Changes in the Imperium

[Kannon]

The CHOAM post-audit report approved by the Board of Directors, pointed to various irregularities and inadequacies in Harkonnen exercise of their siridar governorship over Arrakis, though the recommendation of their replacement wasn’t included. Separate voice, coming from House Londine, postulated the increase of CHOAM’s powers of oversight over Arrakis governorship and its potential transitions.

As a follow-up, an extraordinary session of the Landsraad convened as the general meeting of CHOAM shareholders, preceded by intense politicking. The auditors had been consulted by representatives of the Great Houses, some liege lords of the Imperium approached them in person. This included Duke Leto of House Atreides, who held a meeting with the auditors, learning their perspective first-hand. On the other hand, Baron Harkonnen was also very active in laying diplomatic groundwork to foil any decisive motion against his siridar rights. In his appeal to the Padishah Emperor, he presented the Londine proposal as a thinly veiled usurpation of Imperial prerogatives and the whole audit as subverted by an insidious plot of the Houses involved. This put the Harkonnen at odds with two Great Houses who had unequivocally supported the report, Mutelli and Thorvald. House Atreides quite predictably joined their ranks in that, bringing both their enmity with House Harkonnen and Leto’s diplomatic clout to the fore. The elephant in the room was the vacant CHOAM directorship after the obliteration of House Verdun.

When the debate started, the hall quickly became torn over the extent to which the audit should lead to any change in how Arrakis was run or just to discipline the Harkonnen in some more or less symbolic way, like forfeiture of some of their CHOAM shares. As polarisation stiffened, the Harkonnen positioned themselves as the defenders of the exclusivity of Imperial rights to Arrakis, decidedly against any decentralisation which was portrayed as supporting the cause of the Noble Commonwealth, what fed into Shaddam IV’s dwindling resolve to act decisively on the CHOAM report. On the other hand, Rajiv Londine grew outspoken by the day, dangerously approaching the line behind which the fate of House Verdun awaited. Many nobles became caught in a dangerous position in which their call for censuring Harkonnen could be perceived as suspicious enough to merit Imperial retribution.

Duke Leto arrested the crisis, by proposing the ‘unbundling’ doctrine. His argument was that Harkonnen failures, especially allowing terrorist attacks, water shortages, and significant illegal refinery to operate without their knowledge, resulted from the fact that governing Arrakis became too complex for one house. Spice operations were so crucial to the Imperium that they should be uniquely focused on, while other aspects of Arrakeen economy unrelated to spice production can be contracted to the other Great Houses on case by case basis. He was immediately challenged by the Baron as a vindictive profiteer, but Leto denied seeking any gains for his House through this proposal and motioned for House Mutelli to fill the vacant CHOAM directorship. A vast majority over the overall idea coalesced, each House predictably seeing themselves as standing to benefit, to Harkonnen outrage and the Emperor’s reluctance. This included not only House Londine, but also Thorvald and Mutelli as well as influential Atreides allies like Hagal and Ecaz. The passed piece of legislation was nevertheless very general under Imperial pressure, and entitled the CHOAM Board to adopt implementation bylaws. House Atreides managed to confirm its Landsraad reputation and to increase the number of diplomatic allies.

Upon claiming the CHOAM seat, Duke Flambert found the other directors relatively cooperative, including the Urdir Malina Aru, and the rapport and trust his house enjoyed with the Throne allowed for smoother adoption of the bylaws in weighted voting than could otherwise have been expected. Shaddam IV had no great qualms about allowing the Mutelli to have a bit more economic power and he found it a good way to put the Baron in line. In the end, three Great Houses were designated for the unbundling, having some Arrakis-assigned share packages being added to their portfolios. The Mutelli were granted the operation of passenger services at planetary spaceports, with House Birawi becoming transferred to them as House Minor, though with multiple Guild reservations with regard to particular services. The Corrino and the Mutelli supported the Thorvald against the Londine to be awarded the control of ice mining operations on the Northern Polar Sink, with House Bewt transferred to them accordingly. However, the Guild blocked adding water imports to Thorvald portfolio, threatening embargoes if unaccomodated, and demanded all new offworld direct investment concerning unbundling be handled via the Guild Bank on Arrakis. House Londine was in the end granted a concession for real estate development in Carthag, with Corrino expectation they would fail against Harkonnen hostility.

Indeed, all three would find it hard to establish their foothold effectively, the Harkonnen predictably gearing for ruthless pushback and the Guild being too constrained on Arrakis for its comfort, with Great Houses encroaching on its commercial privileges. Kanly hasn’t been declared so far, but some War of Assassins on Arrakis has become more likely. This perhaps explains why House Wallach, like the Ixians, maintained perfect neutrality throughout the deliberations on Kaitain despite their representative participating in the audit. This cannot be said about the Bene Gesserit – the Emperor’s Truthsayer had been seen moderating Shaddam IV in the Landsraad whenever he had become too incensed with regard to the change, though the reasons remained their own.

The Harkonnen offward focus and the need for retrenchment in their siridar fief has led to Rabban’s departure to Lankiveil and the Baron taking direct charge. Count Fenring hasn't returned to Dune from Kaitain either. Despite painful losses in the battle of Orgiz, the Fremen saw their recent confrontation with the Harkonnen as a win as the military pressure on northern sietches eased. Fremen life has returned to the False Wall, with Harkonnen advance deployments significantly scaled down and with Splintered Rock regaining its position as the centre of spice operations. While still largely distrustful of the Imperium, hope for change coming from the Outer World increased among the Fremen, and a tribe or two have decided to give low-scale support to House Thorvald in thwarting Harkonnen subterfuge even as Thorvald alignment with the Water Sellers hasn’t been helping their case with the desert people. The Mutelli, having no hope of popular support either in the cities or in the desert because of the prior actions of their representative, have been quietly reached out to by Esmar Tuek for possible collaboration. The game of Rajiv Londine was even more clandestine…