Arrakeen
The administrative capital city of Arrakis.
Harkonnen governors built Arrakeen first. They set it against the natural windbreak of the Shield Wall so its architecture could shelter the ruling House from the planet's ferocious Coriolis storms. When House Atreides took the fief, Duke Leto inherited a capital soaked in Harkonnen extraction and neglect. He moved fast to govern it with a steadier, more humane hand, though only for a short time. The Harkonnen-Sardaukar assault soon took it back. The city changed hands once more when Paul Atreides' Fremen legions broke through the Shield Wall and stormed in. From Arrakeen's palace, Paul went on to rule not just Arrakis but the entire Known Universe as Emperor. Its later years fused Fremen custom with the trappings of Imperial court life, a physical record of how completely desert culture and galactic power had merged under Muad'Dib.
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