Great Surrender

The Great Surrender was a ceremony of obeisance held in 10198 AG, the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Paul Atreides. The nobles of the Landsraad were summoned to the Imperium's capital on Arrakis to show their loyalty to the Jihad of Muad'Dib. Princess Irulan, Paul's wife, sent invitations to every noble of the Known Universe, and each House was expected to send a representative and to bring a cargo hold of water, which the Emperor distributed to the peasants of Arrakeen.

Purpose and tribute#

As a sign of submission to the throne, the nobles of the Landsraad were invited to the capital to demonstrate loyalty to Paul's Jihad. Each House was required to send a representative, in person or by proxy, and to deliver a cargo hold of water. On a world where water was the measure of all wealth, the Emperor distributed this tribute to the common people of Arrakeen, turning the gesture of surrender into a display of his power and largesse.

The ceremony and its security#

The Great Surrender coincided with the completion of Phase I of the Imperial Palace, raised under the direction of the Emperor's Chief Construction Engineer, the Swordmaster Whitmore Bludd. The ceremony was held in the Celestial Audience Chamber, whose ceiling bore frescoes depicting great moments in the lives of Paul and his father, Duke Leto Atreides I.

Security was severe. Personal shields were forbidden by Korba, the leader of Fremen security, lest an assassin smuggle in a lasgun, whose beam would react catastrophically with an active shield. Nearly all the nobility of the Landsraad attended or sent representatives. House Corrino sent Rugi Corrino, daughter of the deposed Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, as its standard-bearer.

The assassination attempt#

As the event began, hidden traps sprang throughout the chamber. The hall filled with paralytic gas, and poison darts shot from the walls and struck several of the gathered nobles. Hunter-seekers then emerged from the ceiling and walls in an attempt to kill the Emperor himself. One seeker stung Paul, who adjusted his body chemistry to neutralize the poison, only for the next to strike with a different toxin. Paul defeated all of the seekers and batted down the darts with his knife while Stilgar and Korba tried to restore order. Bludd, watching, was astonished that the Emperor had needed no protection.

Minutes later a large bomb detonated beneath Muad'Dib's throne, hurling debris through the chamber. Order was eventually restored, but Irulan cried out that her sister, Rugi Corrino, had been killed.

Aftermath#

In the interrogations that followed, it became clear that whoever had planted the darts and seekers must have possessed an intimate knowledge of the Palace. Suspicion fell at last on Bludd, an old friend of House Atreides. The Swordmaster confessed that he had devised the attempt as soon as construction began, hoping to save Paul's life before a great multitude and so atone for what he regarded as his greatest failure: years earlier, at the start of the War of Assassins of 10187 AG against House Moritani, his hesitation had allowed Ilesa Ecaz to die. Paul sentenced Bludd to death and allowed the Fremen to tear him apart in the Palace Courtyard. Afterward, to boost his own standing among Landsraad rebels, Memnon Thorvald falsely claimed to have arranged the attempt himself.