The Dune Encyclopedia

by Willis E McNelly

  The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, after being first softened up in a tiny cell carved with cutterays from the veined brown rock beneath Paul's Keep, was forced to hobble a great distance to the Imperial Presence. She went along seemingly endless vaulted passages lit by triangular metaglass windows and paved with tiles figuring water creatures from exotic planets. She was impressed by the immensity of this citadel, then oppressed by it. The place reeked to her of terrifying physical power. "No planet, no civilization in all human history had ever before seen such man-made immensity. A dozen ancient cities could be hidden in its walls!" She passed oval doors with winking lights, recognizing them for Ixian handiwork: pneumatic transport orifices. As she got nearer to the Grand Reception Hall, the passages grew larger by subtle stages — tricks of arching, graduated amplification of pillared supports, displacement of the triangular windows by larger, oblong Shapes. Finally, in the far wall of a tall antechamber loomed the double doors of the Hall. "The doorway stood at least eighty meters high, half that in width." The doors swung inward, operated by Ixian machinery, immense and silent. The interior of the Hall itself could have housed the entire citadel of any ruler in human history.

  Mohiam was impressed by the architectural subtleties of the Hall's construction even more than by its immensity. "The open sweep of the room said much about hidden structural forces balanced with nicety. Trusses and supporting beams behind these walls and the faraway domed ceiling must surpass anything ever before attempted. Everything spoke of engineering genius."

  In spite of the huge scale of the Hall, its focus — the throne of the Emperor and the Emperor Paul himself — was not dwarfed. Paul's green throne had been cut from a single Hagar emerald, the most precious possession of a subject planet. Paul conducted Mohiam into a private chamber beyond a passage behind the throne. This was a twenty-meter cube lit by yellow glowglobes, with the deep orange hangings of a desert stilltent on the walls. Paul liked to think of his fortress, that awesome pile of plasteel, as his "sietch above the sand."

  Through the grillwork which vented it, Paul's sleeping chamber looked over a deep abyss to the gentle arc of a footbridge constructed of crystal-stabilized gold and platinum, decorated by fire jewels from far Cedon. The bridge led to the galleries of the inner city across a pool and fountain filled with waterflowers with blood-red petals. In another direction he could see the lower buildings of the government warren. Within Paul's view also were colossal structures showing every extravagance of architecture a demented history could produce and a rapacious hand could seize: terraces like mesas, squares as large as cities, parks, premises, bits of cultured wilderness, a postern from most ancient Baghdad, a dome dreamed in mythical Damascus, an arch from the low gravity of Atar, all creating an effect of unrivaled magnificence mixed with barbarity, in which superb artistry would abut inexplicable prodigies of dismal tastelessness. Here were orchards and groves, open plantings to rival those of fabled Lebanon, thanks to the prodigality with which Paul spent water. On an escarpment near to Paul's Keep was established a fitting companion, Alia's Temple, built during the same twelve-year anni mirabiles. It had two-thousand-meter sides and doors large enough to have admitted an entire cathedral from one of the ancient religions, designed to reduce a pilgrim's soul to motedom. Alia's Temple was itself one of the wonders of the universe.

  While it certainly would have been a prodigious feat to have built the entire palace in the twelve years it seems to have taken, it would not have been impossible, given the resources available to Paul Atreides. However, a curiously persistent, if apocryphal, tradition among the Qizarate (cited in Yiam-el-Din) holds that the great citadel was completed in very much less than twelve years:

  And it came to pass when the time was ripe for building that Muad'Dib surveyed the battle plain where the Sardaukar legions were obliterated; and he measured the battle plain with a rule. "Here will I build my palace on the place of chaos and death," he declared. "And the name of the palace shall be Paul's Keep and it shall be a great citadel, a sietch above the sand to dwarf all other Imperial monuments. And beside it will I build Alia's Temple, and pilgrims will come from all over the universe to worship there. And I will build my city in seven weeks, according to the plan of the ancient scriptures. So will I be known to future ages as the Dune Messiah, the Mahdi, who will lead his people to Paradise." And it was done as he had said.

  The Qizarate believed that the "ancient scriptures" referred to are to be found in the O.C. Bible, Prophets LXXXIX, 24-26. Known to have been a favorite with Muad'Dib, it is the text before all others which prophesies of the Messiah. Unfortunately, like other prophetic scriptural texts, it is far from easy to interpret. It concerns the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the coming and cutting off of the Messiah. Three groups of weeks are mentioned, one of seventy, one of seven and one of sixty-two. The Qizarate interpreted seventy weeks as the time granted to the Fremen for completing their conquest of the Sardaukar, seven weeks for the building of the palace, and sixty-two weeks for the cutting off of the Mahdi, but they do not regard the three periods of weeks as continuous. The O.C. Bible Commentaries, which suggests a substitution of years for the stated weeks, was disregarded. Rather, the Qizarate point to the significance of the seven-week period as a symbolic re-enactment of the seven days of Genesis.

  Supposing that we entertain this wild hypothesis, that Paul's Keep was built in only seven weeks, what does it suggest to us concerning the forces at Paul's command?

  There is another apocryphal tradition that should be mentioned here. It is supposed that Muad'Dib modeled his building not only on the story of Jerusalem but also on that of Solomon's Temple. A curious myth regarding the construction of Paul's Keep tells that he employed giant sandworms to bore through the rocks to lay the foundations and that what we take for the work of cutterays and even what we think to be plasmeld structures are really the production of sandworm teeth and sandworm furnaces. The superstitious Fremen believed that there was a sort of emperor among the sandworms, the Grandfather of the Desert, the oldest and largest sandworm — Shai-Hulud. Muad'Dib is supposed to have formed an alliance with this god among worms, or rather he gained an ascendancy over it, for the apocryphal Dune Gospels recast the encounter of Jesus with Shaitan in the wilderness of temptation in terms of a fantastic duel between Muad'Dib and Shai-Hulud in the deep desert. It is supposed that Muad'Dib had a particular reason for wishing to employ Shai-Hulud and his subject sandworms in the construction of his citadel, probably reflecting the obscure Fremen tradition that Solomon employed a worm called Shamir to cut the stones for his Temple.

  Many are the myths of Solomon, however, and the Azhar Book contradicts that of Shamir the Worm by tracing one concerning a shameer that was a magic pebble! The main purport of the Temple-building myth is simply that Solomon employed multitudes of djinn in its construction. Had Muad'Dib a similar command over spirits? Was it possible for him to materialize his ancestors, drawing them up from his inner being and giving them tangible form? Or rather did he call spirits from the vasty deep of space, like a galactic Glendower? Alternatively, did he have some means of fixing time, so that years of work could be performed is a few days? These questions cannot now be answered; the true powers commanded by Paul Muad'Dib are unknown to us.

  It is recorded in the O.C. Bible that Solomon the Magnificent took seven years to build his Temple. It would be in accordance with the Imperial spirit of Muad'Dib that he should pointedly take only seven weeks to build an overwhelmingly greater structure. It would also be characteristic of Paul's real humility that he did not, as even the apocryphal records tell us, take only seven days.

  M.T.

  Further references: Princess Irulan Atreides-Corrino, Muad'Dib: The Ninety-Nine Wonders of the Universe, tr. G W Maur, Arrakis Studies 9 (Grumman: United Worlds), and Conversations with Muad'Dib. Lib Conf. Temp. Series 346; R.M. Gaius Helen Mohiam, Diaries, Lib. Conf. Temp. Series 133; Anon., Yiam-el-Din: The Book of Judgment, tr. D.D Shuurd. Arrakis Studies 43 (Grumman:
United Worlds); Pyer Briizvair, et al., A Variorum Edition of the Orange Catholic Bible, 6v. (Bolchef: Collegium Tarno); Anon., The Dune Gospels, Rakis Ref. Cat. 1-T2; Anon., The Azhar Book, Ed. K. R. Barauz, Arrakis Studies 49 (Grumman: United Worlds).

  ARRAKIS, Astronomical aspects of

  As the techniques for studying the physical sciences have improved, the universe and the organized matter contained therein become more complex and wonderful. The deeper one looks into space, the more strange and varied the objects one finds become. The unimagined becomes real, the impossible becomes reality. This is certainly true for the Canopus planetary system, a system with many unique properties. The data contained within the following has been gleaned from the multitude of scientific papers authored by Arrakian scientists over hundreds of years.

  CANOPUS — GALACTIC LOCATION. Canopus is located in the secondary trailing spiral arm of the great barred spiral galaxy, Starspen. Its position places Canopus at a distance of 129,000 light years from the nucleus of the galaxy. Being of the barred spiral form, the galaxy is well up on the galactic evolutionary track, indicating a cosmic age of 12 billion years. Hence, the Starspen galaxy has entered middle age.

  The Starspen galaxy rotates once every 300,000 years, which is slower than most galaxies of this type. In physical appearance, the galaxy is typical except for dust content. Because of the extensive central dust and gas clouds, the nuclear region of the galaxy is totally obscured. Penetrable only by energetic microwaves, the physical nature of the galactic nucleus was totally unknown until 15557 when Nilen developed the microtronic detector. Almost immediately, the central region was found to be dominated by a 100-million-stellar-mass white hole. The vast outpouring of mass and energy replenishes the energy and mass reserves of the galaxy. It is now, of course, well known that all galaxies are powered by a central, massive nuclear white hole. Where this mass and energy originates has not been established with any certainty, but there is considerable support for the Arrakian theory that mass and energy (i.e., photons) are drawn into a gravitational singularity, or black hole, in an alternate universe and enter this universe by way of an inverse gravitation singularity, or white hole. Clearly, the physics of such objects and the resulting spatial and temporal distortions of dimensional space are indeed bizarre.

  CANOPUS — LOCAL STAR GROUP. The region occupied by Canopus is relatively sparsely populated. Fifty-seven stars lie within a ten-light-year radius (8,000 cubic light years). The majority (forty-four) of these stars are class P0 red dwarfs. Averaging an absolute magnitude of +16, they are intrinsically extremely faint and very old, low-mass stars whose lives will end as cold black dwarfs.

  Of the other thirteen stars, eight are residents of class R4 to R9. These average-mass, yellow stars are all known to have three or more planets orbiting them with conditions on some suitable for habitation by organic life. The nearest member of this group of stars is 7.76 light years from Canopus.

  Four of the five remaining nearest stars are class T and T3 super giant variables. These enormous energy machines undergo not only variations in stellar radius but in color, also. Trios, the least massive of the T3 variables, undergoes a change in color from deep violet to red in 1.35 days. This color variation is accompanied by changes in energy generation.

  The remaining star is not really a star at all. This object is Canopus B, the white hole companion to Canopus. Canopus and its companion are gravitationally bound and mutually orbit each other every 5.1 days. The ratio of the mass of Canopus to Canopus B is very high, 11520 to 1, with the center of mass of the binary system 79,000 km below the photosphere of Canopus. The mass of Canopus B and mass ratio explain why Canopus B passes within 40 km of the photosphere of Canopus at the near point of the orbit.

  The age of Canopus B is of course unknown, but probably dates to the galactic origin. This unique object would probably be unknown today had it not been for the serendipitous discovery by Ravan in 14491. During an investigation of the region near the innermost planet Seban, a cruiser carrying Ravan and his investigation team experienced a temporary propulsion system failure, bringing them closer to Canopus than anyone had been before. Ravan observed and recorded a slender thread of coronal material spiraling upward along distorted magnetic-field lines. This thread terminated at a point 25,000 km above the surface of Canopus. At this point, Ravan was awestruck when it became clear that the coronal thread was originating from a brilliant, white object less than 12,000 meters in diameter and that the material flow was not upward but downward toward Canopus. What Ravan was observing was Canopus B, the white hole, transferring mass and energy to Canopus, the tiny feeding the mighty.

  CANOPUS — PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. Canopus is a white, main sequence star of spectral class Q5. The star has a mass of 2.1 x 1034 grams and an equatorial diameter of 1.7 X 106 km. Shining with an absolute magnitude of -3, it is the center of a planetary system with six bodies of planetary mass in orbit about it.

  As with all class Q5 stars, analysis of the spectral characteristics reveal that the emission lines of triply ionized Teridium (Tr+++) and singly ionized Zeon (Ze+) predominate. The temperature at the top of the photosphere is 7400°K and the central temperature is estimated to be in excess of 70 million degrees. At this temperature, spectral lines of the lighter elements are present but of low intensity.

  Splitting of the tertiary Korane absorption doublet was discovered by Quanal in 14797 and established the presence of a general magnetic field. Magnetic field measurements have been made using refined techniques and have set a mean level of field strength @ 92 kilo reyvals. This field strength is atypical of class Q5 stars which have general magnetic fields that rarely exceed 75 Kr. No definitive explanation for this anomaly has been put forth, but a possible explanation lies in the abnormally high terellium content. Terellium is thought to possess abnormally high magnetic capacity under conditions of extreme density and high temperature, a condition not obtainable as yet under laboratory conditions. There is also a small, discrete region of very high field strength that is a result of the presence of the binary companion white hole, Canopus B.

  Canopus is a star of high stability with energy generation varying less than 1.2 x 10-6 over the period of a year. Rarely do star spots form in the photosphere; those that do last at most a few days. The corona is not extensive but does have slight periodic variations. These variations are manifested in a change in charged particle density in the stellar wind and in the stellar-wind velocity.

  The gravitational field of Canopus is sufficiently strong to hold its retinue of six planets, myriads of asteroidal fragments, and the dust and gas clouds situated near the outer periphery of the planetary system. Because of the primary's high mass, the velocity required to escape the gravitational hold of Canopus is 53.5 km/sec, thus the need for high energy propulsion systems for interstellar space vehicles.

  PLANETARY SYSTEM. Seban. The innermost planet, Seban, has a mean radius of 2,380 km and orbits Canopus at a mean distance of 52 million km. While Seban is massive enough to hold an atmosphere, the extreme physical proximity to Canopus and the intense coronal winds effectively drive any existing atmosphere into space. This coronal wind is so intense at times of closest approach to Canopus that a cloud of ionized metals and gases form and populate the trailing orbital space. This cloud is very tenuous and is composed chiefly of highly kinetic ions of iron, irenium, and melorium. The existence of this ionic cloud was not known until its discovery by the second Dren series planetary probe during a survey of the Seban near space. No life has teen detected on Seban; conditions are far too harsh.

  Menaris. Menaris, the second planet inward, is much larger in radius (7,862 km) than Seban. Menaris orbits Canopus at a mean distance of 68 million km. The orbit of Menaris is highly elliptic and has an axial tilt of 79°. Thus, Menaris nearly rolls in its orbit with contrasting seasonal effects, one hemisphere eternally hot and the other eternally cold although the atmosphere mitigates the temperature effects to some extent.

  Menaris p
ossesses a dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide with traces of nitrogen dioxide. The latter component is responsible for the yellow brown tint. Largely because of its oxidizing atmosphere, there are no known life forms on Menaris.

  Arrakis. Menaris, in combination with Extaris (fourth planet in the Canopus system) is responsible for the highly eccentric orbit of the third planet, Arrakis. Because of this joint effect and similarities of size and orbit, Menaris and Extaris are informally referred to as "the Twins." Effects due to the other inner and outer planets as well as the two moons are negligible. Because of the large axial tilt, the polar axis of rotation processes a full revolution every 43,000 years. Currently, the star nearest the north celestial pole is the + 9 magnitude star Yuspen.