Chapterhouse: Dune

How it opens

After the first Bene Gesserit axlotl tank delivers a ghola-baby, Mother Superior Darwi Odrade calls her Council to a quiet breakfast celebration atop Central. The baby is grown from cells Odrade collected from the old Bashar Miles Teg, her father, and she thinks that if his original memories could be restored, the Sisterhood would again have the finest Bashar ever to serve it. Bellonda of her Council finds the celebration frivolous while Honored Matres hunt the Sisterhood to exterminate it. On Junction, the Great Honored Matre questions a captive Reverend Mother named Sabanda, who dies within seconds of an injection of a new drug.

Who you meet early

• Darwi OdradeDarwi Odrade is Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit, with Tamalane and Bellonda as the two other members of her Council. On the morning of the ghola's birth she approves Bellonda's suggestion to write off the Bene Gesserit Keep on Palma, reasoning that an Honored Matre attack is imminent and the Keep can be neither defended nor evacuated.
• BellondaBellonda sits on Odrade's Council and runs Archives, which in Odrade's judgment have never been more efficient than under her guidance. Her thoughts seldom stray from the Honored Matre threat, and the Palma write-off was her suggestion.
• TamalaneTamalane, an aged member of Odrade's Council, speaks few words these days. Her sparse advice includes buying more no-ships and reviewing the Idaho records.