMAN: school of religious translation or interpretation. DARK THINGS: idiomatic for the infectious superstitions taught by the Missionaria Protectiva to susceptible civilizations. DEATH TRIPOD: originally, the tripod upon which desert executioners hanged their victims. By usage: the three members of a Cherem sworn to the same revenge. DEMIBROTHERS: sons of concubines in the same household and certified as having the same father. DERCH: right turn; a worm steersman’s call. DEW COLLECTORS or DEW PRECIPITATORS: not to be confused with dew gatherers. Collectors or precipitators are egg-shaped devices about four centimeters on the long axis. They are made of chromoplastic that turns a reflecting white when subjected to light, and reverts to transparency in darkness. The collector forms a markedly cold surface upon which dawn dew will precipitate. They are used by Fremen to line concave planting depressions where they provide a small but reliable source of water. DEW GATHERERS: workers who reap dew from the plants of Arrakis, using a scythelike dew reaper. DICTUM FAMILIA: that rule of the Great Convention which prohibits the slaying of a royal person or member of a Great House by informal treachery. The rule sets up the formal outline and limits the means of assassination. DISTRANS: a device for producing a temporary neural imprint on the nervous system of Chiroptera or birds. The creature’s normal cry then carries the message imprint which can be sorted from that carrier wave by another distrans. DOORSEAL: a portable plastic hermetic seal used for moisture security in Fremen overday cave camps. DRUM SAND: impaction of sand in such a way that any sudden blow against its surface produces a distinct drum sound. DUMP BOXES: the general term for any cargo container of irregular shape and equipped with ablation surfaces and suspensor damping system. They are used to dump material from space onto a planet’s surface. DUNE MEN: idiomatic for open sand workers, spice hunters and the like on Arrakis. Sandworkers. Spiceworkers. DUST CHASM: any deep crevasse or depression on the desert of Arrakis that has been filled with dust not apparently different from the surrounding surface; a deadly trap because human or animal will sink in it and smother. (See Tidal Dust Basin.)