Honored Matres

The Honored Matres are a militant order of women who came into the Old Empire out of uncharted space, and they read as a dark reflection of the Bene Gesserit because that is close to what they are. Where the Sisterhood works subtly and keeps its place inside an existing balance of power, the Matres want the balance gone and absolute control of everything else in its place, which means enslaving or destroying every other power there is. Their instrument is a sexual conditioning perfected into something narcotic, by which a practitioner reduces an outsider to complete subservience. They hunger for intimidation and violence, and assassination is ordinary politics among them: a leader rises by killing the last one and any colleague in the way, which is the established rite of ascension, so the title changes hands often and loyalty between Matres is conditional at best.