Agamemnon

General Agamemnon, born Andrew Skorous on Earth, was the ruthless leader of the Twenty Titans throughout their existence. He led the overthrow of the decaying Old Empire and pioneered the transformation of the Titans into semi-robotic cymeks, before the rise of Omnius reduced him from ruler to servant of the thinking machine empire. Across the centuries that followed he sired many sons in search of a worthy heir, and found one at last in Vorian Atreides, the son who would ultimately destroy him during the Butlerian Jihad.

Origins and the Time of Titans#

Andrew Skorous enjoyed a pampered upbringing on Earth in the closing era of the Old Empire, tracing his lineage back thousands of years to an ancient king named Agamemnon, whose name he eventually took. As a young man he grew dissatisfied with the aimlessness of his society and immersed himself in ancient legends, myths, and the military victories of distant ages.

While playing online strategy games he met Julianna Parhi, an equally ambitious rebel who styled herself Juno. The two became lovers and conspirators. After hearing the revolutionary Tlaloc speak, they joined his crusade, recruited the technology genius Vilhelm Jayther and others, and named themselves the Titans. Exploiting the dependence of society on its artificial intelligence framework, the group seized control of it and, through a chain of largely bloodless victories, declared themselves rulers of the planets of the former Empire. Agamemnon took the title of General and pursued a strategy of brutal rule over all human subjects.

During the century of Titan rule he first used biological treatments to prolong his life, then, inspired by Juno and assisted by the Cogitor Eklo, had robotic surgeons discard his human body entirely, transferring his brain into a mechanized cymek form.

Service to Omnius#

When the Titan Xerxes accidentally ceded too much control to the artificial intelligence network on his planet, Omnius came into being and Agamemnon found himself no longer a ruler. Because of the way Barbarossa had designed Omnius, the Titans could not destroy the evermind they had inadvertently created, and so they were absorbed into its service as part of the thinking machine forces. For roughly a thousand years Agamemnon remained a silent and jealous military servant, raging against the free humans of the League of Nobles and commissioning grandiose memorials to the Time of Titans.

One of his recorded acts in this period was the destruction of Ulf Harkonnen's ship over Caladan, which left the future Primero Xavier Harkonnen an orphan. He later faced Xavier at the Battle of Zimia, where the young commander distinguished himself. Agamemnon suffered several failures, including the pursuit of Piers Harkonnen and the Battles of Zimia and Rossak, but as a human brain he could cunningly downplay his setbacks and emphasize his successes in his reports so that Omnius remained content.

Sons and the search for an heir#

Agamemnon had kept his human genetic material in reserve and used it to sire thirteen sons, raised as trustees. Twelve of them disappointed him and he killed each in turn. The last and most promising was Vorian Atreides, whom he groomed as his true protege. To Agamemnon's dismay, Vorian turned against him at the beginning of the Butlerian Jihad, stealing the ship Dream Voyager and escaping during a rebellion on Earth. Agamemnon attempted to destroy the fleeing craft but Vorian outran him by using the gravity of Jupiter, and the General broke off the pursuit. The two would meet again in space at the Battle of IV Anbus.

Revolt and death#

Seizing on the rising tensions between the League of Nobles and the Synchronized Worlds, Agamemnon led the remaining Titans in a breakaway revolt against Omnius, aided greatly by the neo-cymek Beowulf. The Titans disabled the Omnius incarnation on Bela Tegeuse and declared themselves rulers of its population, converting many into neo-cymeks to serve as a new army, then moved against the worlds of Richese and the ice world Hessra.

Agamemnon was ultimately killed by his biological son Vorian Atreides. Having apparently abandoned the League of Nobles to infiltrate the rebellious Titans, Vorian conspired with the captured Quentin Butler. As Vorian prepared to stab his father's brain with a dagger, Quentin, now himself a cymek, insisted on a more painful and humiliating death. In the end Vorian threw the brain canister from a window to be crushed on the rocks below. Agamemnon was the penultimate Titan to die, briefly outlived by his compatriot Dante, and was never again spoken of by the line of House Atreides.