House Atreides

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House Atreides article for Expanded Dune

House Atreides article for The Dune Encyclopedia

House Atreides was a respected House Major within the infrastructure of the Galactic Padishah Empire. They were ruled by the patriarch of the Atreides family, who took the title of Duke.

Origins[]

The legend stated that the Atreides family came from a noble family that originated in Greece on Earth, and that they rose to prominence during the Butlerian Jihad. House Atreides specifically claimed descent from King Agamemnon, a son of Atreus, in Greek mythology. The descendants of Atreus are called "Atreides" (plural "Atreidai", Latinized as "Atreidae") in the Greek language. This Royal House included many significant figures in Greek myth.

Homeworld[]

Up until the latter days of Duke Leto Atreides I, House Atreides maintained the planetary fief of Caladan and had their center of operation on the planet, which they had also ruled for twenty generations. House Atreides had perfected a form of government that resulted in a well-organized society and a spiritually satisfied people. Furthermore, House Atreides kept Caladan a lush, prosperous paradise with relatively low industrial levels, in stark contrast to House Harkonnen's capital, Giedi Prime. However, the House was also proficient in war; it maintained Swordmasters, Warmasters and Mentats to train and lead their army, and had even developed its own Battle Language.

Downfall & revival[]

At the request of Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, Duke Leto relocated his House to the desert planet Arrakis and took over mining operations of the spice melange from House Harkonnen.

However, Leto was walking into a trap set by an illegal alliance between House Harkonnen and House Corrino. Thufir and the Duke knew as much, but the timeframe and scale of the ambush caught them by surprise, along with the betrayal of a trusted Suk doctor bent to the Baron's will by Twisted Mentat Piter de Vries.

Wellington Yueh's betrayal was double-edged, however, using it as an opportunity to (unsuccessfully) assassinate the Baron with a poison tooth and orchestrate Paul and Jessica's escape into the deep desert where they would eventually be intercepted by a Fremen tribe led by Stilgar.

Thanks to the Bene Gesserit's Missionaria Protectiva, Jessica assumed influence over the Fremen tribe by drinking the Water of Life - changing her unborn daughter in the process - and becoming their new Reverend Mother while Paul took up the mantle of their prophesied Mahdi and Lisan al Gaib.

Two years later, House Corrino was overthrown by Duke Paul-Muad'Dib and his unified army of Fremen fanatics after the Padishah Emperor was drawn to Arrakis by Governor Rabban's incompetence in dealing with repeated sabotage of spice production. Through a coerced marriage with Irulan Corrino, Paul became the first Emperor of the Atreides Empire and ruled for twelve years of galactic violence and bloodshed.

Two decades later, Paul's secondborn son, Leto Atreides II, became his successor after merging with a colony of sandtrout to extend his own lifespan and guarantee the Golden Path of humanity's survival.

From desert to terraformed paradise, Arrakis remained the homeworld of House Atreides for 35 centuries until its official dissolution.

Descendants[]

Leto Atreides II's lack of a direct heir, coupled with his decision to dissolve the Atreides Empire after his 35-century life came to an end, saw House Atreides cease to exist as a tangible political power. However, the Atreides bloodline continued through Leto II's twin sister (and legal wife) Ghanima Atreides and her concubine Farad'n Corrino.

One such group of descendants of Ghanima were Leto II's majordomo, Moneo Atreides, and his daughter Siona Atreides. After the bonding of Siona and the latest ghola of Duncan Idaho, the Atreides families continued onward. Because of the prescient invisibility conferred to their genetic line through Siona, their descendants flourished for over 1500 years until the Return of the Honored Matres.

According to Leto II's plan, it was impossible to definitively know all of Siona's descendants, as they were immune to prescient vision. Many escaped into obscurity, and more escaped into the Scattering. The Bene Gesserit also maintained multiple Atreides bloodlines within their breeding program, resulting in dozens if not hundreds of descendants (of varying concentration).

By the time of the return from the Scattering, some five thousand years after the time of Paul-Maud'ib, Supreme Bashar Miles Teg was a descendant of the Atreides, as was his daughter, the Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade, [O dray' dee], who even bore a time-worn version of the last name. Teg and his daughter were closely watched by Bene Gesserit, for any sign of the "wildness" of the Atreides line. This wildness included any sign of them arising to be another super-being, a Kwisatz Haderach. Reverend Mother Lucilla, a key ally of Darwi, was also a descendant of Siona Atreides through a different branch maintained by the Bene Gesserit. Unexpectedly, the worm-rider Sheeana was also revealed to be a descendant of Siona: despite being born into obscure poverty on Rakis, her ability to command the worms (foretold by the God Emperor) led to her to becoming a rising, messianic figure within the sisterhood as well.

Teg was killed at the destruction of Rakis when the Honored Matres attacked and reduced Dune to a charred ball, and Odrade was killed some time later at Junction when the Bene Gesserit attempted to liberate Junction from the Matres. Lucilla was killed in the fall of Lampadas. Sheanna, however, escaped with a ghola-clone of Miles Teg on a no-ship with the new Duncan Idaho ghola, leaving for parts unknown.

Living on as gholas[]

Soon after Miles Teg was killed on Rakis, the Bene Gesserit created a ghola of him to oversee the liberation of Junction. When Murbella took over the reigns of the combined Matres and Sisterhood, she set Teg free and enabled his escape on Chapterhouse's no-ship with Sheeana and Duncan Idaho.