Tleilaxu
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The Tleilaxu are a House that specializes in gene sequencing and other biological products.
Lore
The Bene Tleilax are strict followers of an ideology derived from Zensunni and specialize in genetic alterations and other biological products.
Inhabitants of the planet Tleilax, they are a very secretive sect due to a common revulsion of their ideology by most cultures spanning the universe. Despite this revulsion they are widely known for their skills in genetic engineering and alteration even going as far as to deal in dead flesh.
They have a male dominated hierarchy. Being the counterpoint to the Bene Gesserit's extreme female domination in their own hierarchy. In fact, females in the Bene Tleilax are little more than incubation vessels. These incubation vessels, called Axlotl tanks, bred all the Tleilaxu. They have also been used to produce Gholas and Face Dancers.
Gholas
The more infamous of their creations are the Gholas. They are not clones, but what the Tleilax call "miracles of flesh", and are grown within Axlotl tanks from cells harvested from the deceased. Gholas are a replica of the dead.
The creation process of Gholas is shrouded in mysticism and secrecy, known only to Tleilaxu Masters. Following instances of Gholas accessing their pre-death memories, some Tleilaxu scientists view Gholas as the path to immortality, if this ability can be harnessed.
Masters
Tleilaxu Masters are the elite caste of Tleilax society. They are generally shorter in stature then a normal human, in cases even being described as "child-like". A few even had oddly sharp teeth and metallic grey skin.
Face Dancers
Face Dancers are a lower caste of sterile workers, fighters, spies, assassins, and entertainment.
They possess the unique ability to replicate the appearance, voice, and personality of other humans. This is also where their name comes from, since their features appear to dance when their flesh and bone are being re-configuring.
Specifically, their face being the most prominent example of this term turned name. However, the ability to alter they face was also a massive weakness, since these mimics, could over time, believe they were the individual they were mimicking. Based on this belief, this would cause a loss of control over the Face Dancer.
In-Game
There are several notable Tleilaxu, gholas, and clones present in-game:
- Phrakk is a Fleshshaper located in Harko Village. Cosmetic Appearance Customization can be performed at his clinic.
Book 1
During the events of Book 1, the player discovers the following Tleilaxu, some of which are gholas of Tyros Reffa:
- The Glutton, The Paranoid, the Water Shipper at the Mansion, and The Jackal
- The Reverend Mother, which commands the player to find the Fremen and wake the Sleeper, is revealed to be a Face Dancer, a journey that brings the player and Zantara in the Tleilaxu lab beneath Carthag. During this journey, you discover that, you, the Player, are in-fact a Ghola with pre-conditioning to follow commands.
- Under the ruins of Carthage, The Docent's recording reveals that Axiolt tanks were used not only to grow living beings but also to explore the possibility of replicating spice melange.
- Abominations appear to be swarming the player, while fighting Sinnu in the arena. Upon defeating them, Sinnu is revealed to be the Face Dancer Assassin. This is the same assassin that killed and took the appearance of Sub-Prefect Tors.
- A Face Dancer takes the appearance of Esmar Tuek, during a journey that takes the player to the Secret lair of the Smugglers, where they reveal that Bewt invited the Tleilax on Arrakis.
Lost Harvest
During the events of the Lost Harvest journeys, it is revealed that prior to the facilities closing:
- In a facility beneath Testing Station #60, a thinking Machine responsible for creating clones and handling the mnemonic flutter education of these clones. Over ten thousand years, it restored to mixing the genetic contents, due to a lack of fresh genetic material for reproduction, which resulted in data corruption in form of resistance to the mnemonic flutter.
- These clones created in Testing Station #60 were transferred to the facility beneath Testing Station #163 for the next phase of their training. PAL, another thinking machine, oversaw this training, by testing the capability of soldiers and perfect combat strategies. PAL had no knowledge of the utility of this army of clones.
Overland map
- The Old Quarry
Dr. Jalanta has taken the Bene Tleilax methods and refined them, to repurpose dead and injured workers into a private reanimated force. As a result, Dr. Jalanta's mind became able to control the corpses, while needing to consume their brain matter. These reanimated corpses appear as Ghola Abominations within the The Old Quarry.
Among the messages and recordings, she infers that the Tleilaxu Master betrayed her and tried to take away her work, and that she killed the Master. The Tleilaxu Master contacted Lingar Bewt, which in turn likely sent a cleanup crew to dismantle Dr. Jalanta's operation.
- Labor shortage
At the Old Quarry, among the messages and recordings, it is revealed that Lingar Bewt made a deal with Tleilaxu to fix a crisis of labor shortage. The Quarry was evacuated, and all research and maulas were moved to the ice cap.
- Testing station 24
Compared to the methods used by Dr. Jalanta, Dr. Lemenger at Testing Station #24 used servo-stems embedded in the suboids' brains as a means of controlling them. Without the proper command mechanisms (such as the one found in a facility beneath Testing Station #60), he cannot direct them. He was able to progress in his experiments and gain command of the suboids, by removing the servo-stems.
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