The Player

The character controlled by the player is a central figure to the story of the game. Their identity, history and curious abilities are a driving force of the story. There is no singular 'canon' appearance for the player character but this is addressed and explained through the story.

This article is written chronologically through the game's story chapters, as each reveals key information about the player character. Expand each section to show what is known by the end of the respective chapter.

Book One

In the game's opening cinematic 'The Vision of Paul Atreides', the Alternative Timeline is established, but also Paul states "All of my visions lead to horror. Except this one. This one leads to you". This establishes that the player is not a replacement for Paul, a Kwisatz Haderach or the Lisan al-Gaib, but also someone pivotal to story events.

The gameplay begins with the Character Customization process, where the player chooses their character's physical appearance. Through a conversation with the Reverend Mother they choose their homeworld, caste and starting Archetype. They are then dispatched to Arrakis with two objectives:

• Find the Fremen
• Wake the Sleeper

While receiving these commands, the Reverend Mother appears to use The Voice and a mark glows on the character's left cheek. These glowing marks do not usually appear when someone is afflicted by the Voice.

The character is then transported to Arrakis as a prisoner on a Sardaukar prison ship, destined to work as a slave rebuilding Neo-Carthag. The ship is intercepted and shot down by the outlaw Zantara. When he finds the injured player, he remarks they cannot be the "Alshaahid Akadhib" but takes them to the safety of a nearby watersealed cave to recover.

Chapter 1

Act 1 - In the footsteps of the Fremen

As the player finds their feet on Arrakis, assisted by Zantara, they learn abilities from all Archetypes. This is noted as unusual by all skill trainers - usually these skills take decades of training from an early age to fully grasp yet the player character picks them up quickly, as if "unlocking forgotten memories" or "finishing off a job already started".

After some time, the Spice in the air on the surface of the planet provides the player cryptic visions, guiding them towards the Trials of Aql - based on the Seven sacred questions of Fremen culture. These trials teach adolescent fremen "Wali" the ways of the desert - and the player how to use forgotten fremen technologies. Eventually the player finds the abandoned Sietch Ta'lab and through answering the questions at the star door, is permitted entry.

Ari closely follows the player in, remarking that the door was sealed and only opens to "Fremen Biometrics", hinting that the player has a genetic link to Fremen heritage, or someone who they were close enough to to grant access to their sietches. This is reinforced by the player's blood being the key to unlock the deathstill door inside the Sietch. As the Fremen are incredibly reclusive and exclusionary, this is a sign of great trust and unusual if not unheard of for an off-worlder.

In the final room, a hologram recording plays of another person who was given the same two objectives by the Reverend Mother but seems to have uncovered a grand conspiracy at the heart of the Imperium - for which the Sardaukar were chasing them. They leave an encoded Ixian device in a safe, stating that once again "our" blood is the key.

Act 2 - The Assassin's Handbook

To decrypt the message, Ariste sends the player to Harko Village to find a decryption device on the Black Market. The player is intercepted by the Sardaukar and brought to Count Fenring, who has been following the player for some time. When the Count removes his mask and the player sees his face, they are immediately compelled to end their own life. This is explained by Fenring as hypo-ligation - imprinted upon the player to keep something secret, and Fenring's face is the key. This only seems to affect the player when witnessing him face-to-face and not via projection or image.

After being questioned by Fenring, he reveals that the player was never on the Sardaukar prison ship manifest. All bodies were accounted for. As both the player and the count have common cause to find whoever is pulling the strings, he sends them to his contact Elara Tuek to carry out a series of assassinations:

• The Paranoid - The leader of the Maas Kharet cultists, a paranoid figure hiding behind many layers of security
• The Glutton - A new leader of the Slavers, a vicious and gluttonous cannibal
• A Water Shipper - A rich water trader living in his mansion. He expected the player to check on him and he had almost found the Fremen. Before he died he hinted he had learned a way around the compulsion.
• The Jackal - In the alleyways of Arrakeen, who compels the player to kill him. He reveals the player is not the first to be given the missions and it's all connected to Fenring.

Each of these assassination targets showed the cheek marks upon killing them.

During these assassinations, the player recieves a Spice Vision of The Hephaestus falling from the sky. There they meet Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, fight through hordes of suboids and obtain the Ixian Decoding Device.

In Arrakeen, they meet with Ari and Zantara where they play the decoded minmic film. The figure is revealed to be Alnaem - The Sleeper. This person reveals they too had the same mission and found the Fremen, and wishes to help them. The film also provides a location the player may find answers to their identity - in the hidden Tleilaxu labs beneath the ruins of Carthag.

In the lab, the player and Zantara find batches of Ghola, in various states of sentience and sanity. Ghola are grown from the flesh of a single corpse, and usually retain no memories of their previous lives. It is revealed that the player is a ghola, and the Reverend Mother who gave the missions was a Tleilaxu Facedancer. While they do not possess the Voice, they can control their Ghola with the same level of compulsion (hence the markings).

Zantara kills the facedancer but not before the player is compelled to kill him. As Zantara dies he reveals that his true identity is Bronso Vernius, a noble who renounced the Imperium's corruption and sought to rebel along with the Fremen.

Chapter 2

After the events of Chapter 1, the player is contacted by Zantara's bat Noctua, However they are initially unable to understand the message. They are recruited by Fenring to follow up on a string of murders in Arrakeen with his investigator Sub-Prefect Tors. Firstly discovering Osten Laithe had been poisoned in the Salusan Bull's private rooms, this leads to them uncovering he was being blackmailed by Phaedra Vye. Tors was on the list of expected guests at a noble banquet, however everyone in attendance had been poisoned. While Tors survived, he was killed and replaced by a Facedancer.

Ari meets again with the player and they descend under Arrakeen to discover clues to the player's identity via a genetic search of the Bene Gesserit Archival System. These genetic archives hold infomation about all noble bloodlines in the Imperium, however the player's bloodline is restricted knowledge related to "The Zanovar incident". Before this could be investigated further, Lady Margot Fenring and Lady Jessica Atreides interrupted. They reveal the player's involvement with the death of Zantara and separate Ariste from them.

Noctua returns to the player with a distrans decoded to deliver Zantara's last message to them. He had a vision of the player and the Sleeper laying on the ground, with the latter disappearing. He also reveals the Fremen still live, in the southern hemisphere.

Chapter 3

Elara gives the player a lead on the facedancer who killed Tors, and provides access to an illegal duelling ring near the site of Neo Carthag. A new contender has emerged named the "Dancer of Veils", and the player is tasked to ascend the ranks of the arena to discover who they are. They assume the name "Degenerate Killer" and fight their way up to fight the Dancer. It is revealed that Sinnu the Poisoner is the face dancer, and the Dancer of Veils is actually Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, who saves the player from the former. The face dancer reveals some troubles with the Smugglers before dying.

The last clue takes the player to Fallen Light, a crashed Heighliner and secret headquarters of the Smugglers. Along with Feyd they clear out a Tleilaxu infestation and help Elara's father Esmar Tuek regain control of the faction. In return he offers to help the player find more information about Zanovar.

Noctua returns to the player with a new message from an unknown, assumedly Fremen, man - "Ibn Qirtaiba, Zantara. We are coming."

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 has not yet been released, but will "Conclude Book One of the story"