"A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows.
To begin your study of the life of Muad'Dib, then take care that you first place him in his time: born in the 57th year of the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV.
And take the most special care that you locate Muad'Dib in his place: the planet Arrakis.
Do not be deceived by the fact that he was born on Caladan and lived his first fifteen years there. Arrakis, the planet known as Dune, is forever his place".
- from Manual of Muad'Dib by the Princess Irulan
Frank Herbert's classic science fiction novel Dune will live for generations as a masterpiece of creative imagination. In this game, you can bring to life the alien planet and the swirling intrigues of all the book's major characters.
Dune - the very name conjures up desolation. Desert sandscapes cover most of the planet surface, broken only by giant rock ridges. Giant sandworms a quarter mile long live beneath the sand and attack any who linger on it.
Human life exists in a few scattered places where precious water is available, but even those settlements are buffeted by terrifying coriolis storms. Yet the planet is crucial to the destiny of a galactic empire. Because only on Dune can spice be harvested.
Spice is the key to interstellar travel. Only by ingesting the addictive drug can the Spacing Guild Steersman continue to experience visions of the future, enabling them to plot a safe path through hyperspace.
Spice is also a geriatric medicine that prolongs life. Only by assuring a stable supply of spice throughout the galaxy can any Emperor avoid civil revolt. With spice, in short, one can buy whatever one wants.
Powerful forces struggle for control of Dune. Imperial troops, aristocratic families, Guildsmen, a secretive sisterhood, and the nomadic native Fremen all vie for power on the planet.
All are subject to the rigid economics of the joint merchant combine, CHOAM; resources are expensive, shipping is costly, excellence has a price. And that price must be paid in the universal currency, the measure of all value: spice.
All need spice. Some will harvest it directly when it blows in an isolated area of sand, risking the onslaught of sandworm and storm alike. But others will take it violently in battle, or quietly in taxes and fees.
Those controlling large settlements will have access to ornithopters and cover great distances quickly. Other players will have to pick their way slowly across sand and rock.
But all anxiously await the decision-making Nexus signaled by the sudden appearance of the great sandworm, Shai-Hulud.
Massive battles and small skirmishes will occur, but often be decided by a single brilliant leader or an act of low treachery.
But death on Dune need never be tragic. The dead are routinely rendered up for their body's water - so that life on the arid planet may continue. And even one surviving cell of an individual may be cultured by the Tleilaxu technicians until the original person is regrown.
Imagine you can control the forces of a noble family, guild, or religious order on a barren planet which is the only source for the most valuable substance in the known universe.
Imagine you can rewrite the script for one of the most famous science fiction books of all time. Welcome to the acclaimed 40-year-old board game which allows you to recreate the incredible world of Frank Herbert's DUNE.
In DUNE you will become the leader of one of six great factions. Each wishes to control the most valuable resource in the universe - melange, the mysterious spice only found at great cost on the planet DUNE. As Duke Leto Atreides says "All fades before melange.
A handful of spice will buy a home on Tupile. It cannot be manufactured, it must be mined on Arrakis. It is unique and it has true geriatric properties". And without melange space travel would be impossible. Only by ingesting the addictive drug can the Guild Steersman continue to experience visions of the future, enabling them to plot a safe path through hyperspace.
Who will control DUNE? Become one of the characters and their forces from the book and . . . You decide!
