Chapter 16


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Freakzilla
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Chapter 16

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Atrocity is recognized as such by victim and perpetrator alike, by all who learn
about it at whatever remove. Atrocity has no excuses, no mitigating argument.
Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future
for more atrocity. It is self-perpetuating upon itself -- a barbarous form of
incest. Whoever commits atrocity also commits those future atrocities thus bred.

-The Apocrypha of Muad'Dib

The Preacher appears in the square below Alia's Temple with his young Fremen guide, hoping to maintain the disguise. He hopes every day for some subtly difference that strays from his vision. Alia watches secretly from above, hoping for a sign of The Preacher's true identity. She has ordered for him to be captured but not in a public place like this. It terrifies her to think that it might be Paul commiting these heresies. She thinks back to the previous Council meeting where she'd accepted the Corrino gift of clothing for the twins, distressed that there was appearantly nothing sinister about them. She had managed to delay a vote on Jessica being placed on the Council. The Preacher says he brings four messages, each for a different person. First is Alia, has she sold out her future using the Bene Gesserit longevity trick? The second is for Stilgar who hopes to transform the power of the tribes into the power of the Imperium. His rigid code of ethics will drive him into exile. The third is for Irulan, no one can forget humiliation and he warns her to flee. The fourth is for Duncan who thinks loyalty buys loyalty. Don't believe history, he should use his horns to do what he knows how to do best. Following, he has a sermon for Muad'dib's priesthood who practice the exuminicsm of the sword. They believe in manifest destiny but it also has an evil side. They think themselves blessed to have lived in Muad'dib's time but they have replaced love with holiness and tempt the vengance of the desert. He says that it's written, those who pray for dew will bring the flood. They will not escape fate through the power of reason. He claims Muad'dib had no magical answers to the universe. Again he warns the priests, the blood of the brother cannot be washed away. Alia is convinced it is Paul as he starts to leave the square. She feels how thin her grip on the Imperium is. Without the Fremen and the spice monopoly her power would crumble. She thinks of the Bene Gesserit lessons on how a large population can turn on it's leaders; when they find a leader, when they recognize their bondage and when they sense hope that they might be able to break free. She recognizes these signs in her people. Alia decides to go with the Baron persona's plans to eliminate Jessica and discredit House Corrino. The Preacher will have to be discredited later, if possible.
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Freakzilla
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Re: Chapter 16

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Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.
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georgiedenbro
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Re: Chapter 16

Post by georgiedenbro »

Children of Dune wrote:"Each message is for a certain person," The Preacher said. "The first
message is for Alia, the suzerain of this place." He pointed behind him toward
her spy hole. "I bring her a warning: You, who held the secret of duration in
your loins, have sold your future for an empty purse!"
Might "duration in your loins" not refer to that which every woman possesses - the ability to make oneself immortal by having children? That she may have chosen to extend her own life by BG methods was her own way of achieving immortality, but in the end it would only be to serve herself and her own power. Since FH might well say that real power is the ability to change the future for the benefit of others, not for oneself, choosing to ignore others and even her own potential children in favor of herself alone would be the 'empty purse' referred to. I'm not sure the Preacher would have levelled this concern if Alia had had children as well and was just prolonging her life to help them somehow; the heresy of using the BG life-prolongation isn't, I think, what he's talking about.
Children of Dune wrote:[...]The Bene Gesserits had codified the problem:
"A large populace held in check by a small but powerful force is quite a common situation in our universe. And we know the major conditions wherein this large populace may turn upon its keepers --
"One: When they find a leader. This is the most volatile threat to the powerful; they must retain control of leaders.
"Two: When the populace recognizes its chains. Keep the populace blind and unquestioning.
"Three: When the populace perceives a hope of escape from bondage. They must never even believe that escape is possible!"
This is an interesting passage, especially part two. Of note in a feudal society is that it's always quite clear who is in charge and whom to blame for life's woes. One huge advantage of a completely bureaucratic system is that there is no villain or ruler to pinpoint as being the source of any problems; there is just a system and its rules or laws. There also tends to be no convenient recourse when faced with a conflict with the system, and we learn a bit in DM and CoD about the bureaucratic tendencies. Although it is blatantly stated that feudalism was the most efficient system of government for a rapidly expanding human race, it does leave as a question mark whether it is the most effective for a stable, Imperial center and its major planets. After all, look at how much of a target Shaddam was, and then Paul, and now Alia, as they were clearly monolithic authority figures. Even the heads of Great Houses seem to be walking targets.
"um-m-m-ah-h-h-hm-m-m-m!"
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Re: Chapter 16

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Having children to carry on your legacy isn't a secret.
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georgiedenbro
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Re: Chapter 16

Post by georgiedenbro »

Freakzilla wrote:Having children to carry on your legacy isn't a secret.
I see your point, although if a secret is something that some people know how to do and others don't then giving birth would certainly be the female secret that men can never 'know'. That being said, I take the Preacher's use of 'secret' to be somewhat facetious, almost suggesting that the key to immortality is so obvious that every person in history knew how to partake of it, and yet here is Alia searching for a way to make herself immortal as if it's a problem to be solved; in this sense I think the Preacher calling it 'the secret in her loins' might be ridiculing her for thinking that her plan for immortality is somehow superior than the regular one.

I suppose it's possible you're right after all that he might mean the BG immortality secret, but why, then, would that secret be referred to as being 'in her loins'?
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Re: Chapter 16

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georgiedenbro wrote:I suppose it's possible you're right after all that he might mean the BG immortality secret, but why, then, would that secret be referred to as being 'in her loins'?
Yeah, that doesn't quite fit. :?

But Leto and Jessica do talk about that very thing in the previous chapter. I guess that's why I thought he was referring to it.
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Paul of Dune was so bad it gave me a seizure that dislocated both of my shoulders and prolapsed my anus.
~Pink Snowman
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