Imperial Opal Palace

The Imperial Opal Palace was the residence of the Padishah Emperors of House Corrino, standing in Corrinth City, the capital of the planet Kaitain. It sat along the Imperial Boulevard, a broad garden avenue lined with statues of the Corrino Emperors who had come before. Above the entrance to its Great Hall was carved the legend, "Law is the ultimate science." Frank Herbert's Dune places the Emperor on Kaitain and quotes that legend from above his door; the palace's name, its city and its boulevard come from the expanded books and the 1984 Dune Encyclopedia. (Dune; The Dune Encyclopedia; Expanded books: Dune: House Harkonnen)

The Imperial residence#

The Imperial Opal Palace housed not only the Padishah Emperor but the whole apparatus of his court. Within its walls dwelt House Corrino and its servants, bodyguards, and slaves, the Emperor's slave-harem and its adjacent nursery, and quarters for the string of aristocratic visitors who came bearing suits, petitions, and diplomatic errands. Beggars waited beside the doors while first-class outsiders awaited their summons, all of them craving leave to enter the Imperial Selamlik, to pass the plasteel and marble doors beneath the sculptured arches and the Imperial legend, past the captive banners of defeated Houses Major, and to stand at last in the presence of the Power itself. (The Dune Encyclopedia)

The audience hall and the throne#

The great audience hall held the Golden Lion Throne, the seat of Imperial authority. It would be crowded with the Emperor's bodyguards, courtiers, noukkers, concubines, eunuchs, pages, slaves, and the Bene Gesserit, and yet held only a fraction of those who clamoured to enter. The Padishah Emperor would hear the petitioners, who stated name and case in the ancient and almost identical formulae prescribed by usage, each invoking his word of bond under the Convention. (The Dune Encyclopedia)

When Shaddam comes to Arrakis in Dune, he wears the grey uniform of his Sardaukar, with the golden Imperial lion crest on his helmet to mark his rank. (Dune)

House Corrino and the palace#

In the expanded books, the Imperial Opal Palace was the childhood home of Shaddam IV, who would rule the Known Universe from its halls. There he wed his Empress Consort, the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Anirul, and there were raised his daughters, among them Irulan. (Expanded books: Dune: House Atreides; Dune: House Corrino)

The Dune Encyclopedia adds that, with few exceptions, the members of the Imperial family kept apart from the many social functions that gave the Court its reputation for glittering splendour. (The Dune Encyclopedia)

After the fall#

When the rule of House Corrino was broken on Arrakis by Paul Atreides and his Fremen allies, Shaddam went into exile on Salusa Secundus. (Dune)

In the expanded book Paul of Dune, Fremen troops of the Jihad sack Kaitain soon afterwards. When Paul arrives, he lets them tear down Shaddam's palace, knowing the news will spread through the Imperium as a warning to rebels. (Expanded books: Paul of Dune)