DUNE v0.1 (aka the completely irreverent and unpriced edition)

A beginning is a delicate time.

Know, then, that it is the year 10,188 A.G. and more than twenty thousand years into the future as you know it. House Harkonnen controls spice production with an iron fist, as dictated by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, the ruler of the known universe -- which may actually range anywhere from simply the Orion arm of the galaxy to include the nearest few galaxies. No one is really keeping track, to be honest. Rumors do however get around, and one of the more interesting rumors are that House Atreides will be taking charge of in 10,190.

More importantly, technology here has reached a point of both advancement and stagnation. Things are incredibly durable... but do not expect robots to be replacing you in the workplace. Humans are not disposable, but instead essential -- there are no computers here, but there are humans who have mental functions so advanced that they can outpace computers for raw ability, or who can calculate the safest way to fold space between two places and come out intact. Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of the human mind, after all.

Welcome to 's . War is on the horizon and the universe will inevitably turn its eye toward Arrakis, for it is the source of , more commonly called spice. The spice extends life... the spice expands consciousness... and the spice is vital to space travel. No matter where you start, it will be easy enough to move about in the known universe, travelling with the , who has a monopoly on space travel and provide transport between worlds in massive ships called heighliners. Whether you wish to watch the unfolding events on Arrakis, learn the secrets of biomechanical manipulation from the Tliexalu, or the arcane secrets of technology on Ix... or even simply take a holiday on Caladan. Be careful about enjoying too much melange, however. It may triple your lifespan, but until this jump ends, withdrawl is universally fatal.

Starting planet: 1d8 or pay 100 Arrakis -- A planet full of sun, sand, and spice. must start on this planet.

Caladin -- An ocean-dominated world and a prime vacation spot. Home to House Caladan.

Geidi Prime -- An industrial planet, dominated by the Harkonnens. Ever wanted to be a sci-fi gladiator? You can actually do that here.

Ix -- The Ixians provide the bulk of advanced technology across the universe. You could, in theory, learn a lot here... or simply buy a lot of very shiny things.

Tleilax -- Home of the ; Tleilaxu must start on this planet. Anyone else that ends up here is going to want to get out on the first heighliner, as despite having a beautiful world, they do not take kindly to outsiders.

Kaitain -- The core of the Imperium, this is where the Emperor rules from and is full of politicians. Also, it is absolutely beautiful, as Kaitain is Versailles writ large, across the whole of the planet's surface.

Salusa Secundus -- The former seat of the Imperium, until it was nuked to hell and gone. Sardaukar must start on this planet. Everyone else must find a way out with the first available smuggler, or be drafted into the Sardaukar... otherwise they may be used for target practice. This planet serves only one purpose: the training of Sardaukar.

FREE CHOICE -- You lucky dog. You can choose anywhere in the known universe to start out on... and there are countless options. If you are part of a House Minor, you may choose this option free.

Baseline age: 1d8 + 15

Starting background:

There are so many different possibilities in this universe that you may either choose to roll 1d8 and take the faction you get, or pay as you wish.

Drop-in 0 No different in appearance from any of the masses in the known universe, you aren't beholden to any of the groups vying for power and control of the galaxy. Good for keeping your head down, but good luck getting attached to anyone of real consequence without doing something truly amazing.

Smuggler 0 You could be running any of a hundred kinds of contraband foods across thousands of worlds. The thing that smugglers have in common is finding quick transport aboard a Guild heighliner to anywhere, no questinos asked, and the ability to find goods that should otherwise be inaccessible or even against the Great Convention -- as long as it is not a thinking machine.

Fremen 50 Do you like the beach? Do you hate the ocean? Being a Fremen is for you, because now you are stranded on a planet which is all sand and no water! Yes, everyone tends to forget that the Fremen are hyper-religious Zensunni, but that's largely because once you learn to ride the worm, you get to take part in the sietch's tau orgy. It's not literally an orgy... but it is a freaky spice-fueled psychic experience where you get to relive the collective Fremen past, getting chased from world to world like a bunch of gypsies until they found a world that was so bad NOBODY wanted it. At least, until someone discovered spice. Now, even you have to pay to be one of them.

Bene Tleilax 50 The Tleilaxu are what happens when Zensunni wanderers are left to their own devices. They are masters of biotechnology and are rumored to have genetically modified themselves. Less rumor and more concrete fact: they are capable of cloning the dead and creating what they call a ghola, which under the right conditions can be made to remember its past life. There are also rumors that they had been looking into a way to replicate melange artificially, but anyone who brings up that failed project tends to gets shot in the face pretty quickly, so you'll want to tiptoe around that subject.

House Minor 100 Do you like politics and conspiracies? If you answered no but you still want to enjoy the benefits of an inflated ego, then this may be the option for you. Choose any of a hundred families, and you can either lord it up over anything ranging from the size of a continent to a planet, as long as you don't rock the boat too much. If you play nice, you can even enjoy diplomatic immunity when you travel, even from the actions of a House Major, within reason. You may start on any planet.

House Major 100 Do you like politics and conspiracies? If you answered yes, then you may want to join one of the Major Houses. You will of course not be the Duke or Baron, but you can still be a member of his House and one of his advisors, or a major player in his military... or even take the place of an existing advisor's position. This grants great latitude in what you do, but you will be expected to adhere to the family's politics at all times and behave with proper decorum. Unlike those Houses Minor, you may not attend the local frat parties, but on the other hand, that Dr. Yueh throws a hell of a party himself... just make sure he doesn't slip you something.

Bene Gesserit 100 Do you like politics and conspiracies? Do you like religion? Are you an atheist? If you answered yes to all three of these questions, then you might have a future in the Sisterhood. They have a hand in manipulating the genes of all the Great Houses and actively seed false religious beliefs among the populace so that, if someone crash lands on a planet that is off the beaten path, they might be recognized as fulfilling some random prophecy so that they can get whatever help is needed. Because there is no way this could ever backfire on them.

Sardaukar 100 Do you want to be the meanest, biggest, baddest person that you can be? In that case, you want to be one of the Sardaukar. They are feared across the universe, and any single one of them is capable of taking on a squad of equivalent soldiers in any house's army. As such, it should not be a surprise that House Corrino, the Emperor's own house, is in charge of them. Even as decadent as they have grown over the last several thousand years, they remain a match for the combined might of every other House Major's military.

Abilities/Skills:

Eyes of Ibad Your eye color has shifted to be blue-on-blue, thanks to saturation of melange in your body. It's very useful if you're in the desert, as your eyes will be more able to tolerate harsh sunlight. Because apparently, in the future, sunglasses do not exist. Riddick would not like it here.

Riding the Worm Get your mind out of the gutter. All Fremen must learn to ride the worm to be considered a man... I said get your mind out of the gutter!

Suk Doctor Trusted with the life of even an Emperor, Suk conditioning cannot be broken -- you will be conditioned to be unable to take a life in the line of your duty as a physician. In return, you learn every detail that humanity knows about the human body by the time of this jump... and that knowledge goes far deeper than anyone in the present day could even dream. Add 2d8 to your age.

Mentat Human computers, strategists, and ofttimes holding the title of Master of Assassins. History records Albert Einstein as the first recorded "natural mentat", but they are as far beyond him as he was beyond the average schoolboy. They can take the smallest scraps of data and put together a picture, and the more data they can use, the more accurate their calculations. Add 2d8 to your age.

Master of Assassins

Military Training Military training is particularly curious due to the invention of the shield; only an object moving slowly can penetrate one, and firing a lasgun at a shield causes a quasi-nuclear detonation of several kilotons which may occur at the point of impact, in the lasgun itself, or anywhere in between. As a result, true military training provides a smattering of training over long range weaponry and the bulk of it in melee and unarmed combat. Add 1d8 to your age, unless you are Fremen.

Ginaz Swordmaster Years of intense training allows you to master combat to an ultimate pinnacle of fighting; in hand to hand and armed combat, you have no equal, even among Sardaukar. Add 2d8 to your age.

Ghola A clone of a corpse, with potential access to the memories of whoever you might have been. Due to certain problems with the cloning process, your eyes will be replaced with metal eyes, of identical functionality.

Face Dancer Shapeshifting...

Tleilaxu Fleshcrafting All the fun of genetic modification, without those pesky computers helping you. Using only in-universe tools, expect to use a great deal of patience in your work.

Bene Gesserit Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death. At least, that's what you keep telling yourself until your panic attacks pass. Add 1d8 to your age.

Truthsayer Studying the voice, body language and tiny facial muscle fluctiations to determine whether someone in a conversation is telling a truth, a lie, or a halt-truth. Add 1d8 to your age.

Reverend Mother Drink that blue stuff, Jessica! Wait, don't drink that stuff, it'll make Alia crazy! Dammit, why didn't you tell us you were pregnant before we forgot to ask!? Add 1d8 to your age.

Kwisatz Haderach candidate You are half a step toward the pinnacle of human evolution... but half a step is just far enough to stumble. You'll find yourself with preternatural luck, and if you happen to overdose on melange you'll find yourself gaining a spontaneous awareness of the wider universe at once, but the information overload will be crippling to anyone lacking a mind that has been developed and trained properly to put the pieces together. If you don't end up a gibbering husk, you will at least be a blind spot in the eye of anyone trying to use prescience or similar methods to find you and see your past and future activities. If you do end up a gibbering husk... well, assuming you don't starve to death or die of exposure, you'll at least be back to normal next jump with the benefits of still being invisible to psykers.

Items:

Shield Lasgun Crysknife Fremkit Stillsuit Baliset Poison Snooper Suspensors Weirding Module Briefcase of Melange 1000 It is said that a briefcase full of melange is wealth enough to buy a planet. Care to put that to the test?

Flaws Amnesia Unless you're a drop-in you'll have your memories from your time in universe... but no memories of other jumps. No access to those jumps' powers. No warehouse until it's time to go and then you can stash things in there. Any companions that you choose to accompany you will be bound by the same restrictions, as well as temporarily losing any powers that could not be obtained in-universe.

Kanly Whether by accident or design, someone with a lot of power wants to see you broken at their feet. If you're really unlucky, you're an Atreides or a Harkonnen -- their feud has been ongoing long beyond living memory, and will not end until one side or the other has been annihilated.

Melange Addiction

Melange Allergy

Compulsion Someone has found a way to add a compulsion to you, and even odds that you don't even know about it. This can take many forms -- a literal kill switch, as in the case of the Harkonnens' habit of giving out heart plugs, requires physical contact. More likely it is a verbal command of some sort that will only work once, and it may either make you go slack and nearly unconscious for a period of time, or uncontrollably lash out against a given target. It will only work once, but once is all that is needed if you are in the right place at the right time.