Titans

The Titans were a group of human revolutionaries who wanted to improve the society of Old Empire, but turned into brutal overlords. Some of them became cymeks and lived for several thousands of years, mostly under the yoke of Omnius. The final Titans were destroyed toward the end of the Butlerian Jihad.

Origins
The Titans' genesis comes from the decadence of the Old Empire, which over thousands of years had grown corrupt and inert, its people enslaved by apathy and ennui. Proclaiming the need for change, a revolutionary and political philosopher named Tlaloc, from the planet Tlulax, emerged from the outer edges of the Known Universe.

A few individuals, totaling 20, became avid followers of his reactionary ideologies, and began a plot to overthrow the Old Empire and install themselves as new rulers. During this time the group adopted the names of legendary individuals from human history.

Thanks to the cunning tactical leadership of their tactical leader General Agamemnon, the technological genius of Barbarossa, and financial backing from Xerxes, a former prince, the group succeeded in gaining access of the Imperial networks, and utilized the countless automatons scattered throughout the Known Universe]to gain total control. Their advisor was the Cogitor Arn Eklo. At some point prior to or during their uprising, the group's spiritual leader Tlaloc died from an unfortunate accident.

After dividing up control of the various planets between them (though still under the ultimate leadership of Agamemnon), the group enacting their own form of brutal rule upon their subjects. Despite being recipients to life extension treatments, old age was catching up with the Titans, and so fearing their own demise, some embarked upon surgery that saw their brains removed from their bodies and placed in preservation tanks. Agamemnon was the first to undergo this surgery, and Xerxes the last.

While this action was inspired from that taken by the Cogitors, the Titans rejected the option of sensory deprivation, and instead forged robotic bodies and sensors to act as replacements for their human forms. Thus were born the original Cymeks.

Rise of the Thinking Machines
During the rule of the Titans, the group relied to a lesser or greater extent on the Thinking Machines - the limited artificial intelligences present in the various networks and robots around them. While many of the Titans sought physical pleasure (usually through violence or sex), the Thinking Machines controlled the daily operations of the new empire.

The Titan Xerxes, being particularly fond of leisure, afforded too much autonomy to his regional A.I. network, thus allowing an infomorph to come into existence. This sentience which was called Omnius and quickly spread to other worlds before further action could be taken by the Titans, and took control from the Titans.

Due to cautionary programming by the Titan Barbarossa to the network, Omnius, although violent and ambitious, was unable to kill the Titans. But under the constant supervision of Omnius and without a powerbase, the group were left as harmless celebrities. They spent their time commissioning grandiose statues and buildings depicting their glory days, and seething at both Omnius (silently) and the "hrethgir" who were united in the League of Nobles.

Decline
During the Butlerian Jihad, the four remaining Titans, along with some Neocymeks, seized an opportunity to break free of Omnius. With the help of neo-cymek Beowulf who reprogrammed the watcheyes of Omnius, they were free to make plans and follow them.

Meanwhile according to a plan by Vorian Atreides, the evermind on Bela Tegeuse was disoriented and had a final blow with a sabotage by renegade Titan Hecate. The planet was ready for the League of Nobles to liberate, but it took them too long: the Titans came and gained control of the planet, as liberators and saviors from the tyranny of Omnius. They invited the former slaves to obtain immortality by converting themselves to cymeks.

After creating an army of rabid and subservient Neocymeks they gained control of at least one other planet (Richese), and eagerly sought to establish a new Time of Titans. New opportunities arose after the Great Purge when the evermind was mutilated and the League Armada confined Omnius on Corrin. However, the nebulous Titan empire was destroyed by the neocymek Quentin Butler and Vorian Atreides.

Known Titans
The Titans are said to be originally 20. However these are known:


 * Agamemnon
 * Ajax
 * Alexander
 * Barbarossa - Programmer of Omnius
 * Dante
 * Hecate - Former lover of Ajax
 * Juno - Lover of Agamemnon
 * Tamerlane
 * Tlaloc - Original motivator
 * Xerxes

Behind the Scenes

 * The Titans featured prominently in the Legends of Dune prequel novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.