GM's Guide

to Arrakis
& Arrakeen
Russ Phillips
russ@phillipsuk.org

Introduction
This document is a guide to the planet of Arrakis (also known as Dune) and the city of Arrakeen,
during the time of the Harkonnen occupation of Arrakis. It's intended to be used by anyone running
a role-playing game set in the Dune universe. Much of the information presented here is taken from
the series of books by Frank Herbert, but some of it has been created by the author. This document
is based on the author's notes for a campaign he ran using GURPS, but they are presented here in a
system-neutral format.
The font on the title page is Orthodox Herbertarian, available for free download from
http://www.kullwahad.com/?p=109

Copyright & Licence

Copyright 2010 Russell Phillips.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK:
England & Wales Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171
Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California 94105, USA.

General Notes
Eyes of Ibad
"Eyes of Ibad" is the term given to the bluewithin-blue eyes of spice addiction. A diet that
includes large quantities of spice will make
both the iris and the white of the eye turn blue,
so that the pupil is surrounded by blue. It is
never explicitly stated in the books, but this
document assumes that a higher concentration
of spice will result in a deeper blue. Thus,
desert fremen, village fremen and city fremen
all have eyes of Ibad, but those of a desert fremen will be of a deeper blue than those of village fremen, and those of a city fremen will be
the least blue.

Crysknife Reward
At the Baron Harkonnen's order, a reward of
500,000 solaris has been offered for a
crysknife. He wants a crysknife because it,
along with the blue-within-blue eyes, identifies
the wielder as a fremen, and so having possession of one would open up the possibility of
infiltrating a sietch.

Reward for Capture of

Umma
Rabban has put a price of 250,000 solaris on
the fremen leader known as "Umma". The
conditions of the reward state that Umma must
be delivered to Rabban alive.
The Baron Harkonnen does not know about
this - Rabban is trying to hide his problems
with the fremen, and so doesn't want his uncle
to know that he's offered this reward. The
Harkonnens have heard of a new fremen
leader named Umma, but they have no idea
who he is, and assume that "Umma" means
"leader" (in fact, it means "prophet"). Depending on who tries to claim the reward, Rabban
may not actually pay out - he may decide that
killing the claimant is cheaper and less likely
to lead to inconvenient truths getting back to
his uncle.

Spice & Spice Production

The Harkonnens are under-reporting the quantity of spice that is produced, allowing them to
build up a stockpile of their own. It is essential
that this is kept secret, since the Harkonnens
would face the wrath of the Emperor and the
other Great Houses if it were discovered.
A typical spice mining operation will involve
one harvester, one carryall and four spotters.
Spice mining operations are not conducted far
from the Shield Wall, as storms become more
frequent and navigation more difficult. This
combination of factors means that casualties in
both men and equipment increase dramatically
when operations are conducted far from the
Shield Wall.

Equipment Used
Harvesters are large ground vehicles that harvest the spice from the sand. They are carried
to and from a spice blow by a carryall. They
have a crew of three (driver and two journeymen). The harvester's rhythmic vibrations
when operating attract worms, so the crew
have to work hard to collect as much spice as
possible before being picked up by the carryall. Working on a harvester is dangerous work.
Carryalls are large ornithopters, used to ferry
harvesters to and from spice blows. They have
a crew of four (2 pilots, 2 journeymen attachers). Because of the tremendous value of the
spice, the carryall will pick up the harvester at
the last possible moment, allowing the harvester to collect as much as possible of the
spice.
Spotters are light ornithopters, with a crew of
three (one pilot, two spotters). They fly around
the spice blow, watching for wormsign and
warning the harvester and carryall of incoming
worms.

Water
Water is, of course, very scarce. Water sellers
sell water for between 20 and 30 solaris per
litre. A death still in a fremen sietch can extract
around 40 litres of water from a body.

People
Harkonnens
Glossu Rabban Harkonnen
Born in 10,132, Glossu Rabban Harkonnen is
the Count of Lankiveil and the eldest nephew
of the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. He is overweight, dull-witted and sadistic. The fremen
have several nicknames for him: the Beast,
Mudir Nahya (Demon Ruler), and King Cobra.
His headquarters is in Carthag, from where he
rules as an oppressive tyrant, as per his uncle's
instructions. Unbeknown to Glossu Rabban
Harkonnen, the Baron plans to replace him
with his younger and cleverer brother, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, at some point in the
future. It is the Baron's intention that the
people, having been brutalised over many
years by Rabban, will welcome Feyd-Rautha
as a saviour.

Dmitri Kudu
Dmitri Kudu is a big, burly, strong man. Rabban's senior lieutenant, he is based in Arrakeen. He is originally from Giedi Prime, and
has spent his entire adult life fighting for the
Harkonnens. He is a soldier's officer, liked and
respected by his men, feared by his enemies.
His men will follow him into any battle (he
always leads from the front), sure that he will
lead them to victory. Kudu has no wife or girlfriend, but does sometimes make use of
Sameera Kawthar's escort services.
Kudu has ambitions to replace Rabban, and
hopes that the Baron will forgive the death of
his nephew as long as spice production is
increased. He believes that being a little less
harsh, and especially enlisting the help of the
desert fremen (or even stopping their attacks
on spice production), will help him to increase
production.
He can be utterly ruthless if the situation
requires it, but isn't sadistic in the way that
Rabban is. He has some threats to use on the
desert fremen if they are unwilling to help him
in his plans to replace Rabban:

He will ensure that any desert fremen is

killed on sight
He will step up aerial reconnaissance in
the desert, looking for fremen to kill,
and especially looking for their
hideouts, so that they can be destroyed
He will help Herk Chulo in his efforts
to kidnap female desert fremen
Kudu typically carries a pair of kindjals and a
shield belt. He is well aware of the dangers of
using a shield in the open desert, and so he
only uses it in the city. He lives in a mansion
close to The Keep, on the outskirts of the city.

Kudu's Guards
Kudu has a small force of nine guards that
have worked with him for years, and are all
fiercely loyal to him, as he is to them. They all
served in the same squad on Giedi Prime.
When the squad's leader was killed, Kudu took
charge and brutally put down the slave revolt
that had killed his officer. He was rewarded
with a promotion, and has done what he could
for the others ever since. As soon as he rose
sufficiently high in rank to do so, he took them
all as his personal guards.

Obeshev Marotin
The main Harkonnen doctor in Arrakeen,
Marotin is known as "Old Man Marotin" to
most of the Harkonnen garrison on Arrakis. He
is a competent physician who has gradually
worked his way up the ranks during the 30
years he has served the Harkonnens. His rank
means that he and his wife, Genino, are
provided with a small but comfortable house.

Imperial Agents
Count Hasimir Fenring
Born in 10,133, Fenring is a close personal
friend of Emperor Shaddam IV and serves on
Arrakis as the Emperor's Spice Minister,
charged with overseeing spice production, spying on the Harkonnens and ensuring a continual flow of spice. He is a small man with
oversize dark eyes and a weasel face. He is
married to Lady Margot Fenring, and lives

with her in The Keep in Arrakeen. Fenring is a

mentat, a skilled politician and a renowned
assassin. He is also a product of the Bene Gesserit breeding program, a potential Kwizatz
Haderach and a genetic eunuch.
Fenring is aware that Lady Margot is a breeding mother, and sometimes helps her with her
assignments. He has been trained by Lady
Margot in many of the Bene Gesserit techniques.
Unbeknown to Fenring, Margot administered a
residual poison to him on their wedding night.
She administers the antidote in his food, so
poison snoopers don't detect it. Hower this
means that Fenring will die if anything happens to Margot or he loses access to the antidote. Also unbeknown to Fenring, Margot
implanted a hypnotic suggestion that would
paralyse him from the neck down if it was
activated using Voice.

Lady Margot Fenring (maiden name

Zashino-Rea)
Lady Margot Fenring is a Bene Gesserit of
hidden rank. She is a reverend mother, and a
breeding mother, tasked with acquiring valuable genetic material for the Bene Gesserit
breeding program. Note that these things are
not known outside a small group within the
Sisterhood. Renowned for her incredible
beauty, cunning and resourcefulness, she has
blond hair and grey-green eyes.
She is a highly trained spy and assasin, specialising in flash memorisation. She is married
to Count Fenring, and maintains a facade of
loyalty to Count Fenring and House Corrino,
though she is actually entirely loyal to the Sisterhood. She has managed to acquire some
sources within the Harkonnen presence on
Arrakis.
Lady Margot has coached Count Hasimir Fenring in many Bene Gesserit techniques, but she
has also given him a residual poison and
implanted a hypnotic suggestion within him.
See Count Fenring's entry for details.

Pardot ("Umma") Kynes

Kynes was born on Paseo in 10,121, the only
son of Leuis and Marique Kynes. In 10,149 he

was given the position of Imperial Planetologist for Arrakis by Emperor Elrood IX. Kynes
did not get on well with the Harkonnens, who
would not leave him alone to study the planet.
They insisted that at least one of the House
Guard should accompany him at all times.
Kynes considered such guards to be nothing
more than a nuisance, and avoided them
whenever he could.
Kynes discovered that there had once been
surface water on the planet, and after further
study, became convinced that Arrakis could be
transformed into a gentler world, where
humans could live without the ever-present
danger of thirst and heat. By 10,151 he had
realised that the fremen could help him realise
this dream.
He came into contact with the fremen after he
saved some young boys that were being
attacked by a Harkonnen patrol, and tried to
persuade the fremen to help him turn Arrakis
into a lush planet with relatively small areas of
desert. The fremen, after much deliberation,
ordered him killed, as tradition dictated. His
killer, Uliet, approached him while he was lecturing. Kynes simply told Uliet to "Remove
yourself" and walked past him. Uliet took
three steps and deliberately fell on his
crysknife. This was taken to be a sign from
god, and so the fremen allowed Kynes to live.
Kynes married a fremen woman and had a son,
Liet Kynes. Kynes secretly worked closely
with the fremen until 10,175, when he was
killed in a landslide at Plaster Basin.
Kynes has an official residence, with extensive
laboratory facilities, in Arrakeen. However, he
spends a lot of his time in the desert. Note that
he is not as well versed in desert survival as
the fremen, though he is considerably more at
home there than most off-worlders. He has
never learned to capture a worm for transport,
though he has ridden worms when travelling
with fremen.

People of Arrakeen
The fremen of the city and villages are downtrodden and weak. Few have the spirit to
oppose their Harkonnen lords, and simply get
on with life as well as they can. Some, however, do what they can to oppose the

Harkonnens, and may even have some contact

with the desert fremen.

Esmar Tuek
Esmar Tuek is a spice smuggler, with operations based in the polar regions. He has spent
enough time on Arrakis that he has the eyes of
ibad, of a similar level as a village fremen. He
has rough features, with a knife scar on his left
cheek. He is a cunning businessman, who pays
a regular bribe to the fremen so that his operations are not disrupted by them. He knows and
respects several fremen, including Pardot
Kynes. He knows that Kynes works with the
fremen, but doesn't suspect the level of
involvement - he probably assumes that
Kynes, like himself, has realised that his work
in the desert would be practically impossible
without at least tacit approval from the fremen.
As a smuggler, Tuek has access to various
space craft, including some that can operate
over short inter-planetary distances. He has a
son named Staban.

Lingar Bewt
Lingar Bewt is a prominent water seller, who
mines ice from the north polar regions, then
sells it as water in Arrakeen. Although water
sellers are generally held in some disdain by
the population, everyone understands that,
without his water, the population would
struggle to survive at current levels.

and has very few morals. He is short and

slightly overweight, with short grey hair. He is
clever and persuasive. He carries a laspistol
and shield belt, but relies on guards for protection as he has little fighting skill.
He has recently taken on a job to acquire a
woman of the desert for sale to a client as a
sex slave. This client operates a series of
brothels on the planet of Gamont, and is
always on the lookout for exotic offerings for
his clients. The deep blue-within-blue eyes of
desert fremen make them sufficiently exotic
that he's willing to pay a handsome price. It is
important that any woman captured is either
not wounded, or has wounds that will not
leave scars or markings. The client won't pay
for "damaged goods".

Sameera Kawthar
Kawthar is a thin, hard-faced city fremen. She
runs a high-class escort service that caters
mainly to off-planet visitors, and claims to be
able to provide off-world escorts, city fremen,
village fremen or desert fremen, according to
the client's wishes. In actual fact, there are a
few off-world escorts, but most are recruited
from the city or villages, and given contact
lenses to give their eyes the required look. This
escort service, however, is a cover for various
smuggling, spying and blackmail operations.

Abbo Orik

Knowing that the Harkonnens would like to

take over his mines, Bewt has rigged them
with explosives, and issued orders that they are
to be blown up if anything happens to him.
The Harkonnens know this, and are constantly
looking for a way to remove him without losing his mines, but they have had no success so
far in infiltrating his organisation.

Orik is a city fremen, small-time gangster and

loan shark. He runs a shop near the space port,
selling stillsuits to off-worlders. The stillsuits
aren't of desert manufacture, and so would be
of very little use in the deep desert. He has two
minders, Rabah and Muhsin. He doesn't have
dealings with either the desert fremen or the
Harkonnens if he can help it.

Bewt has a bland round face, darkly tanned

skin, large eyes and thick lips. He owns a summer mansion in the north polar region, close to
his factory.

Orik has contacts that can smuggle people or

cargo into or out of the space port, if the price
is right.

Herk Chulo
Herk Chulo is an off-world trader, who sometimes comes to Arrakeen on business. He will
trade in anything that promises to turn a profit,

Jasta Mason
A guild representative, Mason deals with the
fremen and receives their spice bribes. He is of
average height with a thin build and pasty
complexion. His primary concern is getting the

spice bribes from the fremen to the Guild. As

long as that happens, he doesn't much care
about anything else.

Q'im Umayyid
A tall, thin man, Umayyid is a merchant in
Arrakeen. He deals in high quality cloth, and
much of his trade is with the Harkonnens. Despite this, he doesn't much like them and is willing to help out the desert fremen as long as it
doesn't put him or his business in danger.
Umayyid's shop is in the prosperous area of
Arrakeen, not too far from the space port.
The shop is a single-storey building
It has a door leading into an office with
a desk, chair and bookcase. There are
several neat stacks of paper on the desk
There is no other furnishing in the
office. There is one window, and a door
into a kitchen
The kitchen has a door leading outside,
and a window
The kitchen door leads to a short back
street. It's a relatively quiet street, at the
back of the shops. At either end there is
a main street, a few yards away there is
an entrance onto another back street
A plan of Umayyid's shop is included
in the appendix

People of the Desert

Naib Makin (sietch name Thabit)
Makin is the naib of the Iduali. He is tall,
strong and an accomplished fighter, who will
turn vicious if he feels his people are
threatened. He is willing to do anything to protect his people. He can be friendly or threatening, as the situation dictates, and can switch
from friend to enemy in a heartbeat.

Reverend Mother Karida (sietch

name Fadwa)
Karida is the Iduali's reverend mother. She is a
tall, willowy woman with long black hair. She
is fiercely protective of her people, particularly
Naib Makin. Among her Other Memories are
memories of some that were killed in the pur-

ging of Sietch Jacarutu. These memories fuel

her hatred for the other fremen.

Naib Rashad (sietch name

Hayawiyya)
Hayawiyya is fairly short at 5' 7". This sometimes makes people underestimate him, but
they do so at their cost. Like most fremen, he
has a wiry but strong build. He has short black
hair with a few flecks of grey. His beard is
short and well maintained. He is 42 years old,
and has been naib of Sietch Bissal for the last
10 years.

Reverend Mother Marha (sietch

name Samar)
Sietch Bissal's reverend mother, Samar is a
short, thin woman of 74 years. She took the
water of life at age 50.

Liet Kynes
Liet Kynes was born in 10,156, the son of Pardot Kynes and his fremen wife. Unlike his
father, Liet Kynes was brought up as a fremen,
and could ride sandworms. His father taught
him about planetology and ecology, and when
his father died in 10,175 he was granted his
father's title of Imperial Planetologist. He continued his father's work to transform Arrakis
into a temperate world.
He married Faroula, a noted fremen herbalist
originally from Red Wall Sietch, and they had
a daughter, Chani.

Fremen Culture
The fremen are a hardy, semi-nomadic people.
They value tradition, are intensely loyal to
their tribe, and are quite superstitious. Children
are cared for and trained by the whole tribe,
since the tribe's survival depends on every
member being able to carry out their duties.
The Naib is the leader of the tribe, chosen by
single combat. Anyone may challenge the
Naib for leadership, at any time (by invoking a
Tahaddi Challenge). The Naib is advised by
the tribe's Council of Elders and Reverend
Mother. Although the Naib is technically in
command, he leads by consensus. If he loses

the consent of the tribe, then he risks being

challenged. The Fremen's strong sense of duty
to the tribe makes this system remarkably
robust - challenges only really happen when a
Naib fails to carry out his duties effectively.

Tahaddi Challenge
A challenge to mortal combat, such as when
challenging the naib for leadership of the tribe.
The combat takes place without stillsuits, and
the victor receives the loser's water, as recompense for the water lost in the fight. The victor
receives the loser's possessions (except those
that were taken during the funeral rite), and
takes the loser's wife for one year (as wife or
servant), after which time she is free to choose
whether to seek a new husband. While the
loser's wife is his, the victor is also responsible
for any children the loser left behind.

Water

Water is the most important substance

there is. Everything else revolves
around this one fact.

Fremen rarely cry. Crying is known as

"giving water to the dead"

Spitting on someone is a sign of

respect - it is a gift of water

Fremen wear stillsuits when not in a

sietch. When in sietch, they wear loose
robes

When water is given to the tribe, the

giver receives water rings to indicate
how much water he has given

Giving water rings to a member of the

opposite sex is seen as a proposal of
marriage

Death
When a Fremen dies, his water is extracted
using a death still, and added to the tribe's
store. Fremen believe that a man's water
belongs to the tribe. His family will be given
water rings equivalent to the amount of water
extracted. Those who knew and liked the
deceased sit in a large circle around his
belongings. Each person takes an item and

states why the person was their friend, eg:

"Stilgar was my friend. When the Harkonnen
attacked us and I was wounded, he carried me
to safety"
If the Fremen was killed in a tahaddi challenge, the victor will receive the water rings,
as recompense for the water lost during the
fight.

Sayyadina & Reverend Mothers

Sayyadina means "Friend of God" in
Chakobsa (the native language of the fremen).
Sayyadina are Fremen women in training to
become reverend mothers. A Fremen reverend
mother has the same abilities as a Bene Gesserit reverend mother.
In order to become a reverend mother, a sayyadina must ingest the (extremely poisonous)
bile from a drowned little maker, known as the
water of life. The sayyadina must change the
liquid so that it is no longer poisonous, thus
becoming a reverend mother. If she fails, she
dies. If she is successful, the whole tribe drink
of the changed water, now a narcoleptic, leading to an orgy.
It takes a lot of training to be able to take the
water of life and survive. Sayyadina are normally selected at an age of around 4-6 years
old. It's unusual to take the water of life before
the age of 40. When a sayyadina takes the
water of life, a new sayyadina is usually initiated, so that if the attempt is unsuccessful, not
all is lost to the tribe.

Shai-Hulud
The fremen believe the great worms (Shai-Hulud) are physical embodiments of the One
God. They also use them as transport. Every
fremen learns to ride the worms at an early age
- any fremen past puberty should be able to
capture and ride a worm. Shai-Hulud is a
respectful term for the worms, and refers to
their divinity.
Worms are also known as "The Old Man of the
Desert" or "The Great Maker". It is unusual for
a fremen to refer to a worm as anything other
than Shai-Hulud, though they may occasionally refer to a worm as "Shaitan" if they are
angry at the worm (Shaitan generally being

used to refer to an evil entity)

Combat
Fremen are extremely capable fighters, who
particularly excel at melee combat, both armed
and unarmed. However, fremen fighters would
be at a severe disadvantage when fighting a
shielded opponent, since they are not familiar
with, or trained for, the techniques required to
penetrate a holtzman shield.

Contact with Outsiders

Fremen contact with outsiders is limited - outsiders are normally killed for their water. However, they do deal with smugglers and the Spacing Guild. They bribe the Spacing Guild with
spice in order to keep the skies of Arrakis free
of satellites, since such satellites would allow
others to know of their work to transform the
planet.

Language
Many Fremen understand standard Imperial
Galach, but their native tongue is Chakobsa.
The Bene Gesserit also use Chakobsa, and the
Atreides battle language is a variant on
Chakobsa.

Places
Arrakeen
Arrakeen is the second largest city on the
planet Arrakis (Carthag being the largest). It is
located near the norhern pole of the planet,
approximately 200km South-West of Carthag.
It is protected from sandworms by a combination of bedrock and the Shield Wall. The
Shield Wall also provides protection from
sandstorms.
Before the discovery of the spice melange,
Arrakeen was a much smaller and more primitive settlement built on the Shield Wall. Once
the effects of spice became known, Arrakis
became much more important, and Arrakeen
rapidly grew into a city. In 10,111 AG, House
Harkonnen won the Siridar Fief of Arrakis.
They rapidly built the city of Carthag, making
it the capital city of Arrakis, though they also
maintained a presence in Arrakeen.

Tavern: Al-Xishf Al-Muzakki ("The

Grown Fawn")
A fairly quiet, respectable tavern, frequented
by better-off city fremen such as merchants. It
is not frequented by Harkonnens. The layout
has lots of booths and small, enclosed areas
that afford some level of privacy.

Tavern: Selim's Tavern

A tavern in a fairly rough part of the city,
friendly to desert fremen and ignored by
Harkonnens, off-worlders and the wealthier
city fremen. It is named after Selim Wormrider, the first man to ride a great worm. Most
people are unaware of that story, and assume
that "Selim" is the name of the man who first
set up the bar. The layout is a single large
room. There are various-sized tables with
stools to sit at.

Tavern: Zawba'a Ramliyya

("Sandstorm")
A tavern near the space port. Most of it's customers are off-worlders looking for a "genuine" local tavern. Staff are given contact lenses

to make their eyes appear to be the deep bluewithin-blue of desert fremen. Occasionally an
actual desert fremen will take a job there, usually because they are after some information,
and they stop turning up for work as soon as
they have what they want.
It is a single storey building. The bar layout is
a large central area, with a bar in a U shape
extending into it. There are booths on the left
as you walk in. Toilets are to the back. There is
a window on either side of the entrance door,
and there are small windows in the toilets.

The Keep
A huge structure, designed to intimidate anyone viewing it, the Keep is large enough to
enclose a small city. It has a large conservatory, housing plants from around the galaxy,
which require a monumental quantity of water
simply to keep them alive.

Ornithopter Base
There is one ornithopter base in Arrakeen,
close to the space port. It is generally used by
Imperial officials and ice miners. Rich nobles
sometimes come to Arrakis hoping to see a
great worm, and will normally charter an
ornithopter flight from Arrakeen out to the
desert. The Harkonnens operate a few
ornithopters from the base, but no spice mining operations are run from Arrakeen, they are
all run from Carthag.

Space Port
The space port is a large area at the edge of the
city, with fences and Harkonnen guards at the
gates. Inside, cargo containers are stacked in
one corner, with vehicles pulling them to their
respective shuttles, where machinery lifts them
into place before the shuttle takes off to rendezvous with a waiting heighliner. At any
given time, there will be dozens of cargo
shuttles and several personal shuttles in the
space port.

Library
Arrakeen has a small library that dates back to
pre-Harkonnen times. Since the Harkonnens

have no interest in providing the local population with such a resource, it doesn't get much
funding and is consequently somewhat dilapidated. The small staff work to keep it open as
a point of pride, and as a small gesture of
opposition to the Harkonnens, since they
believe that an educated populace is more
likely to oppose the invaders.
Funds come from two main sources. They
accept donations, and sell some books, including a small booklet named "Guide to the
Imperium", written by a local city fremen
named Jumah Ullam and published by the library.

Carthag
Carthag is the other major city on Arrakis, larger, newer and more densely populated than
Arrakeen. It was built by the Harkonnens
when they were first granted the siridar-fief of
Arrakis. It has blocky buildings lacking in finesse and elegance.

The Desert
Sietch Jacurutu & Shuloch Village
Sietch Jacarutu was originally the home of the
Iduali ("water insects"), a fremen tribe that
were cast out of wider fremen society for heinous acts, including water stealing and unwarranted murder. Long before the arrival of the
Harkonnens, the other fremen attacked Sietch
Jacarutu and it was believed that all the Iduali
were killed. By the time the Harkonnens
arrived, Sietch Jacarutu and the Iduali were
widely believed to be the stuff of legend.
Some Iduali survived, however. They kept a
very low profile, living in a village named
Schuloch, close to the original site of Sietch
Jacarutu. They sometimes help off-worlders
smuggle worms off-planet to try and start the
spice cycle on other worlds, and indulge in
some spice smuggling. The Iduali generally
keep to fremen tradition, but they have no loyalty to anyone outside of the Iduali. Many of
them believe that they were betrayed by the
other tribes.

Sietch Bissal
A typical fremen sietch of about 300 people,
Bissal is a single thumper from both Arrakeen
and Carthag.

Oxtyn
Oxtyn is a typical village with a population of
around 1,000. It is situated in a rocky area so
that sandworms are not a threat. Most of the
people either work on spice mining or make
stillsuits for sale in Arrakeen. The people have
no interest in fighting the Harkonnens. The
naib is a friendly man named Licallo, who will
try to avoid trouble whenever possible.

Windsack
Windsack is another village, situated near the
Shield Wall. It contains a Harkonnen guard
station and troop barracks. The Harkonnens
and villagers grudgingly accept each other,
though there is little love lost on either side,
and there are occasional fights.

Other Villages
Other villages include Arsunt, Sihaya, Tsimpo
and Tyono. All are built on bedrock close to
the Shield Wall, around either Arrakeen or
Carthag.
Villages are generally made up of single-storey
buildings with a few moisture collectors. The
construction is rather shabby, and there is no
evidence that any thought has gone into the
construction or layout.
The inhabitants work on spice mining and
make stillsuits for sale in the cities. Occasionally a spice blow will happen nearby and they
will dig up as much of the spice as possible,
for sale in the cities or to smugglers.

Encounter Ideas

gars may be quite aggressive, but will have

little or no combat ability and no weapons.

City Encouters

Desert Encounters

Harkonnen Patrol

Smugglers

Harkonnen patrols are common in Arrakeen.

They typically consist of 4-6 soldiers with an
NCO leading them. They will be armed with
kindjals, maula pistols and laspistols.

Smugglers harvest spice to sell on the black

market. The characters could encounter them
in the desert, while they are harvesting. They
should be equipped with good quality stillsuits, kindjals and laspistols or maula pistols.

Pick Pocket
A city fremen trying to make a living by picking pockets. If the characters are desert fremen
carrying crysknives, the pick pocket may try to
steal one to claim the substantial reward.

Herk Chulo's Men

If the character party is made up of desert fremen with at least one woman, then they could
encounter one of Chulo's snatch squads, looking to take a desert woman alive. Note that
they will try to take any women alive, preferably without any wounds, but won't care
whether or not any men live.

Dignitary
Count Fenring, Lady Margot Fenring or a
member of a Major or Minor House may all be
encountered on the streets of Arrakeen, with
accompanying guards.

Spice Delivery
If the characters are desert fremen, they may
have to make a delivery of spice to the Guild,
since the fremen bribe the Guild to keep satellites out of the skies. The delivery could be
made to Jasta Mason.
If the characters are not desert fremen, they
could happen upon such a delivery.

Beggar
Arrakeen is a very poor city, so there are beggars. Anyone who looks relatively wealthy
and/or generous/gullible is likely to encounter
beggars asking for money or water. The beg-

Spice-Blow Spotters
Spotter ornithopters routinely fly over the
desert, searching for spice blows to be harvested. Anyone in the desert has a chance of seeing such a spotter, and of being seen by the
spotter.

Useful Links
The Dune Wiki on Wikia has thousands of articles (http://dune.wikia.com)
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) also has a lot of material, particularly the Dune universe
category and it's sub-categories
Masculine (http://www.ummah.com/family/masc.html) and feminine
(http://www.ummah.com/family/fem.html) Arabic names on Ummah.com
Kate Monk's Onamastikon (http://tekeli.li/onomastikon) is an excellent source of names. The
Middle East section should be useful for fremen names

Dune RPGs etc

TWURPS Dune (http://hobsonschoice.myby.co.uk/dune/), for use with TWURPS

(http://hobsonschoice.myby.co.uk/twurps/), a generic RPG system. Lots of useful material,
including scenarios and maps

D20 Dune Yahoo Group (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/D20une/)

A Dream of Rain: D20 system (http://www.scribd.com/doc/9663350/Dune-RPG-d20)

OTR: A Dune RPG based on Legend of the Five Rings

(http://www.scribd.com/doc/9663380/OTR-Dune-RPG-Core-Rules-v5)

Imperium, a Dune RPG in French (http://storygame.free.fr/imperium/index.php?id=2)

Houses of the Landsraad: One Roll Engine Dune game

(http://www.oroborus.biz/HOTL.html)

GURPS Dune, from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine (http://tinyurl.com/dunegurps)

Appendix: Floor Plans

Q'im Umayyid's Shop

Herk Chulo's Shuttle

Rooms:
1. Living area. Contains chair dogs, games, bookcases, etc.
2. Washroom. Washing bowl, towels, toilet, etc.
3. Bedroom
4. Kitchen
5. Control room. There is a large panel containing the shuttle's controls, and a large viewing
window
6. Storage. This is where any captured Fremen women will be held, gagged & bound with normal rope (not shigawire)