Dune: Cultures: Bene Tlielax
Originally Zensunni Wanderers, the Bene Tlielax inhabit a world called Tleilax, whose capitol city is Bandalong. Their home planet is offlimits to all non-Tlielaxu.
They abhor technology in any form believing it to be the work of the devil. The work of God or the Language of God as they call it, is DNA, Genetics, bio-technology, and from this they have created a secret empire that will one day shake the very foundation of the Galaxy itself.
The Tlielaxu are religious fanatics, ruled by a council of 8 beings known as the “Masters” who reside over the other two factions, the Domel and the Face Dancers. The Masters are all genetically altered to further their deception over the course of a hundred thousand years. They appear as short, grey skinned demons, with sharp teeth and black eyes.
The Domel are the regular citizens, all male, approximately 4 feet in height, also with grey skin and narrow black eyes. They are a communal people who are rumored to share a Hive-mind controlled by the Masters.
The other faction the Face-Dancers, are a genetically created race byproduct of humanity. They are have the ability to shape shift at will with perfect accuracy even duplicating DNA. Face-Dancers are unable to breed and are always under the control of the Masters. However the public knows none of this. Publicly they are regular merchants, who sell everything from Slig (a type of slug that is VERY good to eat, and cheaper than rice) to Gholas, a genetic duplicate of a dead human being, to body parts such as metal eyes that allow the blind to see.
After the events of Dune Messiah, the Tleilaxu became clinically immortal. After a Bene Tleilax dies, its body is re-grown and its memories are re-triggered. For the people of Tleilaz, death is only a temporary nuisance.
| Race Rating – Bene Tlielax | |||
| Personality | 1 (rancid butter) – | 5 (cool dude) | 1 |
| Attractiveness | 1 (requires paper bag) – | 5 (Drop-dead-gorgeous) | 3 |
| Humour | 1 (stomach-turning) – | 5 (sidesplitting) | 1 |
| Dress Sense | 1 (laughable) – | 5 (hip) | 2 |
| Aggression | 1 (big/little softy) – | 5 (hard as nails) | 2 |
| Social Standing | 1 (scumbag) – | 5 (god) | 4 |
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SadGeezer Race Rating (out of 30) = 13 |
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This Dune review is © 2003 Greg Frantz.
Not for reproduction without the authors express permission.
Dune names, characters and everything else associated with the series are the property of Sci-Fi Channel, New Amsterdam Entertainment, and the assorted publishing companies who own the rights to the various Dune novels.