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Kaitain (Dune)
Encyclopedia
Kaitain is a fictional planet in the Dune universe
created by Frank Herbert
.
In Herbert's 1965 novel Dune
, it is mentioned briefly as the seat of power of Padishah Emperor
Shaddam Corrino IV
, the Royal Court being previously located on the planet Salusa Secundus
.
The Prelude to Dune
prequel
trilogy
(1999-2001) by Brian Herbert
and Kevin J. Anderson
further explores Kaitain and its origins.
series establishes that, after centuries as the capital of the Corrino Padishah Empire
, Salusa is devastated by atomics before the events of 1999's Dune: House Atreides
. Padishah Emperor Hassik Corrino III relocates the Imperial throne to Kaitain, and the renegade House which had perpetrated the attack is exterminated, their name erased from history. Salusa Secundus is intentionally left as a barren wasteland.
According to Dune: House Atreides, Padishah Emperor Hassik Corrino III had reestablished the Imperium's seat of government on Kaitain and had sought to rebuild the capital to new heights of grandeur:
On Planetologist Pardot Kynes
' visit for an audience with Emperor Elrood IX, he notes:
In Dune: House Atreides it is also noted that Kaitain has four moons
.
In Dune: House Harkonnen
(2000), Abulurd Harkonnen notes how the extravagant beauty of the city differs from his homeworlds of Giedi Prime
and Lankiveil:
According to Dune: House Corrino
(2001), "Hassik III ... had taxed his subjects nearly into bankruptcy in order to rebuild a governmental infrastructure. Members of the Landsraad, vowing not to be outdone by House Corrino, had built their own monuments in the growing city. Within a generation, unremarkable Kaitain had become an awesome spectacle of Imperial architecture, museums, and bureaucratic self-indulgence."
Corrinth is the location of many important structures:
and the Lady Anirul) to see the play My Father's Shadow while she is on Kaitain serving as a personal lady-in-waiting for the Corrino family. The Hassik III Center is described as a "column-studded edifice ... a cavernous building designed with acoustic enhancements and prismatic windows." The novel notes its "Veined-marble arches with flanking fire-fountains ... [which] spewed feathery arcs of perfumed oils; blue flames consumed much of the fuel before the droplets fell into the lozenge-shaped reflecting pools."
, sealed within nullentropy fields so that their bodies would never decay, even if their meager accomplishments were obscured by the fog of passing time ... As the need for burials continued century after century, the necropolis had been dug deeper, with more crypts hollowed out. In the lowest and most recent subterranean levels, Shaddam actually recognized some of the names of his ancestors." Shaddam's elder brother Crown Prince Fafnir had been laid to rest among "coffins and chambers for children and siblings," his tomb marked by an "idealized statue" of him. Also in the necropolis is the walled-up vault of Emperor Shaddam IV's grandfather, Fondil III, known as "the Hunter" — his tomb is "flanked by the stuffed carcasses of two ferocious predators the man had killed: a spiny ecadroghe from the high plateaus of Ecaz and a tufted saber-bear from III Delta Kaising." It is noted that "Fondil, however, had taken his epithet from hunting men, ferreting out enemies and destroying them. His big-game adventures had been a mere diversion." The mummy of the "long-forgotten" ruler called Mandias the Terrible, known as "the Emperor who made worlds tremble," is hidden in the Imperial Necropolis "in a chamber fronted by a fearsome, life-size statue" of Mandias. Shaddam IV notes when looking at Mandias' body: "I am not impressed ... Nobody even remembers him."
Shaddam and Count Hasimir Fenring
had played together in the necropolis as children, and it is also the home of spiders, rodents and modified scarabs
that "managed to survive by eating scraps of long-preserved flesh." During the events of Dune: House Corrino, Shaddam inters the remains of his father Elrood IX in the Imperial Necropolis as well:
The Imperial Palace of Kaitain is the home of the Padishah Emperor and the center of the Imperial government. It is the literal and figurative location of the Golden Lion Throne, which is both a term used to describe the Corrino Imperium and a physical object.. The Palace also functions as the Emperor's personal spacecraft.
First described in 1965's Dune, the massive Imperial throne is "carved from a single piece of Hagal quartz
— blue-green translucency shot through with streaks of yellow fire."
attempt on his half-brother, Emperor Shaddam IV. At this time, the Warden of the Imperial Prison on Kaitain is a woman named Nanee McGarr, who had held the position for over 20 years. Ambassador Cammar Pilru of Ix
knows of her secret past as a smuggler and escapee from an Ixian prison tunnel, and uses this information to arrange for a secret meeting with Tyros Reffa in his cell.
Pilru notes that the prison is surrounded by a labyrinth of canals and waterways lined with thorn hedges. The penal facility is a large structure of gray stone; he enters in a flat-bottom boat though Traitor’s Gate, double doors of iron lattice flanked by the heads of executed prisoners on poles:
According to the boatman, "A lot of famous prisoners enter this way, but not many come back out." It is also mentioned that the infamous Imperial Torture Chambers are based within the Prison; Pilru notes the screams he can hear.
Shaddam is shown some of the Hall's contents in Dune: House Corrino:
, the council of noble Houses, is described in Dune: House Atreides:
Dune universe
Dune is a science fiction franchise which originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert. Considered by many to be the greatest science fiction novel of all time, Dune is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history...
created by Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
.
In Herbert's 1965 novel Dune
Dune (novel)
Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...
, it is mentioned briefly as the seat of power of Padishah Emperor
Padishah Emperor
Padishah Emperor is the title given to the hereditary rulers of the Old Empire in the science fiction Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.-Original series:...
Shaddam Corrino IV
Shaddam Corrino IV
Shaddam Corrino IV is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is Padishah Emperor of the known universe in Herbert's 1965 novel Dune. Shaddam's accession to the throne is chronicled in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.Born...
, the Royal Court being previously located on the planet Salusa Secundus
Salusa Secundus
Salusa Secundus is a fictional planet appearing in Frank Herbert's Dune universe. With harsh conditions rivaling those of the desert planet Arrakis, Salusa is used as the Imperial Prison Planet, and is one of two planets on which shigawire is grown .-Dune:In "Terminology of the Imperium," the...
.
The Prelude to Dune
Prelude to Dune
Prelude to Dune is a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in Frank Herbert's Dune universe....
prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
(1999-2001) by Brian Herbert
Brian Herbert
Brian Patrick Herbert is an American author who lives in Washington state. He is the elder son of science fiction author Frank Herbert....
and Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson is an American science fiction author with over forty bestsellers. He has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the Dune prequels...
further explores Kaitain and its origins.
Origins and description
The Prelude to DunePrelude to Dune
Prelude to Dune is a prequel trilogy of novels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in Frank Herbert's Dune universe....
series establishes that, after centuries as the capital of the Corrino Padishah Empire
Padishah Emperor
Padishah Emperor is the title given to the hereditary rulers of the Old Empire in the science fiction Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.-Original series:...
, Salusa is devastated by atomics before the events of 1999's Dune: House Atreides
Dune: House Atreides
Dune: House Atreides is a 1999 science fiction novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. It is the first book in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy, which takes place before the events of Frank Herbert's celebrated 1965 novel Dune...
. Padishah Emperor Hassik Corrino III relocates the Imperial throne to Kaitain, and the renegade House which had perpetrated the attack is exterminated, their name erased from history. Salusa Secundus is intentionally left as a barren wasteland.
According to Dune: House Atreides, Padishah Emperor Hassik Corrino III had reestablished the Imperium's seat of government on Kaitain and had sought to rebuild the capital to new heights of grandeur:
Following the nuclear holocaust on Salusa Secundus ... everyone had been anxious to establish an optimistic new order. Hassik III had wanted to show that even after the near obliteration of House CorrinoHouse CorrinoImperial House Corrino is a fictional noble family from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. The Corrinos come to power after mankind's victory against the thinking machines at the Battle of Corrin , and rule until deposed by Paul Atreides approximately 10,000 years later during the events...
, the Imperium and its business would continue at a more exalted level than ever before.
On Planetologist Pardot Kynes
Pardot Kynes
Pardot Kynes is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He was the Imperial Planetologist of Arrakis prior to the start of the novel Dune, and was featured in the Prelude to Dune series by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.Pardot Kynes was first introduced in the...
' visit for an audience with Emperor Elrood IX, he notes:
On the Imperial planet Kaitain, immense buildings kissed the sky. Magnificent sculptures and opulent tiered fountains lined the crystal-paved boulevards like a dream. A person could stare for hours ... Kaitain was exquisitely planned and produced, with tree-lined boulevards, splendid architecture, well-watered gardens, flower barricades . . . and so much more ... Official Imperial reports claimed it was always warm, the climate forever temperate. Storms were unknown. No clouds marred the skies ... when the ornate GuildSpacing GuildThe Spacing Guild is an organization in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. With its monopoly on interstellar travel and banking, the Guild is a balance of power against the Padishah Emperor and the assembled noble Houses of the Landsraad...
escort craft descended, [Kynes] had noted the flotilla of weather satellites, climate-bending technology that — through brute force — kept Kaitain a peaceful and serene place.
In Dune: House Atreides it is also noted that Kaitain has four moons
Natural satellite
A natural satellite or moon is a celestial body that orbits a planet or smaller body, which is called its primary. The two terms are used synonymously for non-artificial satellites of planets, of dwarf planets, and of minor planets....
.
Corrinth
The Prelude to Dune series also establishes that the lavish capital city of Kaitain is named Corrinth.In Dune: House Harkonnen
Dune: House Harkonnen
Dune: House Harkonnen is a 2000 science fiction novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. It is the second book in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy, which takes place before the events of Frank Herbert's celebrated 1965 novel Dune...
(2000), Abulurd Harkonnen notes how the extravagant beauty of the city differs from his homeworlds of Giedi Prime
Giedi Prime
Giedi Prime is a fictional planet in Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune. A planet of Ophiuchi B , it is the homeworld of the vicious House Harkonnen, the sworn enemies of House Atreides.-Description:...
and Lankiveil:
The towering government buildings of Corrinth ... rose around Abulurd Harkonnen like a drug-induced fantasy. In his wildest dreams he had never visualized so many soaring edifices, jeweled inlays, and polished slabs of precious stone ... Colorful chime kites were tethered to the tall buildings, writhing on breezes in the perpetually blue skies. Prismatic ribbons drifted across the sky and shed rainbows on the flagstones below. Kaitain was obviously more concerned with form than substance.
According to Dune: House Corrino
Dune: House Corrino
Dune: House Corrino is a 2001 science fiction novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. It is the third book in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy, which takes place before the events of Frank Herbert's celebrated 1965 novel Dune...
(2001), "Hassik III ... had taxed his subjects nearly into bankruptcy in order to rebuild a governmental infrastructure. Members of the Landsraad, vowing not to be outdone by House Corrino, had built their own monuments in the growing city. Within a generation, unremarkable Kaitain had become an awesome spectacle of Imperial architecture, museums, and bureaucratic self-indulgence."
Corrinth is the location of many important structures:
Hassik III Center for the Performing Arts
In Dune: House Corrino, Lady Jessica goes to the Hassik III Center for the Performing Arts (with Emperor Shaddam IVShaddam Corrino IV
Shaddam Corrino IV is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is Padishah Emperor of the known universe in Herbert's 1965 novel Dune. Shaddam's accession to the throne is chronicled in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.Born...
and the Lady Anirul) to see the play My Father's Shadow while she is on Kaitain serving as a personal lady-in-waiting for the Corrino family. The Hassik III Center is described as a "column-studded edifice ... a cavernous building designed with acoustic enhancements and prismatic windows." The novel notes its "Veined-marble arches with flanking fire-fountains ... [which] spewed feathery arcs of perfumed oils; blue flames consumed much of the fuel before the droplets fell into the lozenge-shaped reflecting pools."
Imperial Necropolis
According to Dune: House Corrino, the underground catacombs of the Imperial Necropolis cover "as much area as the magnificent Palace itself. Generations of fallen Corrinos inhabited the city of the dead, those who had succumbed to treachery or accidents; a few had even died of natural causes." It is noted that "After moving the Imperial capital from ruined Salusa Secundus, Emperor Hassik III had been the first to be entombed beneath the megalithic building. Over the ensuing millennia, numerous Corrino emperors, concubines, and bastard children were also buried here. Some had been cremated and their ashes displayed in urns, while the bones of others were ground up to make porcelain funereal pieces. A few rulers were encased in transparent sarcophagiSarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
, sealed within nullentropy fields so that their bodies would never decay, even if their meager accomplishments were obscured by the fog of passing time ... As the need for burials continued century after century, the necropolis had been dug deeper, with more crypts hollowed out. In the lowest and most recent subterranean levels, Shaddam actually recognized some of the names of his ancestors." Shaddam's elder brother Crown Prince Fafnir had been laid to rest among "coffins and chambers for children and siblings," his tomb marked by an "idealized statue" of him. Also in the necropolis is the walled-up vault of Emperor Shaddam IV's grandfather, Fondil III, known as "the Hunter" — his tomb is "flanked by the stuffed carcasses of two ferocious predators the man had killed: a spiny ecadroghe from the high plateaus of Ecaz and a tufted saber-bear from III Delta Kaising." It is noted that "Fondil, however, had taken his epithet from hunting men, ferreting out enemies and destroying them. His big-game adventures had been a mere diversion." The mummy of the "long-forgotten" ruler called Mandias the Terrible, known as "the Emperor who made worlds tremble," is hidden in the Imperial Necropolis "in a chamber fronted by a fearsome, life-size statue" of Mandias. Shaddam IV notes when looking at Mandias' body: "I am not impressed ... Nobody even remembers him."
Shaddam and Count Hasimir Fenring
Hasimir Fenring
Count Hasimir Fenring is a fictional character in the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. He is featured in the science fiction novel Dune by Frank Herbert, and is also a key character in the Prelude to Dune trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J...
had played together in the necropolis as children, and it is also the home of spiders, rodents and modified scarabs
Scarabaeidae
The family Scarabaeidae as currently defined consists of over 30,000 species of beetles worldwide. The species in this large family are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family is fairly unstable, with numerous competing theories, and new proposals appearing quite...
that "managed to survive by eating scraps of long-preserved flesh." During the events of Dune: House Corrino, Shaddam inters the remains of his father Elrood IX in the Imperial Necropolis as well:
[Shaddam] finally led Fenring to where the sealed ashes of Elrood IX waited in a relatively small alcove, adorned with shimmering diamondplaz, ornate scrollwork, and fine gems — a sufficient display of Shaddam’s grief at the loss of his "beloved father" ... Disrespectfully, Shaddam leaned against the resting place of his father’s ashes. The old man had been cremated to foil any Suk physician's attempts to determine the true cause of death.
Imperial Observatory
In Dune: House Atreides, Shaddam IV notes that the Imperial Observatory had been built by Hassik III; its highest chamber has a "cold, burnished-metal floor" and "a high-powered starscope."Imperial Palace
First described in 1965's Dune, the massive Imperial throne is "carved from a single piece of Hagal quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
— blue-green translucency shot through with streaks of yellow fire."
Imperial Prison
During the events of Dune: House Corrino, Tyros Reffa, the illegitimate son of Padishah Emperor Elrood IX and Lady Shando Vernius, is held in the Imperial Prison after his assassinationAssassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
attempt on his half-brother, Emperor Shaddam IV. At this time, the Warden of the Imperial Prison on Kaitain is a woman named Nanee McGarr, who had held the position for over 20 years. Ambassador Cammar Pilru of Ix
Ix (Dune)
Ix is a fictional planet featured in the Dune series of science fiction novels written by Frank Herbert, and derivative works. In Dune it is noted that Ix is classed with the planet Richese as "supreme in machine culture," and that Ixian solido projectors "are commonly considered the best." In...
knows of her secret past as a smuggler and escapee from an Ixian prison tunnel, and uses this information to arrange for a secret meeting with Tyros Reffa in his cell.
Pilru notes that the prison is surrounded by a labyrinth of canals and waterways lined with thorn hedges. The penal facility is a large structure of gray stone; he enters in a flat-bottom boat though Traitor’s Gate, double doors of iron lattice flanked by the heads of executed prisoners on poles:
Their skulls, still draped in bloody flesh and then coated with a preservation polymer, had been hollowed out and fitted with glowglobes, so that an unsettling ghoulish light shone through the eye sockets, mouths, and nostrils.
According to the boatman, "A lot of famous prisoners enter this way, but not many come back out." It is also mentioned that the infamous Imperial Torture Chambers are based within the Prison; Pilru notes the screams he can hear.
Ishaq Hall of Magnificent Documents
Designed and built by Padishah Emperor Ishaq XV, the Ishaq Hall of Magnificent Documents is a repository for, among other things, the handwritten personal diaries of past Corrino Emperors. In its time the museum was, according to Dune: House Corrino, "one of the most spectacular constructions in the burgeoning Imperial city." However, by the time of Shaddam IV it has been "swallowed by ever more impressive architecture" and "lost among the extravagant monuments on Kaitain."Shaddam is shown some of the Hall's contents in Dune: House Corrino:
During the tour, the Hall Curator showed him constitutional documents, oaths of conditional independence and declarations of planetary loyalty dating back to when the growing Imperium was consolidating itself. A carefully preserved parchment of the first Guild Charter, supposedly one of only eleven extant copies in the universe, sat bathed under filter lights and a protective shield. One display case held a copy of the Azhar BookAzhar BookThe Azhar Book is a text in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert.-Dune:Appendix II: The Religion of Dune in the novel Dune refers to the Azhar Book as "that bibliographic marvel that preserves the great secrets of the most ancient faiths," and notes that it predates the Orange...
, the Bene GesseritBene GesseritThe Bene Gesserit are a key social, religious, and political force in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. The group is described as an exclusive sisterhood whose members train their bodies and minds through years of physical and mental conditioning to obtain superhuman powers and...
volume of secrets written in a long-forgotten language.
Landsraad Hall of Oratory
The lavish meeting place of the LandsraadLandsraad
The Landsraad is a fictional organization in Frank Herbert's Dune universe. It is the assembly of all noble Houses in the Imperium.-Overview:...
, the council of noble Houses, is described in Dune: House Atreides:
...the massive Landsraad Hall of Oratory stood high and imposing, the tallest peak in a mountain range of legislative edifices and government offices surrounding an ellipsoidal commons. The Hall had been erected by contributions from all the Houses, each noble family trying to outdo the others in grandeur. Representatives from CHOAMCHOAMThe Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles is a fictional universal development corporation in Frank Herbert's Dune universe, first mentioned in the 1965 novel Dune...
had helped to procure resources from across the Imperium, and only by special order of a former Emperor — Hassik Corrino III — had the exorbitant Landsraad construction plans been curtailed, so as not to overshadow the Imperial Palace itself.