Arrakeen

The capital of Arrakis and seat of its planetary government.

Arrakeen is the capital of Arrakis and its long-time seat of planetary government. Duke Leto I describes it as a smaller city, easier to sterilise and defend, and he and his family take up residence in the ostentatious palace previously occupied by the planetary governor Count Fenring and his wife. Like all Imperial cities on Arrakis it lies in the far north, protected from the planet's violent weather by the natural formation known as the Shield Wall; the Harkonnens, by contrast, had ruled from their own megalopolis of Carthag.

Lore & Background

Arrakeen is transformed several times. Under Paul Muad'Dib it becomes an Imperial capital of staggering proportions, with the Atreides home base a colossal structure known as the Keep or Grand Palace of Arrakeen, described in Dune Messiah as large enough to enclose entire cities. Millennia later, under Leto II, it is the festival city of Onn, built for the worship of the Tyrant, and in the centuries after his death it is known as Keen, housing the Priesthood of Rakis.