In 13722, she was sent as one of a pair of recorders to observe the God Emperor and his court on Arrakis in preparation for the Bene Gesserit's decennial report. (This report served in part to brief those who would form the B.G. Embassy to Leto II.) Along with her co-worker, Sister Tawsuoko, Sister Chenoeh confirmed the execution of the nine "false historians" the God Emperor had ordered in 12335; much of their case rested on a handwritten account of the incident penned by Ikonicre, the Lord Leto's majordomo in that year. Sister Tawsuoko, according to their report, was responsible for the document's discovery.
A chance for even more important discoveries was given Sister Chenoeh, however, when the God Emperor invited her on one of his infrequent peregrinations. At one point in their ramble along the Royal Road, the sister was invited to trot alongside the Royal Cart and converse personally with the God Emperor, which honor she immediately accepted.
It was during this brief walk that Sister Chenoeh was given the information which appears in the Welbeck Abridgment (Lib. Conf. Temporary Series 578) as well as that which was found among her papers after her death and assembled as the Chenoeh Report. The first, intended for immediate relay to her superiors, was a declaration of the God Emperor's knowledge and purposes: he used Sister Chenoeh to inform her Chapter House that he was aware of their attempts to suborn his Fish Speakers, that it was his intention to restore the "outward view" that humanity had lost, and that a parallel could be drawn between the Sisterhood's failed attempt to produce their Kwisatz Haderach and his own "achievement" of Siona.
The second, secret message was far murkier and more troubling to the Sister. The Lord Leto described briefly the sensation of having been pre-born, and the way in which he and his sister had learned to assert command over their "internal multitudes." He made one of the earliest known references to his secret journals, explaining their function as a record for his posterity, millennia later. He also predicted — accurately — both his own evolution from living god to dead tyrant to living myth, and Sister Chenoeh's death prior to her reaching Reverend Mother status.
In a final bit of irony, the God Emperor suggested to Sister Chenoeh that her failure to become a Reverend Mother should not trouble her, because her status as an "integral part" of his myth would be far greater. Despite the bitter message contained in those words, the Sister felt a peculiar sense of friendship between herself and the Lord Leto and was not frightened by the prophecy. Nor, in obedience to his command, did she inform the Sisterhood of all that had passed between them. She carefully transcribed their dialogue and mixed the record of it in among her personal papers before returning to the Wallach IX school for debriefing, providing her superiors with only the "public" information. Her report was very well received.
Six years later she was recommended for initiation as a Reverend Mother. Even this news, which she could interpret only as a death sentence, could not provoke Sister Chenoeh to disobey. Following a day of meditation, and in the presence of all the Reverend Mothers of her Chapter House, Sister Chenoeh was given a drink containing a massive dose of melange. The initiation went poorly from the beginning: instead of achieving the sense of heightened awareness of self that the spice dose was intended to produce, Sister Chenoeh lost consciousness and slipped almost immediately into a deep coma. All efforts by her companions to revive her were useless. Her death, six hours after her ingestion of the drug, was attributed to "melange incompatibility," a reaction with which the Bene Gesserit were all too familiar.
Her private report was found when a group of her Sisters cleared her belongings from her quarters. Its contents were made known at once to the B.G. hierarchy.
Sister Chenoeh was forgotten, save by the Sisterhood, for almost nine hundred years. In 14715, however, with the establishment of the Church of the Divided God, the Lord Leto's prediction of her place in his myth was proven true. Holy Sister Quintinius Violet Chenoeh, as she was now known, was seen as an enlightened visionary, a confidante of God. Shrines and churches were erected in her honor. Prayers to the Blessed Sister were popular among the devout.
Among those familiar with antique religions, Sister Chenoeh was given another title. She was Auliya, God's handmaiden in the Zensunni Wanderers' liturgy. It was widely believed that she had special influence over the Divided God and could intercede with him on behalf of her petitioners.
Not even the Reformation some four centuries later, sweeping as it was, could entirely dissolve the Cult of Sister Chenoeh. Let the Church authorities lecture as they would concerning the Sister's mortal status; the faithful would listen, nod where necessary, and return to their devotions as if nothing had been said. Her churches were torn down or rededicated. The Bene Gesserit permitted Church elders access to their records to provide confirmation that this "Holy" member of their Order had worked no wonders, performed no miracles. (By this time, the Sisterhood was as worried by the attention their charismatic member had drawn to herself, and them, as was the Church.) Still the Cult persisted.
It can be argued that the discovery of the God Emperor's Journals has given a measure of justification for this tenacity. While Sister Chenoeh saw herself as no more than a simple oral recorder, however talented, and a loyal Bene Gesserit above all, mentions of her in the Journals indicate that the Lord Leto saw her as something more. A few lines from one of the last entries, believed to have been made only days before the God Emperor's death, conveys that vision:
"This silence from the Bene Gesserit puzzles me. They must certainly have found Sister Chenoeh's records by this time, and yet they say nothing, ask nothing, demand nothing. I remember how quickly Luyseyal and Anteac came before me to claim their reward after informing my Fish Speakers of the Tleilaxu plot and marvel at the Sisterhood's present shyness.
"For that one Sister, I would be willing to confer greater treasures on them than they dare to dream. She has begun the work my journals will finish."
C.T.
Further references: ATREIDES, LETO II; BENE GESSERIT; JOURNALS OF LETO II; MELANGE; Isaak Seldon, Holy Sister Chenoeh: Her Place in History (Diana: Synonym)
CHEOPS (or "Pyramid Chess")
The following is a complete entry from Teckocks' Book of Games, believed to be published on Kaitain in 10190.—Ed.
Cheops is a game of intellectual skill, demanding an alert mind and a high order of concentration. It is played throughout the Old Imperium, although in some remote parts it has few devotees. While the game's origins are lost in the mist of antiquity, the earliest reference to Cheops is found in a fragment of the poet Goarsun, who lived only two generations after the Butlerian Jihad. Partial descriptions of the game exist from the third millennium, and a picto-disc from the eighth millennium shows a game in progress in the background of a diplomatic conference, perhaps a Landsraad meeting with Emperor Istaivan II (r. 7711-7746), an aficionado of the game and no mean player himself, according to contemporaries.
Rodge of Narbog was the first player to gain wide recognition as a great master of the game. His system of play was copied by others in the period from c. 9100 to c. 9700, and Nola Vard suggests in his early manual, Cheops Praxis (9121; Antioch: Puulvor Pei), that Rodge was the first to use an undercheck. The game, "Little Chess," employing only a 64-squared monoplane, has flourished as a game for children, although adults occasionally engage in it as well. It is now believed that Cheops developed from Little Chess. Haral Khal's thesis that Little Chess is merely a simplification of Cheops is generally discredited.
The name "Cheops" is not that of the inventor of the game as is sometimes supposed. Molot rai Karen has suggested in his History of Architectural Form (Bolchef: Collegium Tarno) that Cheops was a prehistoric builder of monumental pyramids of unknown function, although his native planet has not, at this writing, been determined.
Stekko is remembered as the winner of the first tourney of consequence. In 9340 he defeated all competitors and remained the greatest player until his death. He is also noted as the first of many fine players who were slaves. The h
obby of many wealthy players has been to acquire skilled slave-players and organize them into teams to compete with other such teams.
Modern play dates from the career of Engar O'Mahl (9696-9770). In his day, reversionary attacks, never previously employed, became a standard part of the game. Triangulation and eclipses date from his period as well. In fact, the semicheck is the only major development since his time. For the past century or a little more, controversy has raged over the relative merits of the old-fashioned "formational" play and the later "linear" play. Many masters try to effect a compromise between the two, producing what they call the "eclectic" style. The real test of any style lies in the play, however, and so far linear play wins most master tourneys, while informal or casual play is usually formational.
Several types of erroneous play are usually found among beginners. The commonest is undoubtedly excessive verticality. Morogan frequently entertained onlookers with amusing demonstrations of this weakness, and some of his traps are memorized early by every learner of the game. Other common errors are underposting the Queen, premature eclipse, and allowing the opponent to control two contra-diagonals. Even the great Garan Akbar committed a premature eclipse and thereby lost a Great Tourney when he was at the height of his skill.
An extensive literature of the game exists, beginning with the earliest known study, Bsh. Samierz Kroyd's Playing Pyramid Chess (8993: Antioch: Puulvor Pei). There are numerous manuals of instruction, the most popular being Diven's Cheops How-to (Dendros: Cheopsium), and many intensive examinations of selected features of the game have also been published. Since the rise of the Great Tourneys there has been a flood of published records of games of the master players. Conventions for friendly games may differ from world to world, such as whether the Rook recoil counts as one move or two, but official Masters play is governed by the Interplanetary Cheops Code. Its present form dates from 8342, when pawn captures en gravissant were allowed.
Players who have won at least one tourney are termed "master players," and are enrolled as members of the Cheops Guild which conducts all tourneys and ranks the masters. Areal, regional, and zonal tourneys are held fairly frequently, but the Great Tourneys are held only once in every ten standard years. The Great Tourneys are limited to the highest ranking Worldmasters, and all qualified players must compete. Only twice in history has a qualified player failed to compete in a Great Tourney; in each case he was promptly reduced in relative standing, while the best player who had failed to qualify was promoted to take his place. The winner of the Great Tourney is Shahmaster until the title is lost in a match or in the next Great Tourney.
Cheops is a game that appeals to all. Every habitat has produced master players of high caliber. Slaves have attained the Galactic Championship. Women have likewise held the Championship, even though male masters outnumber female masters by about five to one. Of the Shahmistresses, the most memorable is Victoria, Lady Wong, who successfully defended her title for eleven years before losing to the incomparable York Diven in 10141. Among recent Shahmasters, some have died undefeated like Garan Akbar (10002-10031) and Hiirat Toriin (10110-10123). One was stripped of his title for refusal to compete in a Great Tourney (Ali Wolewan, 10086-10090). York Diven, possibly the greatest player of all time, held the title from 10141 until 10173, when he retired and gave up the game, complaining of a lack of adequate competition; he subsequently devoted his life to the contemplation of the essence of the game. His conclusions, although never published, seem to indicate that the game has much in common with the three-body problem. Interested readers are referred to his Twelve Steps to the Apex (Grumman: Whitehead) or his Cheops Mastery (Grumman: Whitehead; the edition with annotations of the games by Boreet Ryauvawish is especially helpful).
C.A.P.
CHOAM
The Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles is usually thought of as an economic entity, and so it was. But the degree to which it was created by political and military forces, sustained by them, and in turn maintained those powers, is a far more important side of CHOAM. CHOAM was a creation of the empire, brought about as a reaction to the formation of the Spacing Guild. CHOAM's creation marked the true beginning of the Imperium, and became one of its chief elements. CHOAM and the Imperium were inseparable.
Prior to the Butlerian Jihad, in the absence of a single ruling power among the inhabited worlds, there was no single economic organization. Indeed, such an organization would not have been possible. As virtually every state had access to interplanetary trade and interstellar travel, none could be excluded from trade at any level. Trade between the planets, systems and the stars was essentially anarchic and space piracy was common.
After the Jihad, trade was almost unknown at interstellar or intersystem levels. Without machines to guide ships through hyperspace, trade from system to system or star to star became very slow and extremely expensive. The economic forces governing trade of this sort resembled the ancient great caravan routes which had sprung up on various planets with rich, widely separated cultures.
While many of these routes dealt with different commodities, they had certain aspects in common. They dealt only in the most expensive and least bulky items available. Thus almost all the trade was in luxury goods. Such was also the case with what trade survived the Butlerian Jihad. Spices (not melange as yet), jewelry (the jewelry planet, Hagal, whose deposits were legendary ten millennia later, was worked out in three and one half centuries, and fifty of those years were before the development of CHOAM), luxury clothing materials (ancient silk, modern schlag skin) — these became the stuff of the caravan trading which was all that connected many worlds between the Great Revolt and the coming of the Guild.
The Guild brought itself to the attention of the Imperium and Emperor Saudir I in 12 B.G. (see SPACING GUILD, FOUNDATION OF). Swiftly realizing that the only feasible way to deal with the Guild was on a basis of mutual advantage, Saudir called for a Financial Synod to convene on Aerarium IV in 10 B.G, and include representatives of the Guild, Landsraad and the imperial House. Depending on what arrangements could be agreed upon, each participant had much to gain and/or lose from the existence of the Guild and the advent of swift, easy interstellar travel and trade.
Through a masterstroke of purposeful misdirection, the Guild was able to keep secret their dependence on the spice-trance for their navigational abilities. By leaking the wonder of melange's geriatric properties, they ensured that their co-participants in the Synod would look no more deeply into the spice's workings.
The news of the age-controlling properties of the spice served only to enhance the feelings of the feudal states of the Landsraad toward the Guild and the return of extensive trade. They were aware of their vulnerability to the effects of trade; now they had an added reason to wish to control the Guild. It gradually became apparent that the Guild and the feudal houses had interests that ran in tandem. Both wanted the return of trade, but only in a fashion which would permit each institution to survive. As long as the Guild itself remained a secret, closed group, in control of the lanes of commerce, they cared little what political systems survived on the worlds they served. The feudal houses, on the other hand, cared about the economic benefits of trade, and just as deeply about the possible sociopolitical effects of cultural interaction. They wished to enjoy the former, without suffering from the latter. For years neither the Guild nor the feudal powers could find a way to accomplish all their aims.
One of the problems was the ambitions of the most powerful of the Great Houses. Most of these houses pre-dated the rise of the House of Corrino, and regarded the success of the barbarians from Salusa Secundus as a freak of history which could and should be rectified. Rectification, it was understood, would be accomplished by the rise to the throne of whatever house was speaking. Those houses that still harbored such ambitions saw in the Guild an opportunity to elevate themselves if they could seize control of this new means of trade. Thus threatened, the Guild refused to deal with many of the Great Houses, and compromi
se between the feudal powers in general and the Guild proved impossible for years. But both the Guild and the emperor proved themselves skilled negotiators. While the Synod remained unable to resolve its problems, matters were never permitted to deteriorate so that the gathering broke up. The Guild was especially concerned that this not happen, for they knew that the outcome of the Synod would determine whether or not they survived.
The deadlock was broken only after two and a half years by the brilliant stroke of emperor Saudir and his chief financial officer, the Dioicetes Asetirides. During the latter half of the third year on Aerarium when it began to appear that the deadlock might destroy the Synod, the emperor called the delegates into full session and presented to them the plan for the formation of CHOAM.
Neither the surviving records of CHOAM, nor what has now been discovered and translated of the Imperial histories, permit a full understanding of the structure of CHOAM. But some outline is possible. It seems certain that the plan Saudir proposed to the delegates envisioned the creation of a development corporation which would have a monopoly on interstellar and intersystem trade. One percent of the gross profits from this trade would be collected each year and placed in a fund to be distributed to the members of CHOAM on the basis of the shares they held in the corporation. Such distributions would occur only after deductions from the fund for any projects for the advancement of existing trade or the development of new markets. Membership in CHOAM was limited to the feudal governments.
The question of the distribution of shares naturally became one of great moment. It was in this connection that Saudir had reason to feel himself most fortunate in the abilities of his finance minister, for it was he who devised the distribution of shares which, with minor revisions, became the foundation of the corporation. Perhaps the master stroke in this arrangement was assigning the emperor only 20% of the shares. In granting the emperor only one-fifth of the shares of CHOAM, he placed the Imperial House in a position where it would have to depend on many other of the feudal powers if it were to control the corporation. It was also clear to all that this percentage was far less than the emperor had every right to. His military power was the equal of the combined forces of the Landsraad in some respects, particularly atomics, and the benefits which flowed to him from levy funds and other taxes made him an economic power more than equal to half of the Landsraad's states.
The Dune Encyclopedia Page 36
