Vi kan jo starte med at skærpe appetiten med et kort resume af romanen:
Kilde:The Atreides family had governed the planet, Caladon, for twenty generations. In that time, their continued impartial and efficient leadership had earned for them the respect of their noble peers throughout the galaxies and, gradually, they began to acquire more and more influence in the noble assembly, the Lansraad. The present head of the Atreides family, Duke Leto, had just been selected the unofficial spokesman for the Lansraad, its highest position.
This growing influence of the Atreides was viewed with great concern by a powerful personage of no less rank than the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV. Shaddam had grown politically warwise in a regime long hoary with intrigue and corruption. The emergence of the upright and charismatic Duke Leto as a powerful leader of the nobility, he realized, could be a very real threat to his own position.
His simplest solution would be to send his fanatical police army, the Sardaukar, to arrest Duke Leto. Unfortunately, the Duke's character was so exemplary that no believable pretext for his arrest could be devised. A more subtle and serviceable plan began to creep into his devious mind. Why not reward Leto for his services to the Empire with a promotion to the governorship of a new and more important planet, Arrakis. He knew that the present governor of Arrakis, Baron Harkonnen, would not give up this planet without a struggle and would prepare a trap to surprise the Duke and his family when most vulnerable -just after arrival on their new planet. In fact, he would secretly aid the Baron by lading him Sardaukar disguised in Harkonnen livery. If Duke Leto refused the governorship, he would be ostracized by his fellow nobles and forced to become a renegade. Either way Shaddam IV would be rid of him.
For over two thousand years, the religious and semi-mythical sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit had groomed the peoples of the Empire to prepare for a messiah, a Kwisatz Haderach. To achieve this end, they had trained themselves to influence and impress the people by a combination of religious mysticism and the power of the ‘voice' -the ability to control others merely by selected tone shadings of their voice. They also had secretly conducted a rigorous and careful genetic program to match mates with the ultimate object of producing a Kwisatz Haderach -one who through his genetically developed ability to contact higher dimensions could utilize the insights gained to bring a new order to the universe.
The Bene Gesserit were upset with one of their sisters, the formal concubine to Duke Leto Atreides, Lady Jessica. As one of the final agents in their breeding program, she had been instructed to bear a female child who was then to marry Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the Baron's nephew. There was a high probability that a male offspring of that union would be a Kwisatz Haderach. For some reason never quite understood, even by herself, Lady Jessica upset the program by bearing a son. This boy, named Paul, became the direct heir to the Atreides line and, along with his mother, was now accompanying his father to the new planet. The sisters would have to watch the events as they unfold on Arrakis very carefully or they might just lose their genetic investments.
Duke Leto was aware of the true significance behind the Emperor's magnanimous gesture. He and his human computer mentat, Thurfir Hawat had analyzed the situation and devised a plan -one that might bring them out of the danger alive. Very little concern had been given to the Fremen, the natives of Arrakis, bu either the Emperor or Baron Harkonnen. In fact, they considered them little more than small bands of raiders not worth any serious consideration. Yet Thurfir Hawat discovered that these natives were much more numerous than ever supposed by the Imperium and it was well known that they hated the despotic rule of the Harkonnens. A secret alliance with these natives might be just enough to stave off the impending blow. The only real worry was gauging their fighting ability. Nothing was really known about the Fremen. They were as mysterious as the planet they inhabited.
Arrakis (or Dune as it is referred to by all of its inhabitants) had one of the most inhospitable surfaces on any planet in the Imperium. There was practically no water to be found anywhere. Except in a few civilized areas into which tremendous amounts of water had to be continually imported at an exorbitant price, the only way a human could survive the aridity was by wearing a stillsuit. This unit would continually recycle the body's water thereby preventing any from escaping into the atmosphere. Without a stillsuit or an imported water supply, a body would be unable to replace even the water lost through perspiration. In this dry environment, tremendous Coriolis sand storms often reached speeds of up to 700 kilometers per hour.
They could eat flesh off bones and etch the bones to slivers. No being could survive these storms if caught in the open. There were also strange giant creatures often a quarter mile in length called Shai-Hulud by the Fremen or sandworms by everyone else. These worms lived in the deserts which covered most of the planet. The slightest noise or vibration would be sufficient to arouse and attract worms for miles around, any one of which could swallow a house without a moment's pause. Only in the towns and few rocky ridges which crisscrossed through the deserts was one safe from these monsters.
It would seem that such a forbidding place would hardly be the likely setting for the events that were about to transpire. Yet how often underneath a harsh surface is found a cache of great value. There was one item valued above all others in the universe and there was just one place where it could be found. The item was melange and the place was Dune. Melange was a spice found only in the deserts -a by-product of the sandworm metamorphic life cycle. It awarded to its consumer prolonged life and prescient abilities. It was so highly prized that the entire economic structure of the Imperium was based upon it. Space navigation was not possible without the prescient abilities it conferred. Laws must be obeyed, properties must be observed but let no man restrict the flow of melange spice from Dune for whatever reason.
Like the planet he lived on, the features of the Fremen were harsh, desiccated and uninviting. Yet, also like the planet, there was hidden a spirit inured to hardship and dedicated to the ideals necessary for survival. It was the stuff of which great fighters were made and it was this hidden asset that Duke
Leto hoped to exploit to his advantage. Even as Duke Leto was preparing for his journey to Dune, yet another party was watching the situation very closely. The Guild had a monopoly on all space transport and along with the Emperor and the Lansraad formed the triumvirate that controlled the Imperium. The Guild guarded its monopoly zealously as it was its only basis for power. No one could travel anywhere through space except in a Guild spacecraft. Anyone who infringed upon its monopoly or broke its rules was immediately denied all space transport. The Guild had just one weakness, it could not navigate in space without the melange spice. It was more dependent upon the spice flow than all the others.
They, too, would have to monitor the impending conflict on Dune very closely and, perhaps, even actively interfere if the flow of spice were to be threatened.
As Duke Leto and his forces arrived at their dune residence, Arrakeen, nothing seemed amiss.
Every object had been carefully checked for traps and poison by the advance party. Envoys sent to the Fremen reported back favorably in regards to the alliance against the Harkonnens. Perhaps the transfer of power would occur without difficulty after all. Suddenly, the blow struck and it came unexpectedly from within. Dr. Yueh, the family Suk doctor, and one who had undergone Imperial conditioning (the highest conditioning against taking human life), had turned traitor. His training had been subverted by Baron Harkonnen who held the doctor's wife as hostage. The doctor secretly turned off the electronic sensors and drugged the Duke and his family to coincide with the Harkonnen surprise attack. He did his job well and the combination of surprise and the additional Sardaukar force was enough to overwhelm the defenders. The Duke was killed along with practically all of his forces. Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica, just barely escaped in an ornithopter, a bird-like flying machine, into the desert. For the Baron, victory was complete. From the triumvirate came a sigh of relief, the internecine squabble had been concluded and even though an important noble had been killed, the spice would continue to flow.
The baron was not finished, though. The Fremen had interfered with his destruction of the Atreides forces by aiding the remnants to get away.
He decided to get rid of the native scum once and for all and gave his nephew, and Feyd-Rautha's brother, the ‘Beast' Rabban Harkonnen, the power to initiate a pogrom to eliminate the Fremen from the face of the planet. The Emperor even loaned the Sardaukar (still disguised in Harkonnen livery) to help.
Several years passed and stories began to filter back to the Baron. The pogrom was not proceeding as well as expected. There were reports of raids of increasing intensity on the outlying villages conducted by specially trained Fremen troops called Fedaykin. These raiders were inflicting many more casualties than they were receiving, and the harvesting of spice was beginning to suffer.
Especially alarming were the reports of a messianic leader called Muad'dib who was organizing, training and leading these Fremen to victory after victory. The cutback in spice was beginning to cause serious repercussion throughout the Imperium. A decision was finally made at the highest level for a cooperative and concerted effort by the emperor, the Lansraad and the Guild to aid Baron Harkonnen in destroying the Fremen resistance forever.
Meanwhile how had Lady Jessica and Paul fared? Having survived a sand storm and a sand worm, they were trapped by a band of Fremen who, following their law of survival, were about to kill them for their water. Although Paul had been specially trained since birth in weapons fighting, Mentat computing and the Bene Gesserit ways, he demonstrated an extraordinary ability to maintain control of the situation. He and his mother so impressed the band that they decided to take them back with them to their sietch, an underground stronghold where the Fremen make their home.
Many centuries before, the Bene Gesserit had prepared the Fremen for the coming of the Kwisatz Haderach by a prophecy. ‘A Bene Gesserit and her offspring would hold the key to the Fremen future.' Perhaps these visitors were the fulfillment of the legend. Whether or not they were, their abilities could be used to aid the fight against the Harkonnens.
Paul, himself, began to see strange visions and gradually became more and more aware of a great revolt, a jihad, that he would lead. This awareness of his own destiny began to confirm his own suspicion that he might be the Kwisatz Haderach.
A final test with the Water of Life convinced him that he was indeed the one the Bene Gesserit sought.
The next few years were spent in training and preparing the Fremen for the terrible purpose ahead.
The final step would have been the restoration of himself as his father's son to his rightful place as Governor or Dune. The sides had been chosen and the final confrontation was at hand.
On paper, the Harkonnen, Emperor, Guild and Lansraad alliance seemed overwhelming when compared to the Fremen forces that Paul could muster. But Paul had a few surprises of his own ready. Not all of the alliance force was on the planet, only enough deemed sufficient to stamp out the Fremen uprising. The remainder of the force was in orbit as an emergency reserve. Paul realized that by threatening to destroy all spice, he had the leverage to force the Guild to his side. The final result of this switch meant that none of the reserve would land on the planet because, of course, the troops were on Guild space ships. That reduced the strength imbalance considerably. Now he only had to deal with the advance force which was conveniently in camp preparing for their campaign.
Calling upon his newly realized powers, Paul summoned a tremendous sand storm to cover his ambush. Quietly and quickly he distributed his troops behind the Shield Wall which was protecting the Imperial forces and waited for the right moment. As soon as the sand storm passed over the wall and into the camp, Paul used his family atomics to blow a gaping hole in the wall. The Fremen poured through riding on the backs of the sand worms! The surprise was complete and the battle over quickly. Paul had regained his rightful title to Dune. So ends the first book of the Dune trilogy. The second and third books continue the jihad as it spreads from Dune across the galaxies.
http://members.aol.com/wergames/dune.htm
Ovenstående resume stammer fra reglerne til Dune, der også kan findes via ovenstående link.
Jeg har tidligere læst romanen og var nok ikke dybt fascineret af den - men det er heller ikke lige min genre. Til gengæld kan jeg varmt anbefale David Lynch's filmatisering, der vil være god research før vi spiller.
Jeg har i øvrigt også de to udvidelser til spillet:
- The Duel
- Spice Harvest
Som udgangspunkt går jeg ikke ud fra, at vi inkluderer dem i første spil.
