Battle of Corrin/XD

Template:Infobox battle

The Battle of Corrin is a major military event that is described in the Legends of Dune novel of the same name, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The Battle of Corrin is also mentioned in passing in Frank Herbert's original Dune novels, who places significant historical importance on it.

Background

In the prequel novel by Herbert and Anderson, the Battle of Corrin is the final battle that sees free humans face the thinking machines. Though the Butlerian Jihad, is deemed officially over following the Great Purge, the armies of the League of Nobles remain busy guarding the planet of Corrin - the last haven of Omnius. The deadlock continues for some 20 years, with the thinking machines unable to break free, and the League of Nobles unwilling to use sufficient force to deal a final blow.

Two key events rekindle the hunger of free humanity to destroy Corrin once and for all. First, and most significantly, the Omnius Scourge - an engineered virus that kills untold millions of free humans. Second, the arrival of Pirana Mites - non-gel circuitry machines that attack humans on Salusa Secundus and Rossak. The realization that the thinking machines can still strike at humanity is shocking to many, and Vorian Atreides uses the situation to push for a final strike against Omnius.

Sequence of Events

After a formidable League of Nobles' military force arrives at Corrin via conventional space travel, and joins up with the existing 'watchdog' fleet, the battle begins. The combined League's battle group is three times larger than the watchdog fleet, and includes large space-faring battleships, smaller Kindjal ships, conventional ground troops, fanatics of the Cult of Serena, and mercenaries from Ginaz.

The thinking machines, under the control of the two Omnius incarnations SeurOm and ThurrOm, and the consultation of Erasmus, are hard-pressed to fend off the fleet affter more than two decades. With Corrin having been strip-mined for natural resources, few remain available, thus limiting their ability to regenerate combat equipment and personnel. In a desperate bid to repel the League forces Erasmus recommends that some 2 million human slaves (including a clone of Serena Butler) are put into orbit and linked with the pulse satellites that keep the thinking machines on Corrin.

Erasmus' hopes of weakening the resolve of the free humans does not work. Vorian Atreides' determination to defeat Omnius at any cost sees him order the forces through the defense network, a decision that is protested by Abulurd Harkonnen, who is horrified at the potential loss of life. His disgust sees him disobey orders and disable the automated weaponry of the fleet.

After discovering their lack of artillery, the furious Vorian Atreides decides to use pulse atomics against the defense forces and push forward. Upon crossing the threshold that should trigger the death of the 2 million slaves, the fleet is happily surprised to see nothing occur. The trigger had been defused by Erasmus upon his discovery that his human ward Gilbertus Albans had joined his beloved Serena Butler clone in orbit.

The League battle group makes its way through three lines of space defense before gaining clear access to the surface of Corrin. After defeating ground-based defenses they descend on the planet's central city to destroy the Omnius incarnations. As they prepare to destroy the last Omnius (who had recovered from the attack of SeurOm and ThurOm thanks to Erasmus, and regained control of the planet just before the end of the battle), a pulse of concentrated data is sent out into space in a final desperate bid to keep the artificial intelligence alive.

This last event is the cause of much speculation by some fans of the Dune series, with regards to the forthcoming sequels to Chapterhouse:Dune, which are being written by Herbert and Anderson.

The battle is concluded with the destruction of the last surviving thinking machines and the liberation of many of the surviving slave humans.

Ramifications

Several critical events occur during the Battle of Corrin that prove to have a huge impact on the future of humanity in the Dune universe:

• The final vestiges of thinking machines are destroyed, and an ensuing commandment against the creation of machines in the exact image of a man's mind.
• The Butler family, under the leadership of Faykan Butler, takes control of free humanity, renaming themselves as Corrino, after the battle.
• The long standing rivalry between House Atreides and House Harkonnen is established with the disobedience of Abulurd Harkonnen, who is deemed a coward afterwards.