Post
by Kannon » Sat Sep 07, 2024 8:31 pm
To the ancestry issue, Xard nodded with understanding. Those things could have turned out tricky for any bloodline, distinguished or not. However, that was more Bene Gesserit domain, not his, so he couldn't offer much. Especially that the task Cuyler had put before him wasn't an easy one.
"Let's see, in the broadest terms, Harmonthep, being mostly an open flatland accessible to political authorities thirsty for indentured labour, has been the one where the Zensunni must have had the least autonomy and were the most exposed to cultural currents of the wider Imperium. However, the extraction of most local resources depends on some initiative and freedom of movement, so the Hagal rule hasn't been oppressive enough to make the masses develop much of a psychic muscle. I wouldn't describe any slavery as benign, but the one on Harmonthep gets away with 'bread and circuses' for population control. The climate across the Sea of Reeds is very stable, as Harmonthep has virtually non-inclined, round orbit. Even if the topography is changing often across the marshlands, the living conditions are the same for the semi-nomadic Zensunni. Lack of environmental extremes usually leads to docility and habituality of religion." He hadn't been to Harmonthep in a while, but he remembered the basics.
"Now, the primitive Muadh on Caladan, share some of those features. Their near-perfect adjustment to jungle life favours pacifism, docility and entrenched habituality of religious practices without much room for zealotry. By political choices of the Atreides they do enjoy as much autonomy and self-elected isolation as any tribal community forestalling change can hope for, barring the situation we... participated in. Despite their monotheistic roots, with time they appear to have re-embraced elements of animism and shamanism, making the ecosystem a subject of their religious practices. The ones we lived among with Sinsei had developed strict cult of life, coupled with prohibitions against any violence. This was one of the reasons I returned here for the second field study - those people are natural ecological workers, with a lot of practical knowledge and conservation instincts. I probably can't say as much about the other Muadh on Caladan. Many of them have turned sedentary, embraced rural life and with it - Orange Catholicism. Ducal authorities often provide them with enough reassurance against extreme weather events for that not to be too much of a factor. But apart from rice farmers, there are also fishing and forager communities in the north, with greater levels of self-reliance and original religiosity. I think Kiran al-Sahar, my fellow captive, belongs to them. Their Buddhislam has syncretised and institutionalised, having the archvicar and lesser vicars to preside over community life. What still relatively unites most of the Muadh regardless of their habitat is the consumption of the barra fern for various rites. In mild concentrations, it strengthens neural activity in the cortex, contributing to greater empathy, collective hallucination and more vivid dreaming. In the community we lived in it was often served in a form of a light brew. In greater concentrations..."
He needed a moment. "...those effects apparently strengthen or even reach another level, though the biochemistry of the brain stops keeping up at some point, leading to strokes and haemorrhages. I have actually been the clinical patient to have given this insight to dr Yueh. I don't know yet which brain functions of mine have been compromised." He sighed, then shrugged. "There must be some quantum processes going on that connect brain activity at close distances but I am not that much of an expert on that. Sinsei has actually been better to theorise it."
He needed to pause.
"Now, Arrakis I don't know that much about. You can probably offer some of your own insights, or wait until Sinsei wakes up, she's been reading Kynes. What I can hypothesise from rough planetological models is that the unmitigated hostility of the environment, brutality of the occupants and enough wilderness to escape subjugation and control must have led those Zensunni to sharpen the strictures and creeds of their religion, what they call ilm and fiqh. They are probably quite nomadic and well-trained survivalists. I wouldn't exclude zealotry and fanaticism, deserts are often credited to be wombs of raw religions. When we apply the law of the minimum to them, seeking the least present enabler of life, that would surely be water. It must be playing an important role in their overall culture. Not sure how many of them are there, or how isolated from one another. The Imperial census says maybe several hundred thousand."
This pause was even longer. Xard struggled to give Cuyler what she asked for but was getting too tired.
"I... wouldn't put excessive credit in that sketch though. One of the things I can't control for is the Bene Gesserit messing with religions. They have the habit of inserting their Sisters into various religious communities to manipulate the course in which those religions transform. I am not sure why they do that, but no-one has ever tried to stop them. We, planetologists, aren't too happy about it, for such pollution of beliefs often skews our analyses of evolution of ecosystemic interactions by an uncomfortable margin."
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