Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

You guys are just weird. All I have to say about houses Great and minor is when will Kevin and Brian mention House Ordos in one of their fanfic novels?

Even though he used the 'rolling eyes' smiley, notice how the eyes roll up to look at the large bouncing tracts of land

As apposed to your hairy, yellow, Scottish arse.

Oh, fuck House Ordos. They're never going to mention them because they existed only in The Dune Encyclopedia. And they weren't that important even in that book.

If they tried to use them, in particular any aspect from the games, they'd probably have a copyright infringement suit of their own to worry about.

Get over it already.

inhuien wrote:As apposed to your hairy, yellow, Scottish arse.

CLICK HERE FOR BEER

Beer. Promise. Lie.

inhuien wrote:Beer. Promise. Lie.

My journeyman is always running off with his recorder.

Sex. Promise. Lie.

So is there sex or beer here or not?

A Little Galach wrote:So is there sex or beer here or not?

There is here, I don't know about there.

My cup runneth over.

Eww... ewe?

Tleszer wrote:Eww... ewe?

I'll never tell, he said sheepishly.

House Harwood?

That's Hardwoody, and don't you forget it.

and a permanent one now that his idol has welcomed him in his covent

Humm, I'd count The Ferings and Rabbans as houses too since they have working force to steer a planetary governor.

Lisan Al-Gaib wrote:Humm, I'd count The Ferings and Rabbans as houses too since they have working force to steer a planetary governor.

Minor Houses, maybe. Both seemed to be ruled by the Corrinos and Harkonnens respectively.

Freakzilla wrote:

Lisan Al-Gaib wrote:Humm, I'd count The Ferings and Rabbans as houses too since they have working force to steer a planetary governor.

Minor Houses, maybe. Both seemed to be ruled by the Corrinos and Harkonnens respectively.

Fenring seemed to be a retainer of the Corrinos, like Gurney or Duncan was to the Atreides.

JasonJD48 wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:

Lisan Al-Gaib wrote:Humm, I'd count The Ferings and Rabbans as houses too since they have working force to steer a planetary governor.

Minor Houses, maybe. Both seemed to be ruled by the Corrinos and Harkonnens respectively.

Fenring seemed to be a retainer of the Corrinos, like Gurney or Duncan was to the Atreides.

Yes, but he was a Count, a noble title.

Freakzilla wrote:

JasonJD48 wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:

Lisan Al-Gaib wrote:Humm, I'd count The Ferings and Rabbans as houses too since they have working force to steer a planetary governor.

Minor Houses, maybe. Both seemed to be ruled by the Corrinos and Harkonnens respectively.

Fenring seemed to be a retainer of the Corrinos, like Gurney or Duncan was to the Atreides.

Yes, but he was a Count, a noble title.

I guess the question becomes then, what constitutes a 'house'. Is it any noble family or do they require holdings of some sort. Even minor houses had territory they governed under their Siridar. You could say that Rabban had Lankiveil or territory there, but I don't recall Fenring having any territory.

Titles are given by the emperor via CHOAM directorships.

Freakzilla wrote:Titles are given by the emperor via CHOAM directorships.

Are you sure...

Dune wrote: I see also the Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles -- the CHOAM Company. By giving me Arrakis, His Majesty is forced to give us a CHOAM directorship . . . a subtle gain."
"CHOAM controls the spice," Paul said.
"And Arrakis with its spice is our avenue into CHOAM," the Duke said. "There's more to CHOAM than melange."

It seems that the Atreides did not have a CHOAM Directorship but got one for going to Arrakis. Or did you just mean new titles.

I think Freak might have meant that Great House status is given via CHOAM directorships. The Atreides didn't need one since they were distaff relations from the Imperial bloodline and were therefore automatically nobles.

From what Dune says, Houses Minor are simply families with considerable wealth, gained mostly due to being business tycoons:

Dune Terminology wrote:HOUSES MINOR: planet-bound entrepreneur class (Galach: "Richece").

The equivalent on Earth would be like the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, maybe a few Asian families. Families so powerful they control a large proportion or majority of a planet's wealth. They are 'planet-bound', which means they are minor powers and are subject to whichever House Major presides over their system.

A House Major, on the other hand, is:

Dune Terminology wrote:HOUSES MAJOR: holders of planetary fiefs; interplanetary entrepreneurs.

This means the only economic difference between them is that a House Major is simply bigger and more powerful, controlling majority holdings in multiple systems. The other important difference is that the Emperor apparently has a say in who gets the right to be considered a House Major, because that's also supposed to carry with it either a) noble blood, or else b) so much money that they can effectively buy it, which is what the Baron was hoping for.

While the Rabbans were probably a House Minor controlling Lankiveil, I'd say the Fenrings should probably be considered to be in their own category since I suspect Count Fenring could have any position he felt like in the galaxy (maybe even including Emperor) if he really felt like it, except he much preferred to keep in the shadows (as per his gift of furtiveness) and pull strings quietly. If he had wanted to be head of a House Major and go toe to toe with other Great families I'm sure he could have, but it would been a huge hassle and he'd have had less power than he did anyhow as the Emperor's right hand and confidant.

I'm not sure what I meant by that, I think I was wasted. But georgie is right, there are blood nobles then there are granted titles.

"There'll be much bloodshed soon," she said. "The Harkonnens won't rest
until they're dead or my Duke destroyed. The Baron cannot forget that Leto is a
cousin of the royal blood--no matter what the distance--while the Harkonnen
titles came out of the CHOAM pocketbook. But the poison in him, deep in his
mind, is the knowledge that an Atreides had a Harkonnen banished for cowardice
after, the Battle of Corrin."
~Dune

Freakzilla wrote:I'm not sure what I meant by that, I think I was wasted. But georgie is right, there are blood nobles then there are granted titles.

"There'll be much bloodshed soon," she said. "The Harkonnens won't rest
until they're dead or my Duke destroyed. The Baron cannot forget that Leto is a
cousin of the royal blood--no matter what the distance--while the Harkonnen
titles came out of the CHOAM pocketbook. But the poison in him, deep in his
mind, is the knowledge that an Atreides had a Harkonnen banished for cowardice
after, the Battle of Corrin."
~Dune

Certainly, but ultimately we still haven't answered what that makes Fenring. Did he get his title by having some distant relation to the royal house, or because of financial wealth? Neither is really indicated to my recollection. Do he and his wife constitute a House? he's not indicated to have any properties or great wealth. However if I recall correctly, he does end up governing Caladan between the time the Atreides take Arrakis and when Paul overthrows Shaddam and Jessica goes back there, so who knows.