After the Thinking Machines got defeated, the Great Houses came together to form laws that would prevent people from creating machines in the likeness of a human’s mind. The Ixians, however, would make devices that almost rendered those laws useless. The Ixians got close to violating the laws formed after the Butlerian Jihad. However, they never got invaded by the Great Houses because of the political gain the houses got from working with them.
The Ixians of Ix
The Ixians were a technological society that provided a majority of the machines used by the Imperium. From heighliners to the no-ship, the Ixians were responsible for major technological breakthroughs. However, the devices produced by the Ixians came close to violating the tenets of the Butlerian Jihad.
The Relevance of the Ixians in the Dune Universe
The Ixians were a prominent society with technologies almost violating the laws formed after the Butlerian Jihad. Due to their technological prowess, the Ixians were master inventors and would create devices crucial to Leto II’s plan for humanity.
After Paul had walked into the desert, Ixians accepted the Muad’Dib religion and called it Shien-san-Shao; this showed that the society might have had a Chinese origin from Old Earth. After IX got liberated, Ixians became a technological power behind the Tleilaxu.
After Leto II becomes the God-emperor, he formulates the plan for the Golden Path; this plan comes into effect after he dies. On his death, the Great Famine ensues, and humans began to consider leaving the old empire. The Ixians fueled the Great Scattering by creating the No-ship. The No-ship was a device that mimicked the abilities of a Guild Navigator and enabled its content to be invincible from the eyes of prescience. Though the No-ship almost violated the laws of the Butlerian Jihad, it was the fuel that drove Leto II’s plan. After the Great Scattering, new orders like the Honored Matres returned from unknown space to dominate the Old Empire.
With the return of the Honored Matres came humanity’s ancient enemy, the Thinking Machines. To escape Omnius, the Ithaca, a No-ship, got used by the new sisterhood.
Structure of the Ixian Society
During the reign of Paul Atreides, the Ixians had become the predominant technological power in all of the universe. Having become the best at research and technology, the Ixians began pioneering technologies like the No-ship, among other inventions. After the death of Leto II, the Ixian became a primary power in the universe.
The Ixians utilized a technocratic form of government which saw their speedy advancement in innovation. The technocratic form of government adopted by the Ixians operated as a confederacy. However, with time, it changed into bureaucracy. After the Honored Matres returned to the Old Empire, the Ixians had fallen from power and become technologically redundant.
History of the Ixians
The Ixians were people from planet Ix, one of two planets classified as supreme in machine culture. Though they were crucial to Dune’s technology, the Ixians got hidden throughout the series. Because of their technological prowess, Leto II saw the Ixians as the society that caused humanity’s destruction.
Planet Ix was originally called Rodale IX and ruled by the Titan Xerxes. However, after the Thinking Machines took over the planet, they became a part of the synchronized worlds. Planet Ix got liberated around 175BG by the army of the Jihad.
In the ‘Prelude to Dune,’ Ix was a planet with no development on its surface as none of its inhabitants went above ground. With the Tleilaxu creating a method of synthesizing Melange, they got permission from emperor Eldrood to forcefully take over the planet for project Amal, which turned out to be a failure.
Glossary Terms Related to Ixians
Here is a list of words related to Ixians:
- Ixian Probe: The Ixian probe is a technological device that can capture the thoughts and memories of a living or dead person.
- No-ship: The No-ship is an Ixian-built space ship that hid from super-beings with prescience.
FAQs
Who are the Ixians?
The Ixians were a society that specialized in creating complex machinery for the Padishah empire. From building Heighliners to making no-ships, the Ixians were masters of technology. Though they built exceptional machines, the Ixians came close to violating the tenets of the Butlerian Jihad, which outlawed making machines in the likeness of the human mind.
Why didn’t Leto II destroy the Ixians?
Even though he foresaw that the Ixian would create machinery that would destroy humanity, Leto did not destroy the Ixians as they were vital to his plan. After fulfilling the Golden Path plan, Leto allowed himself to get killed. After dying, humans scattered into uncharted space with the help of Ixian technology called the no-ship.
Are there aliens in Dune?
Even though ‘Dune’ features a massive universe where humanity had spread out into deep space, aliens never got mentioned. ‘Dune’ as a novel focused more on the political, religious, and economic impact of commodities on a post-Earth universe.
Did the Ixians violate the law of the Butlerian Jihad with the no-ship?
Though the no-ship came close to violating the tenets of the Butlerian Jihad, the machines did not. Because the no-ship used complex computing systems instead of human navigators, they threaded on the Butlerian Jihad law, which stated that no one was to create a machine in the likeness of the human mind.
