House Ordos was a mercantile Great House whose home was an ice-covered planet named Sigma Draconis. House Ordos was most famous for its smuggling of forbidden Ixian technologies into their home planet, and for the wealth that makes them paranoid, but powerful. When Thufir Hawat referred to the "big rich" Houses, he probably referred in part to House Ordos.
Origins
The Ordos name was believed to have their ancient Earth origins in China, since their family name is the same as that of the Ordos Desert.
History
House Ordos represented one of the most greedy and selfish Great Houses in the Imperium; their only goal was to generate revenue to sustain the pluto/technocratic elite of the House, who, to this end, have fine tuned the House to an inhumanly specific degree. House Ordos were driven in all they endeavor to do by a calculated and single-minded mandate to destroy anything that stands between them and the most valuable substance in the known universe. House Ordos was a convention of several wealthy families into one large cartel who hired expensive but disloyal mercenaries to fight for the House. Their mentats have often been reported to silently disappear under mysterious circumstances although the player can guess as to their possible fate. The House faced stiff competition for the spice in Arrakis but can still pose a threat.
Behind the Scenes
House Ordos has first appeared in the Dune Encyclopedia, but is never mentioned in all of the novels. However it does figure prominently in the Dune game series released by Westwood Studios.