Description

[Kannon]

By far the largest man-made structure in Arrakeen and - until the Harkonnen built their megalopolis of Carthag in the Hagga Basin - on the whole planet as well. It communicates grandeur with size more than with materials used, as it is still the cut slabs of local rock and plaz. However, on Arrakis, the main status symbol is water, and the Residency shows off power of its inhabitants by how it wastes it. While most houses are built with minimum exposure to the sun, window plaz is used prolifically on every story and on parts of the roof; there is no water discipline in the mansion, no seals at doorways. And on top of that there are twenty date palms growing on the way to it, regularly watered. There is even an unconfirmed story of a room inside the Residency in which water is splurged on fountains and offworld plantlife!

Inside, the decor is eclectic as it had been the seat of governance for all rulers of Arrakis until the Harkonnen came. The touch of House Richese, their predecessors in siridar governorship here, is still visible in many furnishings, especially in the abundance of soft-lit glowglobes drifting along its corridors, but since Count Hasimir Fenring took it over as the Imperial Spice Minister, Corrino symbolism and opulence have been pasted over. The arched and pillared central hallway greets everyone with a gallery of portraits of Padishah Emperors, with a rather gratuitous representation of Shaddam IV dominating the double staircase.

Guests have only limited access to the Residency's interior. If anyone feels free to wander, the Sardaukar guards shall quickly disabuse them of this misconception. The need to be guided imposes itself, however. Deeper, the corridors and stairs wind up and down and sideways without a consistent architectural plan, speaking of its many gradual expansions, but the sense of getting lose quickly hovers.

The personnel is mostly local, their eyes at different levels of spice saturation, competent and unassuming.