Dune Introduction

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

— Dune pg 8

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the last years of the Imperium, an era tens of thousands of years into the future. In this time the Known Universe is ruled by the Emperor and the Great Houses. It is a feudal place, where noble families rule whole planets in the service of the Emperor, but politic ruthlessly in the shadows for power and control. Many, many years ago, humanity was enslaved by its own creation, thinking machines. After a long war for freedom (called the ‘Butlerian Jihad’) humanity vowed never again to create thinking machines. Unfortunately, humans had become so reliant on them it became a difficult vow to keep. So, several ‘Great Schools’ were created to teach humankind the skills they lacked and realize their true potential. One such school developed Mentats, human beings trained to think, analyze, and remember even more efficiently and quickly than any computer. Another renowned school is the Sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit, who have learned such control over body and mind that people consider them ‘witches’. The third great school, the Spacing Guild, controls foldspace technology, the only known means for safely crossing vast interstellar distances in moments without a need for navigational computers to calculate a safe route.
Despite the wealth and incredible technology available to the Great Houses, there is only one thing in the universe that really matters: the spice melange. This mysterious substance prolongs life, grants powerful prescient visions, and confers incredible power to many adepts of the Great Schools. It is also the key to galactic-scale space travel, as Guild Navigators require vast amounts of spice to produce the prescient visions required to pilot foldspace vessels across the galaxy and envision safe pathways through space. Unfortunately, spice is only found on a single planet, and countless attempts to duplicate it have all failed.
The planet is question is called Arrakis, and it is one of the most inhospitable worlds in the whole Imperium. No drop of rain has ever fallen on Arrakis, and the entire world is one vast desert full of deadly sandstorms and giant worms that can swallow buildings whole. So, the desert-dwelling Fremen of Arrakis know it by another name.
They call it Dune.

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.

— Orange Catholic Bible