Space Guild

The Space Guild is a fictional organization in the universe of Frank Herbert's Dune.

The Brotherhood

The Space Guild is, for most of the Dune universe, a key piece and the unifying element that keeps the empire together. The Space Guild maintains a complete monopoly on interstellar transportation, as they are the only ones with navigators capable of guiding ships safely from one solar system to another. Although in theory a machine could calculate or plot a route, complex or intelligent machines are prohibited in the Dune universe. As the only alternative, and using the melange spice, sailors are exalted to an ecstasy in which they can see the future, and trace the best route. This gives them tremendous power, but at the same time it deranges and mutates their bodies, they can only live in a tank full of spice disseminated in orange gas. Their political importance declines noticeably with the introduction of Ixian non-ships and the consequent end of their monopoly on space travel.

Navigators

The Navigators of the Space Guild are humans mutated by the continuous consumption of the Melange spice. Their physical and mental mutation gives them the ability to discern and understand the universe, so that they are able to delimit what is the safest route to connect two existing points in it. Since the Butlerian Jihad prohibits building “machines in the likeness of the human mind,” it is not possible to trace that safe route with computer calculations. Navigators depend on the spice to survive and possess their extraordinary mental abilities. The progressive consumption of this substance changes your body and mind until you confine them to environments without gravity. Spice flows in these environments in the form of gas, however, sailors ingest spice capsules to enhance their abilities. Its appearance is reminiscent of amphibians, having webbed extremities.

Origins: Inventors and Forgers

The Space Brotherhood has its origins a little after the Battle of Corrin, in this time of great fighting, research carried out by Uncle Holtzman and Norma Cenva, both geniuses, led to the creation of a machine capable of bending space, creating an instant form of transportation.

At the same time, Norma Cenva carries out research that will lead her to be the first navigator in a melange gas tank. These two advances, combined with the creation of the Holtzman force field, will give humans the advantage over enemy machines, and will be used for the first time in the Battle of Corrin. After The Battle, Norma's ambitious nephew, thanks to his manipulations, will achieve a monopoly on the new transportation system, and a position of power unmatched in the universe.

The Brotherhood in the time of Shaddam IV

Already at the time of Shaddam IV, the Space Guild has been the institution in charge of Material and Passenger Transportation in the empire for almost 10,000 years. With the power to veto wars, and reserve their right to serve whomever they please, the navigators have created a niche of power, so much so that they participate in imperial politics, in CHOAM, and in the election of the Emperor, likewise, it occurs the luxury of charging exorbitant fees for transporting armies and luxury cargo such as gemstones from Hagal, whale skins from Lankiveil, or shipments of Melange Spice. Likewise, it is capable of imposing conditions on the empire such as having hidden worlds for Forsaken Houses, the so-called Sanctuary Planets, or creating and expanding new colonies for Ix, the creators of permitted machines.

Policy and Neutrality of the Brotherhood

Even with all the power amassed, the Brotherhood refuses to interfere directly in the politics of the empire in many ways, and cynically declares itself neutral in all confrontations, even in the war of the Fremen of Paul Muaddib, against the Sardaukar of Shaddam, declared themselves neutral until Paul threatened to destroy the production of the spice melange forever.

The Space Brotherhood and The Melange Spice

This is the Brotherhood's sword of Damocles: without the spice, its navigators cannot see the future. Without spice, there is no interstellar travel, there is no trade, without spice there is no empire. The Guild of Navigators, for thousands of years, refused to take over Arrakis with armies for fear of falling victim to the Taoist principle that what rises will one day fall. In Dune, Paul accuses the Guild of not having the courage to conquer him, and when they finally wanted to do so, they couldn't, powerless, without armies, they are also legally neutral. The Guild, according to Paul, only takes what it needs from the river, but does not have the courage to take it. In the end, the Space Guild decides that the spice must flow.