Giedi Prime

Infobox fictional planet
name=Giedi Prime


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universe="Dune" universe
people=House Harkonnen
creator=Frank Herbert
genre=Science fiction

Giedi Prime is the name of a fictional planet set in Frank Herbert's "Dune" universe described in the "Dune" science fiction novels. A planet of Ophiuchi B (36), it is the home world of the vicious House Harkonnen, the sworn enemies of House Atreides.

Giedi Prime is a mostly barren planet orbiting a low intensity sun, providing only about a quarter of the luminosity of our sun. The little vegetation the planet provides comprises mostly low-photosynthetic creeping plants like the inkvine. Rich in mineral resources, the economy of the planet is based on mining, industrial manufacture and refining. Heavy pollution and a destroyed environment lead to a concentration of the planet's population in massive hive-like arcologies. The largest of those is simply called "The Barony" and houses the center of Harkonnen power. The dismal living conditions on the planet and the low sunlight result in a comparatively sickly and pallid look of the planet's inhabitants.

Due to its ravaged environment, Giedi Prime has to import almost all of its requirement of organic products. The Harkonnen have sought to compensate this weakness by military power and conquest. Society on Giedi Prime is martial and the weak rarely survive; gladiatorial games are a common form of entertainment, particularly for nobility, and vocational combat training from an early age is common in all classes of society. Slavery is legal and common, and legal punishment is usually . Such conditions form the basis for a vast military-industrial complex and an army conditioned by fear which makes House Harkonnen the sole contender for House Atreides — or the throne — in terms of military power.

Giedi Prime was not always the industrial wasteland that is depicted in the original "Dune" novels and cinematic incarnations. Before the Butlerian Jihad, Giedi Prime was more pleasant in climate and appearance. In fact, Giedi Prime was one of humanity's jewels during the Butlerian Jihad. The central city, Giedi City, was described as being a lush, perfectly planned metropolis. It is, however, devastated in an invasion and occupation by thinking machines (during which Serena Butler is captured by Barbarossa) and never recovers fully. How it went to Harkonnen rule is unclear. Due to war and subsequent rule by later generations of House Harkonnen, the planet's environment deteriorated rapidly.

Following the novel "God Emperor of Dune", Giedi Prime is renamed "Gammu" (it is noted in "Heretics of Dune" that Gurney Halleck had been responsible for the renaming) and is completely different from Harkonnen rule. Its main city is renamed "Ysai" and is oppressed by a massive building complex referred to as either "The Keep" or "Barony" (formerly "Harkonnen Keep"), one of the only remaining buildings from the Harkonnens (apart from a secret no-chamber). The efforts of various new settlers have slowly restored the planet's environment to greatly improved conditions, though the cities remain dreary and overcrowded.