Special Sub-Topic: Dune: The Butlerian Jihad - Part 1 of 2 Click Here To Play: Dune: The Butlerian Jihad - Part 1 of 2

As "Dune: The Butlerian Jihad" opens, we read Princess Irulan's history of the human race ten thousand years before the birth of Paul Muad'Dib. She tells of a group of ambitious individuals called the "Titans" who conquered the Old Empire with the assistance of thinking machines. Who was the leader of the Titans during the takeover?

Tlaloc. The Titans met and planned their conquest primarily through computer networks, where they took on the monikers of gods and heroes of ancient Earth. Tlaloc led the conquest, Agamemnon was Tlaloc's military commander, and Juno was Agamemnon's lover. But it was Barbarossa who programmed aggressive tendencies into the thinking machines, and this programming later led to the Titans' downfall.

Elements of the Old Empire fought against the Titans, forming the League of Nobles and preserving the freedom of billions of human beings. Where did the League of Nobles establish its capital world?

Salusa Secundus. At the beginning of "Dune: The Butlerian Jihad," both Ix and Earth were "Synchronized Worlds" under control of the thinking machines. Kaitain would not become a capital world until later, when Salusa Secundus suffered atomic bombardment by a renegade House.

As the computer evermind spread its awareness and control over the worlds formerly held by the Titans, it chose a terraformed planet orbiting a red giant star for its own capital world. Which world was this?

Corrin. The terraforming of Corrin seemed unfinished, which the machines preferred because Corrin was not burdened by the "baggage" of human history. Caladan, Arrakis, and Tlulax were neither Synchronized Worlds nor members of the League of Nobles, belonging instead to the Unallied Planets.

The Time of Titans lasted for a century, until one of the Titans gave in to excessive pleasure-seeking and allowed the thinking machines to take over. What is the name of the computer evermind that thereafter controlled the Synchronized Worlds?

Omnius. Omnius was the computer evermind that existed on each of the Synchronized Worlds. Xerxes was the Titan whose pleasure-seeking led to the takeover by the thinking machines. Dante and Ajax were two of the other Titans.

The League of Nobles witnessed only minor skirmishes with the thinking machines for a century, and representatives were in conference on Salusa Secundus when the gigantic robot fleet approached. Why did the computer evermind launch this massive assault?

The Titan Barbarossa had triumphed in gladiator combat and had earned a reward. Individual Titans occasionally dueled with warrior forms created by Omnius, and a triumph by Barbarossa earned the Titans a boon from the computer evermind. Agamemnon requested a strike on the capital world of the League of Nobles, believing the conquest of Salusa Secundus would weaken the resistance of the remaining worlds of the "feral humans."

The fleet of the thinking machines was led by the Titan General Agamemnon himself, and with the League Armada far away, the robotic fleet was opposed only by the League's new scrambler shield and the local Salusan Militia. Who directly commanded the Salusan Militia when the thinking machines staged their ground assault with 28 cymek warriors?

Xavier Harkonnen. Tercero Harkonnen was second-in-command to Primero Meach when the robotic fleet attacked, and was sent by Primero Meach out of Militia headquarters to report first-hand from the field. Meach and Steff Young, another Militia officer, were killed when the headquarters were destroyed. Cuarto Powder was an officer who accompanied Xavier Harkonnen in the field during the cymek ground attack.

General Agamemnon ordered Xerxes, one of the original Titans, to lead a force of cymeks and begin a ground attack on Salusa Secundus. What did the cymeks possess that allowed them to pass through the Salusan scrambler shield unhindered?

Organic brains. Xerxes and the other cymeks used pyramid-shaped drop carriages to crash onto the planet's surface, and their warrior-forms were relatively immune to the physical stresses of the landing. However, it was the disembodied organic brains of the cymeks, encased in preservation canisters, that allowed them to pass through the scrambler shield, which was designed to destroy the delicate gelcircuitry of the robots.

The cymeks emerged from their pyramid-shaped drop carriages and immediately began to wreak havoc. What weaponry were the cymek warrior-forms equipped with?

All of these (Flamer cannons, Artillery launchers, Gas jets). The warrior forms were equipped for maximum violence, but the gas jets were especially deadly. Xavier Harkonnen's own breathing gear malfunctioned in the middle of the battle, putting his life in danger.

When the robotic fleet attacked, Serena Butler--daughter of the Viceroy of Salusa Secundus, and future catalyst of the Jihad--was speaking before League representatives. She had a musically talented brother, Fredo, who died at age 14. What was the name of Serena's surviving sibling?

Octa. Octa was younger than Serena by 2 years. She, Serena, and Xavier had been acquainted since they were young. Octa acknowledged the inevitability of her sister's marriage to Xavier, but this did not quell her deep crush on Xavier.

Serena's mother, Livia, retreated from public life after her son Fredo's death, and thereafter devoted her life to religious and philosophical pursuits. Where did Livia go to live?

City of Introspection. The City of Introspection was a philosophical preserve, owned by a Butler trust, and Livia Butler made a large number of donations to improve the facilities. She eventually became the Abbess of the City.

Xavier Harkonnen's parents were killed by a thinking machine raid when he was young, and he was adopted by the Tantors. Later, the Tantors had a child of their own who greatly admired Xavier. What was the name of Xavier's younger (half-) sibling?

Vergyl. Emil and Lucille Tantor were Xavier's adoptive parents, while Manion Butler was Serena's father and Viceroy of Salusa Secundus.

In the aftermath of the attack on Salusa Secundus, Xavier Harkonnen was promoted and sent to inspect the defenses of other League Worlds. Which world was his last stop, a world that would be associated with the Harkonnen name in the future of the Dune universe?

Giedi Prime. Xavier rushed the inspection of Giedi Prime, leaving certain weaknesses unattended and unwittingly bringing about another attack from the thinking machines.

Rejoining Serena Butler on Salusa Secundus, Xavier Harkonnen took time from his military duties to accompany the Viceroy and his entourage on a hunt on the grounds of the Butler estate. What were they hunting?

None of these. The expedition had all the trappings of a traditional fox hunt, except that the quarry were the bristleback boars that freely roamed the grounds of the Butler estate. Salusan bulls were too ferocious to be kept free on the estate, and human slavery was not practiced on Salusa Secundus.

Vorian Atreides, biological son of the Titan General Agamemnon, lived an idyllic life as a human trustee on the Synchronized World of Earth. Using his influence with the computer evermind, Agamemnon secured for his son the co-pilot position on the Dream Voyager, the spacecraft that traveled among all the Synchronized Worlds and updated all the different planetary versions of the computer evermind. What was the robot captain of this update ship known as?

Both of these. In addition to his real name, Seurat was called "Old Metalmind" by his human co-pilot.

Tio Holtzman was the brilliant scientist who created the scrambler shields, the cornerstones of the League world defenses against the thinking machines. Which world did Tio Holtzman call home?

Poritrin. IV Anbus and Harmonthep were Unallied Planets where slaves were harvested for service on League worlds, while Walgis was the site of a "hrethgir" (human) rebellion against the Titans and the thinking machines.

Tio Holtzman was given a free hand and timetable in making his creations by the ruler of his world. Who was the scientist's noble benefactor?

Lord Bludd. Magnus Sumi was the leader of Giedi Prime, and Aurelius Venport was the most successful business entrepreneur from the planet of Rossak.

The Sorceress women were led by the fiery Zufa Cenva, who displayed a hint of her power at a meeting of League representatives on Salusa Secundus. Which world did Zufa hail from?

Rossak. Chusuk, Hagal, and Ros-Jal were other League Worlds at the time of the Jihad.

The Sorceress women led by Zufa Cenva conducted breeding experiments that formed the basis of the Bene Gesserit programs in the far future of the Dune universe. Zufa produced a daughter, Norma, who did not have the telepathic abilities of her mother but did possess astounding mathematical talents. The name of Norma Cenva eventually came to the attention of Tio Holtzman--how?

Norma Cenva wrote an academic paper. Norma's mother Zufa was so narrow-minded that she would not have recognized her daughter's potential, and Aurelius would not have challenged his wife on this issue. However, Holtzman was so worried that he was losing his creative touch that, after he read Norma's paper, he saw her as a possible savior and summoned her to Poritrin immediately.

True or False: Tio Holtzman's world used slaves gathered from the Unallied Planets to perform menial labor, and even the great scientist himself used slaves to perform the tedious calculations involved in his work, because his world did not allow the use of sophisticated computers.

t. The slaves gathered from other worlds were already trained in basic mathematics, and Holtzman used a number of slaves to perform the tedious calculations, freeing him (and Norma Cenva) to focus on the more difficult theoretical considerations.

On Planet Arrakis, the Zensunni Wanderers established a precarious existence amid the unending sands and rock. Which Zensunni was wrongly accused of stealing water from the tribe and exiled into the deep desert, there to meet his destiny and become the first rider of the giant sandworms?

Selim. Ebrahim was the actual thief, but since Selim was an orphan, the Naib Dhartha decided to punish him instead of Ebrahim. Glyffa was the old woman who cared for Selim for a time.

In a nod to contemporary geopolitics, the authors make mention of the Zenshiites, the more proactive brethren of the Zensunni who likewise refused to join with the League of Nobles in the fight against the thinking machines. Who was the acknowledged Deity of the Zensunni and Zenshiite sects?

Budallah. Gaia was the name of the Mother Goddess in old Earth tradition, Master Creator God was another name for the Deity used by non-Buddislamics, and Shaitan is the variation of the word "Satan" used to refer to the Arrakis sandworms.

The Zensunni exile was taken deep into the Arrakis desert, desperately clinging to the metal spear lodged in between the segments of the giant sandworm, thus keeping the monster from burying itself in the sand. How did this first riding of a sandworm end?

The worm died from exhaustion. The worm stopped and did not move anymore, and it was some time before Selim realized that it was dead.

After the Wormrider finished his journey, he found--much to his delight--that he was stranded near a facility that contained food, shelter, and a fortune in water. What was this facility?

Old botanical testing station. This Old Empire botanical station was located deep in the desert, well out of reach of the Zensunni encampments. An attempt by the computer evermind to establish a base on Arrakis was quickly ended by a sandworm, and at the time of the Jihad, Arrakis was much too isolated from the normal trading routes to attract many smugglers.

General Agamemnon led another attack on a League world, and this time succeeded in disabling the scrambler shields that prevented incursions by robotic craft. How was this done?

He crashed a cruiser into the main shield transmitter station. The gelcircuity that was critical to the thinking machines' functions could not circumvent the shield, and atomics would have damaged the industrial facilities the thinking machines preferred to preserve. The solution on Giedi Prime was to fly an unguided robot ship directly into the main transmitter station.

Serena Butler had previously led humanitarian missions on other worlds, and her ideals did not dim in the face of long and laborious debates by League representatives. She was determined to retake Giedi Prime before the thinking machines established their defenses. How did she plan to do this?

All of these (She would lead a commando team to the north polar region of Giedi Prime, She planned to activate the backup transmitter for the scrambler shield, She counted on Xavier Harkonnen to lead the League Armada to Giedi Prime). Her mission accomplished everything she hoped for, with one major exception. In her flight from Giedi Prime, Serena's ship was intercepted by the thinking machines. Xavier later learned that traces of her blood were found in the remains of her craft.