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This article or section refers to elements from the Dune Encyclopedia. There are separate pages for this subject as it appears in the other canons, the reasons for this are explained here |
The Imperial House Corrino was once the deadliest and grandest House Major found within the Known universe, and for many thousands of years the imperial family of the Imperium. The official residence of the Imperial House Corrino was the planet Kaitain while their personal fief was the ancestral exile planet Salusa Secundus
Origins
According to historians, the House Corrino, descends from Thomas Palaiologos, the brother of Constantine XI, the last Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. House Harkonnen claimed descent from them too, but this was not proven.
Kruwl Sheivvun believed that the collapse of interstellar commerce caused by the Butlerian Jihad left space for the Spacing Guild to assemble, and for House Corrino to ascend to the Golden Lion Throne.
The House Corrino was formed when Count (Burseg) Sheuset Ecevit of the Sardau wanted to ensure the position of his house and waged war against the other important houses of the Landsraad. His greatest military power were his Sardaukar, an invincible fighting force in land battle.
Eventually in the Battle of Corrin he defeated the Landsraad forces. Ecevit thought that his Sardaukar might win an extended war but their empire would be a graveyard. He decided to compromise, and with the Treaty of Corrin became the first Emperor of the new Imperium, Sheuset Costin I. His family became the Imperial House Corrino, named after the planet Corrin. Most of the Great 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.
After the reformation of Count Iason Atreides (around 603 AG) the Emperor was responsible for his actions to the Imperial Family. He managed to concentrate most of the imperial power in his hands and reorganized the government reestablishing the principles of the Great Convention; now instead of a chaotic personal rule now it became a trierarchy: The Imperial seat, the Landsraad and CHOAM and the Spacing Guild.
Rule
Over the subsequent millennia, the Imperial House Corrino maintained a firm grip on the Empire.
House Corrino's rule was defined as absolute while one of its members sat on the Golden Lion Throne. Moreover, House Corrino maintained a large vote in the Landsraad, larger than any other Great House.
During their Imperial rule, House Corrino maintained arguably the most powerful army in the known universe - the Sardaukar. Through their superior abilities the Corrinos were capable of crushing any military opposition. It was said that the only way the Corrino Sardaukar could be defeated would be through the combined forces of all the Great Houses of the Landsraad.
Downfall of the Corrino Empire
Complacency and corruption eventually weakening the Sardaukar. That, combined with ill-considered decisions by Shaddam IV and the scheming of the Bene Gesserit, eventually saw other Great Houses, particularly House Atreides, acquire significant respect and credibility in the Imperium.
In an attempt to discredit House Atreides and retain their hegemony, the Imperial House Corrino under the leadership of Shaddam IV, devised a plan to dispose of their potential rival by ordering them to take over the planetary fief of Arrakis, and then disposing of them through their hated rival House Harkonnen, via an audacious, and highly illegal, invasion of the planet.
Initially the plan looked to have succeeded. Duke Leto I Atreides was killed, and his family abandoned in the deep desert. However, a gradual uprising by the native Fremen, led by the mysterious Muad'Dib caught both House Corrino and House Harkonnen off-guard.
After the Arrakis Revolt and the Battle of the Arakeen Plane, House Corrino was forced to relinquish the Golden Lion Throne, after thousands of years of rule, to the Atreides. The Corrinos witnessed the legitimization of Atreides rule through Paul's marriage to Shaddam's eldest daughter Princess Irulan Corrino. Shaddam IV and the remainder of his family were then sent into effective exile on the harsh planet Salusa Secundus, where one of Shaddam's four other daughters, Wensicia plotted the Great House's re-emergence.
Failed Re-emergence
However, Wensicia's plans were also foiled by Atreides, and her son, Prince Farad'n Corrino became the official concubine of his step-cousin, the Crown Princess Ghanima Atreides. In addition to providing the Atreides offspring that were needed for Leto II's Golden Path, Farad'n also acted as his official scribe.
This spelled the effective end of House Corrino. Although their bloodline survived, inextricably mixed with the descendants of Paul Atreides, as a Great House the Corrinos ceased to be.