Book Review: Dune - Terminology of the Imperium
A reference guide to some of the terminology used in the Dune series.
Topic: Book Review

Spoiler Alert: Every entry is divided into two parts - one that does not reveal future events in the story, and one part that does. The first part, that is plot agnostic, is based on the descriptions provided in the book. The second part is based either on the sequels and prequels and might hint on the plots of one of more books. That part which can do so will be explicitly preceded by the phrase - "Spoiler Alert! - Stop Now!". Consider yourself warned.

Some of these description are based on the text provided in the books itself - partly because I was too lazy to write up on my own and partly because Frank Herbert did, after all, do a good job of it. All copyrights are owned by the authors et al, I am just a fan. I do not claim to own or receive explicit rights for them. So help me God.

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----A----

ABOMIONATION:

ACOLYTE: Young recruits of the Bene Gesserit Schools. As Bene Gesserit are always female, only girls become acolytes. See also Bene Gesserit.

ARRAKEEN: First settlement on Arrakis; long time seat of planetary government.
Spoiler Alert - Stop Now!
When the story of Dune begins, Arrakeen is a pawn in the game of interplanetary intrigue - an important piece - but a pawn neverthless. Through the stories, it undergoes transformation like no other city can dream or dread of - it becomes the seat of the God Emperor - the capital of the known empire; has power, prosperity and riots; enjoys a period of open water while slowly losing ground to the sand until finally it is unceremoniously razed to the ground with the attack by the Honored Matres.

ARRAKIS: See Dune.

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.

ATREIDES: See House Atreides.

----B----

BAKKA: in Fremen legend, the weeper who mourns for all mankind.

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.

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. Atreides had a special language developed, predominantly with war-cries and hand signals, that enabled Atreides trained warriors to be treated with respect, especially after the war with Imperial Sardaukar in Arrakeen.

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.
Spoiler Alert- Stop Now!
Bene Gesserit as one of the most influential - and long lasting - group of characters in the entire Dune series. In the first book, they begin as minor annoyances - manipulative "witches" who keep working people to some obscure objective. The objective only becomes clearer as their biggest triumph turns out to become thier biggest nemesis. Soon, one nemesis doesnt seem so bad, as they enter millennia of oppression.
As the Bene Gesserit regroup after the scattering, they find themselves in the center of power. This lasts not too long, as the returning hordes from the scattering start to take special interest in getting civilization rid of the Bene Gesserit.

While Bene Gesserit history has quite a few twists and turns, their schooling continues as one of the best in the imperium. The Bene Gesserit schooling is only for female students. Bene Gesserit are recruited when they are very young as "acolytes". Upon successful completion of the training, they become Reverened Mothers. Most of Bene Gesserit training involves exercises like Prana Bindu, training the Voice, intense concentration, extreme physical training including fighting and other martial arts. Most effective, however, is Bene Gesserit training in controlling their physiological activities including controlling their breathing and heart rate (dropping it to almost zero if required), controlling metabolic requirements and even determining time of fertilization for pregnancy and deciding the gender of the child. While the acolyte training takes the girls to peak physical and mental prowess, it is the Spice Agony that transforms them into Reverened Mothers. As a Reverened Mother the Bene Gesserit has access to Other Memories and is truly frightening in her intelligence and depth of perception. Bene Gesserit dependence on Spice, as a result of the transformation, is one of their biggest weaknesses.
See Also: Abomination, Truthsayer.

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. Similar to B.C. in the modern Gregorian Calendar.

BUTLERIAN JIHAD:

----C----

CALADAN: Third planet of the a Delta Pavonis. Birthworld of Paul Atreides. This was the erstwhile fief of Atreides family, before Leto Atreides accepted the fief of Dune and moved to the new planet.

CHANI:

CORRINO: See House Corrino.

----D----

DUNE: The planet

DUNCAN IDAHO:

----F----

FEYD-RAUTHA RABBAN:

FREMEN:

----G----

GLOSSU RABBAN:

GUILD, THE SPACING:

GURNEY HALLECK:

----H----

HASIMIR FENRING, COUNT:

HARKONNEN: See House Harkonnen.

HOLTZMANN FIELDS:

HOUSES: Idiomatic for Ruling Clan of a planet of planetary system. Rule in the Imperium is a mixture of Autocracy and Monarchy. Planets or Planetary systems are typically put together as a fief. The fief is ruled by one of the houses - Houses Major (having fiefs of complete planets or planetary systems) or Houses Minor (having fiefs of size smaller than a full planet). The houses have a ruler called Duke or Baron, and is a Monarchy, where the ruler is chosen automatically by virtue of his bloodline. The Imperium as a whole is ruled by an Emperor. While the Emperor is the lord of a House himself, his House is the most powerful of the Houses - Major or Minor. The Emperor is chosen and his power perpetuated, through a council - Landsraad - and once chosen his position is of autocratic rule. His heir automatically inherits the position of the Emperor, unless explicitly stripped off the power.
Spoiler Alert - Stop Now!
House Corrino was the most powerful of the Houses, and produced the Emperor of the Imperium since the days of the Butlerian Jihad. This changed with the rise of Paul Muad'dib to power - who became almost as powerful as the Emperor himself, and the change was complete with the rise to power of Leto Atreides II who established the Atreides rule of the empire - for a very long time.

HOUSE ATREIDES:

HOUSE CORRINO:

HOUSE HARKONNEN:

----I----

IBAD, EYES OF: Characteristic effect of a diet of high Spice Addiction, where white and pupils of the eyes turn a deep blue. Also called blue-in-blue, colloquially. Indicates heavy Spice Addiction. Always found in Fremen, natives of Dune. Induced in anyone on Dune, exposed only to Spice laden food without any off-world food at all.

----K----

KWISATZ HADERACH: Literal translation - Shortening of the Way.

----L----

LADY JESSICA: Mother of Paul Atreides or Paul Mua'dib, royal concubine to Duke Leto Atreides and Bene Gesserit sister.

LETO ATREIDES, DUKE:

LIET-KYNES:

LITTLE MAKER:

----M----

MELANGE: See Spice.

----N----

NAVIGATOR:

----O----

OTHER MEMORIES:

----P----

PAUL ATREIDES: Also known as Paul Muad-dib after acceptance with the fremen, and as Usul by his sietch Tabr. Paul is the son of Leto Atreides and his concubine Bene Gesserit Lady Jessica.
Spoiler Alert - Stop Now!
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PITER DE VRIED:

PRESCIENCE:

PRE-SPICE MASS:

----R----

REVERENED MOTHER: A girl acolyte who has successfully survived the Spice Agony, the last stage of Bene Gesserit training. A Reverened Mother is the highest form of a Bene Gesserit. While Acolytes have known to represente Bene Gesserit (See Lady Jessica), but most official positions are typically filled in with "full" Bene Gesserit or Reverened Mothers.

----S----

SANDTROUT:
Spoiler Alert - Stop Now!
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SANDWORM: Also known as 'Old Man of the Desert', 'Old Father Eternity', 'Grandfather of the Desert'. Sandworms are huge worms that live in the sands of the desert planet of Dune. A typical work has a diameter of about 80 meters and a length ten times the diameter. It is made up of segments or rings, which are stacked together to form the whole body. The outer skin of the Sandworm is rough and extremely resistent to abrasion, while the skin between the segments is extremely sensitive. While normally, this sensitive skin is not exposed, Fremen expose it with the help of hooks (maker hooks) so that they can prevent the Sandworm from burrowing into the sand and thus ride it. The Sandworm has a huge mouth, which is filled with long sharp teeth. These teeth are used to make the chrysknifes by the Fremen. A Sandworm can be killed only be destroying each segment separately, because each segment can survive on its own. If destroyed, a Sandworm disintegrates and seeps into the ground, leaving almost nothing behind.
Spoiler Alert - Stop Now!
The Sandworm is the last stage of a exquisite life cycle of a remarkable species on Dune. (See life-cycle of Sandworm) However a Sandworm is extremely sensitive to water and cannot survive if exposed to water. It goes through agony when exposed to water, producing a number of different toxins. Young Sandworms are sometimes killed this way to produce the water of life.
A Sandworm is attracted to Spice. Whenever there is a Spice-blow a Sandworm is sure to turn up. (See Spice) Spice is not the only thing, however, that attracts a Sandworm. They are also attracted to any movements on the Sand. Sandworms are highly territorial, and whenever it senses anyone moving on the sand, it immeadiately atttacks. Worse is their response to Holtzmann Shields. If a shield is switched on in the desert, Sandworms discard all territorial considerations and launch into an attacking frenzy. The Fremen have developed a special walking style that prevents detection by the Sandworms. They walk without any pattern, making random steps, swishes and drags in order to resemble natural sounds of the desert.
The Sandworm is a respected symbol of the Fremen. They realize that Dune is the land of the Sandworms and respect the fact. The Sandworms are called Shai-hulud by the Fremen.

SANDWORM, LIFE-CYCLE OF: The life of the Sandworm is a symbiotic relationship between different avatars of itself. All the information in this entry is not available in a single book. Hence, you might want to discover all this for yourself and stop reading.
Spoiler Alert - Stop Now!
Sandworms cannot stand water, which is a poisonous to them. Hence in order to make any planet habitable to them, it is necessary to strip it off water. The Sandworm achieves this through a highly sophisticated form of auto-symbiotic relationship. To understand this we will look at the stages of a Sandworm and then look at how each stage contributes to each other and the Shai-hulud itself.
The first stage of the Sandworm is the Sandtrout. The Sandtrout are small creatures, with cilia like extensions, that live far under the ground. The Sandtrout grow into the first stage of the Sandworm called the little maker. While sandtrout are almost a plant kind of life, the little maker is a half-plant half-animal vector. The little maker grows into the full-grown Sandworm.
The three stages have their own specialized functions. The Sandtrout, keep the Dune dry, the little maker makes the pre-spice mass and the Sandworm is the final, self-aware evolution of the species.
Dune is dry, but not waterless. All water on Dune is hidden underground by the Sandtrout, as they form a planetary cover, storing all free water making the surface of the water completely dry. It is presumed that the sandtrout link their cilia together in order to form a large sheet of cover holding all water. That is the reason, any attempt to find water by drilling on Dune, meets water, but the the drill quickly dries up as the Sandtrout move in to close the breach.
Some sandtrout start to come together as a single unit, linking together in the form of a small worm - the little maker. The little maker lives off the Sandtrout and excretes what is called the Pre-spice mass. Once the Pre-spice mass is excreted under the ground, the Sandtrout lets water into the mixture. This forms a highly explosive mixture and results in a Spice-blow. The remnants of the Spice-blow when exposed to air forms Spice. This Spice is then used by the Sandworms, along with Sandtrout supplied nutrients for survival.
The little maker in turn grow, and transforms into the multi-segment Sandworm. The Sandworm is the evolved, aware species in the trio.
Thus the Sandtrout, little-maker and the Sandworm are all essentially the same organsm that is coming together in a auto-symbiotic relationship to form a cycle of life on Arrakis, that produces Spice among other things.

SARDAUKAR:

SAYYADINA:

SHADDAM IV, EMPEROR:

SHADOUT MAPES: Fremen lady, first worked as a lady-in-waiting for Lady Jessica.

SHAI-HULUD: Fremen name of reverence for the Sandworm of Dune.

SPICE: Spice is probably the key that runs through the stories. It is the most expensive and important item in the Galaxy. Its price is partly because of its unique properties and partly because of its scarcity. There is no known source of Spice other than the sands of the planet Dune. Spice is known for its geriatric properties, it prolongues life and betters health. It is addictive, mildly for under small quantities and heavily addictive for more than 2 grams a day per 70 kilos of body mass. Severe Spice addiction produces the identifiable blue-in-blue eyes, (See eyes of Ibad) without any white coloration - a known charactersitic of Dune natives. Extreme addiction has been known to deform and transform the human body. Few have the capability to survive extreme addiction - like the Guild Navigators. Extreme Spice exposure is known to produce hallucinogenic imagery, frequently bordering on prescience or precognition.
Spoiler Alert - Stop Now!
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See Also: Water of Life, Pre-Spice Mass, Sandworm, Little Maker

SPICE AGONY: The step that marks the transformation of an acolyte into a Reverened Mother. ***

STILGAR:

----T----

THUFIR HAWAT:

TRUTHSAYER:

----V----

VLADIMIR HARKONNEN, BARON :

----W----

WATER OF LIFE: Also known as Kan, water that is greater than water

WATER OF DEATH:

WAR OF ASSASSINS :

WELLINGTON YUEH:

.

*** Entries marked for revision

Document Changes
May 1, 2005: First published version.