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This article refers to elements from Expanded Dune Pages for this subject as it appears in other canons: |
Planet Earth before the Butlerian Jihad
Earth, also called Old Earth, Terra or Old Terra, was the third planet located in the Sol star system. The human race originated here, and prior to the Butlerian Jihad it was an important location in the Known Universe.
History[]
Early history[]
According to Lupino Ord, the "thieving ancestors [of the Ecazis] were driven from Old Terra in disgrace" before it's enslavement. The Tleilaxu claimed that "kingship died out on Old Earth as the speed of transport increased and the time space of the globe grew smaller."
Enslavement of Earth[]
After humankind had spread out from their planet of origin, Earth maintained its role as a key fixture of the Old Empire. However, it later fell while under control of the Titans, and later Thinking Machines. Subsequently, it became the central world of the Synchronized Worlds, and housed Omnius Prime.
Vorian Atreides, prominent military commander during the Butlerian Jihad (and later founder of House Atreides), with his robot co-pilot Seurat, were commissioned to take the Omnius Updates to the various planets of the Synchronized Worlds. Their journeys always began and ended on Earth, as Earth was the location of Omnius Prime.
The planet was also one of the places that the Cymek Titans had huge frescoes and large monuments built in their images, as in the Golden Age Square where the Victory of the Titans were erected. Human slaves under Iblis Ginjo and other trustees would work unendingly to ensure that the giant constructions were meticulous in their details of the cybernetic creatures.
Erasmus, the independent robot, had been transferred to his large mansion and macabre laboratory, located in a large complex on Earth. From the laboratory, he conducted his various experiments, and indulged various artistic outlets. It was there that Erasmus began his wager with Omnius: That even loyal humans, especially Trustees, could be corrupted and turned against Thinking Machines.
Revolt[]
Inspired by slave Serena Butler and trustee Ginjo, the enslaved humans revolted. Omnius ordered the genocide of all humans on all worlds under its control and proceeded to exterminate the human slave population of Earth. However, the genocide orders never went beyond Earth because of the arrival of the Army of the Jihad led by Xavier Harkonnen, Vorian Atreides which intercepted the Update Ship carrying the Earth-Omnius' copy. After that they were able to evacuate many of the surviving humans from Earth. After this a vast atomic strike was launched to exterminate Omnius Prime and all machines, making the Earth barren and marking the beginning of the Jihad. The planet remained mostly uninhabitable for centuries. The Orange Catholic Bible would be written on radioactive Earth centuries later.
Legacy[]
House Atreides claimed to trace its roots more than twelve thousand years back to the ancient sons of Atreus on Old Terra. The Ancient Greek play Agamemnon was the official House Play, performed annually.
Ghanima and Leto Atreides, in private moments between them, sometimes speak French which was known to them thanks to genetic memories.
Paul Atreides suggested Stilgar look into historical Terran references found in the Golden Age of Earth including Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler for a comparison to Paul. Scytale also knew of Earth and mentioned the Golden Age and the camels of the planet.
The God-Emperor Leto Atreides II, by the time of whom Earth no longer existed, through his ancestral memory, recalled many things from Terran history, including Torquemada, the Romans and the Greeks, the conquests of Assur-Nasir-Apli, musicians such as Mozart and Bach, Napoleon, Islam, and the Jesuits.
The Bene Gesserit drew patterns of Old Earth on many planets, sometimes only a faint sketch, but sometimes succeeding, like on Chapterhouse.Viscount Giandro Tull claimed that his horses were from bloodlines which traced all the way back to Old Earth.
Paul Atreides compared the Sack of Kaitain to the Sack of Rome.
Erasmus listened to music from Old Earth during his time hidden in the Mentat School on Lampadas by Gilbertus Albans. One of his favorite pieces was "Rhapsody in Blue".
The Ixians preserved many paintings of Old Earth in hermetically sealed frames - not only Thatched Cottages at Cordeville (actually Erasmus’s recreation) but others, including the works of Claude Monet and Paul Gauguin, with interactive plates that allowed enhancements by Ixian depth artists.[1]
A work known as “The Philosophies of Old Terra” was created at some point. It was lost but some of the manuscripts were recovered into the Corrino Empire by the 11th millennium AG.[2]
Gurney Halleck memorized a few Old Terran poems during his early life on Giedi Prime.
Lady Margot Fenring knew of Japan on Old Terra, though she could not remember whether it was through Other Memory, or whether she had learnt about it while studying on Wallach IX.
The Swordmasters of Ginaz learnt about the haikus of the honor-bound samurai warriors of Old Terra.