ues and plots were designs of this nature The sindar-Iord and lady of a planet were expected to be more than just political figures As planetary governors, they were considered father- and mother-surrogates to their people Thus in addition to ensuring peace and prosperity, they set and enforced certain social standards, patterns of courtesy as it were among their populations In practice, this duty came down to a velvet-gloved but iron-fisted enforcement of the faufreluches class system 'A place for every man and every man m las place " A strict hierarchy of social privilege and rank prevailed throughout the empire, and each member of society took care to maintain his pnde of place against the lower orders, from the emperor himself down through the Houses, the merchants, artisans, and frcedmen, to peons, servants, and slaves Mobility within the ranks was theoretically impossible, as one's status was determined at birth by the rank of the one's family and the educational opportunities open to die offspring, of such s family Official policy discouraged aspirations of up ward mobility Yet roads were open to those bold enough (or foolish enough) to try them Evidence of potential mentat ability, or intelligence plus & willingness to allow one's Pyretic Conscience to be tampered with, could be a passport out of middle-class life, either legitimately through Suk School Con dmomng, or not so legitimately (nor so safely) through renegade training at the hands of the TIeilaxu Psychologically safer, but still physically dangerous, the most common route out of the lower classes lay through the military It was not true, as rumor would have it, that an enterprising young man could, through prow ess and bravery, make his way into the elite corps of Sardaukar, although many tried by means of the emperor's supporting levies Yet a man could rise through the ranks of many a planetary army to become a com mander, a general even a Master of Assassins (for example, see Juniper Atreo, ed Diary of an Assassin A Biography of Gurney Halleck Arrakis Studies 25 [Grumman United Worlds] compiled from records found at the Great Library on Caladan ) The third way around the hierarchy of the faufreluches was, as may be expected, financial As new planets with new products and exports opened up, it was possible for legitimate businessmen and their illegitt mate cousins the smugglers to make for tunes in trade such wealth could be used to buy titles or House Minor (and even House Major) status through discreet negotiations m the proper quarters The accusation of purse-nobility-that one s titles came out of one's pocketbook-was one of the deadliest insults m the Impenum, yet sources show that a case could be made for the Harkonnen tides having been acquired in this way At times whole populations lived outside the faufreluches system one example is certainly the Fremen on Arrakis Another example, although possibly a legendary one (the records arc fragmentary), is the planers'1) of Tupile and the population certainly great in rumor if not in fact, that sought sanctuary there over the centuries The Imperial government of course consciously blocked all efforts to circumvent the faufrehiches system House Comno had not maintained its ascendancy for so many generations by encouraging change, or even the hope of change The feudal pyramid must appear to all members of the Impenum as if carved in stone no movement wa"< easy, no revolt possible Imperial agents cultivated a persistent pessimism among the population to bolster their power base This pessimism acted as a psychological deterrent (in addi tion to religious restrictions) against techno logical and political innovation, keeping the empire safely feudalist for over 10,000 years Those forces which could oppose the emperor-the Landsraad and the Spacing Guild-were absorbed into the feudal pyra mid, indeed were indispensable to its stability The Federated Great Houses of the Landsraad had been formed, initial!;, to constitute a defense against the Impenum, as each Great House lived m fear of finding the Sardaukar IMPERIUM, FEUDAL PATTERNS 347 INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL on its doorstep, perhaps disguised in another House's livery, and the Houses could fight the Sardaukar only in combination In practice, however, the Landsraad acted as a self-policing agency, keeping House-to-House disputes from getting out of hand, supervising changes of fief, kanly vendettas, and Wars of Assassins, enforcing the rules of the Great Convention, so the emperor would have no need of using the Sardaukar.