Lexicon

Akarso: A plant native to Sikun (of 70 Ophiuchi A) characterized by almost oblong leaves. Its green and white stripes indicate the constant multiple condition of parallel active and dormant chlorophyll regions.

Ampoliros: The legendary "Flying Dutchman" of space.

Aql: The test of reason. Originally, the "Seven Mystic Questions" beginning: "Who is it that things?"

Arrakeen: First settlement on Arrakis; long-time seat of planetary government.

Arrakis: The planet known as Dune; third planet of Canopus.

Assassins' Handbook: Third-century compilation of poisons commonly used in a War of Assassins. Later expanded to include those deadly devices permitted under the Guild Peace and Great Convention.

Auliya: In the Zensunni Wanderers' religion, the female at the left hand of God; God's handmaiden.

Aumas: Poison administered in food. (Specifically: poison in solid food.) In some dialects: Chaumas.

Baklawa: A heavy pastry made with date syrup.

Baliset: A nine-stringed musical instrument, lineal descendant of the zithra, tuned to the Chusuk scale and played by strumming. Favorite instrument of Imperial troubadors.

Bashar: (often Colonel Bashar) An officer of the Sardaukar a fractional point above Colonel in the standardized military classification. Rank created for military ruler of a planetary subdistrict. (Bashar of the Corps is a title reserved strictly for military use.)

Battle of Corrin: The space battle from which the Imperial House Corrino took its name. The battle fought near Sigma Draconis in the year 88 B.G. settled the ascendancy of the ruling House from Salusa Secundus.

Bela Tegeuse: Fifth planet of Kuentsing: third stopping place of the Zensunni (Fremen) forced migration.

Bene Gesserit: The ancient school of mental and physical training established primarily for female students after the Butlerian Jihad destroyed the so-called "thinking machines" and robots.

Bhotani Jib: see Chakobsa.

Bi-La Kaifa: Amen. (Literally: "Nothing further need be explained.")

Bindu: Relating to the human nervous system, especially to nerve training. Often expressed as Bindu-nervature. (See Prana.)

Bindu suspension: A special form of catalepsis, self-induced.

Burseg: A commanding general of the Sardaukar.

Butlerian Jihad: The crusade against computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots begun in 201 B.G. and concluded in 108 B.G. Its chief commandment remains in the O.C. Bible as "Thou shall not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."

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Caid: Sardaukar officer rank given to a military officer whose duties call mostly for dealings with civilians; a military governorship over a full planetary district; above the rank of Bashar but not equal to a Burseg.

Caladan: Third planet of Delta Pavonis.

Canto: An invocation rite, part of the panoplia propheticus of the Missionaria Protectiva.

Chakobsa: The so-called "magnetic language" derived in part from the ancient Bhotani (Bhotani Jib-jib meaning dialet). A collection of ancient dialects modified by needs of secrecy, but chiefly the hunting language of the Bhotani, the hired assassins of the first War of Assassins.

Chaumurky: Poison administered in a drink. In some dialects: Musky or Murky.

Chaumus: Poison in solid food as distinguished from poison administered in some other way. In some dialects: Aumas.

Cheops: Pyramid chess; nine-level chess with the double object of putting your queen at the apex and the oponent's king in check.

Cherum: A brotherhood of hate (usually for revenge).

CHOAM: Acronym for Combined Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles - the universal development corporation controlled by the Emperor and Great Houses with the Guild and Bene Gesserit as silent partners.

Chusuk: Fourth planet of Theta Shalish; the so-called "Music Planet" noted for the quality of its musical instruments. (See Varota.)

Cousines: Blood relations beyond cousins.

Crushers: Military space vessels composed of many smaller vessels locked together and designed to fall on an enemy position, crushing it.

Cutteray: Short-range version of lasgun used mostly as a cutting tool and surgeon's scalpel.

Dark things: Idiomatic for the infectious superstitions taught by the Missionaria Protectiva to susceptible civilizations.

Dar Al-Hikman: School of religious translation or interpretation.

Death tripod: Originally, the tripod upon which desert executioners hanged their victims. By usage: the three members of a Cherem sworn to the same revenge.

Defensive shield: The protective field produced by a Holtzman generator. This field derives from Phase One of the suspensor-nullification effect. A shield will permit entry only to objects moving at slow speeds (depending on setting, this speed ranges from six to nine centimeters per second) and can be shorted out only by a shire-sized electric field. (See Lasgun.)

Demibrothers: Sons of concubines in the same household and certified as having the same father.

Dictum familia: That rule of the Great Convention which prohibits the slaying of a royal person or member of a Great House by informal treachery. The rule sets up the formal outline and limits that means of assassination.

Dump boxes: The general term for any cargo container of irregular shape and equipped with ablation surfaces and suspensor damping system. They are used to dump material from space onto a planet's surface.

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Ecaz: Fourth planet of Alpha Centauri B; the sculptors' paradise, so called because it is the home of fogwood.

Ego-likeness: Portraiture reproduced through a shigawire projector that is capable of reproducing suble movements said to convey the ego essence.

Elacca drug: Narcotic formed by burning blood-grained elacca wood of Ecas. Its effect is to remove most of the will to self-preservation. Druggee skin shows a characteristic carrot color. Commonly used to prepare slave gladiators for the ring.

Fanmetal: Metal formed by growing of jasmium crystals in duraluminum; noted for extreme tensile strength in relationship to weight. Name derives from its common use in collapsible structures that are opened by "fanning" them out.

Faufreluches: The rigid rule of class distinction enforced by the Imperium. "A place for every man and every man in his place."

Filmbook: Any shigawire imprint used in training and carrying a mnemonic pulse.

Fiqh: Knowledge, religious law; one of the half-legendary origins of the Zensunni Wanderers' religion.

Fogwood: Plant growth capable of being chaped in situ solely by the power of human thought. Found on the planet Ecaz.

Free Traders: Idiomatic for smugglers.

Frigate: Largest spaceship that can be grounded on a planet and take off in one piece.

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Galach: Official language of the Imperium. Hybrid Inglo-Slavic with strong traces of cultural-specialization-terms adopted during the long chain of human migrations.

Gamont: Third planet of Niushe; noted for its hedonistic culture and exotic sexual practices.

Gare: Butte.

Giedi Prime: The planet of Ophiuchi B(36), homeworld of House Harkonnen. A median-viable planet with a low active-photosynthesis range.

Giudichar: A holy truth. (Commonly seen in the expression Giudichar mantene: an original and supporting truth.)

Glowglobe: Suspensor-buoyed illuminating device, self-powered (usually by organic batteries).

Gom Jabbar: The high-handed enemy; that specific poison needle tipped with meta-cyanide used by Bene Gesserit Proctors in the death-alternative test of human awareness.

Great Convention: The universal truce enforced under the power balance maintained by the Guild, the Great Houses, and the Imperium. Its chief rule prohibits the use of atomic weapons against human targets. Each rule of the Great Convention begins: "The forms must be obeyed..."

Great Mother: The horned goddess, the feminine principle of space (commonly: Mother Space), the feminine face of the male-female-neuter trinity accepted as Supreme Being by many religions within the Imperium.

Great Revolt: Common term for the Butlerian Jihad.

Grumman: Second planet of Niushe, noted chiefly for the feud of its ruling House Moritani with House Ginaz.

Guild: The Spacing Guild, one leg of the political tripod maintaining the Great Convention. The Guild was the second mental-physical training school (see Bene Gesserit) after the Butlerian Jihad. The Guild monopoly on space travel and transport and upon international banking is taken as the beginning point of the Imperial Calendar.

Hagal: The "Jewel Planet" (II Theta Shaowi).

Harmonthep: Ingsley gives this as the planet name for the sixth stop in the Zensunni migration. It is supposed to have been a no longer existent satellite of Delta Pavonis.

Heighliner: Major cargo carrier of the Spacing Guild's transportation system.

High Council: The Landsraad inner circle empowered to act as supreme tribunal in House to House disputes.

Holtzman Effect: The negative repelling effect of a shield generator.

House: Idiomatic for Ruling clan of a planet or planetary system.

Houses Major: Holders of planetary fiefs; interplanetary entrepreneures.

Houses Minor: Planet-bound entrepreneur class. (Galach: 'Richece')

Hunter-seeker: A ravening sliver of suspensor-buoyed metal guided as a weapon by a nearby control console; common assassination device.

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Ilm: Theology; science of religious tradition; one of the half-legendary origins of the Zensunni Wanderers' faith.

Imperial Conditioning: A development of the Suk Medical Schools: the highest conditioning against taking human life. Initiates are marked by a diamond tattoo on the forehead and are permitted to wear their hair long and bound by a silver Suk ring.

Imperial Legion: Ten brigades (about 30,000 men).

Inkvine: A creeping plant native to Giedi Prime and frequently used as a whip in the slave cribs. Victims are marked by beet-colored tattoos that cause residual pain for many years.

Istislah: A rule for the general welfare; usually a preface of brutal necessity.

Ix: see Richese.

Jihad: A religious crusade; fanatical crusade.

Judge of the Change: An official appointed by the Landsraad High Council and the Emperor to monitor a change of fief, a kanly negotiation, or formal battle in a War of Assassins. The Judge's arbitral authority may be challenged only before the High Council with the Emperor present.

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Kanly: Formal feud or vendetta under the rules of the Great Convention carried on according to the strictest limitations. (See Judge of the change.) Originally the rules were designed to protect innocent bystanders.

Karama: A miracle; an action initiated by the spirit world.

Khala: Traditional invocation to still the angry Spirits of a place whose name you mention.

Kindjal: Double-bladed short sword (or long knife) with about 20 centimeters of slightly curved blade.

Krimskell Fiber: (also Krimskell Rope): The "claw fiber" woven from strands of the hufuf vine from Ecaz. Knots tied in krimskell will claw tighter and tighter to preset limits when the knot-lines are pulled.

Kull Wahad!: "I am profoundly stirred!" A sincere exclamation of surprise common in the Imperium. Strict interpretation depends on context.

Kwisatz Haderach: "Shortening of the Way." This is the label applied by the Bene Gesserit to the unknown for which they sought a genetic solution: a male Bene Gesserit whose organic mental powers would bridge space and time.

Lasgun: Continuous-wave laser projector. Its use as a weapon is limited in a field-generator-shield culture because of the explosive pyrotechnics (technically, subatomic fusion) created when its beam intersects a shield.

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Mantene: Underlying wisdom, supporting argument, first principle. (See Giudichar.)

Mating Index: The Bene Gesserit master record of its human breeding program aimed at productin the Kwisatz Haderach.

Maula: Slave.

Maula Pistol: Spring-loaded gun for firing poison darts; range about forty meters.

Melange: The "spice of spices", the crop for which Arrakis is the unique source. The spice, chiefly noted for its geriatic qualities, is mildly addictive when taken in small quantities, severly addictive when imbibed in quantities above two grams daily per seventy kilos of body weight. Guild navigators claim the spice as a key to their prophetic powers. Its price on the Imperial market has ranged as high as 620,000 solaris the decagram.

Mentat: That class of Imperial citizens trained for supreme accomplishments of logic. "Human computers."

Metaglass: Glass grown as a high-temperature gas infusion in sheets of jasmium quartz. Noted for extreme tensile strength (about 450,000 kilo per square centimeter at two centimeters' thickness) and capacity as a selective radiation filter.

Minimic film: Shigawire of one-micron diameter often used to transmit espionage and counterespionage data.

Misr: The historical Zensunni (Fremen) term for themselves: "The People".

Missionaria Protectiva: The arm of the Bene Gesserit order charged with sowing infectious superstitions on primative worlds, thus opening those regions to exploitation by the Bene Gesserit. (See Panoplia propheticus.)

Monitor: A ten-section space warcraft mounting heavy armor and shield protection. It is designed to be separated into its component sections for lift-off after planet-fall.

Mushtamal: A small garden annex or garden courtyard.

Musky: Poison in a drink. (See Chaumurky.)

Na-: A prefix meaning "nominated" or "next in line." Thus: na-Baron means heir apparent to a barony.

Noukkers: Officers of the Imperial bodyguard who are related to the Emperor by blood. Traditional rank for sons of royal concubines.

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Oil Lens: Hufhuf oil held in static tention by an enclosing force field within a viewing tube as part of a magnifying or other light-manipulation system. Because each lens element can be adjusted individually one micron at a time, the oil lens is considered the ultimate in accuracy for manipulating visible light.

Opafire: One of the rare opaline jewels of Hagal.

Orange Catholic Bible: The "Accumulated Book", the religious text produced by the Commission of Ecumenical Translators. It contains elements of most ancient religions, including the Maometh Saari, Mahayana Christianity, Zensunni Catholicism and Buddislamic traditions. Its supreme commandment is considered to be: "Thou shalt not disfigure the soul."

Ornithopter: (commonly: 'thopter') Any aircraft capable of sustained wing-beat flight in the manner of birds.

Out-freyn: Galach for "immediately foreign", that is: not of your immediate community, not of the select.

Palm lock: Any lock or seal which may be opened on contact with the palm of the human hand to which it has been keyed.

Panoplia Propheticus: Term covering the infectious superstitions used by the Bene Gesserit to exploit primitive regions. (See Missionaria Protectiva.)

Paracompass: Any compass that determines direction by local magnetic anomaly; used where relevant charts are available and where a planet's total magnetic field is unstable or subject to masking by severe magnetic storms.

Pentashield: A five-layer shield-generator field suitable for small areas such as doorways or passages (large reinforcing shields become increasigly unstable with each successive layer) and virtually impassable to anyone not wearing a dissembler tuned to the shield codes. (See Prudence Door.)

Plasteel: Steel which has been stabilized with stravidium fibers grown into its crystal structure.

Pleniscenta: An exotic green bloom of Ecaz noted for its sweet aroma.

Poison snooper: Radiation analyzer within the olfactory spectrum and keyed to detect poisonous substances.

Poritrin: third planet of Epsilon Alangue, considered by many Zensunni Wanderers as their planet of origin, although clues in their language and mythology show far more ancient planetary roots.

Prana (Prana-musculature): The body's muscles when considered as units for ultimate training. (See Bindu.)

Proces Verbal: A semiformal report alleging a crime against the Imperium. Legally: an action falling between a loose verbal allegation and a formal charge of crime.

Proctor Superior: A Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother who is also regional director of a B.G. school. (Commonly: Bene Gesserit with the Sight.)

Prudence Door or Prudence Barrier: (idiomatically: pru-door or pru-barrier) any pentashield situated for the escape of selected persons under conditions of persuit. (See Pentashield.)

Pundi Rice: A mutated rice whose grains, high in natural sugar, achieve lengths up to four centimeters; chief export of Caladan.

Pyons: Planet-bound peasants or laborers, one of the base classes under the Faufreluches. Legally: wards of the planet.

Pyretic conscience: So-called "conscience of fire"; that inhibitory level touched by Imperial conditioning. (See Imperial conditioning.)

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Rachag: A caffeine-type stimulant from the yellow berries of akarso. (See Akarso.)

Razzia: A semipiratical guerrilla raid.

Respondu: See Canto.

Richese: Fourth planet of Eridani A, classed with Ix as supreme in machine culture. Noted for miniaturization.

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Salusa Secundus: Third planet of Gamma Waiping; designated Imperial Prison Planet after removal of the Royal Court to Kaitain. Salusa Secundus is homeworld of House Corrino, and the second stopping point in migrations of the Wandering Zensunni.

Sapho: High-energy liquid extracted from barrier roots of Ecaz. Commonly used by Mentats who claim it amplifies mental powers. Users develop deep ruby stains on mouth and lips.

Sardaukar: The soldier-fanatics of the Padishah Emperor. They were men from an environmental background of such ferocity that it killed six out of thirteen persons before the age of eleven. Their military training emphasized ruthlessness and a near-suicidal disregard for personal safety. They were taught from infancy to use cruelty as a standard weapon, weakening opponents with terror. At the apex of their sway over the affairs of the Universe, their swordsmanship was said to match that of the Ginaz tenth level and their cunning abilities at in-fighting were reputed to approach those of a Bene Gesserit adept. Any one of them was rated a match for any ten ordinary Landsraad military conscripts.

Schlag: Animal native to Tupile once hunted almost to extinction for its thin, tough hide.

Selamlik: Imperial audience chamber.

Semuta: The second narcotic derivative (by crystal extraction) from burned residue of elacca wood. The effect (described as timeless, sustained ecstasy) is elicited by certain atonal vibrations referred to as semuta music.

Servok: Clock-set mechanism to perform simple tasks; one of the limited "automatic" devices permitted after the Butlerian Jihad.

Shari-a: That part of the Panoplia Propheticus which sets forth the superstitious ritual. (See Missionaria Protectiva.)

Shigawire: Metallic extrusion of a ground vine. (Narvi narviium) grown only on Salusa Secundus and III Delta Kaising. It is noted for extreme tensile strength.

Sirat: The passage in the O.C. bible that describes human life as a journey across a narrow bridge (the Sirat) with "Paradise on my right, Hell on my left, and the Angel of Death behind."

Slip-tip: Any thin, short blade (often poison-tipped) for left-hand use in shield fighting.

Solari: Official monetary unit of the Imperium, its purchasing power set at quatricentennial negotiations between the Guild, the Landsraad, and the Emperor.

Solido: The three-dimensional image from a solido projector using 360-degree reference signals imprinted on a shigawire reel. Ixian solido projectors are commonly considered the best.

Sondagi: The fern tulip of Tupali.

Spacing guild: See Guild.

Spice: See Melange.

Stunner: Slow-pellet projectille weapon throwing a poison- or drug-tipped dart. Effectiveness limited by variations in shield settings and relative motion between target and projectile.

Suspensor: Secondary (low-drain) phase of a Holtzman field generator. It nullifies gravity within certain limits prescribed by relative mass and energy consumption.

T-P: Idiomatic for telepathy.

Tleilax: Lone planet of Thalim, noted as renegade training center for Mentats; source of "twisted" Mentats.

Troop Carrier: Any Guild ship designed specifically for transport of troops between planets.

Truthsayer: A Reverend Mother qualified to enter truthtrance and detect insincerity or falsehood.

Truthtrance: Semihypnotic trance induced by one of several "awareness spectrum" narcotics in which the petit betrayals of deliberate falsehood are apparent to the truthtrance observer. (Note: "awareness spectrum" narcotics are frequently fatal except to desensitized individuals capable of transforming the poison-configuration within their own bodies.)

Tupile: So-called "sanctuary planet" (probably several planets) for defeated Houses of the Imperium. Location(s) known only to the Guild and maintained inviolate under the Guild Peace.

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Umma: A term of scorn in the Imperium, meaning any "wild" person given to fanatical prediction.

Uroshnor: One of several sounds empty of general meaning and which Bene Gesserit implant within the psyches of selected victims for purposes of control. The sensitized person, hearing the sound, is temporarily immobilized.

Varota: Famed maker of balisets; a native of Chusuk.

Verite: One of the Ecaz will-destroying narcotics. It renders a person incapable of falsehood.

Voice: That combined training originated by the Bene Gesserit which permits an adept to control others merely by selected tone shadings of the voice.

Wallach IX: Ninth planet of Laoujin, site of the Mother School of the Bene Gesserit.

War of Assassins: The limited form of warfare permitted under the Great Convention and the Guild Peace. The aim is to reduce involvement of innocent bystanders. Rules prescribe formal declarations of intent and restrict permissible weapons.

Way, Bene Gesserit: Use of the minutiae of observation.

Weirding: idiomatic: That which partakes of the mystical or of witchcraft.

Zensunni: Followers of a schismatic sect that broke away from the teachings of Maometh (the so-called "Third Muhammed") about 1381 B.G. The Zensunni religion is noted chiefly for its emphasis on the mystical and a reversion to "the ways of the fathers". Most scholars name Ali Ben Ohashi as leader of the original schism but there is some evidence that Ohashi may have been merely the male spokesman for his second wife, Nisai.

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