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This article refers to elements from The Dune Encyclopedia Pages for this subject as it appears in other canons:
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Fremkit - Dune board game illustration
A Fremkit was effectively a desert survival kit. The Fremkit was a pack devised by the Fremen for survival in the open desert. With proper techniques, one could have survived for weeks with one. Paul and Jessica used one when they were cast out of Arakeen. They were able to stay alive in the desert before they met Stilgar in his sietch.
The term "Fremkit" was understood to be applied to any and all materials earned by most Fremen when outside the sietch but in reality it seems likely that it was an "earned" specific grouping of practical items, by most Fremen males. There is a hypothesis that the Fremkit and Instruction manual were presented, together, to Fremen youth at some point along their transition toward adulthood, perhaps as a rite of passage (see: wali); some passages in the manual indeed suggest that the Fremkit may have had symbolic/ceremonial significance.
Since there is mention of such confidential matters as the riding of sandworms and the uses of melange in both food and manufacture, it was obviously not supposed to be shared with outsiders.
Items[]
The manual identifies each of these and mentions their general function.
- Literjons
- Stilltent
- Energy caps
- Recaths
- Sandsnork
- Binoculars
- Repkit
- Sinkchart
- Baradye pistol
- Filtplugs
- Paracompass
- Maker hooks
- Thumper
- Fire pillar
A complete kit, packed in a small bundle and cleverly fitted with shoulder straps, weighed about 10 kg. However a complete Fremkit was probably not employed into the field every day. Literjons, large water containers were earned for individual use only under unusual conditions; the Baradye pistol, was used by specialists for marking spice blows and would not be part of everyone's traveling kit. Binoculars were heavy, sinkcharts were of little use close to home, and the fire pillar was hardly an everyday device.
Legacy[]
It had been assumed that "Fremkit" in the Oral History referred to the Kitab al-Ibar. One reference to Paul Muad'Dib's 'first handbook' was reexamined and was realized that a "desert survival kit and accompanying instruction manual" mentioned in The Traveler's Introduction to Arrakis likely referred to the Fremkit.
Historians uncovered two incomplete versions of that "instruction manual" have been uncovered. They are small filmbooks, with mounting hardware, requiring glow tabs and magnifiers. These "micro-manual" fragmentary versions contained the same listing of survival equipment.