Axlotl Tanks

From Dune

The axlotl tanks or axolotl tanks were living organisms, and the means by which the Bene Tleilax reproduced. The tanks were also used to create gholas and Face Dancers. The Bene Gesserit suspected that the axlotl tanks were what remained of female Tleilaxu, since no Tleilaxu females had ever been seen. Moreover, the Reverend Mother Darwi Odrade, during the time of the Honored Matres, had declared to Tleilaxu Master Tylwyth Waff that neither she nor any of her sisters would become an axlotl tank. This remark elicited shock from the Master, a reaction that indicated that the Bene Gesserit suspicion was true, especially since he did not deny it.

Genetic information could be coded into those bred in axlotl tanks. As a result, the resulting organisms could be bred for certain aptitudes, skills, and reflexes.

Despite the revulsion axlotl tanks caused in many groups and cultures, by the time the Honored Matres had conquered the planets of the Old Imperium, the Bene Gesserit had adopted them for the creation of gholas to further their cause.

[edit] Behind the Scenes

The name refers to a variety of salamander, and is from the Nahuatl words "atl" meaning water, and "xolotl" meaning a type of dog. Axolotls have the capability to regenerate most of their body parts.

It also refers to the Aztec God Xolotl, who - according to myth - assumed the amphibian's form in an effort to escape exile, and was killed while in his attempt. Xolotl also helped the creator god Quetzalcoatl create human beings. According to the Aztec creation story, the world was created and destroyed several times. When the current world was created, Quetzalcoatl needed the bones of the previous race of human beings in order to create the current race of humans. In one version of the myth, Xolotl helps Quetzalcoatl trick Mictlantecuhtli, ruler of the land of the dead, into giving up the bones. Quetzalcoatl uses these bones to create the present generation of humanity. This can be seen as analogous to the way the Tleilaxu use the axolotl tanks and gholas to cheat death and achieve a kind of immortality.