Mordecai

All Ethics is simply Ethical Egotism. Altruism is the ultimate fallacy. Thus, for an action to be 'right' it has to benefit you - whether in the short or long term. You shouldn't kill people because to do so would mean that others would feel you were granting them the license to act likewise against you. --- Except that argument doesn't justify anything. --- posts were combined because they were the same person. -Gobalopper

Gryphon, why are you a christian? Why not a member of any other religion?

One of the greatest arguments against religion is... Religion. Even if a person decides that there must be a higher power, they still have to decide which religion they think is correct. Each proclaims itself to be true and right, whilst denouncing all others. The fact is, no one belief has any superior claim to being right than any of the others - namely, the teachings of one person hundreds or thousands of years ago who claimed to be inspired by god (or something similar). Even in the possibility of religion totally destroying atheism, there would still be similar pointless arguments about which religion was right, and exactly how people should live their lives. STOP FOOLING YOURSELF, HUMANITY!

Uh... EdricO, all life is progress. Religion has evolved through progress. It is impossible to exist without some form of progress.

According to the song, a fool's last words are "Shoulda, woulda, coulda"... Is this the same on Dune? 1. "We could be attacked by worms - better switch on our shields..." 2. "No, no, no: the worms are attracted by RANDOM patterns. Just walk normally and you'll be fine." 3. "You're a Freman? Well, I'm the Harkonnen ambassador, desert scum!" 4. "Na-ha! Baron Vladimir smells of poo!" 5. "Ah, swordmasters suck." 6. "He's switching on his shield! Quick, pass me a lasgun!" 7. "So this is Gom Jabbar? I think I feel a faint coming on..." 8. "Spice blow? Here? Gimme a break." 9. "Which way round do I hold this thing? Oh, well, CHA!" 10. "Of course it's safe! It's called water of life, isn't it?" Feel free to add more.

867: you start criticizing other people for being sad because you cannot differentiate between real life or Dune so you see them as synonymous

Mahdi. Oh, lord, free us from the pedantic one! (<l>

One with only a handful of campaigns, but lots of houses/factions such as Ecaz, Moritani, Richese, etc. Also, the houses should have more diferences between them.

Science is another sort of religion, in a way. Not everything can be explained by science, but whether this is because of hoaxers, the paranormal or some aspect of science we do not yet understand, we don't know. The safe way of looking at science is as the most logical application of evidence about the universe we live in; we must be careful not to see it as anything more than that. It is merely a human shortcut for understanding, because our tiny minds cannot comprehend the sheer vastness of existence.

Is it any different with religion? Centuries ago the mere idea that anything in the Bible was metaphorical or false would be rewarded with death. Now the majority of Christians accept that Revelations was a complex metaphor for the Roman persecution of the early church.

1st stage navigators do not reqire spice gas? I didn't know that. However, the maker is 2nd stage... Do they actually require the gas?

In Greek mythology, a Chimera had the body of a lion, the heads of a lion and a goat and the tail of a snake. It could breath fire, and was slain by the hero Bellerophon on Pegasus. In the modern English language, a chimera means something unreal and ridiculous, or a sort of evasive idea.

Oh for Gob's sake... The chance of a substance with the incredibly beneficial properties of Melange existing is so infintismally small as to be virtually non-existent. It is a nice science-fiction idea, but it is not going to happen.

The blame does not lie squarely on the shoulders of the Palestinians: both sides are at fault.

From the moment that they start mutating, navigators require spice gas. Check the book House Atreides.

You'll translate it, huh? I'll put the translation back into my signature when you give up.

"Extreme philosophy" was a joke. Yeah, I know, hard to understand in this context. Oh, yeah, and your 'science' that proclaimed that the world was flat was actually the Catholic church. The first scientist to actually challenge these views was Galileo. The inquisition killed people, not scientists. Listen to yourself, Gryphon. Can you not see that humans are blind, arrogant and gullible creatures? Unlike the Bene Gesserit, I do not see the state of "humaness" as something precious, but as something we should rise against. We are nothing! If a god did exist, it would never have taken any notice of us. Our arrogance blinds us and makes us want to be important, or at least to be noticed by some sort of higher power. Be cynical, and see your true nature. We aren't even stardust. We're just dust.

Hey... extreme philosophy could be the new craze!

One point: as interesting as this topic is, we have to remember that humans need a religion of some sort. I challenge you to find a single person who does not have such a crutch, whether in religion, science, or in the case of many of the people here, Dune. In a way we are all as bad as each other - we each believe in the ineffability of our own 'crutch', and we despise anyone who does not agree. Whenever someone is converted away from one religion, they always switch to another. A word of advice: recognize your pseudoreligion as it is, but do not try to live without it; humans require meaning in their lives, and it is incredibly hard to live when you have decided that nothing is ineffable. I speak from experience.

And for an encore... produce Tio Holtzman's legendary equations!

Remember that most houses have cultural origins (e.g. Atreides is Greek) - their music would reflect this.

Er... this is sounding like a MUSH. However... if you could keep it more informal and a little better organised than the current Dune III MUSH (Nema should be able to help) then it could work quite well. Name: Tanera Mordecai Age: 29 Gender: M Description: 5' 11", red hair, wears a mask over half his face (because it is burnt) Weapons: half body shield, falchion, maula pistol, grenades, lasgun Inventory: lock picks, poisons, Key Items: House Mordecai signet ring Quests: re-establish House Mordecai. Kill people. Create mayhem.

As I have said before Nema, the reason they appear similar is that they both have similar origins (the bedouin) and a lot of it is circumstantial - Jabbar is just two syllables, and also the context is totally dissimilar. The disorganiser is a recurrent theme in the recent watch books, and it otherwise has no shared properties with Paul's prescience. Beti is also a two syllable name, and more to the point, it is Arabic - another common source. Paul is seen as a Messiah even by Liet, but Vimes is kept as a prisoner by Ahmed whom the D'regs fear far more than Vimes.

One thing: if the maker is a second-stage navigator, how does it survive without a cloud of spice gas?

And I know that Nema isn't certain. Anyone else?