The Spacing Guild is a fictional organization in Frank Herbert's Dune universe created in a series of science fiction novels starting in Dune and ending with Chapterhouse Dune. This Dune universe as been further developed by the writing of six prequels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
History of the Guild of Navigators
The Spacing Guild has a monopoly on imperial banking and interstellar travel: with the use of melange, guild navigators are the only beings capable of piloting the massive Guild Heighliners safely through space. The heightened awareness and prescience the spice grants allows the navigator to plot a safe course between the stars. Contrary to popular belief, the navigator does not himself 'fold' space, allowing a nearly instantaneous trip. The space-folding is accomplished by Holtzman drive units activated from the navigator's chamber.
The guild is apolitical (with exceptions, noted below), since their monopoly allows them to dictate terms to all parties that preserves the economy that supports them. As the only party able to transport goods in an interstellar economy, the Guild's highest concern is that commerce continue; for commerce to continue, the Guild must continue; for the Guild to continue, melange must be available. Ultimately, the Guild's only concern is that melange continue to be mined on Arrakis.
Thus, the Guild holds veto power over all wars and political maneuvering. Military action is permitted, as long as the Guild is paid high rates to transport the troops, but major upsets in the political order of the universe must be approved by the Guild. In Dune, Paul Atreides defeats the Emperor Shaddam IV in a battle on Arrakis, and demands first the emperor's daughter for a wife, which would make Paul heir to the throne, and second that the Emperor immediately step down in favour of his heir. The demands are coupled with a threat to destroy the spice. Since that would end all interstellar transit, the Guild sides with Paul, threatening to strand the Emperor and his troops on Arrakis if he doesn't accede.
Guild navigators are human, at the beginning; but their constant exposure to high levels of spice mutates them. Since melange is addictive, with death the unavoidable consequence of withdrawal, navigators make a one-way trip into their profession, spending their whole lives in a mobile tank in which they are constantly immersed in a cloud of spice. Navigators are made prescient by the spice (a requirement of being a pilot), and are sometimes utilized as such: In Dune Messiah, a navigator named Edric takes part in a plot to assassinate the emperor, Paul Atreides. The presence of a prescient hides the activities of that person, and those around him, from other prescients; Edric's involvement is solely to protect the conspirators from Paul's prescient sight.
The Guild monopoly on space travel and transport and upon international banking is taken as the beginning point of the Imperial Calendar.
In the fifth and sixth novels of the series, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune, which occur approximately 5000 years after the reign of Paul Atreides (3500 years of Leto II's reign and 1500 years following his down fall, plus or minus a few decades), the technocrats of Ix have developed a replacement for the Guild navigators, a technological solution that obviates the need for prescience to safely guide interstellar spaceships. Furthermore, the prescient rule of Leto II that lasted 3,500 years has shown the universe the perils of prescience, namely that the entire universe can be locked into the vision of a single entity, giving that entity absolute power. The Guild, facing obsolescence and suspicion, couples itself with Ix in decline; Guild navigators continue to exist, but their importance in the universe is severely diminished.
Recalling comments made by Paul Atredies in Dune, it was the Spacing Guild's obsession with the 'safe path' that led them 'ever into stagnation,' and brought on their eventual obsolescence.
Guild Technologies
"The Guild have a monopoly on the technology that allows instantaneous travel across vast reaches of space; using Navigators -- humans mutated by saturation in "spice gas," created from Melange -- they travel in massive ships called Heighliners, and, for a price, will ferry the cargo of other Houses."
"Working secretly with the Tleilaxu, The Guild has been venturing into the field of weaponry, and are biding their time until a strike on Arrakis is opportune. Dismissed as mere intergalactic ferrymen by the other houses, The Guild hopes to get a stranglehold not just on interstellar transport, but the planet Arrakis as well."
Guild NIAB Tank
"A slow moving hover vehicle, this unit fires an electrical bolt which damages all units it passes through. Its chief strength however, lies in the advanced navigator that pilots it. Like the navigators in the space going heighliners, these navigators can fold space and teleport their vehicle across the battlefield. Able to appear anywhere without warning, their only weakness is their need to recharge after each jump."
The Guild NIAB Tank appears in the computer game Emperor: Battle for Dune, and does not appear in the Dune novels.
Guild Maker
"Guild navigators are wormlike creatures mutated by the effects of the spice they consume. These 2nd stage navigators still display their vestigial arms, but have been fitted with equipment to allow them to survive and fight on Dune. Carrying powerful electrical dischargers, they can indiscriminately attack many enemies at once. Their bizarre brain emissions drive away the worms of Dune, so they and any surrounding units may pass safely over sand."
The Guild Maker appears in the computer game Emperor: Battle for Dune, and does not appear in the Dune novels.
See Also
Landsraad, Space Travel
Allies
Neutrals
