Changes: Vorian Atreides

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Expanded Dune

This article or section refers to elements from Expanded Dune.

Vorian Atreides [b. 223 BG] was a prominent military commander during the Butlerian Jihad who turned from the service of Omnius to fight against the Thinking Machines. He was also the instigator of House Atreides and the ancestor of Paul Atreides.

Vorian had grey eyes and dark hair which he retained for decades due to his great longevity.

Early life

Vorian was born on Earth to a human slave, impregnated with the sperm of the Titan leader Agamemnon. He was raised as his son. Though he was aware his lineage stretched back to the Greeks of Old Earth, Vorian never knew his mother, and spent little time with his warring father. He did however learn he was the thirteenth son of the Agamemnon, the others having been killed by the Titan due to perceived inadequacies.

Due to his lineage, intelligence and charisma, Vorian earned a position as a human Trustee in Omnius' empire. Vorian's main role was to accompany the robot Seurat on one of Omnius' update ships, which the young human jokingly named the Dream Voyager. The vessel travelled between the Synchronized Worlds and delivering update gelspheres to different incarnations of the Evermind.

Vorian was initially loyal to his father, who he admired greatly. And per his father's wishes he desired to become a cymek and realize Agamemnon's dream of becoming the heir of the Titan leadership. As part of this inheritance and as a reward of surviving an encounter with the League Armada above Giedi Prime, he undertook a life extension treatment that dramatically slowed down his body's aging process.

Change of Loyalties

Vorian met- and fell in love with- Serena Butler while she was imprisoned on Earth in the household of the robot Erasmus. It was Serena's defiant attitude and questioning nature that began Vorian's questioning of his father's subjective historical accounts.

After researching the details of Agamemnon's memoirs via the more pragmatic records of Omnius, Vorian became disillusioned with his biological father. He eventually fled to Salusa Secundus with Serena and Iblis Ginjo during the uprising on Earth, and pledged to serve the free humans in their fight against the Titans and Thinking Machines.

Vorian was questionable during that time. He had been thoroughly interrogated-even examined by doctors for implanted espionage devices; he was proclaimed him clean and even was blessed by Zufa Cenva, who, as a Sorceress of Rossak, could detect lies. However Xavier Harkonnen wondered if the machines had somehow anticipated all precautions and concealed something in his brain, such as machine components that could be triggered.

Serena Butler insisted that all men should be freed from Machine control, and this should start with this man. Vorian could still be a valuable ally with inside information. Vor had already provided exhaustive information on thinking-machine warships, their armor and their integral weapons took a position in the following Battle of Earth under strict controls in certain areas, and watched at all times.

Military Service to the League of Nobles

During the Battle of Earth, Segundo Harkonnen had given him strict orders to accompany the warhead-carrying ships until they dropped their nuclear payloads. However he detected a lone update ship exiting Earth's atmosphere. He was faced with a dilemma and felt obligated to abandon his post; should the update sphere pass through, all vital information, along with the orders to annihilate the humans, would be loaded to all the Evermind. The bombers he guarded were left undefended and became a short a work for the robotic vessels, while he was accused as a coward and a traitor, but he knew he did the right thing.

Soon after he boarded the vessel, which by chance, was guided by Seurat. Vor stunned his old friend with an Electronic scrambler and apprehended the gelsphere. When he returned to Xavier Harkonnen's ballista, he was about to put on trial for treason, when he presented the silvery sphere, explaining the benefits of his move.

Vorian emerged as a major military figure in the Butlerian Jihad, with his trademark being bold and highly inventive tactics. He served with the Army of the Jihad and Army of Humanity for about 135 standard years, and rose to become the Supreme Bashar.

During his long years of service he became close friends with Xavier Harkonnen, whose military talent was equally formidable yet stylistically very different. Grown in a life of absolute order and loss of individuality, Vor tried to be more human, therefore being very free-minded and avoided formalities and chains of command, unlike Xavier. Vor's knowledge of machine thinking, programming knowledge and innovative skills helped the Jihad.

After Xavier sacrificed himself to kill the Grand Patriarch Iblis Ginjo, Vorian was the only person who tried to clear his name. The following years he remained the most longeval member of the Army of the Jihad until he reached the supreme rank of Supreme Commander of the Jihad.

He befriended Xavier's grandson, Abulurd Butler, the less loved son of Quentin Butler and became his patron through his advancement in the military ranks. Abulurd was the first to know the truth about his grandfather, and Vorian convinced him to change his surname to his inherited one: Harkonnen.

End of the Jihad

When news about Omnius's massive fleet against Salusa Secundus arrived. He ordered the planet evacuated and was the mastermind behind the plan of the Great Purge. Vorian was onboard the LS Serena Victory during the battle, which was secretly equipped with navigation computers by Norma Cenva which ensured his survival through the Spacefolding jumps. Eventually Omnius was not vanquished but trapped on Corrin thanks to Vorian's satellites armed with pulse-scrambler transmitters, set around the planet.

After the Jihad, Vorian inherited the Old Empire rank of Supreme Bashar, equivalent of the Supreme Commander. He watched the League of Nobles falling in slumbering laziness and bureaucracy, considering the Thinking Machines did not pose a threat any more and neglected the danger of the cymek empire, who rebelled from Omnius' Synchronized Worlds years ago. Vorian was viewed as a relic of another past age of unrest and violence and his callings to vigilance and a final coup against Omnius were annoying at best.

After Omnius made another stand with the invention of Piranha mites and their extermination by Abulurd, it was learned that his old friend, Quentin Butler was now among the cymeks as a captive. Vorian left all documents and proofs concerning Xavier's death to Abulurd and resigned from the Army of Humanity and moved to Hessra.

Vorian presented himself to his father Agamemnon, as defecting from the League and that he wished to join the cymeks. He played a major role in the destruction of the last remnants of the Titans, when he infiltrated his father's fledgling empire and plotted the death of the remaining Titans with the help of the captured Quentin Butler. On his return to Salusa Secundus, he was welcomed back to the Army of Humanity and was awarded with a title made for him, Champion of Serena, for his defeat of the cymeks.

Abulurd noticed that this experience made Vor different. While the Supreme Commander was famed as a cunning tactician using innovative ideas and deceit against the machines, now he seemed more direct and determined. Abulurd compared him to a hawk, and Vor decided that the Hawk would be the symbol of his family. Vorian was now more determined to press the League for the final strike against Corrin, using his newly gained prestige and seeing support from the Cultists.

His admiration for the Harkonnen name ended when the Atreides-Harkonnen feud began at the Bridge of the Hrethgir during the Battle of Corrin when Abulurd Harkonnen, Xavier's grandson, committed treason.

Family

During his military career, Vorian had many relationships with different women on numerous planets such as Karida Julan and a lot of others. This ended when he landed on Caladan and fell in love with a barmaid named Leronica Tergiet. He fathered twins with Leronica, but later discovered he had also sired a daughter during a brief relationship on Parmentier, who herself gave birth to Raquella Berto-Anirul, the founder of the Bene Gesserit.

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 == Early life ==
-Vorian was born on [[Earth]] to a human [[slave]], impregnated with the sperm of the [[Titan]] leader [[Agamemnon]]. He was raised as his son. Though he was aware his lineage stretched back to the Greeks off Old Earth, Vorian never knew his mother, and spent little time with his warring father. He did however learn he was the thirteenth son of the Agamemnon, the others having been killed by the Titan due to perceived inadequacies.
+Vorian was born on [[Earth]] to a human [[slave]], impregnated with the sperm of the [[Titan]] leader [[Agamemnon]]. He was raised as his son. Though he was aware his lineage stretched back to the Greeks of Old Earth, Vorian never knew his mother, and spent little time with his warring father. He did however learn he was the thirteenth son of the Agamemnon, the others having been killed by the Titan due to perceived inadequacies.
 Due to his lineage, intelligence and charisma, Vorian earned a position as a [[human]] [[Trustee]] in [[Omnius]]' empire. Vorian's main role was to accompany the robot [[Seurat]] on one of Omnius' update ships, which the young human jokingly named the ''[[Dream Voyager]]''. The vessel travelled between the Synchronized Worlds and delivering update [[gelsphere]]s to different incarnations of the [[Evermind]].