Tleilaxu
Xenophobic genetic manipulators who sell gholas, artificial eyes and twisted Mentats.
The Bene Tleilax, whose adherents and creations are called Tleilaxu, are an extremely xenophobic and isolationist society in Frank Herbert's Dune universe. Genetic manipulators trafficking in biological products such as artificial eyes, gholas and twisted Mentats, they are a major power in the Imperium, ruled by a small council of Tleilaxu Masters whose genetically engineered Face Dancer servants can mimic any human. They are universally distrusted, because their products push the moral limits of what humanity considers acceptable.
Lore & Background
The Tleilaxu control a number of planets but are originally connected with Tleilax, the sole planet of the star Thalim. Dune (1965) notes them as the source of twisted Mentats, and Baron Harkonnen intends to send to Tleilax for a new Mentat after Piter De Vries is killed. They step into the foreground in Dune Messiah, where the Face Dancer Scytale conspires with the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild and House Corrino against Paul Atreides, resurrecting Duncan Idaho as the ghola Hayt.
Heretics of Dune reveals them to be a secret totalitarian theocracy seeking domination of the universe; by Chapterhouse: Dune they have been all but eradicated by the Honored Matres, leaving one Master, Scytale. The Prelude to Dune prequels name their founder as a Master called Xuttuh and describe Project Amal, Master Ajidica's attempt to make synthetic melange, while the Legends of Dune series presents their ancestors, the slave-trading Tlulaxa.
Reader's Guide
Read this page with the Mentats, the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild. The Tleilaxu are the source of gholas, so they matter wherever Duncan Idaho returns.
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Elsewhere in Dune
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