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]] SUMMARY/INTRODUCTION House Ordos is a fictional family from Frank Herbert's famous Dune Universe . House Ordos is a member of the Landsraad , the great council of the Imperium, and is one of the more powerful members of it. The House is from the ice planet Sigma Draconis, and is considered to be a mercantile house. When Thufir Hawat referred to the "big rich" Houses, he probably referred in part to the House Ordos. Unlike the other houses from the Duneverse that we know about, namely House Atreides , House Harkonnen and House Corrino , the House of Ordos is never mentioned in the novels at all, with the only print mention of it being in the Dune Encyclopedia. However it does figure prominently in the Dune game series released by Westwood Studios. House Ordos may have their Old Terra origins in China , since their family name is the same as that of the Ordos Desert . Quotes from the Games "''We know little of the Ordos. It is said their immense fortune comes of smuggling forbidden Ixian technologies into their icy planet. Their wealth makes them paranoid, but powerful. They are masters of sabotage and trickery.''" – Lady Elara Moray Trieu, Bene Gesserit Truthsayer and Bound Concubine to Frederick IV . "''We are Ordos, we are one.''" – Excerpt of the Executrix's speech (''Battle for Dune'') HISTORY OF THE INSIDIOUS HOUSE ORDOS In the Dune game series the Ordos represent one of the most greedy and selfish Great Houses in the Dune universe; their only goal is to generate revenue to sustain the pluto/technocratic elite of the House, who, to this end, have fine tuned the House to an inhumanly specific degree. Since the Dune games focus on the struggle of three or more Major Houses to control Arrakis, the Ordos are always portrayed as being driven in all they endeavor to do by a calculated and single-minded mandate to destroy anything that stands between them and the most valuable substance in the known universe. Their origins are narrated in the game as being a convention of several wealthy families into one large 'Cartel' who hired expensive but disloyal mercenaries to fight for the House. Their Mentats have often been reported to silently disappear under mysterious circumstances although the player can guess as to their possible fate. In Dune 2000, the mentat Edric O is rumoured to be a thinking machine ordered to exact specifications from the Ix. The House faces stiff competition for the spice in Arrakis but can still pose a threat. Since a great deal of the House Ordos was developed by Westwood Studios to suit their series (the group only ever appears as an aside reference in the Dune Encyclopedia), they have evolved over the course of the three Dune computer games. Dune II featured them as a reclusive merchant house that dealt heavily in exotic weapons and expensive, hard to obtain (often illegal) goods. They were a sort of middle path between the noble Atreides and the evil Harkonnen, being themselves neither necessarily good nor bad. In Dune 2000, they became more mercenary; their soldiers had neither the love of their leaders (like the Atreides had), and they didn't really fear them, either (like the Harkonnen). They were, however, quite greedy, and driven primarily by profit. They are more mechanical and frigid a people than in Dune II, however they are still recognizably human, with the exception of the mentat, Edric O (different from the Ordos mentat Ammon in Dune II), who speaks in a Borg-like monotone and is often seen scanning through spectacular volumes of data in an almost casual manner, something which, according to the Dune canon, cannot be done by ordinary mentats (who must enter into a form of meditation to unleash the full extent of their powers). Emperor: Battle for Dune completes the character evolution of the Ordos; they are now so cold and emotionless in their drive for profitability, that they are not perceived as human beings by the other Houses. While the Atreides and Harkonnen both possess human emotions (love and hate, respectively), despite being the opposites of each other, the Ordos are empty. While Harkonnen and Atreides characters within the game demonstrate various obvious human behaviors and thoughts, such as anger, loyalty, admiration and fear; as well as coming to some human conclusions based on these feelings, the Ordos characters demonstrate little. They rarely display emotion and their thoughts and statements reflect this fact: it is never, "We have lost a battle, we must try harder." as the Atreides might say, or, "We have lost a battle, you will win victories for us or die." as per the Harkonnen, but rather, "We have lost a battle. It is mandatory that we reclaim this territory for the following strategic reasons...", and the only Ordos character ever to show an emotion is the prior strategist/overseer, who is being kept in a state of perpetual agony and wishes to die. He is shown to the player because, according to the Executrix, "Fear is an efficient tool of management." Their soldiers are very nearly machines in the sense that they show no emotion and are driven purely by the desire to dominate. Loyalty and honor are meaningless to them, yet their language has over three hundred different terms for various kinds of profit. Ordos leaders become increasingly mechanical over the course of the games as well, the end result being the Executrix council; four humans (possibly mentats), cybernetically hardwired to a single creature called the Speaker. It is very likely this sort of technology flaunts the proscriptions of the Great Convention and the OCB , however no Ordos ever seemed to be greatly concerned with such pedantic and inefficient regulations. It is also highly probable that the Ordos utilize some form of mind control, possibly chemical, to keep their citizenship from becoming spiritually dissatisfied, as the Ordos do utilize a chemical mixture known as Deviator gas, introduced into the air supply of freighters and buildings, to control the minds of enemies. The lasting appeal of the Ordos throughout the Dune game series is that they provide an often morbidly fascinating contrast to both Atreides and Harkonnen Houses. While it is quite a simple matter to have a "right side" founded on respect, compassion and tradition, as are the Atreides, and the Harkonnen are a fairly obvious and common depiction of a "wrong side", one which is founded upon hatred and cruelty and perversity; the Ordos have an interesting way about them, because they are utterly alien, and often exude the feeling of being foreign sentients masquerading as men. It is impossible to predict how the Ordos might react to a given situation, despite the very straight-forward reasoning they adhere to; and this is what lies at the heart of their unusual allure: in spite of being inhumanly obvious, or more likely because of it, they are among the most mysterious and unknowable of forces. Homeworld of Sigma Draconis IV The icy world of Draconis IV is House Ordos' home. Like the Atreides world of Caladan, Draconis IV has been left mostly in its natural state, but it is as inhospitable as Giedi Prime. Each House's homeworld, in fact, is a rather good approximation of it's people's character. Caladan is a lush, fertile place, full of wonder and growth. Giedi Prime is a volcanic, industrial hell, ridden with pollution and toxicity, where nothing can be said to truly grow, but things are only manufactured at the expense of other things. Draconis IV is simultaneously like and unlike to Arrakis. Like Arrakis, the world is an expansive desert where few outstanding features exist. Though, while Arrakis is possessed of a great heat, and is the breeding ground of an unparalleled rugged absoluteness, Sigma Draconis is just the opposite. Looking out over the landscape of Draconis IV, one sees what one would were one looking into the soul of a wealthy Ordos aristocrat: bleak desolation, a frigid wasteland from whence all life has been choked slowly; and despite the superficial appearance of being a pristine place of exquisite crystalline beauty, ultimately just a world where life neither could nor would want to grow - a looking glass into ''nothing''. ORDOS MAIN CHARACTERS The Ordos Executrix Council Four beings with one supermind -- aside from that, little is known of The Council, the mysterious entity that rules the icy planet Draconis IV with all the efficiency of a computer and all the casual brutality of a dictator. With shields blocking their withered faces, the four beings are neurally networked into a single mind to maximize the efficiency of their plans to rule Arrakis and turn a nice profit. All verbal contact is performed through a hideous Speaker. In ''Emperor: Alliances'', it is revealed that the Speaker is an extremely powerful superweapon that can obliterate entire armies with surging electrical energy. Ordos Mentat Roma Atani A human interpreter of the barely-human Ordos Executrix Council, Roma Atani briefs new Ordos generals on the state of the war on Arrakis. Cool and impassive, Atani is not one given to praise or criticism. Like a classic Ordos, her mind is a binary one: either the general fulfills the battle plan or does not. Besides, if the new general does not perform with maximum efficiency, criticism is moot. The Ordos have designed exquisite tortures to express their disapproval. In ''Emperor: Alliances'', the Executrix reveals that Roma Atani is a ghola born from Tleilaxu mentat experiments and is an expensive product; she subsequently betrays the Ordos to the ''Dark Alliance'' on the Bene Tleilax homeworld of Tleilax (which is then soon destroyed by atomics). Padishah Emperor Frederick Corrino IV Samples of the Emperor's dead body were smuggled from Kaitain by Tleilaxu spies and purchased by House Ordos. The Executrix plans to place the ghola on the throne as a puppet emperor. The Executrix will be the true power behind the throne; an Illuminati , so to speak. In ''Emperor: Alliances'', this original prototype ghola rises to become the Mahai, chosen one of the Tleilaxu, and is leader the ''Dark Alliance''. INFAMOUS ORDOS UNITS The most well known Ordos units include: Ordos Deviator Usually takes the place in the Ordos' tech tree for missile launcher vehicles, the Deviator fires a gas that causes the target to turncoat and join the Ordos. ''"Loyalty is an illusion"'' ''"The deviator fires rockets loaded with an Ixian-developed gas with the capability to effectively alter vehicles’ allegiance by confusing their data receivers to accept transmissions of a certain frequency. The platform itself is of Ordos design, and uses Holtzmann suspensors, making it fast and mobile."'' ''"A hover vehicle, the deviator fires rockets containing a gas which temporarily changes the allegiance of any vehicle, allowing it to be used against its former owners. The deviator carries energy shields that absorb initial damage. Once these are down, it is vulnerable. If damaged, it must retreat and let its health and shields recharge. All the Ordos hover vehicles may cross dustbowls but cannot run infantry down."'' Ordos Saboteur Originally was the Ordos superweapon, opposite the Atreides Fremen and the Harkonnen Death Hand. Emperor has the Saboteur as a standard soldier. They carry explosives that they use to detonate themselves in an effective suicide attack. ''"The Saboteur is a special military unit belonging to Ordos. Trained in the art of espionage and terrorism at the Palace, a single Saboteur can destroy almost any structure or vehicle."'' ''"Saboteurs are conditioned to absolute loyalty to House Ordos. Massive charges are strapped to their body. Their only wish is to detonate themselves amongst the enemy. When fatally wounded, their programming insists their final act is to pull the pin on the charges."'' SEE ALSO
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