Character Base

• Character Name: Paul Atreides
• Age: 16 (according to the film script)
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: Dune (2021, September 15th in non-HBO Max receiving countries/October 21st full release)/End of film, after his duel and heading into the desert with the Fremen (If permitted, I would like to use some book canon where it doesn't contradict film canon to fill in some background information, like historical names and setting details referenced but not named in the film)
• Items Coming Along:
1. House Atreides ducal signet ring
2. Bull and matador statuette
3. Orange Catholic Bible, filament paper book
4. Wrist holstered blade
5. Personal shield generator
• Content Warnings for Character: Parental death, drug use, religious extremism, colonial oppression, violence, eugenics

Character Background

• History: Paul Atreides at the Dune wiki

• Core Relationships:

Lady Jessica: Mother, teacher, betrayer. Paul loves his mother deeply, but their relationship is shaped by their roles in the grander scheme of the universe. She is his mother, who loves him, guides him, and cares for him. She is also his teacher in the secrets of her ancient sisterhood, the Bene Gesserit, disciplined and relentless. There was always an anxiety in his mother when it came to him that Paul didn't understand, until he discovered the secret transgression of his birth and the gamble his mother had made with his life by choosing to bear a son with the potential to be the Bene Gesserit chosen one. Paul is going through something very human in this relationship: the realization that your parent is flawed and capable of failing you. But he still loves her, and he would do almost anything for her...but he doesn't trust her like he once did.

Duke Leto Atreides: Father, deceased. Paul idolized his father, who in turn doted on his son. The largest source of tension in their relationship was Paul's anxiety that he wasn't living up to what his father needed him to be, even though Leto reassured him otherwise before they left Caladan. Duke Leto had an unconditional positive regard for Paul and Paul basked in it whenever he had the opportunity, although the requirement of dukedom meant their time together was often limited and their public behavior had to be formal. Leto's death has devastated Paul, and left him at a loss for how to find his way through his grief. Paul so far simply isn't, focusing into the fuel for his revenge instead.

Duncan Idaho: Teacher, deceased. Duncan Idaho was one of Paul's martial teachers on Caladan and later his liege-man on Arrakis. Of all of his teachers, Duncan was the warmest with Paul, treating him more like a younger friend than his future duke. Paul admired Duncan and wanted, if not to emulate him, to at least have his approval--as seen in the scene where Duncan teases Paul about his dreams and his budding muscles (or lack thereof) to Paul's embarrassment. After Duke Leto's death, Duncan was the one to find Paul and his mother in the desert, and the first to call Paul 'Duke'--but before Paul had the chance to adjust to this, he watched Duncan sacrifice himself to save him and his mother again. Paul blames himself for this, because the dreams Duncan teased him about were the visions of his death that Paul couldn't convince Duncan to accept. (Or, more likely, Duncan accepted that dying in service to House Atreides was a risk he took on as a soldier, but Paul doesn't see it that way.)

Gurney Halleck: Teacher, missing. Gurney was another of Paul's teachers, although less so than Duncan Idaho. Paul liked to tease Gurney for his seriousness, but still respected him immensely and listened to his guidance. It was Gurney who instilled much of Paul's caginess in him, insistent the ducal heir always be prepared for any threat at any moment. If Paul could have seen him again, he would tell him he was right, but as far as Paul knows Gurney is another victim of the Harkonnens. It's impossible for him to imagine Gurney letting himself be taken alive.

Thufir Hawat: Teacher, missing. Thufir Hawat was Duke Leto's Mentat and Master of Assassins, which in practice placed him in charge of House Atreides' security. This extended to the training of Paul, who Thufir educated in spycraft and espionage as well as certain mental techniques to improve his mind's acuity. Despite this grim undertaking, Paul and Thufir's relationship was more like a fond great-uncle and his great-nephew, obvious affection shown openly between them. Paul assumes, or perhaps more hopes, that Thufir is dead, as he doesn't want to imagine what the Harkonnens would do with the Atreides spymaster.

Dr. Wellington Yueh: Household doctor, missing. As a Suk School trained household physician, Dr. Yueh was implicitly trusted by the entire family and allowed to observe some of their most private moments, such as when he assessed Paul's health before the gom jabbar test. Paul believed Dr. Yueh was wholly loyal to them, and so his betrayal (drugging Paul and Jessica, allowing the Harkonnens access to Arrakeen) would have impacted him more if not for the fact the realization of it came in the midst of a cascading wave of tragedies and struggles. In time, he will have to process this.

Chani: Girl of his dreams, literally. Paul had been having dreams of a blue-eyed girl since shortly before he left Caladan: her standing by his side in a holy war, her carrying the bloodied blade, her kissing him in a cool and dark niche in the desert. When he finally met her, she told him she would have stabbed him in the back and that he was going to die, and then gave him a knife. Paul grew up in a society with twisted norms for courtship, but even he thinks his first crush may be a little unusual.

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen: Nemesis. Paul has never actually met Baron Harkonnen in person, knowing him only from the marks he has left on Paul's life in betrayal and death. Paul would stop at nothing to see the Baron ruined and destroyed, even if he can't see the path to that end yet.

Character Personality Through Key Moments

Positive Experiences:

• Paul is perceptive and thoughtful, something that shows in almost every action he takes and decision he makes. Prime examples of this include his intent absorption of his father's plans for Arrakis and Gurney's warnings about the Harkonnens on Caladan, and then later his explorations of the people and places of Arrakis in his role as the duke's son learning at his father's side. He uses this observation to understand and control situations, choosing his moment to act carefully, as seen when he uses what he's learned of the Fremen to assist in the diplomatic meeting with Stilgar. He also synthesizes information well, using what he has learned of Arrakis and extrapolating from what he knows to survive in the desert with Jessica--the proper use of the sand compactor as demonstrated by Duncan, his knowledge of sand worm behavior, and his remembrance of Liet-Kynes' lessons about water conservation.

• With those he trusts, Paul is warm, affectionate, and sometimes playful. He had no qualms about bouncing over to Thufir Hawat when they were reunited on Arrakis to hug the old man, teasing Gurney Halleck in a room of soldiers, and jumping on Duncan Idaho when he returns from the desert. Unlike many people his age, he's easily affectionate with his parents, especially his father (although I believe the earliness of Jessica's 'betrayal' in Paul's eyes influences his apprehension around her in the canon, as in the stilltent after he vision he does accept her comofort after his initial outburst).

• Paul is protective of and concerned for others, highlighted by his choice to catch the hunter-seeker sent to assassinate him instead of allowing it to hone in on and kill the housekeeper Shadout Mapes. Mapes is a no one compared to him, and allowing her to die in his place would have been the 'right' thing to do by all Imperial standards, but Paul intervenes. He also questions the use of water on the date palms in the palace courtyard, suggesting the water be used for the hundred people it could support instead. He also personally assists in the evacuation of the doomed sand crawler despite the risks to himself and the low status of the workers in it, much to his father's dismay. This is partially his own nature and partially his understanding of his role as a noble and future leader of House Atreides: Paul feels rulers have responsibilities to their people. With those he's close to, Paul is even more protective and solicitous, as seen in his care for his mother in the desert and his willingness to kill to protect her in his duel with Jamis.

• Paul is determined and focused. He endured the gom jabbar, a test of the ability to control impulse in the face of extreme pain, showing his force of will and the discipline of his mind. When forced into the desert by the Harkonnen attack, Paul forges on despite the odds stacked against him, using everything he gleaned from his explorations of Arrakis ecology and sociology to survive.

• Paul is open minded, willing to learn from anyone who has something to teach him He adapts to Fremen culture by educating himself on their social norms and respecting their standards of behavior, as seen in his interactions with Stilgar and Liet-Kynes--Paul accepts their judgments of himself and his family as colonial outsiders, seeks to listen to what they have to say, and honors them as leaders and experts. (That said, this only goes so far, as Paul was willing to manipulate Liet-Kynes for his own ends by taking advantage of his knowledge of her culture and beliefs.)

• Social dynamics come easily to Paul, a combination of his father's charisma and his mother's expert diplomacy. Paul adapts to the situation he's in, whether it's falling into easy camaraderie with Gurney and Duncan in the Atreides barracks or imposing such a force of presence that Liet-Kynes felt compelled to assist him, despite the danger of doing so. Paul doesn't think of this as manipulation, but more as an extension of other skills of survival--is it manipulation to navigate a dangerous environment with every tool at your disposal?

Negative Experiences:

• Paul can be sullen and broody in the traditional fashion of teenagers since time immemorial. On Caladan, the morning of House Atreides accepted the Imperial Decree to take possession of Arrakis, he sulked about having to wear full ceremonial dress and his mother's instruction to practice his use of the Voice at breakfast. Later, he was insistent that he be allowed to go to Arrakis with Duncan Idaho, protesting the objections of both Duncan and his father, and when told no he went off to brood via combat practice.

• Growing up as a ducal heir in a feudal society means that Paul is imperious at times. When Gurney comes to train him in combat, he orders a song instead; when the Reverend Mother commands Jessica to leave before the gom jabbar, he is offended at the disrespect to her and their house even from someone as high ranking as the Reverend Mother and Imperial Truthsayer herself. He is used to having and wielding power, for good or bad.

• Tragedies both already occurred and yet to come haunt Paul. His visions of the future and the implications of what he will do to Arrakis and the Fremen, along with the rest of the known universe, trouble him deeply. Even early on Arrakis when the Fremen call him by the name Lisan Al-Gaib (significant to their Bene Gesserit guided faith), Paul is apprehensive of the prospect of masquerading as a false messiah. Once he receives his visions of his holy war in the stilltent after the fall of House Atreides he is horrified, accusing his mother of making him a freak and despairing at the bloodshed he will cause. This is compounded by the traumatic loss of almost everyone he's ever known, including his father, all of whom Paul has yet to have time to mourn.

• The inversion of Paul's force of will is his relentlessness that turns to ruthlessness. Before the confrontation with Jamis, Paul had visions of both the horrifying future his actions were leading him to and Jamis as a friend and mentor, but neither the brutality or hope of his visions were enough to prevent Paul from seeing the fight through to its grim conclusion. His audacious plan to rally the Landsraat and make himself Emperor, beginning with a calculated manipulation of Liet-Kynes where Paul finally knowingly uses the Fremen's religion to achieve his goals, is another example of Paul's sometimes terrifying willingness to do what he believes needs to be done to achieve what he wants.

• At the same time, Paul doubts himself. From telling his father that he isn't sure if he's the future of House Atreides to setting out into the desert with the Fremen, Paul questions himself and his path. The idea he could be a chosen one seems impossible and at the same time, inevitable, and Paul struggles with the revelations from his visions and the events unfolding around him that confirm what everyone around him seems to expect: that he will be their savior, whether it's as the duke of House Atreides or the Kwisatz Haderach or Lisan al-Gaib, and in every path he will spill oceans of innocent blood for his glory. Of everyone, it's perhaps Paul who doubts his destiny as the messiah the most, seeing it as a horror he should escape instead of a glorious achievement to pursue.

• Paul can be cruel. His initial 'teasing' of Gurney Halleck before combat training is dismissive and disrespectful before Paul smartens up, and he lashes out at his mother with blame after his visions in the stilltent. When his temper gets the better of him, he's prone to being more reactive than he usually is, inflicting his inner turmoil on the world.

Deer Country Attributes

• Canon Powers: Precognition: Paul has dreams of the future and experiences precognitive visions in waking hours when exposed to the psychogenic drug spice. At this point in his canon, these visions are outside of his control and vary from direct visions of future events to abstract allegories. These are not visions of things that are sure to happen, but rather an array of possible futures that may or may not come to pass based on actions in the present, and Paul has to figure out how to bring them about. He isn't always able to do this, and even in the cases where he does determine a likely path he may not want to do what it takes to achieve it.

Bene Gesserit Training: Paul was trained from infancy by his mother Jessica in the ways of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. This training has given Paul extensive control over his body's functioning (including processes that are usually outside of conscious control), heightened perception of his environment and of people's emotions and motives, heightened mental processing and retention, and an advanced form of combat training. He's not infallible in any of these areas, essentially an advanced novice.

House Atreides Training: Paul was also trained in the arts of dukedom by the retainers of House Atreides: etiquette, espionage, martial combat, administration, sabotage, philosophy, history, propaganda, and the other tools of statecraft. Paul is a polymath and practiced student.

The Voice: This is also a result of Bene Gesserit training, but merits its own line. Paul can use the vocal/mental skill known as the Voice to command other human beings, but he has yet to master this ability. With sufficient willpower or preparation, it is possible to resist his commands; he also can't consistently achieve the correct register for it to work. The person he is using it on also has to be able to hear him speak clearly.

• Blood Type: Paleblood
• Omen: Desert mouse
• Blessed Day: August 29. This is the date of the Martyrdom of John the Baptist, who is a significant figure in the history of the Orange Catholic religious faith in Paul's canon and one that parallels Paul himself. (August is also the month the original novel was first published!)
• Patron Pthumerian: Mariana. The Patron of fate and the unknown, who else could it be? No matter how much Paul might wish otherwise, she's the Pthumerian whose sphere resonates with him the most, the chaotic turmoil of her being reflecting his own. He will be very interested in learning more about her all the same, fascinated and horrified in equal measure.
• Blood Power Manifestation: I would like to consider Paul's Paleblood and canon abilities as a collective set, with the alteration that they'll be prone to more chaotic manifestations and his waking precognition will be longer be dependent on spice exposure.

Writing Samples

One:

The library in the eastern wing of the Atreides castle had been many other things since the wing was built. A meditative cloister, a sitting room, a studio, anything the duchess of House Atreides might have wished it to be. Tracing the history of a room was one of the games he played with Hawat as a child, spotting the marks of old purposes: here the filled holes for hooks to hold portraits, here the patch of floor polished by bare knees, here the tiny pinprick hole where dart fired at an Atreides ancestor struck a wall instead of a heart.

There was no duchess to use this room now, so the Lady Jessica had claimed it for the temporary storage of her library. Over the years, she'd found more things to store in it: overstuffed chairs, end tables, hanging plants, woven tapestries of old Atreides triumphs, the delicately inked litanies of a dozen philosophical schools preserved on flaking parchment pressed between fixative polymer panes. If a duchess ever did come, it would take days to move all of it safely.

There were a thousand different kinds of rain, according to the folkways of Caladan. The heavy round droplets striking the window were a cold kind, carried low on dark grey clouds, associated with melancholy and contemplation. Paul found it appropriate for the book he was reading, a treatise on funeral rites across the known universe.

"So this is where the young lord Atreides goes to brood." A shadow fell across the page, the voice behind it warm and laughing.

"I'm not brooding, Duncan." Paul turned the page, not looking up. "I'm reading. You should try it some time."

"Ha!" Duncan flopped into a chair across from Paul, reclining comfortably. Paul could see his full military dress pants and polished boots when he looked up ever so slightly from underneath the fringe of his hair. "I leave that to my betters."

"I'm not-" Paul stopped himself before Duncan could, suppressing a sigh. "Did someone send for me?"

"No," Duncan said, cheerfully. "I went looking for you because I knew you'd have found the best place to hide from the ghouls."

"I'm not hiding," Paul said, scornfully.

"You're not doing a lot of things today."

The observation hung between them, neutral and mild. Paul set a mark in the book and put it aside on a lacquered side table whose surface depicted a sea serpent in lapis lazuli and opal, looking out the window at the mist wreathed churning sea and the mountains beyond it.

"If you have something to say, you should say it. Someone told me that once. It's good advice."

"You whelp," Duncan said, smiling, "You'd turn my own words against me? All right. So the young lord Atreides-" the corner of Paul's mouth twitched up at Duncan's exaggerated tone "-isn't brooding, and he isn't hiding. So what are you doing?"

"Like I said. I'm reading."

"Now who's being evasive?"

Another blow against him. Paul knew better than most that Duncan's boisterousness and bravado were the veil for an observant eye that missed nothing. It was why he had risen so far in House Atreides, and a large part of why Paul liked him. It was also, occasionally, very annoying.

"I understand why my father is meeting with the southern landholders," Paul said, watching the dappling of light across the floor, patterned by rain. "If they aren't persuaded to open their stockpiles after this harvest, we'll be putting down food riots in three months. I told him that myself."

His father had smiled at him and squeezed his shoulder when he did, and that was worth as much as some outing on a trinamarin. Paul could go out on a boat whenever he liked, go anywhere on Caladan if he wished and told Hawat to arrange it. Whether he went with one person or another would change little about the experience or where he went, so there was no need to be upset by it.

Paul could see Duncan watching him out of the corner of his eye, leaning over his knees with his hands clasped in front of him. Paul could dismiss him, if he wanted to. Tell him to take his knowing expression and misplaced sympathy elsewhere.

"Paul," Duncan said, softly, "Understanding why something happened, accepting it as the thing that had to happen--it doesn't mean you can't be disappointed by the outcome."

"It would have been a bad day for sailing anyway." Paul shifted slightly in his seat and finally turned to look at Duncan head on, gesturing at the rain outside with a wave of his hand.

"True enough." Duncan leaned back in his chair and stretched lavishly, like some great cat. "By the way, I lied. I was sent to look for you."

"What?" Paul straightened up in alarm.

"You know Pilonius' second daughter? The brunette?" Duncan grinned at him. "Well, she came up to me, and she said, and I quote, 'Oh, Mr. Idaho, I'd be ever so thrilled if you could most cordially invite the young lord Atreides to join me for tea', so of course I said--"

"No," Paul groaned, "Duncan, you didn't."

"I did, and you're going to go have a miserable time entertaining that brat," Duncan forged on, obviously delighted at himself. "Come on, my boy, let's get you changed into something uncomfortable."

"You're a snake," Paul said, rising out of his chair, his traitorous mouth twitching at the corners again.

"Of course I am." Duncan got to his feet and clapped Paul on the shoulder firmly enough that Paul swayed a little, and his hand lingered for a moment, a reassuring thumb pressed firmly into the niche where collarbone met the joint of his arm. "Double time, now. We can't leave the future duchess of House Atreides-"

"Duncan."

"-the future duchess of House Atreides," Duncan repeated, laughing as he steered Paul towards the door, "To sit there, lonely and whining, until Gurney strangles her with the strings of his baliset."

"I should strangle you," Paul muttered.

"The day you can I'll weep tears of pride."

Paul gave up on fighting his smile, rueful as it was. He brushed his hair back from his face as they walked towards his room, pulled back his shoulders. This was going to be dreary and irritating by turns, he was sure, Pilonius' daughter--Alina, he recalled--as pompous as her father and spoiled to boot. But if he played it correctly, she could be an unwitting ally to their cause if she and her father both thought there was a possibility of cozening up to the Atreides heir.

"Thank you, Duncan," he said, quietly.

"Any time," Duncan told him, just as quiet, and Paul found his spirit was lighter all day, even after the insipid pawing he was subjected to at the interminable tea. Duncan's winks over the top of Alina's carefully piled hair kept the whole thing bearable, and he managed to play off his amusement as being charmed by her.

When his father took him aside after dinner to praise him for his effort, Paul really couldn't have cared less about sailing.

Two:

"Stop it," Paul said, one step above subvocal, as his mother tugged the edge of his sleeve to adjust it.

When it's fixed, her fingers flashed behind her back, hidden from the view of others by the folds of her dress and the painted screens raised behind them that shimmered slightly with shielding.

Paul pulled his arm away sharply, folding his hands behind his back and keeping his eyes fixedly forward. He could see the tension rise in his mother's posture, the minute stiffening of her spine, a movement of the throat; and then the mastering of breath, the controlled ebb of dissipated energy.

The Guildsmen continued their inspection of the vessel, unaware of this almost imperceptible conflict. As a matter of custom, the passengers were assembled in the offloading bay, a great throng of soldiers, servants, and everyone in between, intended to prevent calculated concealment of anything that might pose a threat to the Guild. The duke's household was raised above all on a mobile platform, his aides and family a step back while the duke surveyed the proceedings with a grave eye. His father had told Paul it was the type of posturing done more for tradition than reason. Even the great House Atreides had no authority over the Spacing Guild.

Or the Bene Gesserit, Paul thought, his mind turning back to his mother. He formed a fist with his right hand, knowing that his mother would see it and know what he was thinking of. He had seen the guilt in her eyes, before and after, and he wanted her to feel it again. He was rewarded with a shift in the set of her shoulders, the displacement of a clenched jaw into a less obvious stress point.

They hadn't spoken about it after the landing pad. Everyone else had, inquiring directly or subtly about what had happened with the Bene Gesserit witch. Paul had said nothing to anyone except that there had been questions he didn't understand, mostly about philosophy, and the Reverend Mother had seemed satisfied with the answers. It was true enough to serve as a lie. (Even if he wanted to do otherwise, Paul found his mind turning away from the thought, his tongue catching on the words.)

They hadn't spoken about it, but it had also been all they spoke about, in the spaces between words and the way their eyes didn't meet. Avoiding each other was impossible without revealing the rift, and by unvoiced accord neither of them chose that. This was between them and only them, like so many other things.

Not very long ago, Paul thought that meant he and his mother had a bond of trust. Everyone knew Jessica trained Paul, but even his father didn't know how far that training extended, or what it entailed. Paul had cherished the secret, the rapport it gave them - a side of his mother even his father didn't know, one only for him.

He'd been a fool. Worse, he'd been a child.

The Lady Jessica stood still and inaccessible next to him, and Paul wondered if he'd ever known her as well as he believed he did. He tried to ignite the anger he'd felt earlier with that thought, but all that came was a low, unpleasant sickness in the pit of his stomach. He wondered how long they could stand like this, inches apart and completely separate.

Please, she signed, in the style of supplication, and Paul almost turned his head in surprise, halting the movement after it already began. His mother never used that form, even with his father, and in the flicker of his eyes over to her Paul could see the pain held delicately in her stiff neck. To anyone else, it would have looked like nothing. To Paul, she might as well have been on the verge of tears.

Shocked, he opened his hand and let his arms come to his sides again without thought, opening his body language in reassurance, angling himself slightly in her direction without shifting his feet. His mother exhaled, shoulders loosening.

Her fingers brushed against his sleeve again, this time not tugging. Paul was flooded with guilt, in spite of everything. He wanted her to be sorry, but he didn't want her to be hurt. Whatever she'd done, whatever the Bene Gesserit were doing, this was his mother.

Paul let the back of his hand touch her long hanging veil, a light re-conciliatory message that conveyed meaning even without sign: It's all right, mom.

It wasn't. They both knew that. But Paul could see in the way her weight shifted that his mother was less hurt, and that would be enough for now.

They stood together in a closer silence as the work continued, mother and son, their dyad not mended but not so broken either.

The Player

• Player Name: Beth
• Player Age: I am over 18
• Player Contact: Plurk
• Permissions: Here.

Deer Country Application