Yorek Thurr

"It has been said of Yorek Thurr that if humans had gears and bolts, his would be stripped and loose."

- The Jihad Chronicles, attributed to erasmus

Yorek Thurr (c. 200 BG - 88 BG) was a key advisor to Iblis Ginjo during his reign as Grand Patriarch, and the long-standing head of the Jipol during the war against the Thinking Machines. Early on, he secretly allied himself with Omnius in exchange for the life extension treatment. Thurr was olive-skinned, bald with a large moustache.

Political career
Like Ginjo, Thurr was just another selfish political opportunist using the holy crusade against the Thinking Machines to maneuver himself into positions of power and authority. Thurr had demonstrated a specialty in discovering minor traitors, trustees put as spies for the Thinking Machines among the League of Nobles, political enemies and other scapegoats, increasing Thurr's importance to the League. The explanation was that his knowledge derived from his allegiance. Thurr also sent reports to Corrin.

For much of his life in the League, he had developed sophisticated deception and observation techniques for the Jipol. He could spy wherever he wished and could kill a man in a hundred different ways. During that time, Thurr had made a habit of never waking or sleeping at the same time of day. He altered his schedule, staying awake for days or getting by on only a few hours of sleep in bunkers. Iblis Ginjo had thought it was an amusing display of paranoia, but Thurr did not play games.

On their takeoff from the planet, while he and Floriscia Xico accompanied Ginjo to Poritrin, they encountered an asteroid which engulfed their ship. It was revealed that it was the Titan Hecate who returned to the stage, wishing to help the League of Nobles. After the introduction, Thurr killed Xico in cold blood, explaining to Ginjo that only the two of them would know about this 'secret weapon'. Soon after, Thurr notified Agamemnon about Hecate.

Thurr also divulged the travel plans of Aurelius Venport and the hated Sorceress Zufa Cenva when they left Salusa Secundus, so that Beowulf could ambush them in the Ginaz system, which resulted in a disaster.

After Grand Patriarch Iblis Ginjo's death, Thurr worked along with Camie Boro (with whom they ran the Jihad Council) to rewrite history and vilify Xavier Harkonnen while making a martyr of Ginjo. Camie Boro succeeded her husband promising Thurr to be her successor, however ten years later she resigned and denied him the succession of Ginjo, placing her own son in the position of the Grand Patriarch.

Ruler of Wallach IX
Thurr then decided to leave human space, and faked his own death in a ship explosion, while continuing to work against the human race in 153 BG. Although now he was in his late midage, Omnius had given him the promised life extension and a Synchronized World, Wallach IX, to rule. Thurr turned against humanity and wanted to be remembered by making something "big", since the League of Nobles denied him any office or authority. He then proceed to conceive means for genocides.

Thurr claimed he managed to confine the Omnius incarnation of the world and blocked his watcheyes with his own programming and tampered with the local Omnius to keep his devious activities secret. It is believed that life-extension damaged his brain and he became even more of a blood-thirsty sadist than he used to be. Thurr's throne room columns were decorated with bones and his throne was made from a heap of skulls. He also had antique weapon displays.

He was the mind behind the idea of Omnius Scourge, which was developed by Erasmus and another human traitor, Rekur Van. Thurr had he opportunity to witness the launch of the first batch of the virus from Corrin and was also the one who proposed to Agamemnon (who expected a retaliation from Omnius) that he should expand his cymek empire on Hessra.

During the Great Purge, when Wallach IX was to be obliterated, he noticed the Jihadi ships and realized what was about to happen. He hastily took the Omnius gelsphere (ThurrOm), abandoned the planet and chose to retreat to Corrin. He arrived to the Synchronized capital when the blockade started, and Thurr remained stranded there for the following years. During this time he resided in Erasmus' mansion talking with Rekur Van and looked for a way to escape; thinking ahead, he decided to install life-support to the update ship that arrived with Seurat, the independent robot who also escaped the destruction.

Thurr was later the mastermind behind the piranha mites which were sent in 88 BG against the League of Nobles, a basic technology that made use of no gelcircuitry and could pass the scrambler network above the planet. The mites hit Salusa, Rossak and other planets, and killed hundreds of people before Abulurd Harkonnen found a way to fool them. Thurr would later boast that he was responsible for the death of 100 billion people.

He wore a jewel-studded belt, a gold circlet upon his bald head, and a long ceremonial dagger at his hip with which he had slain many subjects of Wallach IX whenever they'd displeased him, not unlike human captives on Corrin.

Escape to League space
Thurr finally got his plan of escape from Seurat, who, years ago, managed to escape as a hostage of the Titans on Richese. Thurr urged the Omnius gelsphere he brought from Wallach IX to calculate the best moment to breach the scrambler satellite network around the planet and set Omnius free, a skirmish during which Thurr could escape. Erasmus studied his reactions and along with Gilbertus Albans, waited in the ship, however Thurr threatened Albans, by which Erasmus allowed him to leave.

Thurr eventually explored the plague devastated world which, even after 20 years, hadn't fully recovered. He got himself a new ship and a fake identity (as a refuge of Balut) and returned to Salusa Secundus. There he sneaked into Grand Patriarch Xander Boro-Ginjo's office and introduced himself, asking him to resign for his favor. Thurr then was ousted by the Patriarch's guards.

In a following night, Thurr once more sneaked into his mansion, this time in his bedroom while the Grand Patriarch was sleeping. He paralyzed his vocal cords and forced an audience. Once more he asked from him to resign so that Thurr could take his place, promised by his grandmother years ago. When the Patriarch tried to escape from his grasp, Thurr strangled him and wore his chain of office, a chain which he and Camie Boro had designed.

Abulurd Harkonnen was the first to notice the similarity of the mysterious murders as caught by the surveillance system, with the presumed dead leader of the Jipol since decades ago, as seen in the evidence left to him by Vorian. After some discussion with Vidad, he learned about the forgotten Life extension technology and how it would be possible for a man like him be still alive.

Abulurd recognized him as the one responsible for his grandfather's defamation and started a manhunt against him; however the Viceroy, his brother, as well as the security net around the murderer, were not cooperative nor effective to assist him.

Eventually, during the march of the Cult of Serena across Zimia, Thurr found his way into Abulurd's laboratory where the piranha mites were studied, to get claim of his own invention. Coincidentally, Abulurd was also there. When the two men confronted each other, Thurr hurled the mites onto Abulurd, who then activated a field distorter prototype and made himself invisible to their system. The mites eventually attacked Thurr and penetrated his Holtzman shield, slowly mutilating his body.

When 3 security men received the alarm and entered the laboratory, they saw his carcass and were told by Abulurd that this man was who they were looking for. When they asked his name, Abulurd responded "No one worth remembering."

Appearances

 * Dune: The Machine Crusade
 * "The Faces of a Martyr"
 * Dune: The Battle of Corrin