Tleilax
homeworld of the Bene Tleilax
Tleilax was the sole planet of the Thalim star system and the homeworld of the Bene Tleilax, a society of genetically altered, religious, and xenophobic humans known for their biological laboratories and their Face Dancers.
Tleilax was the sole planet of the Thalim star system and the homeworld of the Bene Tleilax, a society of genetically altered, deeply religious, and xenophobic humans. From its manicured terrain and light industrial facilities the Tleilaxu produced the biological components and engineered lifeforms for which they became feared across the Imperium, including Face Dancers and gholas.
Environment and settlements#
Environmentally Tleilax was an Earth-like world with a nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere. Much of its surface was given over to manicured terrain and vegetation. The planet was home to several conurbations, chief among them the Tleilaxu holy city of Bandalong, which was reserved exclusively for native Tleilaxu. Scattered in and around the urban areas stood large light industrial facilities used for the production of biological components and lifeforms, including Face Dancers and gholas.
Tleilaxu industry#
The Bene Tleilax were a race of genetic scientists, and their homeworld was the seat of that work. The biological products grown on Tleilax made the Bene Tleilax a power that the rest of the Imperium relied upon yet held at arm's length, owing to the society's religious and xenophobic character. Among the engineered beings the Tleilaxu cultivated were the shape-changing Face Dancers and the gholas regrown from the cells of the dead.
Later renown#
In later millennia the planet, still called Tleilax, became known primarily for two further things. It was the location of a renegade training center for Mentats, and it was noted as the source of so-called Twisted Mentats, human computers conditioned outside the orthodox schools.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Tleilax?
- Tleilax was the sole planet of the Thalim star system and the homeworld of the Bene Tleilax, a society of genetically altered, deeply religious, and xenophobic humans. The world produced the biological components and engineered lifeforms for which the Tleilaxu became feared across the Imperium.
- What kind of environment did Tleilax have?
- Tleilax was an Earth-like world with a nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere, and much of its surface was given over to manicured terrain and vegetation. Scattered in and around its urban areas stood large light industrial facilities used for producing biological components and lifeforms.
- What was Bandalong?
- Bandalong was the Tleilaxu holy city and the planet's chief settlement. It was reserved exclusively for native Tleilaxu.
- What was Tleilax known for producing?
- The biological products grown on Tleilax included the shape-changing Face Dancers and gholas regrown from the cells of the dead. These products made the Bene Tleilax a power the rest of the Imperium relied upon yet held at arm's length.
- What did Tleilax become known for in later millennia?
- In later millennia the planet became known for two further things. It was the location of a renegade training center for Mentats, and it was noted as the source of so-called Twisted Mentats, human computers conditioned outside the orthodox schools.
Gallery
Images via Dune Wiki
Sources
- WikiTleilax — Dune Wiki entry
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Related entries
Bene Tleilax
The Bene Tleilax, more commonly called the Tleilaxu, were a secretive race of genetically altered humans whose mastery of the axolotl tanks gave them gholas, Face Dancers, and Twisted Mentats. Reviled across the Imperium, their genetic skill made them a necessary evil that no power could do without.
Face Dancer
Face Dancers were a sterile race of metamorphic transhumans engineered by the Bene Tleilax in their axolotl tanks. Able to replicate the form, voice, and personality of any human, they served as entertainers, spies, and assassins, and in their final refined breed became weapons of conquest.
Ghola
A ghola was an artificially regrown human, replicated from the cells of a dead individual in the axlotl tanks of the Bene Tleilax. Originally created without the memories of the source being, gholas were later made to recover those memories through trauma, a technique that shaped the secret history of the Imperium.
Mentat
The Mentat was a discipline developed after the Butlerian Jihad to replace the outlawed thinking machines, training the human mind into a living computer capable of supralogical analysis. Mentats served the Great Houses, the Bene Gesserit, and the Imperium as advisors, strategists, and, when twisted, killers.
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Arrakeen governor's palace: the Residency of Arrakis
The Arrakeen governor's palace, known colloquially as the Arrakeen Residency, was the largest building in Arrakeen and the seat of planetary power on Arrakis. It passed from the Fenrings to House Atreides, fell to the Harkonnens in the Siege of Arrakeen, and was retaken by Paul Atreides.
Mentioned in8 entries
Bene Tleilax
The Bene Tleilax, more commonly called the Tleilaxu, were a secretive race of genetically altered humans whose mastery of the axolotl tanks gave them gholas, Face Dancers, and Twisted Mentats. Reviled across the Imperium, their genetic skill made them a necessary evil that no power could do without.
Enhanced Face Dancer
Enhanced Face Dancers were a refined breed of Tleilaxu shape changer first released into deep space by Hidar Fen Ajidica and later improved by the Thinking Machines. Undetectable even by the Bene Gesserit, they served Omnius and Erasmus while secretly pursuing their own ascendancy, until Erasmus destroyed them all with a hidden kill switch.
Harishka
Harishka was Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit through the Turbulent Era, guiding the Sisterhood across the last years of Elrood IX and the reigns of Shaddam IV and Paul Atreides. She watched over the final steps of the Kwisatz Haderach breeding program.
Ingva
Ingva was an Honored Matre who served as chief assistant to the Great Honored Matre Hellica on Tleilax during the days before Kralizec. She dominated and tormented the Tleilaxu scribe Uxtal as he grew gholas, and died in the New Sisterhood's assault on Bandalong.
Janess Idaho
Janess Idaho was a daughter of the final Duncan Idaho ghola and the Honored Matres leader Murbella, raised within the Sisterhood on Chapterhouse. She rose to command the Valkyries and then to Supreme Bashar of all the New Sisterhood's forces during the war against the Thinking Machines.
Khrone
Khrone was the true leader of the Tleilaxu Enhanced Face Dancers, a secret Myriad that posed as servants of the reborn thinking machines while plotting to inherit the universe once humanity and the machines had destroyed one another.
Scytale
Scytale was a Face Dancer of the Bene Tleilax who took a central part in the conspiracy against Paul Atreides, offering the ghola Hayt as a trap. Reborn as the last Tleilaxu Master, he survived into the age of the Honored Matres carrying the genetic patterns of his people within his own flesh.
Uxtal
Uxtal was a Lost Tleilaxu scribe spared in the Face Dancer purge of Tleilax and forced into servitude. He grew gholas of Vladimir Harkonnen, Paul Atreides, and a Tleilaxu Master for masters who held his life hostage, and died devoured by sligs near Bandalong.
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