Great Convention
the forms must be obeyed
The Great Convention was the historic treaty brokered between the Great Houses, the Spacing Guild, and the Imperium after the destruction of the thinking machines. It outlawed thinking machines, forbade the use of atomics against human targets, and established the rules of Kanly and the War of Assassins.
The Great Convention was the historic treaty brokered between the Great Houses, the Spacing Guild, and the Imperium shortly after the destruction of the thinking machines. It prohibited the use of atomics against human targets, established the formal codes of Kanly and the War of Assassins, and outlawed thinking machines, binding the whole of the Imperium under its watchword, The forms must be obeyed.
Purpose and philosophy#
The Great Convention rested on a single conviction carried out of the war against the thinking machines: that human life was precious and superior to all other forms of existence, and that it was above all to be protected. From this principle followed strict limits on how the Great Houses might wage their wars and pursue their feuds. The formal duel of Kanly and the ritualized War of Assassins were the chief expressions of this restraint, channeling conflict into bounded forms rather than open slaughter. Every article of the Convention began with the same words, The forms must be obeyed, marking it as a code of ritual as much as of law.
Provisions#
The Convention bound the Landsraad of the Great Houses, the Spacing Guild, and the Imperium alike. It forbade the use of atomics against human targets, a prohibition that left the family atomics of the Houses as a deterrent rather than a weapon of open war. It outlawed thinking machines, preserving the central commandment that had ended the Butlerian Jihad. Its articles also regulated the conduct of the throne. By agreement between the Federated Council of the Landsraad and House Corrino, the Emperor was barred from taking sides in a war between Houses and was instead required to act as a neutral arbiter, rendering immediate assistance or convening an emergency council when an appeal was made to him. In matters arising from the Jihad and the ban on thinking machines, the Emperor was granted additional latitude to judge those who breached the prohibition.
Decline#
After Paul Atreides rose to the Golden Lion Throne, the authority of the Great Convention began to lessen. Less than twenty years into his rule, he was blinded when a stone burner was set off in Arrakeen on Arrakis, a deed worked by the Tleilaxu together with dissident Fremen. Though the Convention endured in name into far later ages, the old order it had governed steadily dissolved, and the influence of its stakeholders over the affairs of the universe faded with it.
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Great Convention?
- The Great Convention was a historic treaty brokered between the Great Houses, the Spacing Guild, and the Imperium shortly after the destruction of the thinking machines. It prohibited the use of atomics against human targets, established Kanly and the War of Assassins, and outlawed thinking machines.
- What was the philosophy behind the Great Convention?
- The underlying philosophy of the Great Convention held human life to be precious and superior to all other forms of existence, and its principal guideline was that human life was to be protected. From this came strict rules for wars and feuds, with Kanly and the War of Assassins as the principal examples.
- What did each article of the Great Convention begin with?
- Every article of the Great Convention began with the phrase, The forms must be obeyed. The watchword expressed the Convention's insistence that the ritual limits placed on violence and conflict be respected by all parties.
- How did the Great Convention decline?
- After Paul Atreides rose to the Golden Lion Throne, the influence of the Great Convention lessened. Less than twenty years into his rule, he was blinded when a stone burner was set off in Arrakeen on Arrakis, a deed carried out by the Tleilaxu and dissident Fremen.
Sources
- WikiGreat Convention — Dune Wiki entry
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Related entries
Butlerian Jihad
The Butlerian Jihad was the century long crusade waged by free humanity against the computers, thinking machines and conscious robots of the Synchronized Empire. Beginning with the slave rebellion on Earth in 201 BG and ending with the imprisonment of Omnius on Corrin, it reshaped human civilization and produced the commandment that no machine may be made in the likeness of a human mind.
Arrakeen
Arrakeen was the first settlement on Arrakis and its seat of power, a city near the northern pole sheltered by the Shield Wall. It served as the governor's seat under the Corrino Empire, the capital of Muad'Dib's empire, and later the festival city Onn before becoming Keen.
Arrakis
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Bene Tleilax
The Bene Tleilax, more commonly called the Tleilaxu, were a secretive race of genetically altered humans whose mastery of the axolotl tanks gave them gholas, Face Dancers, and Twisted Mentats. Reviled across the Imperium, their genetic skill made them a necessary evil that no power could do without.
Fremen
The Fremen were a culture of humans descended from the Zensunni Wanderers who made the desert planet Arrakis their home. Hardened by water scarcity and generations of persecution, they became the finest fighters in the Known Universe and the foot soldiers of Paul Atreides and his jihad.
House Corrino
House Corrino was the imperial House of the Known Universe, ruling family of the Padishah Empire for ten thousand years from the Golden Lion Throne. Seated at Kaitain and rooted on Salusa Secundus, it fell to House Atreides after the Battle of Arrakeen.
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Landsraad
The Landsraad was the governing body that represented all the Great Houses of the Imperium. Overseen by the Padishah Emperor and ruled by its High Council, it provided a forum for trade, alliance, and the formal feud of kanly, and stood as a counterweight to the power of the Imperial House.
Spacing Guild
The Spacing Guild was the interstellar shipping and banking conglomerate whose monopoly on space travel formed one leg of the political tripod that upheld the Great Convention. Its Navigators, dependent on the spice melange, folded space through prescience aboard the vast Heighliners.
Suboid Revolt
The Suboid Revolt was a rebellion in which the suboid lower class of Ix, secretly stirred up by the Bene Tleilax and backed by Imperial Sardaukar, rose against House Vernius over alleged violations of the Butlerian Jihad. It ended with the fall of Ix and the exile of the Vernius family.
The Scattering
The Scattering was the great dispersal of humanity into uncharted space that followed the death of the God Emperor Leto II. Driven by famine and the collapse of his empire, countless humans fled the Old Imperium forever, fulfilling the design of the Golden Path.
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