Jool Noret

Jool Noret (196 BG - 164 BG) was a Ginaz Mercenary, the first true Ginaz Swordmaster, and a legendary warrior during the Butlerian Jihad.

Upbringing and training
Jool, was one of 15 illegitimate children of the famed mercenary and trainer Zon Noret. Jool, had sun-bleached hair, high cheekbones, a pointed chin, and was skinny yet strong. He was the only child to be officially acknowledged by his father because he was the most skilled and advanced of his generation. Consequently, the two forged a close bond, which revolved around training to fight the thinking machines during the Butlerian Jihad.

The younger Noret trained with Chirox to allow himself to better know his enemy. The exercise resulted in Jool's reflexes improving until they were significantly faster than any other Ginaz Mercenary. His fighting style centered around swordplay and wild abandon. However, during his training with Chirox, Zon Noret was accidentally killed, an event that left Jool wracked with guilt for the rest of his short life. Jool vowed that he would destroy as many Thinking Machines as possible, so that he could make up for the absence of his father from the battlefield.

Combat missions
As he graduated as a full mercenary from Ginaz, the ceremony performed by the Council of Veterans revealed that Noret's body was guided by the spirit of Jav Barri, a dead Ginaz Mercenary.

Noret continued to fight with wild abandon. When the Jihadi forces arrived on the Ix during the Rebellion of Ix, he led team number three through the catacombs beneath the primary machine industries and computer centers, guided by Handon.

When they reached the shelter of Ix-Omnius, automatic weaponry eradicated the team and Handon revealed his true allegiances. Noret, the only survivor, shot his legs, and tied him with a flexor wire. He then completed the sequence to energize the warhead and tied him next to it, with his face close to the timer, so that he would watch the last seconds of his life ticking.

Noret continued to ever improve himself with Chirox; his speed and precision reach so high levels that he overpassed the robot's abilities; Chirox could not catch up with Noret, even with his learning algorithms enabled. Other Jihadis admired him but Noret denied to teach anyone, because he did not consider himself worthy. Instead he allowed 'pilgrims' to watch himself training and learn by watching.

Death
Noret was killed not by battle, but by a tidal wave on Ginaz while he was back on his homeworld between missions. The wave was caused by Hecate's asteroid ship crashing into the nearby sea.

His battered body was restored and held in a crystalplaz-encased coffin. The coffin was part of a shrine built by lava rock on a small rise on the island. During a Moritani raid millennia later, his remains were guarded by modern swordmasters.

According to the tradition, his spirit was believed to be reincarnated into the body of Istian Goss.

Noret unwittingly became the founder of his own swordmaster school of fighting.

Appearances

 * Dune: The Machine Crusade
 * Dune: The Battle of Corrin
 * Sisterhood of Dune
 * Mentats of Dune
 * Dune: House Harkonnen