Paul Atreides

**Paulos Orestes XIX Atreides** (10175 AG - 10217 AG), also known as **Muad'Dib**, **Usul**, **The Preacher**, **The Mentat Emperor** and **The Tyrant**, was the founder and first Emperor of the Atreides Empire and the Kwisatz Haderach of the Bene Gesserit. After the death of his father and the exile of House Atreides, Paul found himself a leader among the Fremen people of Arrakis. Fuelled by the historic prophecies of the Lisan al-Gaib, Paul found himself inching closer and closer to taking power over the galaxy as Emperor. Despite his love and loyalty to Chani Kynes — with whom he had numerous children — Paul married Irulan Corrino in his quest for the Emperor's seat in the Landsraad, but found navigating this relationship complex and difficult at times.

The figure known as "Paul Atreides" was perhaps a more fitting subject for the romancer or the folklorist than for the historian. Many of the attributes claimed for him (i.e.,that he was prescient, that he survived the explosion of an atomic warhead) were clearly fantastic; others (i.e., that he was a great warrior) were common to virtually all mythic heroes. Yet the legends about him were persistent and far-flung, and some of them were recorded by ancient historians and biographers whose work in other areas is known to be absolutely accurate.

## Biography

### Conception

The Bene Gesserit brought Paul's parents together with the intention of producing an Atreides daughter; who could then mate with the heir to House Harkonnen, and produce the fabled Kwisatz Hadarach, or super-being. However, the plans of the Bene Gesserit sistherhood were thrown into turmoil when Jessica, due to her love for Leto, gave a male heir to his House.

### Birth on Kaitain

Jessica kept the gender of her son in secret until she was summoned to the Imperial capital to give birth to her child. Because of the importance of this unborn child, Lady Anirul Corrino, Kwisatz Mother of the the Bene Gesserit and wife of the Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, supervised his birth. Even after the stunning revelation during delivery that the child was a male, Anirul decided that Paul must live and be protected. As Anirul and the Bene Gesserit staff realized that an assassin was in the Imperial Palace, Lady Anirul realized she had to help kill the murderer herself.

During Jessica's rigorous labor, Anirul found the murderer alone in the Palace but she is mortally wounded, and Gaius Helen Mohiam was able to kill the murderer. The Imperial intruder turned out to be the twisted mentat, Piter de Vries, agent of House Harkonnen. As word got out about de Vries' killing of Anirul, the capital city, Corrinth City, went into turmoil.

After arriving in Kaitain, Leto quickly searched throughout the Imperial Palace, and once he found Jessica and Paul, they quickly left for Caladan. A few weeks later, during the announcement of Paul's birth to the citizens of Cala City, far away, on Arrakis, giant sandworms performed a mystical rite beneath the light of Dune's second moon.

### War of Assassins of 10187 AG

During the War of Assassins of 10187 AG, between House Moritani and House Ecaz, the Atreides family became involved when Ilesa Ecaz, the intended bride of Duke Leto, was killed just before marrying him. The entire planet went on lockdown, and while Leto prepared his attack force to meet the Moritani's on their home planet of Grumman, his son Paul, who has left in Idaho's care in Castle Caladan, was attacked shortly thereafter in his bedchamber.

Duncan arranged an escape into the night, flying with Paul in an ornithopter to Caladan's sparsely populated Eastern Continent. While fleeing, Paul and Duncan were ruthlessly hunted throughout all of the continent's dense forest overgrowth. The two eventually made friends with Caladan primitives, who helped them escape from the assassins over the course of the following week.

Eventually, Duncan arranged for Paul and himself to gain entry to the abbey of the Sisters in Isolation, home in exile of Paul's grandmother, Lady Helena Atreides. The two rested and refreshed themselves as Paul met his cold demeanored grandmother for the first time. After the Moritani assassins found them, they bombarded and burned down the entire abbey, killing almost everyone inside, including Paul's grandmother. Swain Goire, the Lady's bodyguard, who accompanied her in exile, gave his life, in a last ditch effort to allow Duncan and Paul to escape. Later, in the deep jungle, the Caladan primitives set traps for the assassins, as they came to understand the kindness of House Atreides, and their just rule over the planet.

As the Atreides and Ecaz families joined forces, they landed on the planet Grumman. Hundro Moritani led his forces into open battle on the salt plains near the planet's capital city, Ritka.

Paul learned this way the bloody nature of battle, as he saw the hand-to-hand combat experienced by both sides; and it changed Paul's nature thence-forward. Later, when Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV landed near Ritka to enforce a peace treaty, Paul saw the treachery exhibited by Viscount Moritani as he threatened to blow up the entire city and plain with nuclear devices. No longer would the 12-year old Atreides view the world in naivete', but would be prepared.

### Tessia Struck

A year later, in 10188 AG, Jessica and Paul visited Ix so that Paul could spend time as an exchange student in Vernii City, just as his father had done decades earlier. To Jessica's dismay, while there, the Bene Gesserit guilt-caster Stokia and three other Sisters visited Tessia Vernius. They demanded that Tessia produce more children for the Bene Gesserit breeding program, which Tessia refused. Unbeknownst to Jessica, Stokia used her psychic powers to put Tessia into a comatose trance, which rendered Tessia helpless. Rhombur was unable to help his poor wife, and Dr. Yueh could do nothing to help her, who began to waste away. The Sisterhood demanded that Tessia be take with them to Wallach IX, where they would nurse her and take care of her. In grief, Rhombur let them take his wife away.

### Running with Bronso

Later that day, Rhombur decided to tell his son, Bronso Vernius, that he was the artificially conceived son of Tyros Reffa. Bronso, who was 11 years old, reacted bad and encouraged Paul to run away with him off-world. Paul, under the oath to Duke Leto "to protect Bronso", accompanied him.

Though his time with the Jongleur performing group was less than a month, Paul was able to remember many of the techniques that the Jongleurs had taught him about mass hypnosis, and he was later able to use them to cement his rule amongst the Fremen, and later as Emperor.

### Death of Earl Rhombur

A few days later, House Atreides received information that both arrived first to Chusuk, and now could be found on Balut with a Jongleur performing group. When Jessica and the rest of the searchers from House Atreides and House Vernius arrived on Balut, they found both Bronso and Paul well treated by the performing group. The Jongleur group was to give a performance in honor of the Governor of Balut's upcoming marriage in the planet's famed Theater of Shards. Paul was able to sense that an assassination attempt was planned.

Paul saved the life of the planetary Governor Alra Kio, but when Rhombur pushed Balut's leader out of the way, the intense sound blast hit him, and ravaged his body. All present recoiled in horror as Rhombus died, and Bronso cradled his dying father.

Just before Rhombur died, he whispered his last words to his son, "Is Paul safe?" Deeply hurt that his father did not speak of him or his mother while dying, Bronso cast Jessica and the rest of House Atreides out of his life for the next 12 years. The Atreides returned to Caladan.

### Upbringing

As the son of Duke Leto Atreides I, Paul grew up with a privileged background on the water-covered planet of Caladan, the ancestral home of House Atreides. Though he lacked companions his own age, he did recieve tuition from his teachers, men like Thufir Hawat, Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck and Doctor Yueh, as well as education in Bene Gesserit methods and techniques from his mother. Shortly after his fifteenth birthday in 10191 AG, Paul's father revealed to him that Paul's training, through his teachers, had been geared toward turning Paul into a mentat. The theory was that when Paul succeeded his father as Duke of House Atreides, one of the most respected and moral Great Houses of the Imperium, a mentat-duke would truly be a formidable force in the Landsraad. Paul's latent talents also earned him the attention of the Bene Gesserit, who tested him with the Gom Jabbar as they hoped to salvage their breeding program through him.

### Move to Arrakis

Paul accompanied his parents when House Atreides relocated to the desert world of Arrakis to manage mining operations of the spice melange. After a supposed asssassination attempt on Leto's son Paul, Dr Yueh lowered the defensive house shields and used sedative drugs to disable Leto, Paul, and Jessica, leaving the Atreides leaderless and disorganized under the Harkonnen and Sardaukar military onslaught in the Siege of Arrakeen. The Atreides army was crushed, with only a few remnants managing to escape. This attack marked the beginning of the War. Paul and Jessica were sent into the desert to die. Because of the use of truthsayers in the Empire, the Baron Harkonnen needed to be able to say truthfully that he was not (directly) responsible for their deaths. However, this plan was foiled by arrangements made by Yueh (he hated the Baron and wished to at least save Paul and Jessica) and Paul and Jessica managed to kill their captors and escape into the desert.

### With Kynes and Idaho

Paul and Jessica initially met up with Planetologist Liet Kynes and Swordmaster Duncan Idaho, hiding in a botanical testing station abandonded long ago. However, they were not there long before the station was attacked by Sardaukar, who kill Duncan. Paul and Jessica flde to the deep desert in an ornithopter, parting ways with Dr Kynes. They let the Harkonnens think they had died from a coriolis storm.

### Alliance with the Fremen

In the deep desert, under the pressure of extreme circumstances and the increased doses of Spice that he has been ingesting simply by living on Arrakis, some of Paul's powers came into fruition, and his ability to see possible futures exploded into awareness. He saw many things, a way out of his situation, and the restoration of the Atreides, if only he could make contact with the native Fremen and survive. After a dangerous crossing of the desert, Paul and Jessica managed to meet up with a troop of Fremen. Paul and Jessica proved their worth by disarming Fremen in unarmed combat, aided by Bene Gesserit prana-bindu training – the "Weirding Way" – and the Fremen leader Stilgar gladly accepted them into his troop because he would like to add that skill to the Fremen people. Paul also met a young woman, Chani, daughter of Liet Kynes, whom he had long seen in his dreams. During this scuffle, Paul disarmed a proud Fremen, Jamis, who took offence at this "presumptuous" youth, and challenged Paul to a fight to the death. Although at first unwilling to kill, he triumphed easily, making his name in the tribe, and also succeeding to the position of head of the household of the dead man. Stilgar gave Paul the name *Usul* – meaning "the strong base of a pillar" – as his private name within the troop; Paul gave himself the name "Paul Muad'dib" as his public Fremen name.

When they returned to the troop's sietch, they discovered the Fremen Reverend Mother was near death, and with the fortuitous arrival of Jessica, a Bene Gesserit, they made Jessica their Sayyadina. Jessica, not realizing the consequences of what the Fremen were about to do, accepted to cement her place in the tribe. Halfway through the process she realized she has made a mistake, that she was involved in a similar process to how the Bene Gesserit make their own Reverend Mothers who could see genetic memories, and realized that the baby in her womb, fathered by Leto before his death, would also go through the process. This had truly unfortunate consequences, because it was a Bene Gesserit teaching that any such baby would not have the strength to withstand the memories of its ancestors.

By 10193 AG, two years later, Paul had become something of a religious leader among the Fremen. Chani became his lover and bore him a son, whom he called Leto. He and his mother trained the Fremen of Sietch Tabr and other Fremen who sought out Paul in his religious guise, in the Weirding Way, the Bene Gesserit's prana-bindu fighting techniques. Under his leadership his "Fedaykin" experienced victory after victory against the Harkonnens, and Paul's prestige and aura among the Fremen grew. However, in order to be truly accepted by the Fremen he had to become a sandrider. Paul attempted it and succeeded, becoming a full member of the sietch.

The same day, a band of smugglers sought melange too deep in the desert, and the Fremen of Sietch Tabr sprung a trap. In the middle of the battle Paul recognised his weapons teacher, Gurney Halleck, and called on him and his men to surrender. Gurney was overjoyed and overwhelmed in equal measure. He surrendered his men, and joined Paul's service. Among Gurney's men, however, were some Imperial spies who attempted to kill Paul. They were unsuccessful, and they were captured by the Fedaykin. Paul gave secret orders for the spies to be allowed to escape, so that they would reveal that Paul Atreides still lived on Arrakis. Taking advantage of recruiting Gurney Halleck, Paul used the moment to solve his leadership problem. Since he had become a wormrider many of his followers had expected him to challenge Stilgar, his greatest friend among the Fremen, in order to take control of Sietch Tabr. But Paul broke tradition and in doing so forced Stilgar to do the same, managing to sidestep this issue by proclaiming himself the ruling Duke of Arrakis, and thus took power without killing his friend. They returned to Sietch Tabr. Gurney was shocked to discover Jessica is still alive, because he believed she was the one who betrayed the Atreides and that Paul did not know. Gurney was about to kill her when Paul walked in, managed to stop him, and explained that Yueh was the traitor. Gurney was almost broken by his nearly fatal and tragic error, but Jessica forgived him and he was bound even further into Atreides and Jessica's service.

### Approach of the Battle of Arrakeen

Paul's power among the Fremen grew, but he was still frustrated. He was not all he could be: he could not control his journeys into the future, and much of it was still blank to him. So he took a truly risky step and consumed a tiny amount of spice essence, and so attempted to perform the male equivalent of the Reverend Mother ceremony. Previously to this no man had survived this experience, and it seemed that he failed also, because he sank into a coma. Paul neglected to tell anyone what he is doing; many people thought he is dead, although others, primarily the Fedaykin, believed he is in a religious trance. His mother, Jessica, did all she can to wake him but failed, so out of desperation she called Chani from the deep desert to help. Chani, through her more personal knowledge of Paul's dreams and desires, realised what a mad thing Paul has done, and used spice essence converted by Jessica using her powers as a Reverend Mother to bring him out of his trance. For Paul no time had passed, and he gloried in his new memories and powers — he told his mother and Chani immediately that the Emperor himself was currently orbiting the planet with many Sardaukar, ready to attack. He had proven the Bene Gesserit wrong: he was the Kwisatz Haderach, appearing one generation ahead of the prediction. He declared that it was now time to destroy the Harkonnens.

Fremen attacks on the Harkonnens had already managed to almost entirely stop the flow of the spice from Arrakis. This forced the Emperor to act, and he came to Arrakis with all his Sardaukar, and also levied of all the other noble houses, to annihilate the Fremen if necessary in order to get the spice flowing again. By now the Emperor was aware of who Muad'Dib was. In advance of his arrival, he sent a large Sardaukar force into the deep desert for information. Attacking a sietch, they managed to kill Paul's son, and capture Alia – Paul's sister – but were driven off by Fremen children, old people and women.

### The Battle of Arrakeen

After the Emperor himself had landed, Paul launched the final attack. Using the House Atriedes' family atomics (nuclear weapons) that his men managed to retrieve after the Harkonnen attack, he blew a hole in the Shield Wall that protected the capital of Arrakeen from the surrounding desert and its fierce storms. By using the weapons this way, he narrowly avoided contravening the universal ban against using atomics on people, which would have required the other noble houses to retaliate with "planetary annihilation". The Fremen attacked under cover of a huge desert storm, riding sandworms from the desert through the hole in the Shield Wall. The great static force of the sandstorm then shorted out all of the Sarduakar's defensive shields. The Sardaukar were unable to withstand the full force of the Fremen, caught as they were in total surprise, and the Emperor was forced to surrender. The combined forces of the Landsraad still loomed in orbit around the planet, but Paul threatened to destroy the Spice if any of them try to land, and they backed off. In the surprise of Muad'Dib's attack, Alia managed to escape, and in the process killed the Baron Harkonnen.

Realizing that Muad'dib was not some mad Fremen religious leader changed the situation dramatically for the Emperor. Feyd-Rautha, the Baron's nephew, an acclaimed gladiator, challenged Paul to single combat; claiming rights of *kanly* as had been declared by Paul's father Leto. Paul agreed even knowing that it is possible he would die, but after a difficult fight during which Feyd-Rautha attempted treachery in the form of a poisoned knife and needle, Paul eventually triumphed.

### The New Atreides Empire

Paul refused to take any more nonsense. He forced the Emperor from the throne by the simple expedience of taking power from the real rulers of the Empire – the Spacing Guild – who controlled space travel. He again threatened to destroy the spice if they did not ship all the troops home. The Spacing Guild had no choice – their limited powers of prophecy showed Paul is capable of it – and they sent everyone home. The Emperor abdicated and retired to Salusa Secundus. Paul married the Emperor's eldest daughter, Irulan, and assumed control of the Empire. Irulan later wrote extensively on the subject of Muad'Dib, having nothing of him but knowledge of his lifestyle and patterns of thought. Paul then sent a Fremen jihad across the known universe.

Upon crowning himself Emperor, Paul enacted a strategy that had been revealed to him through his prescient abilities. This decision saw the theology (and many customs) of the Fremen thrust into the whole of the Empire. A result of this action was that Paul Atreides himself became a revered god-head on many worlds in the Known Universe. There was resistance, and Paul found himself increasingly isolated from his family and friends as he decided that the Jihad to implement his vision of mankind's future must be bloodthirsty and relentless.

### Announcing the new Empire on Kaitain

Paul arrived on Kaitain in 10196 AG, two years after the Sack of Kaitain, to address the Landsraad for the first time since assuming the Royal Throne, the Emperor explained that the destruction of Kaitain was the true ending of the Corrino Empire. Many of the nobles fell into line behind House Atreides. Others, such as Earl Memnon Thorvald, of House Thorvald, had witnessed the sack of Kaitain firsthand, stormed out of the Assembly, to foment a rebellion.

### Assassination attempts in 10198

Paul was also the target of many assassination attempts. The first was not an actual assassination attempt, as Paul initially believed. This was the Great Surrender ceremony in 10198 AG, at the dedication of his new Palace in Arrakeen. The plot was orchestrated by a misguided Swordmaster Whitmore Bludd, who wanted to be able to die a hero saving Paul. The attempt killed his sister-in-law, Rugi Corrino, as she was representing the former Royal House at the galaxy-wide event.

The second attempt later that year was a twisted and convoluted attempt involving the former Count, Hasimir Fenring; his wife Margot Fenring; and their daughter, the gifted Marie Fenring. In regards to Fenring, Paul's prescience constantly failed and provided little insight due to Hasimir's genetic make-up of a failed Kwisatz.

"*All relationships change, Count Fenring, and as humans we must adapt to them or die.*"
―Paul Atreides in 10198 AG[src]
As a result, at a banquet in honor of the Fenring's, Marie attempted to attack and stab the Emperor, but instead, was killed by Alia. In grief, Hasimir thrusted the Emperor's Blade deep into Paul's body, which brought him to the brink of death. Paul remembered that he had the abilities of a full Reverend Mother. While Suk doctors stitched the damaged organs of his body back together on the cellular level, he passed the Water of Life that Chani gave him to save his life. Paul exiled the Fenring couple permanently to Salusa Secundus to live out their days with the deposed Shaddam Corrino IV.

### During the rise of Bronso

In a secret meeting, Paul arranged to meet his mother and the now restored realtionship with Bronso on the planet Ix. Suddenly Paul stepped out of the shadows, to explain to his mother the role of the Jihad.

Just before the meeting, Jessica had to resist the urge to kill her son, as she had been promised the Mother Superior leadership of the Sisterhood by Mohiam, if she murdered the Emperor. Jessica had hitherto been concerned about Paul being possessed by Abomination, since he had sterilized so many worlds for the Jihad.

Paul explained to Jessica that he *had* to sterilize those worlds, because the people that had looked upon him as some type of Messiah, have to learn the kind of tyranny that false messianic hopes could foster. After seeing his atrocities, mankind never would trust in one human for a type of salvation again. He calmly explained that he planned to sterilize even more worlds, but was secretly evacuating the populace of each world to limit the number of deaths. He also told her about Bronso's secret mission -- to write diatribes and publications about Paul's failings.

Over the next few years, as Bronso published and distributed writings about Paul's faults; the Qizarate, Alia, and the Fremen wanted Bronso captured and punished. Bronso eventually was captured, and put into Paul's secure prison on Dune. Paul secretly dismissed the guards and opened the cell, allowing his friend to escape.

### Final Years as Emperor

After the bloody Jihad that lasted more than twelve years, and claimed billions of lives, Emperor Paul Atreides eventually subdued all outright rebellion. The order of the Known Universe was maintained through the replacement of Corrino imperial power, which was supported by Sardaukar military strength; with Atreides imperial power, supported by Fremen military strength.

Paul's interpretation of his prescient visions also necessitated that Arrakis be transformed from a barren desert planet into a lush and fertile world, with the exception of a small desert for the sandworm to remain alive and keep producing spice. By the end of his rule this plan was well on its way to succeeding. This program had begun under Pardot Kynes as an attempt to harness a planet; however, under Paul, it became part of a plan to save humanity.

Despite his strong leadership and formidable prescient abilities, Emperor Paul Atreides began to feel building pressure from discordant groups within the Empire: notably the Bene Gesserit, Bene Tleilax, fringe groups within the Fremen, and the dethroned but still powerful House Corrino. Among the schemes of his enemies were the detonation of a stone burner near where Paul and his forces stood in Arrakeen, which resulted in his physical blindness. Upon Paul's recovery from this incident, he shocked all by his ability to 'see' despite not having eyes. His perfect prescient abilities allowed him to perceive the world around him.

### Death of Chani

Despite being able to 'see' through prescience, doubts began to surface in Paul's mind regarding his interpretation of the future. Feeling increasingly frustrated and out of control, he began to seek a way out. That escape route emerged through the combined treachery of his enemies, a plot conceived in the presence of a powerful Guild Navigator. The Bene Tleilax gave him a ghola of Duncan Idaho, who contained a secret trigger. Concurrently, and part of the plan, Irulan slowly poisoned Chani. As the Princesses' toxins slowly worked their way through Chani's body, the Emperor's Consort died during childbirth.

Immediately, the Face Dancer Scytale, who had been posing as Chani's hand-maid sprung into action, and caused the Idaho ghola to remember his Tleilaxu mission, to kill Muad'Dib. As this caused a great mental conflict within Duncan, he remembered his past with House Atreides. Immediately, Scytale realized the great scope of change that had occurred, a ghola had recovered memories of its former life. Scytale bargained with Paul that the Tleilaxu could bring back a ghola of Chani, complete with her life experiences, for Paul to enjoy in realitive obscurity--if Atreides would abdicate. Instead, Paul killed Scytale.

### Walk into the Desert

After the birth of his children, Ghanima and Leto, Paul became convinced he had lost his prescient abilities; he did not forsee the birth of his son, only his daughter. Therefore, as a no more than a blind Fremen, Paul disappeared into the desert, offering himself up to Shai-Hulud, as was the Fremen custom for the blind.

This action made a powerful statement: it signified to the Fremen that Paul's interest was for the tribe, and that even he, Usul, Paul who was Muad'Dib, was not above Fremen law.

### As The Preacher

Many years after his apparent death alone in the desert, and while the Atreides Empire was under the regency of his younger sister Alia Atreides, a new figure, The Preacher, appeared from the deep desert.

By urging civil disobedience against the Atreides Empire, and warning of the consequences of a green Arrakis, The Preacher attracted an ever increasing number of followers. Many believed this thundering blind stranger to be Paul Atreides, as he was blind and led by a boy.

### Death

The Preacher eventually revealed himself to his son Leto, and the two of them travelled throughout Arrakis, breaching the water storage of every sietch so that it would spill out onto the sand. Eventually Leto and the Preacher returned to Arrakeen to confront Alia, who had clearly shown herself to be Abomination by this time. Eventually rising tensions saw Alia commit suicide in front of her mother and Duncan Idaho. During the ensuing chaos, The Preacher was assassinated in Arrakeen, but not before he had revealed beyond a doubt to Gurney Halleck and Jessica that he was indeed Paul Atreides.

Thus, the great Paul Atreides, son of Leto the Just and the first Atreides to ascend to the Golden Lion Throne since its inception more than ten thousand years prior, was dead, passing into legend for eons to come, laying the way forward for his son to take the Golden Path to its logical conclusion.

While Paul envisioned the Golden Path, the ultimate transformation that would see his humanity dissolve into a sandworm frightened him. Upon revealing himself to his son, Paul confessed that his desire to maintain his humanity, and the fear of abject loneliness that the Golden Path would bring, were too much for him. He related that he walked away from what he knew he had to do, and admired but lamented for his son who had taken on the mantle that would see humanity restored, but at the cost of his own.