Dune Messiah

How it opens

In excerpts from a Death Cell Interview, Bronso of Ix, a prisoner of the Priests under sentence of death, answers questions about his Analysis of History. On Wallach IX, the Bene Gesserit homeworld, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, the Guild Steersman Edric and the Tleilaxu Face Dancer Scytale meet as conspirators against Muad'dib. They press the Princess Irulan, the Emperor's consort of twelve years, to join them. Their plan includes a gift for the Emperor, a ghola called Hayt that the Tleilaxu sold to the Guild.

Who you meet early

• ScytaleScytale is a Tleilaxu Face Dancer, able to change his face and body across a wide range of shapes. He meets the other conspirators against Muad'dib on Wallach IX, wearing a bland, round-faced appearance he chose for the meeting.
• EdricEdric is a Guild Steersman and full Guild Navigator who swims in a tank of orange gas rich with melange. He joins the conspirators on Wallach IX, and by Scytale's account his presence hides the meeting from the Emperor's oracular sight.
• Irulan CorrinoIrulan, the daughter of the Emperor whom Paul defeated, has been Paul's Princess Consort for twelve years and sits in his Council. On Wallach IX the conspirators press her to join them.
• Gaius Helen MohiamGaius Helen Mohiam, the old Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit, hosts the conspirators on Wallach IX, her Bene Gesserit homeworld. She speaks of the Lady Jessica, whom she trained, as a traitor.
• BronsoBronso of Ix, in the excerpts of his Death Cell Interview, is a historian held by the Priests under sentence of death. He tells his questioner he is not really a cynic, only an observer and commentator.