Putting the Serial Numbers Back

[xiombarg]

Okay, I think I know what element of Burning Sands corresponds to what element of the Dune books. With one exception: "The 9". (That is a numeral "nine", right?)

If this were a licensed Dune product, who would "the 9" be, just as the Salt would be the Spice, the Sisterhood would be the Bene Gesserit, etc...

[xiombarg]

Never mind, Wikipedia to the rescue... The Ixians are what I want, I guess I just didn't read the books they're featured in.

[Thor Olavsrud]

Right. Ix was called IX because it was the 9th planet from its sun.

[stormsweeper]

Never mind, Wikipedia to the rescue... The Ixians are what I want, I guess I just didn't read the books they're featured in.

So you didn't read any of them? :P I'm fairly certain they are mentioned (including the reference to the Roman numerals) in Dune. They definitely are in Dune Messiah.

[xiombarg]

So you didn't read any of them? :P I'm fairly certain they are mentioned (including the reference to the Roman numerals) in Dune. They definitely are in Dune Messiah.I wouldn't be excited about running the game if I hadn't read any of them.

I've read up through Children of Dune, and since the game takes place between the first and second books (in essence), I figured I'd read enough to actually run. I was able to figure out everything but "9".

Assuming the Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ix_%28Dune%29) is right, which is a big assumption I know, "Ixian devices are ever-present in the novels, but the society itself is unseen until later in the series." So, yes, I didn't remember the brand-name of the technology from the early novels. ;-P It seems the Ixtians aren't an important part of the novels until God Emperor of Dune -- before that, the Bene Tleilax seem more important, as crazy technologists go.

And, in fact, I admit I'm sort of surprised that Burning Sands doesn't seem to have an equivalent of the Bene Tleilax.

[Thor Olavsrud]

1. One of the inspirations for Jihad was the Jihad period between Dune and Dune Messiah, since it happens in the blink of an eye between those two novels. Ixian technology makes an appearance in Dune, most spectacularly in the form of Guild Heighliners. The Bene Tlielax don't make an appearance until Messiah.

2. Jihad obviously takes a lot of color and feel and inspiration from Dune an its universe. But it's not Dune (although it's easy enough to do with it). We really wanted to focus the game on the struggle between a fascist aristocracy struggling to hold onto power and oppressed extremist religious fascists seeking to replace them.

3. Both sides have strong taboos about technology, especially artificial intelligence. And yet, that technology represents a significant advantage in that it is incredibly potent and does not necessarily rely on Salt the way the powers of the sisterhood, analysts and fedayin do*. The 9 really come to represent the devil's bargain in these games. It's no surprise that the nobility seem to turn to 9 technology, breaking their ideal in order to preserve themselves, in the vast majority of games that I've heard about.

4. There's no similar dimension to the Tlielaxu in this particular period, so while we considered them, we elected not to focus on them in the end.

* Of course, it's all ultimately moot because the Mahdi controls the Salt and the Salt is a requirement for space travel, so civilization will collapse without it.

[xiombarg]

1. One of the inspirations for Jihad was the Jihad period between Dune and Dune Messiah, since it happens in the blink of an eye between those two novels. Ixian technology makes an appearance in Dune, most spectacularly in the form of Guild Heighliners. The Bene Tlielax don't make an appearance until Messiah.Right, right. But the Ixtians themselves don't appear until God Emperor of Dune. It's one thing to have Microsoft products in use by characters, it's another to have Bill Gates show up. There's a important distinction between technology and the technologists, and in the early books, we see the technology but not the technologists.

2. Jihad obviously takes a lot of color and feel and inspiration from Dune an its universe. But it's not Dune (although it's easy enough to do with it). We really wanted to focus the game on the struggle between a fascist aristocracy struggling to hold onto power and oppressed extremist religious fascists seeking to replace them.Right, and I totally dig that. This is why I'm using the Burning Sands terms for stuff (Sisterhood, etc.) rather than the Dune terms. That said, tho, it's hard to understand a lot of what's going on in the setting without reference to Dune, which is why I asked.

3. Both sides have strong taboos about technology, especially artificial intelligence. And yet, that technology represents a significant advantage in that it is incredibly potent and does not necessarily rely on Salt the way the powers of the sisterhood, analysts and fedayin do*. The 9 really come to represent the devil's bargain in these games. It's no surprise that the nobility seem to turn to 9 technology, breaking their ideal in order to preserve themselves, in the vast majority of games that I've heard about.Right, but the Tlielaxu are technlogists as well. I mean, the ghola are like organic AI, therefore skirting the mechanical AI taboo.

4. There's no similar dimension to the Tlielaxu in this particular period, so while we considered them, we elected not to focus on them in the end.I'm not sure I agree, but then I admit I just think the Tlielaxu are neat. :D