Padishah Emperor Frederick IV of the House Corrino was removed from the throne by his brother during the Years of Treason. However he overthrew him and again assumed the throne.
In doing so, he incurred a vast debt to his creditors. It is rumoured that he owed CHOAM over three billion K units. For this he was anxious to harvest spice from Arrakis.
To encourage it, he offered the fief of Arrakis to House Atreides, Harkonnen and Ordos. Whoever could deliver the most spice would govern the planet as well as receive a share of the tax revenues. This started the First Spice War. However Frederick actually wished the three Houses to destroy or weaken each other so he could wipe out any remaining forces himself.
Emperor Corrino was killed by his concubine, Lady Elara who wanted Arrakis to become an endless source of spice for the Bene Gesserit. The Landsraad and the Sardaukar were thrown into chaos.
Emperor: Battle For Dune[]
House Ordos with the aid of Tleilaxu spies stolen genetic material of the deceased Emperor from Kaitain and created a ghola who would serve as a puppet emperor subservient to them. Roma Atani presented the ghola to the headless Sardaukar who were not so accommodating.
If the Ordos win, the ghola of Frederick, conditioned to absolute subservience, takes the throne. The Executrix leads humanity on a path of deception and intrigue.
Behind the scenes[]
- Frederick IV appears only in the games by Westwood studios; he is not mentioned in context to the other canonical Emperors. In the games his role is more or less an analogous of Shaddam IV of the original Dune novel.
- In Emperor: Battle for Dune he is mistakenly addressed as Shaddam IV in the victory cutscene.
- An Emperor Fredhrick IV is mentioned in the Dune Encyclopedia but his time was in the remote past.