The Starvation was a predictable result of the collapse of an empire which had controlled the inhabited worlds for more than three thousand years Such a political cot-lapse was bound to have effects far beyond the realm of politics some of which were felt within the most basic economic aspects of people s lives The economy of the Impenum of Leto II was in fact a myriad of economies under one political power Some of these economies were limited to planets or systems, while others controlled several sectors These regional networks were all closely related to one another, however, and die glue which bound them together was speedy space travel, made possible by spice The disruption of the distribution of spice caused the famine Before the development of Tleilaxu artificial melange or of Ixian Navigational Ma- chines, the amounts of spice available throughout the universe, other than on Airakis, were very small The two largest stores off Arrakis were in the hands of the Bene Gessent and the Guild Small amounts were held by a few of the Great Houses, but these were not enough to matter to any but the few members of those families In terms of the economic health of the Impenum only the caches of the Sisterhood, the Guild and the emperor were import