The Baron and his Mentat Piter de Vries have managed to turn one of the Duke’s most trusted advisors, Dr. Meanwhile, the greedy and corrupt Baron Vladimir Harkonnen plots against his cousin Duke Leto. He also learns that there is a chance that he is the Bene Gesserit’s promised Kwisatz Haderach, a male individual who will have higher cognitive awareness than all other humans, although the Reverend Mother dismisses this possibility. Paul demonstrates courage and self-control to pass the test. The Reverend Mother puts Paul through a dangerous test whereby he must prove his humanity by overcoming instinctual reactions to fear and pain using cognitive rationality and control if he fails the test, Paul will meet death through the gom jabbar (a poison-tipped needle that the Reverend Mother holds to his neck during the ordeal). Paul has impressive mental and physical abilities due to the training he has received from his mother and from renowned warriors Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho. One of the Bene Gesserit leaders, Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, visits Caladan and demands a meeting with fifteen-year-old Paul Atreides. Lady Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit order, a matriarchal program who use cognitive abilities and genetic breeding to hold power in the wider universe. The Duke is popular as a fair and virtuous leader, although he has historic enemies in rival House Harkonnen.

The novel opens with Duke Leto Atreides moving his son Paul, his concubine Lady Jessica, their noble household, and the Atreides military forces from his home planet Caladan to Arrakis. Spice is a highly addictive drug that can be ingested as a mind-altering substance to increase human lifespan, allow interstellar travel, and open the human mind to higher cognitive functions including prescience.

Despite its hostile desert climate, Arrakis is a valuable holding, as it is the only planet that produces the profitable crop called spice (also known as melange).

The Emperor has recently given control of the desert planet Arrakis to House Atreides, one of the Imperium’s powerful Great Houses. More than twenty thousand years into the future, humankind is spread across the universe living in a feudal society with the Padishah Emperor at its head.

Dune herbert