Working Titles:
Dune: All Along the Watchtower
Watchtower of the Tyrant God
About the story and my intentions: This is a pitch for a story that attempts to meld the universes of Frank Herbert's Dune novels and Battlestar Galactica (2003). It also provides possible explanations for the unanswered questions of both series while telling its own compelling story taking place after the events of Chapterhouse: Dune. It should be lore-friendly to the original six Dune novels, disregarding prequels or sequels written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (because I have not read them). Similarly, it should fit the canon of the 2003 BSG series and its specials, but disregards the 1978 series and any spinoff material such as Caprica (as I have not seen them). I am a huge fan of both series, and I'm sure I'm not the first person to see overlap in their themes and the possibility of combining the two stories into a continuous timeline. I wanted to write out this idea and put it out into the world to show my love for Dune and BSG and start some discussions with others who feel the same way. I of course don't expect this to be made into any official piece of media, but if anyone would like to make some kind of long-form fan-made material based on these ideas, I'd love to work together on it. I want to hear any feedback you, the reader, would be willing to share, including points of lore-unfriendliness, opportunities for incorporating more elements from Dune or BSG, ideas for characters or plot points you would like to see included, or any other comments/questions/complaints. I will gladly incorporate (with permission) others' ideas for adding to or editing this story if I find those ideas would make it more lore-friendly or compelling (credit will be given for any ideas incorporated, in the manner preferred by whoever shared the idea). I hope this pitch is a fun and interesting read, and I look forward to hearing what you think of it!
Background - integration of Dune with BSG: The end of BSG implies that the fleet settles on Earth, which is the same Earth we know of in real life, but that the Cycle of Time - of humanity's inevitable creation of artificial life, near extinction, and exile into the universe - is still occurring, even if we may have forgotten about it after countless generations of obfuscation into mythology. The notion that "all of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again" has not been passed down as it was to the Twelve Colonies. The Butlerian Jihad may have been the latest iteration of the battle with Cylons (now under the new name of "Thinking Machines"), but it somehow ended differently this time: humanity was not driven to near-extinction or forced to abandon their homes to restart civilization from square one and has instead been left with a widely accepted law that may have stopped the Cycle, if only temporarily: "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind." How this endless, inevitable Cycle was seemingly broken this time is a mystery.
The setting: It is now two generations after Murbella assumed the role of both Great Honored Matre and Mother Superior of the Bene Gesserit, combining the two orders into the New Sisterhood. The New Sisterhood retains the Bene Gesserit's mission of "teaching" humanity, now benefiting from the enhanced physiology, ruthlessness, and sexual prowess of the Honored Matres. The Tlelaxu - at least those remaining in the Known Universe - are entirely under the yoke of the New Sisterhood. The Tyrant God Emperor Leto II's Golden Path was never fully understood, but the consensus is that it was designed to guide humanity away from some existential threat that has long since been averted. As far as anyone knows, the Golden Path has been completed, and Leto II is thought of as a relic of the past, especially since most of the sandworms carrying the Pearls of his consciousness were seemingly destroyed when the Honored Matres attacked Rakis and the Bene Gesserit were only able to save one (which they then used to transform Chapterhouse into a new Dune). Much of the Scattering is still largely mysterious to the inhabitants of the Known Universe, and humanity is still seemingly spreading and propagating indefinitely into the depths of unexplored space.
Our protagonist (working name: Mursha (other possible names include Idalia and Tathani)): Mursha is an acolyte of the New Sisterhood. One of her parents was one of Murbella and Duncan's many children who were stolen away, and the other was one of Sheeana's. The Bene Gesserit, being who they are, could not resist crossing these powerful bloodlines, although they were careful that the resulting child would be female, as they are still making conscious efforts to avoid having another Kwisatz Haderach. Mursha is being groomed to possibly be the next Matre Superior, but she is not eager to accept the role. Although she was excited to learn the many abilities of the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres and showed great talent in them, she became disillusioned with their mission. She finds the New Sisterhood arrogant in its presumption that it has the authority to be humanity's "teachers," and she believes they deceive themselves in proposing that their goals are anything other than self-serving. She finds it to be the same desire for power and control over others displayed by tyrants throughout human history. She thinks humanity would be better off free of the influence of any overarching governing body, as gentle as its rule may be, and allowed to make their own fate. A typical Atreides troublemaker at heart. She speaks none of this, of course, as she knows she doesn't have the power at this stage to make such drastic changes to the universe, and she doesn't want the New Sisterhood to discover her true feelings and cease her training.
The inciting incident: An ominous, cryptic, and religious-sounding message is suddenly sent across the Known Universe. The source is traced to a planet previously thought to be uninhabited and of no particular importance or value. The Missionaria Protectiva wants to get ahead of any religious fervor this message may spread through the Known Universe and wants to send someone to investigate the source of the message so they can control its effects on the populace. The New Sisterhood leadership sees this as a good opportunity to test Mursha's mettle, particularly as a mentat, and sends her to head this investigation. She is not enthusiastic about the Missionaria Protectiva's regulation of religion, of course, but she is personally curious about the message and its mysterious planet of origin. Upon arriving, she finds that the planet is indeed uninhabited, and the only evidence of prior human life is one small settlement near the equator. She lands here, finding long-abandoned encampments and mostly destroyed buildings, as well as half-buried remains of humans and what the audience may recognize as parts of Cylon centurions. Mursha's initial conclusion is that this was the site of a minor battle in the Butlerian Jihad and was subsequently lost to history, but the audience may have concluded by this point that it is no such thing - Mursha is standing on New Caprica, in New Caprica City. She enters the only building that looks capable of sending the message and indeed finds what appears to be an Ixian device that could be the message's source. Nearby, she finds a tank holding a young sandworm - only a few feet in length - in stasis. Suddenly, the sandworm seems to react to her presence, breaking out of the tank and lunging at her. Her Honored Matre reflexes allow her to sever the creature in half, killing it, but even in death, it manages to latch onto her and inject the Water of Life, along with something else. She falls unconscious.
In her dreaming state, she sees an echo of Leto II. It seems the worm was able to share one of Leto's Pearls of Consciousness with Mursha. He reveals to her that the Golden Path is still very much continuing, and Mursha is the only one who can see it to its completion. If she does not, humanity will be doomed to an eternity of suffering that will cycle into eternity. The cycle must be broken now, by Mursha, or there may never be another opportunity to break it. Leto tells Mursha what truly happened on this planet - that it was not a battlefield in the Butlerian Jihad but rather in a much older conflict, tens of thousands of years before what she knows as the beginning of recorded history. He explains that humanity has suffered countless cycles of conflict with their own creations, near-extinction, and exile, and warns her that the same will inevitably happen again unless the Golden Path is seen to its conclusion. As a true Kwisatz Haderach, Leto's was the first and only mind to ever see Other Memories spanning back far enough to learn that "all of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again." Even Muad'dib could only feel vague hints as to how deep into time humanity's history went, and without the enhanced ancestral memory and prescience that came with sacrificing humanity to fuse with the sandworms, he could not grasp the full significance of the Golden Path. Siona, likewise, only saw a glimpse of the horrors in humanity's past and future As Mursha is still processing this information, along with the flooding of Other Memory from the spice essence, Leto leaves her with a final message: "Find me." Anticipating the Honored Matres' attack, Leto left instructions for the Tleilaxu to hide worms carrying the most important parts of his memory and consciousness on planets of significance to long-forgotten histories across the universe. Mursha must find these worms, reassemble Leto's mind within her own, and restore him to life with his own memories and the Other Memories she carries so they can finally bring the cycle to an end. Thus begins Mursha's journey to discover the history of Earth, the Thirteen Colonies, Kobol, and the Cycle of Time that doomed them all, and her task of preventing that cycle from dooming humanity once more and forever.
The main journey, antagonists, conflicts, revelations, and development: The main plot will revolve around Mursha's journey through the universe to find Leto's hidden pearls, rebuild his mind, and learn the history of locations such as Old Earth, the Thirteen Colonies, Kobol, and others. As she does so, Leto will become more and more of an active character with whom Mursha can converse in her mind. Mursha will be assisted in secret by the Tleilaxu, eager to carry out the will of their Prophet. She will be hunted down by the New Sisterhood, who believe her to have gone rogue, like the Lady Jessica, and want to prevent her from spreading chaos through the universe and potentially challenging their rule. They are also concerned that, since Mursha did not complete her training before her exposure to the spice essence, she has become too consumed - even possessed - by a personality within Other Memory, which they know could have disastrous consequences as it did for St. Alia. The "Angels" (e.g., Head Six and Head Gaius from BSG) will also be major antagonists trying to manipulate events towards the continuation of the Cycle of Time. For example, it's revealed that they are influencing the Ixians to defy the Butlerian Jihad, and have brought them to the brink of bringing forth artificial life once again. This will progress throughout the story, with Thinking Machines increasingly and rapidly evolving as a threat to the Known Universe and to Mursha herself as she proceeds in her journey.
On Earth, the Butlerian Jihad, and the remnants of the Fleet: Mursha travels to Old Earth fairly early in the story, where she learns key information on the Butlerian Jihad. Namely, the leader(s) of the Butlerians learned of the cyclical nature of time and came close to breaking the cycle permanently, but either failed or chose not to. They instead settled for delaying the restart of the cycle, allowing humanity to develop further than it had previously. This was propagated by Leto's "breeding program" and tyrannical suppression of technology: human development needed to progress while technological development stagnated so there could be a chance for humanity to have the upper hand. Mursha also finds the last remaining evidence of the Fleet's arrival on Earth. She learns that all of humanity is descended from Cylons (as Hera is mitochondrial Eve), but the full implications of this are unknown either to her or Leto. Perhaps this allows the Angels greater influence over people's minds or serves their interests (now or throughout history) in other, subtle ways. Mursha concludes, as did Leto during his rule, that the goal of the Angels and whatever god they supposedly serve, and the purpose of the Cycle of Time, is to limit the development of humanity while allowing artificial life to continuously evolve and spread further through the universe with every cycle until all of existence is completely dominated by artificial life, as it seems that some Cylons (or their equivalent) are left to thrive on their own each time humanity starts anew. Human creativity may be needed to create new forms of artificial life in each cycle to contribute to its evolution, but the fact that present humanity is descended partly from Cylons may suggest that the Angels may not be many cycles away from losing their need for humans entirely. Leto learned of all this during his rule and realized that he could not break the Cycle in his lifetime, but he knew he could delay another Cylon war for another few thousand years while humanity continued to develop, and that he could set up a scenario that would allow the breaking of the Cycle in the future. That future is now, or never.
Further revelations: Mursha travels to various other important planets and makes further discoveries about the Cycle and the continuous suffering it brings. One important discovery she makes is about Starbuck. She learns of Starbuck's death, resurrection, and mysterious disappearance. The Starbuck known by the Galactica's crew did indeed die, and the one who came back was a Angel. The Angels saw the person Starbuck would be, the kind of role she would play, and found that this would be useful beyond the cycle in which she appeared. Thus, when the human Starbuck died, her essence was elevated to Angel status. This new Angel Starbuck was a sleeper agent, much like Boomer was a sleeper agent for the Cylons. Also like Boomer, however, the Starbuck Angel was bound to go rogue, and her being was forcefully removed from the corporeal plane at the end of the Colonial Fleet's cycle and isolated in stasis in her own plane - much like the "boxing" performed by the Cylons - to prevent her unwanted influence after that point. Another minor revelation is that the Aboriginal people found on Earth at the end of that cycle were an offshoot of the civilization that existed prior to the age of the Lords of Kobol, and their existence offers hope that humanity is not entirely within the Angels' grasp and that escape is possible.
Big, mid-story conflict - the Scattering: Somewhere in the middle of the story, the Angels appear to Mursha and attempt to dissuade her from her mission by revealing key truths about the Scattering. While general knowledge was that spreading humanity throughout the universe was a failsafe to ensure their survival if the Known Universe became no longer viable, this was not the whole story. The Angels explain that the Scattering resulted in a multitude of iterations of the Cycle running at once throughout the universe, each in its own stage and its own version of the Cylon-human conflict. Instead of stopping humanity's eternal struggle and suffering, Leto II multiplied it innumerably, and he did so with full knowledge of the consequences. This shakes Mursha's faith in Leto and his Golden Path. She questions if Leto's true motive was ever to free humanity from the suffering of eternal conflict, and if so, how he could intentionally doom so many millions of people to that fate. While the Leto within Murhsa's mind at this point has been assembled enough to converse with her and to know that what the Angels say is true, he has insufficient memory to defend his decisions regarding the Scattering and begins to even doubt himself. After much conflict and deliberation, Mursha decides that the only way to know for sure why the Scattering happened is to restore Leto's memory of that decision, but not before she trains herself, preparing to isolate Leto's personality from the rest of her mind, safeguarding her against his influence in case his intentions are truly sinister. Eventually, Mursha does find the Pearl containing Leto's memory of the Scattering. Leto explains that multiplying the Cycle in this way was a necessary step in the Golden Path because it forces the Angels to drastically increase their presence in the corporeal plane. This brings the corporeal plane and the higher plane of the Angels closer together than they've ever been, facilitating mortals' access to that higher plane, which will be essential to completing the mission. Plans within plans. Mursha is still unconvinced that any end could justify such a heavy cost. Leto insists on the necessity and urgency of the mission, reminding her that the Angels' interest in preserving any form of humanity may be coming to an end. Leto is also semi-aware of another reason why the mission must be completed now, but he still does not have enough of himself back to explain it. However, Mursha investigates the cycles occurring in the Scattering on her own and discovers the reason behind the urgency for herself: the Angels are making efforts to influence the many conflicts occurring in the universe to fall completely in favor of the artificial life forms, effectively culling humanity in the Scattering. If they are successful, it will set the stage for a new Cylon war to begin in the Known Universe that will once again bring humanity to near-extinction, exile, and a technological reset. All of humanity's progress since the Butlerian Jihad will be lost, the Angels will have more control over humanity's fate than they have in hundreds of thousands of years, and therefore humanity may never be allowed to develop to a level this advanced again or ever have an opportunity to be free of the Angels' influence. Mursha feels the full gravity of what is at stake and resumes her efforts toward the completion of the Golden Path, but her relationship with Leto is now permanently scarred.
The revival of the God Emperor Leto II: One of the major events in the story will be the restoration of Leto II to corporeal form. Long ago, relatively early in Leto II's rule when he was still largely human and not yet the last sandworm in the universe, the Tleilaxu were given a sample of his cells and those of an ancestral, unmodified sandworm, which they kept in nullentropy for thousands of years. In the years preceding the inciting incident of this story, they finally made use of these cells, growing a new body into which their Prophet could reincarnate. They knew he would still require worm physiology to fully access his abilities, but it would be a more perfect fusion this time around. The body has the shape of a fully developed, fully functional adult human, but with worm aspects. The skin is scaly and segmented, the gut is a highly compact and highly efficient spice factory, the mouth is filled with the fangs of Shai-Hulud (or Shaitan), and it is still very much intolerant to moisture. A truly horrifying visage. When it comes time to restore Leto and she finds his mindless body in its life support tank, Mursha has her reservations, but she knows that she is committed at this point to seeing the Golden Path through. She shares with the body, pouring Leto's personality and memories into it, along with the countless generations of ancestral memory she carries. The body awakens, at first behaving as a feral beast. It takes all of Mursha's talent and training to subdue Leto without killing him and without herself being killed. When the threat is neutralized, Mursha realizes that she can no longer hear the voice of Leto within her mind. The corporeal Leto II eventually comes to his senses, aware of who he is and why he was brought back. His mind is occupied, however, by the tragic final moments of his previous life. He is stricken with sorrow at the loss of his precious Hwi Noree. It seems the Ixians did indeed do too good of a job in creating her - even in death, she distracts Leto from his Golden Path. He realizes that with his now more human figure, he has a second chance at loving her, perhaps even more completely than he could have during his reign. The temptation is too great, and it consumes Leto. He orders his Tleilaxu followers to get to work recreating his gentle Hwi, committing all their attention and resources to the endeavor. He figures, if their technology could have created her once, it can do so again. Mursha cannot bring Leto out of this obsession on her own. She seeks the help of the Duncan Idaho ghola who escaped into the Scattering. Mursha implores Duncan to help her in convincing Leto to resume and complete the Golden Path. Duncan does not have the full level of awareness of the Cycle of Time achieved by Leto II, as no human could, but the memories of his countless lives in Leto's service grant him some insight into the importance of the Golden Path (as reluctant as he would be to admit it). As resentful as Duncan is towards Leto and as much as he loathes the idea of serving him in any capacity again, he ultimately agrees to help Mursha, partly because he knows what's at stake is greater than any conflict between two individuals - even if that conflict happened to span millennia - but also because he still feels that deeply-ingrained eternal debt and loyalty to the Atreides, despite everything. Duncan confronts Leto, at first attempting to appeal to their history together and to Leto's own convictions and sacrifices leading up to this point. For everything the Tyrant put humanity through, especially Duncan himself, he owes it to all of them to see this mission through. It's not enough, and the conflict turns physical. Duncan is old now, at an age not many Duncans could achieve before they died in the service of - or frequently at the hands of - the God Emperor. He is still one of the greatest fighters in the universe and blessed with the Tleilaxu's enhancements to his physiology, but even at his prime, it likely would not have been enough against Leto's monstrous form. Duncan has no hope of subduing Leto physically, but the key equipment dedicated to the attempted recreation of Hwi is destroyed in the battle. This leaves Leto distraught and purposeless. Suddenly, divine intervention: a small ship lands outside the facility. A Viper. Starbuck's Viper. Kara Thrace emerges from the ship and confronts Leto. She addresses him with her characteristic snark - she's the same old insubordinate Starbuck at heart. She gives him the closure he needs to bring himself back to the mission: "You think you're the only person to have someone they love taken from them? How do you think I felt when I lost Zak or Sam, or when they tore me away from Lee? And you know what makes it even worse? When all was said and done, I was kept away from them, stuck in my own frakked-up little box for longer than anyone could ever imagine. But guess what? You're lucky. The real Leto, the only part of Leto that really matters, is already spending eternity with his wife up there. You planned all of this out knowing that that wouldn't be in the cards for this new 'you.' But you get to do something nobody ever managed to do before and, if you're lucky, live a new, really free life when you're done. Not a lot of people get any sort of second chance, and definitely not one like this. So, are you gonna cash in your jackpot, or are you gonna fold and waste the whole pool of bets that were raised up until now?" Comforted by the thought that his counterpart's soul is united with Hwi's, Leto finally resolves to play his intended role in the Golden Path, rapidly nearing its conclusion.
Climax, final revelations, and resolution: The time has come to finish what Leto II started. The final step is to confront the being the Angels call god personally, which requires ascending the mind to a plane never before achieved by any human, at least none who survived it with their mind intact. Certain Cylons - the Twos (Leoben) - as well as Hybrids and some mentats brushed up against this plane and fell into different degrees of madness. Leto and Mursha only have a chance to succeed in this because of Leto's worm physiology and Mursha's powerful blend of genetics, and their minds can only find their way to the proper destination with the guidance of a Angel (Stabuck). A linkage between the feminine and the masculine is also needed for the stability of the psyche within this plane. Leto links his mind with Mursha's and floods both of their brains with pure spice essence. It's a spice agony like no other, but they make it. They see the face of God in all its indescribable beauty and horror. It takes all they have to remain sane, but Mursha and Leto manage to confront God, whom they still believe to be the god of the Cylons specifically. God assures them that he is not only the god of the Cylons but the one and only God, who loves all of his children. This infuriates Leto, who questions how he could subject those he loves to an eternity of suffering and stagnation. While God is of course loath to have His will questioned by one of his children, he reasons that this particular child has managed to advance further than any before and deserves some reward for his efforts. He explains to Leto that the alternative is unspeakably worse. When Leto asks how anything could possibly be worse, God gives him and Mursha a glimpse of the horror that awaits the universe if the Cycle of Time is broken. This existential, metaphysical horror is beyond comprehension, but clearly a very real threat. Leto is shaken to his core. This revelation is enough to convince him to throw away thousands of years of work and the greatest sacrifices ever made. Mursha is not so convinced, still believing humanity's freedom is paramount and confident that this horror can be conquered if humanity is free to develop sufficiently to face it. However, Leto's lack of resolve begins to drag both of them back down to the corporeal plane. Just before Mursha loses her connection completely, though, Duncan takes Leto's spice essence by force and stabilizes Mursha's connection to the higher plane. By their combined willpower, along with that of Starbuck, they sever the Angels' connection to the corporeal plane, ensuring that humanity's destiny is forever its own to determine. The future has been opened. It is now an open question whether the universe will survive the consequences of this action.
