The Sardaukar reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Sardaukar

The Sardaukar are a fictional army from Frank Herbert's Dune series of science-fiction novels.

Sardaukar are the soldiers of House Corrino, at the time of Dune the house of the Emperor. Until Leto Atreides discovers the Fremen on Arrakis, they are the foremost soldiers in the universe, and are feared by all. They are the backbone of the Emperor's strength.

Sardaukar are trained from infancy on Salusa Secondus. What the rest of the universe knows as the Emperor's prison planet, few realize is the training ground for the hardiest soldiers. Like the Fremen on the planet Dune, the intense difficulties of simply surviving on Salusa Secondus leave only the toughest alive, and in conjunction with intense conditioning for loyalty to the Emperor, the Sardaukar are worth ten times their number in house levies.

During Children of Dune, Farad'n Corrino, grandson of the deposed Emperor Shaddam IV, spurred on by his mother Princess Wenscicia bid for a return to glory for House Corrino and their Sardaukar. However, he later voluntarily surrendered them to the new Emperor, Leto Atreides II.

Leto Atreides II, the God-Emperor of Dune, later disbanded the Sardaukar. One of Leto II's many gholas (clones) of Duncan Idaho led an unsuccessful revolet of the Sardaukar against Leto II several centuries after Leto II's ascension at the end of Children of Dune but still many centuries before God-Emperor of Dune. After eliminating them, Leto II replaced them with the Fish Speakers, an all-female army (supposedly, a male army exists to rape and plunder, while a female army protects life).

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