ORIGINS OF. The exis fence of the Fish Speakers and especially of their religious and military devotion, can be best explained by the significance qfjjsh a divine life symbol from antiquity Which species became the dominant symbol is disputed According to Fish Speaker legend, the sandtrout so important in Dane history is a relict form of a now-extinct lungfish, but trout are very similar to salmon, and the Legend of the Silver Salmon-a large fish with oracular powers and a reputation for escaping all nets and lures-persisted in Fremen culture despite the absence of water Some investigators believe that the legend may have been imported from Caladan where the appearance of the Golden Carp was said to predict a tome when the planet would be destroyed by a vast flood, and only those who believed in the Golden Carp would survive Yet, as a divine Itfe symbol in many cultures, the Vesica Pisas was an oval figure pointed at both ends and representing the air bladder of the fish This, of course, throws all speculation in another direction, for sandtrout and lungfish are both too elongated to authenticate this symbol The butterfly fish, Pisces Ornatissimus, fits the rounded appearance that the symbol demands, more-overt its distinctive markings assure that no two like fishes can be found Its bnUiant colors of gold and orange rn/fe silver horizontal stripes make it an entertaining spectacle, and, though it is not predatory, its armor gives tt a mUttarutK appearance It feeds on a legiffnous water plant called Arakis A stiver fish was once worn by members of a secret society called Aram-el, but was abandoned in order to conciliate a powerful rival organization that was jealous of the fish s use as an emblem Aram el s need to defend itself gave rise to a military faction which gradually absorbed other groups and grew to become the Fish Speakers The first leader of this group had a series of dreams in which one such silver emblem grew large and lifelike and began to speak warning of future trials and cautioning the leadership to develop militarv prowess for religious pur poses although these were at first obscure It was the second generation leader to whom was revealed that the purpose of Aram el was to defend a god king Thereafter mem bers being initiated into Aram el took their vows by placing their hands upon a large silver fish, and the most religious of the group secretly reverenced the same object as a fetish No wonder that this fish spoke to them m dreams and the more devout could verify their sincerity bv reports of those dreams As time passed, other rituals and more precise vom replaced these early forms but the military women who protect and defend the God-king were thereafter known as Fish Speakers and became Brides of the God King