Editing Heretics of Dune (section)

==Plot summary==
Fifteen hundred years after the 3,500-year reign of the God Emperor [[Leto II Atreides]] ended with his assassination, humanity is firmly on the [[Golden Path (Dune)|Golden Path]], Leto's plan to save humanity from destruction. By crushing the aspirations of humans for over three thousand years and dismantling the complex economic system dependent on the [[melange (fictional drug)|spice melange]], Leto caused [[The Scattering (Dune)|the Scattering]], an explosion of humanity into the rest of the universe upon his death.

[[Sandworm (Dune)|Sandworms]] have reappeared on [[Arrakis]] (now called Rakis), and have renewed the flow of the all-important spice to the galaxy. A new civilization has risen, with three dominant powers: the [[Ix (Dune)|Ixians]], whose [[no-ship]]s are capable of piloting between the stars and are invisible to outside detection; the [[Bene Tleilax]], who have learned to manufacture spice in their [[axlotl tank]]s and have created a new breed of [[Face Dancer]]s; and the Bene Gesserit, a [[matriarchy|matriarchal]] order of subtle political manipulators who possess [[superhuman]] abilities. However, people from the Scattering are returning with their own peculiar powers. The most powerful of these forces are the [[Honored Matres]], a violent society of women bred and trained for combat and the sexual control of men.

The Bene Gesserit leader, Mother Superior [[Taraza (Dune)|Taraza]], brings [[Mentat]] and former [[Bashar (Dune)|Supreme Bashar]] [[Miles Teg]] out of retirement to oversee the protection of their latest Tleilaxu-provided [[Duncan Idaho]] [[ghola]] on the planet [[Gammu (Dune)|Gammu]], the former Giedi Prime. She also sends Bene Gesserit [[Imprinter (Dune)|Imprinter]] [[Lucilla (Dune)|Lucilla]] to instruct Duncan, and eventually bind his loyalty to the Sisterhood with her sexual talents. At the same time, Teg's biological daughter, Reverend Mother [[Darwi Odrade]], is put in command of the Bene Gesserit keep on Rakis. The Bene Gesserit discover [[Sheeana]], an orphan girl who can control the giant sandworms, and hope to gain control of her and the religion that will inevitably form around her. Soon the Bene Gesserit thwart an attack on Sheeana, and Odrade begins training her in the ways of the Sisterhood. The two discover a huge hoard of spice that Leto left, along with a message from Leto, saying the Bene Gesserit should find noble purpose.

When an assassination attempt is made on Duncan, Lucilla and Teg flee with him into the countryside, finding refuge in an old Harkonnen no-ship. Teg awakens Duncan's original memories, but does so before Lucilla can imprint Duncan and thus tie him to the Sisterhood. Teg is captured by the Honored Matres while Lucilla and Duncan escape. Teg is tortured by a [[T-Probe]], but under pressure discovers new abilities: drastically increased physical capabilities and an uncertain type of prescience, which he uses to escape easily and capture a no-ship with some of his old battle comrades. Duncan is subdued by a young Honored Matre named [[Murbella]], who attempts to enslave him sexually. However, hidden Tleilaxu conditioning kicks in, and Duncan responds with an equal technique that overwhelms Murbella. The experience restores in him the entire memories of all of the hundreds of previous Duncan gholas.

Taraza meets with the [[Tleilaxu Master]] [[Tylwyth Waff|Waff]] and compels him to tell her what he knows about the Honored Matres. He also reveals that the Bene Tleilax have conditioned their own agenda into Duncan. Taraza gleans the Tleilaxu's secret religious beliefs from their conversation, and uses them to manipulate an alliance with the Bene Tleilax that better serves the Bene Gesserit. Odrade realizes that Taraza's plan is to destroy Rakis (which will help destroy Leto's tyrannical grip on history) just as the Honored Matres invade, killing Taraza and Waff. Odrade becomes temporary leader of the Bene Gesserit and escapes with Sheeana into the desert on a worm.

Teg finds that his prescient powers allow him to "see" shielded no-ships, enabling him to locate Duncan and Lucilla. They flee to Rakis with a captive, pregnant Murbella, intercepting Odrade and Sheeana and their giant worm. Teg leads his troops in a suicidal defense of Rakis designed to enrage the Honored Matres and goad them into using their planet-destroying [[Obliterator (Dune)|Obliterator]]s. They do so, incinerating Rakis' surface and killing all sandworms, save the one with which Odrade and Sheeana have escaped. They intend to use it to create a new sandworm ecosystem on the secret Bene Gesserit planet [[Chapterhouse (Dune)|Chapterhouse]].