Memnon Thorvald: rebel Earl of Ipyr

Memnon Thorvald of the planet Ipyr was the Earl of House Thorvald and a member of the Landsraad during the last years of the Corrino Empire and the ascension of House Atreides. Bound to the Imperial court through his sister's marriage to Shaddam Corrino IV and embittered by her fate there, he refused to kneel to the new Emperor Paul Muad'Dib and led the first and primary rebellion of noble Houses against the Atreides throne, from Paul's accession until 10198 AG.

A sister on the Corrino throne#

House Thorvald governed Ipyr, a lush, green world held as an Earldom in the Landsraad, and Memnon Thorvald led the family as its Earl and Planetary Ruler. In 10187 AG he married his sister, Firenza Thorvald, to the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV, who took her as his fourth wife. The Landsraad generally approved of the match, for both the nobles and the Emperor wished for a male heir to the Golden Lion Throne, and Firenza, though described as a woman of no great beauty or distinction, was thought capable of producing Corrino sons.

The marriage brought House Thorvald nothing. Firenza bore Shaddam no children to add to the five daughters he already had, fell from the Emperor's favor, and died within a year or two of her wedding. Her death at the Corrino court left Memnon somewhat embittered, a grievance he carried into the upheavals that followed the fall of the Corrino Empire.

Defiance before the Landsraad#

When the Fremen legions of the new Emperor sacked Kaitain, Thorvald witnessed the destruction of the Imperial capital firsthand. In 10194 AG, Paul Muad'Dib gave his first speech before the assembled Landsraad, demanding the submission of the noble families to his authority and declaring that the destruction of Kaitain was the true ending of the Corrino Empire. Many of the nobles fell into line behind House Atreides.

Memnon Thorvald did not. As Paul spoke, the Earl shouted his defiance at the new Emperor, declaring that he "had enough of Emperors", and marched out of the Assembly Area to foment rebellion. It was the opening act of the first great revolt against Atreides rule, and Thorvald took upon himself the dangerous position of its leader.

The rebel Earl's war#

Thorvald organized the Houses in rebellion against Paul under the leadership of House Thorvald, directing the war from his base of operations on Ipyr and using the temperate tundra world of Jericha as a base for guerrilla warfare. His coalition put up a guarded defense of Galicia against the forces of Gurney Halleck in 10196 AG, though the Emperor's forces eventually prevailed there.

On Jericha the rebels exacted a heavier price. In 10196 AG the Emperor sent Jihadi troops against the planet, with Halleck dispatching a Caladanian platoon under the Atreides general Burbage to join an army commanded by the Fremen Naib Stilgar. House Thorvald's suspensor nullification equipment destroyed most of the attackers' aircraft, and Stilgar came near to death on the tundra world before withdrawing. After Stilgar's retreat, Burbage took command of both the Caladanian and Fremen Jihadi troops and continued the campaign until Thorvald's forces were routed and the Earl was forced to abandon Jericha. Thorvald scored some minor victories in these years, but the Jihad of Muad'Dib marched inexorably forward.

The Great Surrender claim#

In 10198 AG, at the Great Surrender ceremony on Arrakis, the first assassination attempt was made on Paul's life. House Thorvald initially claimed to have orchestrated the complex plot, Memnon spreading the boast to further his reputation among the Landsraad rebels and gather more followers to his cause. The claim was false. The attempt was found to be the work of the Swordmaster Whitmore Bludd, the architect of the Emperor's own palace, and Thorvald's opportunism bought his rebellion only a brief burst of prestige.

The Caladan conspiracy and annihilation#

Later that same year, Thorvald prepared his boldest stroke. He planned to attack Caladan, the ancestral homeworld of House Atreides, with an immense force drawn from his allied Houses, to decimate Cala City, and to kill the Emperor's mother, the Lady Jessica, or take her captive. Paul uncovered the plot through prescience. He immediately summoned the Spacing Guild representative Olar, who brought him before the Navigator Beric, and the Guild confirmed that House Thorvald had conspired to destroy the water world and that the rebel fighter starships were already waiting aboard heighliners for transport.

Paul's answer was absolute. He ordered every House Thorvald ship, together with all of Thorvald's allies, stranded in deep space without provisions. He further commanded that House Thorvald be eliminated and that Ipyr itself be sterilized. The sentence was carried out, and House Thorvald ceased to exist, its erasure a warning to the Landsraad of what rebellion against Muad'Dib would cost.