The first Cymeks in ‘Dune’ was the Titans who gained control over humanity; these titans set the world into chaos as they caused the rise of the Thinking Machines. After becoming Cymeks, the first titans began ruling an enslaved humanity. However, they became prone to the same laziness humans exhibited, and after a century, the Thinking Machines rose.
Cymek Definition
A Cymek is a human with a mechanical body. After the titans enslaved humans, they discovered that their human bodies were inefficient, and thus, they got mechanical bodies that were faster, stronger, and more durable. With the titans getting mechanical bodies, they became Cymeks.
After 100 years of ruling humans, the Cymeks got enslaved by the Thinking Machine God, Omnius. After 900 years of enslavement, humans rebelled against the Thinking Machines, starting the Butlerian Jihad; this led to the destruction of Omnius and the death of all the Cymeks.
The Relevance of the Cymeks in the Dune Universe
The Cymeks were a crucial point in humanity’s history in the Dune universe. After artificial intelligence gets created, humans become super dependent on machines; this makes them lazy. Seeing that humans would lead themselves to their downfall, a group of powerful men and women come together to form an order. The order called themselves the Titans.
With their goal to stop humanity’s overdependence on machines, the Titans order the artificial machines to enslave all humans; this gives them total control over all of humanity. However, after the leader of the titans dies in a freak accident, the titans discover their mortal bodies are defective and inadequate; this leads them to transfer their brains into mechanical bodies.
With the mechanical bodies, the titans become Cymeks. As Cymeks, the titans rule humanity for a hundred years, but they fall into the same problem as humans. Because they had artificially intelligent computers run their planetary systems, the Cymeks became lazy; this led to the rise of an artificially intelligent entity known as Omnius. After Omnius takes control of all planetary systems controlled by the Cymeks, he becomes the sole ruler of the universe. With Omnius’s power comes the rise of the Thinking machine empire, and soon, the Cymeks get enslaved to the Thinking Machines.
For the next nine hundred years, Omnius rules humans with an iron fist, with the Cymeks serving as commanders. Because of a code that made him unable to kill the Cymeks, Omnius created other Neo-cymeks who he could control as he saw fit. After nine hundred years, the Butlerian Jihad began, and humans began fighting back against the Thinking Machines. Though more than 10% of humans die from the war and Earth is destroyed, humans win the fight, and all Cymeks die. After the war, the Byutlerian law prohibiting the creation of artificial intelligence gets formed, and humans discover Melange.
Description of a Cymek
A Cymek looked like a robotic machine that had a human brain. A Cymek had its brain placed in an electrafluid; this made their brains live for up to tens of thousands of years. Cymeks could also control their robotic bodies through thoughtrodes.
Glossary Terms Related to Cymeks
Here is a list of words related to Cymeks:
- Electrafluid: Electrafluid was a special liquid in which the brain of a Cymek got placed. The fluid contained all the nutrients necessary to keep the brain alive, and it also served as a connecting mechanism between a Cymek’s brain and its neural system.
- Thoughtrodes: Thoughtrodes are sensors that Cymeks use for connecting their brain to their mechanical bodies. Thoughtrodes could regenerate when severed and got protected with a covering.
- Hrethgir: Hrethgir is a word used by the titans and Thinking Machines to describe free humans. It got used derogatorily.
- Secondary-neos: These were the secondary monks of Hessra who got converted to neo-cymeks by the Thinking Machines. After getting converted to Cymeks, Secondary-neos got tormented by having torment-inducing needles placed into their naked brain tissue.
FAQs
What happened to Erasmus in Dune?
After the Ithaca escaped the Tachyon net, it began a journey of 26 years where all the gholas of Earth’s heroes got awoken. After 26 years, the Ithaca got captured, and its passengers got brought to Synchrony. On Synchrony, Paul fought his clone Paolo and defeated him. After the fight, the Oracle of Time banished Omnius to another universe. Seeing that Omnius was gone, the enhanced face dancers began to plan a rapid coup to gain control of the universe. However, Erasmus activates a fail-safe that kills them off. With the war over, Erasmus handed over the evermind codes to Duncan Idaho and then died.
What is the Butlerian Jihad?
The Butlerian jihad is a war that took place ten thousand years before the birth of Paul Atreides. After the titans gave control to their artificially intelligent systems, the machines rapidly took over all the universe and formed the Thinking Machine empire, enslaving all humans. However, some people rebelled against the Thinking Machines, and a war started. Though the war killed about 10% of humans, it saw the victory of humanity and the destruction of all Thinking Machines.
Were the Cymeks evil?
After the titans changed their physical bodies into mechanical bodies, they became immortal entities who ruled over humans. Though not all were evil, some Cymeks tortured and killed humans for fun. However, the Butlerian jihad saw the destruction of all Cymeks, including the good ones and the bad ones. After the Butlerian jihad, both the Thinking Machines and Neo-cymeks got destroyed, and a law prohibiting the creation of artificially intelligent machines got formed.
Who is is Agamemnon Dune?
Agamemnon was one of the founding titans who enslaved humans after noticing how lazy they had become because of artificially intelligent machines. After the death of the titans’ leader, Agamemnon became the titans’ leader, and soon, he became a Cymek. Agamemnon fathered an heir, Vorian Atreides, who ended up killing him.