History Literature / HereticsOfDune

* AppliedPhlebotinum: The Bene Tleilax finally manage to create synthetic [[{{Unobtanium}} Spice]] in their tanks by this point of history.

* FollowTheLeader: The Bene Tleilax finally manage to create synthetic Spice in their tanks by this point of history.

* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Played with. Murbella jumps to the conclusion that Lucilla must be the Great Honored Matre because she wears their uniform and defeated her with apparent ease, as the Honored Matre order has a Darwinist structure and therefore only the top dog (well, bitch) could be so strong. However, Lucilla is not really as strong as Murbella thinks, as she actually failed to match the speed of an average Honored Matre and only won by catching her off guard; it's rather Murbella's naivety and arrogance which lead her to rationalize that Lucilla attacked slowly but safely on purpose to humiliate her.

* BavarianFireDrill: Lucilla appears to Murbella wearing a Honored Matre's robe and defeats her easily in a scuffle, so the Murbella instantly assumes she must be the supreme Honored Matre in a surprise visit. The disguise is helped by Murbella being a newbie and jumping to conclusions, because Lucilla wasn't actually that stronger or convincing -- she only beats her because Murbella was distracted attacking someone else, and still Lucilla is positively impressed with the way Murbella fought, while in turn Murbella finds Lucilla's attack so slow that her only explanation is that it was done on purpose to teach her a lesson. Anyway, Lucilla opts to [[SureLetsGoWithThat roll with it]] and act her part.

* ThePlan: Taraza’s plan to [[spoiler:lure the Honored Matres into destroying Rakis]].

* SexFaceTurn: Murbella, a superhuman woman trained in an undefeatable technique to enslave men with sex versus [[ThePornomancer Duncan Idaho]]. [[spoiler: They basically end up married, and Murbella defects to the Bene Gesserit.]]
* SuperSpeed: [[spoiler:Miles Teg]] gets this power as a result of a botched interrogation -- implied to be a result of the [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum unique mechanics]] of the interrogation device unlocking a latent genetic talent. His speed also includes prescience, accelerated reflexes, [[TimeStandsStill slowed time perception]], a form of SuperSenses (explained as an amplification of his [[spoiler:Mentat training]]), and massive boosts to his metabolic rate and the oxygen storage capacity of his blood to handle the increased energy demands. The effect also turns him into a BigEater, which is played for both drama and laughs. Fortunately, he can turn the ability on or off at will.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking:
** Miles Teg... and how! Supreme Bashar of Badass.
** Murbella jumps to the conclusion that Lucilla must be the Great Honored Matre because she wears their uniform and easily defeated her.

* BavarianFireDrill: Lucilla appears to Murbella wearing a Honored Matre's robe and defeats her easily in a scuffle, so Murbella instantly assumes (rather quirkily so) that Lucilla must be the supreme Honored Matre in a surprise visit. Lucilla opts to [[SureLetsGoWithThat roll with it]] and act her part.

* MinoredInAsskicking: Lucilla is primarily an imprinter, but her Prana Bindu level is high enough to defeat a young Honored Matre, which, even if young, is a theoretically superior opponent.

* ArtisticLicenseMartialArts: One of Waff's Face Dancers kills a Honored Matre with a chop to the throat. This is not necessarily unrealistic, especially with their augmented strength and reflexes, but the girl seems to die instantly and quietly from the strike, instead of suffocating after several minutes from a ruptured throat as it should happen.

* EyeScream: "Tormsa's eyes exploded in blood."

* FollowTheLeader: The Bene Tleilax finally manage to create synthetic Spice in their tanks by ''Heretics of Dune''.

* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Miles Teg's exposure to a [[MindProbe T-Probe]] gives him [[spoiler:prescience and SuperSpeed]] just in time to save his life, though the T-Probe was meant to ''kill'' him.

* ArtisticLicenseMartialArts: One of Waff's Face Dancers kills a Honored Matre with a chop to the throat. This kill is not necessarily unrealistic, especially with superhuman fighters like those, but the girl seems to die instantly and quietly from the strike instead of suffocating after minutes from a ruptured throat as it should happen.

** Murbella jumps to the conclusion that Lucilla must be the Great Honored Matre because she wears like her and easily defeated her.

* BavarianFireDrill: Lucilla appears to Murbella wearing a Honored Matre's robe and defeats her in a scuffle, so Murbella instantly assumes, a bit quirkily so, that Lucilla must be the supreme Honored Matre in a surprise visit. Lucilla opts to [[SureLetsGoWithThat roll with it]] and act her part.

* MeaningfulName: "Patrin" or "pattaran" means a path-marker in Romani. [[spoiler:Patrin showed Teg the way to the Harkonnen no-globe.]]

* RuderAndCruder: This book features far more profanity than the rest of the series - the Honored Matres are regularly referred to as 'whores', and most jarringly, Waff makes a comment about 'slig shit'.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Miles Teg… and how! Supreme Bashar of Badass.
* BadassArmy: Teg’s Bene Gesserit military.

* BavarianFireDrill: Lucilla employs this with Murbella, who previously assumed that Lucilla was the supreme Honored Matre in a visit. Lucilla opts to [[SureLetsGoWithThat roll with it]] and act her part.

* CombatClairvoyance: After his transformation under the T-probe, Miles Teg has this ability cranked UpToEleven, to the point where he can see the positions of the normally undetectable no-ships.

** The Bene Tleilax ''again,'' UpToEleven, since they've [[spoiler:spent millennia constructing the ''image'' of evil stupidity to hide the fact that they're secret Zensufis (not to be mistaken for Zensunnis, from whom the Fremen descend -- ''Heretics'' is most explicit about this)]].

* NoWomansLand: Tleilax.
* RuderAndCruder: This book features far more profanity than the rest of the series - the Honored Matres are regularly referred to as 'whores', and most jarringly, Waff makes a comment about 'slig shit'.

''Heretics of Dune'' is set 1,500 years after the events of ''Literature/GodEmperorOfDune''. The death of the God-Emperor led to a famine times in the Old Imperium. Spice and other commodities became scarce in the aftermath and humanity, free from the grip of Leto's control, spread out into the Scattering. In the present time, the Bene Gesserit are the main organizing force in the Old Imperium, forced out of the shadows and into governing directly. The Tleilaxu are the other major power in the Imperium, now with the capability of making artificial Spice and with enhanced Face Dancers capable of capturing their victim's persona as well as stealing their likeness. The Spacing Guild has mainly been side-lined with the advent of Ixian navigation machines.

Creeping back into the old Imperium from the outskirts of the Scattering are the Honored Matres, a hyper-sexual sisterhood that dominates through sex and violence. They greatly outnumber the Bene Gesserit and begin to storm the old Imperium. Mainwhile on Rakis (formerly Arrakis aka Dune) a girl has been discovered that can control the sandworms. The Bene Gesserit have engaged in an ambitious project to utilize the girl, Sheeana, to their own ends. To aid their efforts to control Sheeana, the sisterhood has commissioned a new Duncan Idaho ghola from the Tleilaxu, though the Tleilaxu are playing their own game. Training Duncan for his role are Reverend Mother Lucilla and retired Supreme Bashar Miles Teg, the former commander of the Bene Gesserit military. Reverend Mother Superior Taraza meanwhile coordinates the events, with Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade as her representative on Rakis.

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!!Dune contains examples of:

* IdenticalStranger: Odrade and Lucilla are from parallel Bene Gesserit breeding lines, and have very similar faces despite at least a decade's age difference and not sharing any direct family. When the two meet for the first time, Odrade is struck by how jarring the resemblance is. Downplayed, however, since their body types differ significantly, with Odrade having a tall, lean athletic frame while Lucilla has a more "solid," curvier build.

* TakeThat: with this passage:

[[caption-width-right:292:The Bene Gesserit crush Leto's pearls... of awareness.]]

-->As far back as the Old Empire there had been a pejorative label for the small rich and Families Minor arising from the knowledge of a rare wood's value. 'He's a [[Franchise/StarWars three P-O]],' they said, meaning that such a person surrounded himself with cheap copies made from declasse substances.

* SuperSpeed: [[spoiler:Miles Teg]] gets this power as a result of a botched interrogation -- implied to be a result of the [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum unique mechanics]] of the interrogation device unlocking a latent genetic talent. His speed also includes prescience, accelerated reflexes, [[TimeStandsStill slowed time perception]], a form of SuperSenses (explained as an amplification of his [[spolier:Mentat training]]), and massive boosts to his metabolic rate and the oxygen storage capacity of his blood to handle the increased energy demands. The effect also turns him into a BigEater, which is played for both drama and laughs. Fortunately, he can turn the ability on or off at will.