Faykan Butler

General Faykan Butler, later known as Faykan Corrino and officially as Emperor Faykan Corrino I, was the first Corrino Emperor, ruling from 88 BG until his death. He began as a military commander in the closing decades of the Butlerian Jihad, then moved into politics, becoming the last Viceroy of the League of Nobles and briefly Grand Patriarch before combining those titles into that of Emperor after the Battle of Corrin and taking the surname Corrino to bind himself and his descendants to humanity's victory over the thinking machines.

Service in the Jihad#

Faykan was the oldest son of Quentin Butler and Wandra Butler. Like his younger brothers Rikov and Abulurd, he followed his father into service in the Army of the Jihad, where he rose rapidly to the rank of Primero after the Battle of Ix, owing both to his tactical skill and to his family connections.

When the Army of the Jihad resolved to liberate Honru in 108 BG, the plan called for five hundred kindjal fighters armed with scrambler-pulse bombs in two waves, the first led by Faykan and the second by his brother Rikov in a precision strike on the evermind nexus, with Ginaz Swordmasters rooting out the substations on the ground. The Ginaz mercenaries detonated the Omnius citadel and the planet was freed.

While patrolling in kindjals with his father, the two intercepted and boarded a spycraft sent by Omnius, and realized the machines were observing Salusa Secundus and other League Worlds in preparation for a final strike. Father and son carried the data to the Jihad Council and volunteered to fly a spacefolder scout ship to Corrin, where they witnessed the massed extermination fleet Omnius had assembled. During the Great Purge, Faykan was left with Abulurd to administer the evacuation of the planet, though the machine strike was recalled and the evacuees returned.

Rise to power#

After the Great Purge, Faykan left military service to build a political career. He was elected Interim Viceroy of the League after a succession of bland and uninspired predecessors, and appeared to be the strong leader the resurrected League had awaited. He married Jessica Boro-Ginjo, daughter of Grand Patriarch Xander Boro-Ginjo, in 100 BG, and in 98 BG established the Post-Jihad Council.

Within the Council he began to see the need for a fresh strike against the thinking machines, declaring that peace did not equate with stability, and that stability was nondynamic and never far from chaos. This view stood in sharp contrast to the general mood of the League, which after decades of war desired only quiet, and from it grew Faykan's conviction that a new order would have to replace the stagnant League, though as a mere Interim Viceroy he lacked the power to bring about such a change.

By 88 BG he had grown troubled by the fanaticism of the Cult of Serena, instigated by his niece Rayna. Seeking the additional power he needed, he reached a compromise with her, promising to propose laws advancing her message and prohibiting the manufacture of sophisticated hardware, a cause he genuinely supported even while disapproving of her methods, in exchange for her support in his bid to become Grand Patriarch.

While visiting Relicon after a cymek attack, Faykan's squadron was met by flying cymeks armed with lasguns, among them his own father, now transformed. Quentin used a secret Jihad military frequency to warn Faykan to lower his ships' shields so the lasgun fire would not trigger a catastrophic reaction, saving their lives, and Faykan guessed that his mysterious benefactor was his father, still alive among the cymeks.

Emperor of the Known Universe#

Faykan took part in the climactic Battle of Corrin later that year, present in a diplomatic vessel with Rayna and other nobles. After humanity's final victory over the machines, he dismantled the now-vacant title of Grand Patriarch and, with the blessing of the Cult of Serena, combined it with the office of Viceroy into the new role of Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe. To commemorate the events on Corrin he changed his surname to Corrino and declared the founding of a new Corrino Empire, modelled on the Old Empire but designed to avoid its fatal mistakes. At Vorian Atreides' suggestion, his brother Abulurd, who had betrayed him during the battle, was declared a coward and exiled to Lankiveil, condemned along with his descendants to retain the reviled Harkonnen name.

In the years that followed, Emperor Faykan Corrino laid the groundwork of his Imperium. He began the tradition of planting roses in the Imperial gardens as a sign of good fortune, disbanded the old League of Nobles in favor of a Landsraad League of new Great Houses headed by his own Imperial House Corrino, and established the Golden Lion Throne that all his successors would occupy. He had his finance minister killed at one point, observing that a leader must use great care in selecting his closest advisers, since the wrong choice could prove fatal.

Legacy#

Faykan's reign lasted roughly a decade, but his political work secured the rule of his direct Corrino descendants over the Known Universe for nearly ten thousand years. Even after the fall of House Corrino from power, his bloodline continued through the next Imperial family, House Atreides.