Order of 9/The ARES Protocol
The A.R.E.S. Protocol: On Praxis and Pattern
Compiled by the Lorekeepers of the Ninth, and reviewed under Atreides Seal
“Strategy is not merely the art of war, but the patience to see war in the movements of silence.” — Annotated Observations of Kraetanos
ON SURVEY
A practitioner of the Protocol does not look—they register. Observation is not passive. The sand does not whisper secrets to the inattentive. Survey demands stillness and discipline. It is the lens of anticipation: the contour of a dune, the shift in shadow, the discoloration of fabric against rock. A sliver of vapor in a far-off crevasse may mean life—or its extraction.
The Order teaches: what you do not see, you invite.
“If you are not aware of the terrain, then you are already buried beneath it.” — Mentat-Ka Nelm
ON ESCORT
To walk with another is not a gesture of defense—it is a compact. Brotherhood is not bred in the tent, but in the silences between footfalls under moons that watch without judgment. A member of the Nine never asks whether an ally is worth saving. He asks only where they’ve fallen.
Escort is pattern recognition: the gait of a companion, the rhythm of their breath, the break in their voice before they speak. It is the mitigation of solitude by deliberate presence.
“We are strongest not when we stand alone, but when we know the voice beside us in the dark.” — Zahir
ON RESCUE
The desert exacts its toll with indifference. Every member will bleed. Every life will one day depend on another’s burden. Rescue is not an act of mercy—it is the maintenance of pattern integrity. You do not leave the wounded. You restore the line.
But rescue carries weight. You do not always return with who you went for. And yet the act must be attempted. The ritual of effort is its own justification.
“You save others not to save them—but to save yourself from becoming the thing that left them.” — Trilgar
ON AVENGE
The final pillar, held last—not for power, but for balance. Avenge is not vengeance. It is the reassertion of moral structure. It is the strike after the accounting is complete. One must weigh the scales, even in war.
A member of the Nine does not seek retribution blindly. He strikes when the line is broken, and when the restoration of order demands it. No more, no less.
“There are some silences that must be answered with flame.” — Bear, Orders Transmitted at the Siege of Slaver’s Regret
CLOSING DICTUM
To follow A.R.E.S. is to encode discipline, not merely action. It is a pattern. A way of seeing Arrakis—and surviving it. You walk not for yourself alone. Every step echoes. Every silence holds weight.
“You cannot spell Atreides without A.R.E.S.” — Common saying among the Order of Nine