to members of House Cornno, it also gave subtle notice to Elrood IX that his son was aware of his own involvement in the scheme Following the execution of an unimportant member of the royal House who was elected as scapegoat for the enme, Shaddam returned to his troops In has absence from Kaitam, his father was killed, a victim of chaumurky, and Shaddam IV was the new Comno Emperor Like all rulers, Shaddam IV found after assuming power that many of his actions were influenced, if not dictated, by those of his line whom he had succeeded The triangular balance of power, for example, which distributed control of the Impenum among the royal House, the Landsraad, and CHOAM, set limits on the legal power which could be exercised by an emperor Certain writings which have survived from the period of Shaddam s reign indicate that this restraint occasionally angered him, he preferred that greater control be available to him Particularly chafing, however, was a far more personal restriction, this one resulting from negotiations between the late Elrood IX and the Bene Gessent Sisterhood In a rare dovetailing of interests, House Comno, as represented by the emperor, and the B G had mingled their breeding plans The inducements oflered by the Sisterhood must have been impressive even by Imperial standards, for the result of their bartering with House Cornno left Shaddam in the position of accepting an arranged marriage to one Lady Anunl, a Bene Gessent of Hidden Rank The ceremony was earned out three months after the new Emperor's coronation The terms of the marriage gave Shaddam additional reason to resent its having been arranged Only those children born by Anunl could be considered to succeed the emperor, none of those mothered by the Imperial concubines could be placed m the succession To one accustomed to the usual wide range of choice given in selecting an heir to House Cornno, suth a restriction seemed intolerable That the emperor chose to lose himself in the intricacies of court functions and in the pleasures of his harem may be seen as direct ly inspired by his matrimonial situation The number of Bursegs Sardaukar officers of command rank was doubled in the first sixteen years of Shaddam s reign, while the population of the roval harem underwent a similar explosion Father rulers had insisted on detailed reports concerning every action of the Imperial troops as well as those of the soldiers of each of the Great Houses Shaddam IV, on the other hand, preferred to busy himself with Landsraad intngues, leav mg much of the actual running of his empire to his advisors and to the higher ranking Sardaukar officers That the Impenum ran as smoothly as it did in the years preceding the Arrakis Revolt is due almost entirely to the efforts of these two groups CORRINO, SHADDAM CORRJNO, WENSICIA Shadidam's melancholia and withdrawal became even more pronounced over the two decades of his marriage Anunl bore five daughters-Irulan, Chalice, We