Interstellar travel had become slow, limited to small, highspeed vessels carrying precious cargoes of luxury goods. The slow pace of invasion fleets over star distances prohibited long-range invasion. Once the stronger had absorbed the weaker, a rough balance of powers emerged in the various major sectors of the inhabited worlds. Certain planets, very wealthy ur unusually skillful militarily, separated themselves and established their positions among the great forces within the ranks of the great feudal states. The rivalry was intense, but futile; none of them was abie to mark itself as clearly superior to the rest of their fellows, no matter how hard each tried. This remained the state of affairs until the rise of the Sardaukar. Under such circumstances, the quite understandable suspicions which arose between the great feudal states only made easier their conquest by the legions from Salusa Secundus. Their antagonisms hindered what might have been their only chance for survival: it was impossible for them to unite quickly. One may doubt that even their united forces would have sufficed, but the point will remain moot, as efforts at unified resistance were begun far too late. For the Landsraad, however, the rise of the Sardaukar and the creation of House Corrino caused the second great change in relatively recent times The rise of feudal powers had fundamentally changed the nature of most of the constituent governments; the emergence of House Comno united the Landsraad as it had never been Finally the feudal powers were able to perceive a danger greater than each other, and the advantages of the Landsraad as the focus of non-Imperial power became obvious. It was the only organization which provided a means of channeling the common interests of thousands of LASER WEAPONS 365 LASER WEAPONS worlds against the Sardaukar The dorm nance of military power lay with the feudal states thus the strength of the Great Houses within the Landsraad was augmented This increase in the strength of the Great Houses was made complete by the arrival of the Spacing Guild and the creation of CHOAM The chartering of the development corporation, which gave to feudal powers a monopoly on access to the services of the Guild, effectively destroyed the few remaining non feudal governments within the Landsraad Not long after the development of the Guild monopoly, the High Conned of the Landsraad ceased to be chosen by lot The old body was dissolved and a new group of members was elected by the meeting of the Landsraad The membership remained at one hundred after the first election, members were replaced only by a vote of tire High Council from that time, the Council renewed itself by co optation The downfall of House Comao after ten millennia of rule, and the triumph of House Atreides after the ravages of the Ftemen Jihad, did not aflect the structure or traditional function of the Landsraad as the focus of power against the Imperial House Given the dominance of House Atietdes within CHOA M and the ravages of the Jihad, the power of the Landsraad was much decreased however and it was never able regain the position of a near equal to the Imperial power FM Farther references.