The Planets

The planet looks dead: endless dunes rolling toward the horizon under a ruthless sun, the air choked with dust, no water in sight. But the planet Arrakis hides a treasure that has enthralled the powers of the universe: Melange, a spice that appears only on the planet also known as Dune. Melange is used -- and celebrated -- across the universe: Guild Navigators use it to fold space-time for interstellar travel, Muad'Dib credits it for giving him his legendary prophetic powers. The drug is addictive in both large and small doses -- and the demand for it explains why a decagram costs up to 620,000 solaris.
Thus Arrakis resides at the center of an epic struggle between the universe's many Houses. Each of the Houses -- among them, the noble Atreides, the loathsome Harkonnen and the scheming, secretive Ordos -- wants Arrakis for itself. The House that controls Arrakis controls the spice Melange. And the House that controls the spice has the universe in its hands.
But Arrakis won't be taken easily. The desolate planet hosts a few life forms of its own, and formidable ones at that: the Fremen are Arrakis' indigenous people, a band of warriors whose survival for generations in the brutal desert has turned them into a hardened, resourceful tribe. Neither are they alone: giant sandworms, or Shai-Hulud, roam constantly beneath the sands. Growing up to 400 meters in length, sandworms are the focal point for the religion of the Fremen, who worship the worms as part of their earth-spirit mythology. But to the Houses who covet Arrakis, the sandworms are an occupational hazard in their quest to subdue the desert planet known as Dune.

The verdant hills and fertile valleys of Caladan are home to the Atreides, who have stewarded their homeworld into a prosperous and rich planet. The people of Atreides are as healthy as the Atreides' homeworld, a people who are virtuous, generous, just and peaceful. View the Atreides Nebula.

With its polluted atmosphere and scarred surface, Giedi Prime, home to the Harkonnen, is a wasteland of industrial refuse, toxic waste and rusting machinery. The fearsome planet -- where greed is the rule, consequences be damned -- has bred an equally fearsome people, whose code of conduct requires treachery and murder for advancement. View the Harkonnen Nebula.

This far-flung planet is icy and inhospitable, but that hasn't daunted House Ordos in its mission of creating a vastly wealthy empire based on trade and smuggling. In fact, the remoteness of Sigma Draconis serves them well, for it aids in the keeping of secrets -- a specialty of the Ordos.

• Homeplanets - Another version of the four playable planets
• Nebulas - All four homeplanet nebula's