House Richese

House Richese was the Great House that ruled the planet Richese, the fourth world of the Eridani star system and a center of machine culture classed with Ix as supreme in that art, both worlds having escaped the more severe effects of the Butlerian Jihad. Richese was noted above all for miniaturization, and the House drew its wealth and standing in the Landsraad from the technological products of its homeworld.

The machine world#

Richese was classed with Ix as supreme in machine culture, both planets having escaped the worst of the Butlerian Jihad, and was noted for miniaturization. As the ancestral world of House Richese, it became at one point a chief source of heighliners for the Spacing Guild, and the planet and its moon Korona were famous for technological innovations that included Richesian mirrors and the no-ships that could pass undetected. The House traded on this reputation for invention as the foundation of its place among the Great Houses.

Decline before Ix#

House Richese made an ill-advised decision to engage in full-scale economic warfare with House Vernius of Ix. The contest led to the slow demise of Richese and gave rise to the popular opinion that the House merely made copies of Ixian inventions. Part of the loss was attributed to Count Ilban Richese, who spent more time with his family than with his businesses. As a result of this failure, Ix took over the lucrative construction of heighliners, and Richese never recovered the commanding position in machine culture it had once shared.

It was through House Richese that the line of the Atreides was joined to that tradition: Helena Atreides, wife of Duke Paulus Atreides and mother of Duke Leto Atreides, was born Helena Richese.

Korona and the fall of Richese#

Years after its commercial decline, the artificial moon of Korona was destroyed by Imperial Sardaukar forces because it was being used to store spice illegally. The House and its world survived into a later age, and after the ascension of House Atreides and the Scattering that followed the death of Leto Atreides II, Richese still maintained facilities producing starships and weapons for humanity. Mother Commander Murbella of the New Sisterhood contracted with Richesian authorities to build ships and weapons for the coming battle against the Enemy.

Before many of those weapons could be delivered, however, a rebel group of Honored Matres led by Hellica, who refused to merge with the Sisterhood, attacked Richese with Obliterator weapons and reduced the planet to slag and rubble, ending the long history of the machine world and its House.