IX (Dune) - The Original Series

The Original Series

By the time of the events described in the 1965 novel Dune, Ix is the leader in providing technology to the Imperium. Ixian devices are ever-present, but the society itself is unseen until later in the series. The sequel to Dune, Dune Messiah (1969), refers to the "Ixian Confederacy," hinting at society governed by a group of empowered political bodies or worlds rather than by a single ruling House, as is typical in the rest of the universe. Dune Messiah begins with "Excerpts from the Death Cell Interview with Bronso of Ix," a historian imprisoned and condemned to death for his critical analyses of Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides and his histories, as presented by Paul's followers. This "interview" — and a subsequent excerpt from Bronso's Analysis of History: Muad'dib — serve to summarize the plot of Dune and establish the political and religious conflicts in play as the novel begins.

In 1981's God Emperor of Dune, Leto Atreides II can see through his prescience that his Golden Path has prevented the Ixians from being the cause of mankind's destruction in the future. Leto's Golden Path has prevented a future in which the Ixians released, and ultimately lost control of, self improving Hunter-Seekers that would eventually consume all organic life in the known universe. Leto talks about his relationship with the former Ixian ambassador Malky, who had been specially raised and trained by the Ixians to be a "tempter" — the "Devil to Leto's God." The Ixians had intended for Malky to manipulate Leto into doubting his own purpose; the plan had ultimately failed. They had later created Hwi Noree, a female designed specifically to attract, seduce, and hold influence over Leto. In the novel, Leto meets Hwi and sees this intent, but cannot dismiss his attraction to her. The Ixians have an embassy on Arrakis which is infiltrated by Tleilaxu Face Dancers, who kill and replace everyone there — except for Hwi — as part of an assassination attempt on Leto. The attempt fails, but Leto later allows himself to be killed by Siona Atreides, as part of his own plan for the universe; Hwi dies with him.

The Ixians had managed to keep Hwi's development a secret through the use of their new invention, the no-room (later called a no-chamber), which contains machines that hide the people within from prescience (as Guild Navigators can do). They had also created the Navigation Device which would eventually take the place of Guild Navigators and help fuel the Scattering. Combining these two technologies later results in the no-ship, a starship that can remain unseen and does not require a Navigator to fold space.

By the time of the events described in Heretics of Dune (1984), the power of the Ixians seems at its apex with their alliance with the Fish Speakers; however, Bene Gesserit analysts see them as a failing power, because Ixian society had become a bureaucracy and no great inventions had come out of the workshops of Ix for centuries. As the Honored Matres conquer the Old Empire, the Ixians are reduced to a barely tolerated technological combine. In Chapterhouse: Dune (1985), the latest Duncan Idaho ghola suggests that Leto had never "suppressed" Ix because "He was fascinated by the idea of human and machine inextricably bound to each other, each testing the limits of the other."