Sardaukar

The Sardaukar were the elite military force of the Padishah Emperor, serving prominently throughout the Corrino Empire and later passing to the command of Leto Atreides II by the hand of Farad'n Corrino. Founded by House Corrino and headquartered on the prison planet Salusa Secundus, they were renowned and feared throughout the Known Universe for their fanatic zeal, superior fighting abilities, and sheer ruthlessness.

Upbringing and training#

Members of the Sardaukar were raised from a young age in an unforgiving natural environment, the Corrino prison planet Salusa Secundus, where almost half of them, six out of every thirteen, died before the age of eleven. Intense training gave them formidable swordsmanship and espionage abilities and instilled a religious fervor that added to their mystique and made them yet more loyal to the Imperial House. Their fighting prowess was renowned throughout the Old Imperium. At the apex of their sway it was said that their swordsmanship was comparable to that of a Ginaz Tenth Level and that their cunning at in-fighting matched that of a Bene Gesserit adept. Any one Sardaukar was rated a match for ten standard Landsraad military conscripts. Only the Fremen, raised in the fanatical warrior culture and merciless desert of Arrakis, were capable of matching them. The Fremen scorned Harkonnen soldiers as cowardly and weak, but judged that the Sardaukar fought well and respected them to some degree.

The fall of House Atreides#

In the year 10,191 A.G., Emperor Shaddam IV entered into a deal with House Harkonnen to eliminate House Atreides, whose popularity had become a threat to the Emperor and to other powerful interests such as the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild. The Emperor compelled Duke Leto Atreides I to give up his fief of Caladan and move to Arrakis, the sole source of the spice melange. He then loaned Sardaukar troops to Baron Vladimir Harkonnen for the attack on the Atreides. For the operation the Sardaukar dressed in Harkonnen uniforms, but the Atreides recognized them by their distinctive combat style and hawk-like features. What the Emperor and the Baron did not plan on was the survival of Leto's consort Jessica and his son Paul, who were driven into the desert and taken in by the Fremen.

Defeat on Arrakis#

Paul rose to a position of leadership among the Fremen and led them in a guerrilla war that all but stopped spice production on Arrakis. During one raid against the Fremen, the Sardaukar killed the firstborn son of Paul and Chani. With the Guild pressing him, Shaddam sent five legions of Sardaukar to Arrakis, but it did no good. The Sardaukar were crushed by the Fremen, and the Emperor was captured by Paul and his Fremen allies. The defeat opened the way for Paul Atreides to ascend to the Golden Lion Throne.

Appearance and fighting style#

Sardaukar troops typically wore uniforms and helmets of grey and black with gold trimming. Some wore their hair long, which was taken by onlookers as a sign of arrogance. Their distinct combat style allowed them to be recognized easily. In close-quarter, hand-to-hand combat, if surrounded, they would group into trios and adopt a triangular fighting stance with their backs to one another. They carried ingeniously concealed weapons on their persons, such as shigawire in their hair or a false toe or two fitted with small stabbing blades, and they were experts at covert operations, able to conceal themselves among groups for extended periods before they attacked.

Later history#

Following the Arrakis Affair and Shaddam's deposition, the Sardaukar were exiled with the rest of House Corrino to Salusa Secundus. The Treaty of Arrakeen limited them to a small number of legions, ensuring that the Corrino successors could not attempt a revolt against the Atreides, and they became a marginal force. Shaddam's daughter Wensicia Corrino attempted to restore them, subjecting them to rigorous training and little luxury and requiring that all Sardaukar give their full name and title when introducing themselves. Her son Farad'n shared none of her ambition. He refused to go through with her plans, became the consort of Ghanima Atreides, and gifted the Sardaukar to the newly instated Emperor Leto Atreides II.