House Vernius is a fictional noble family from Frank Herbert's Dune novels.

History of the House Vernius

House Vernius is one of the great houses of the Imperium, the feudal interstellar empire that forms the backdrop to the Dune novels. This house is the ruling power on the planet Ix. The main industry on Ix is machines that continuously test the bounds of the precepts set down by the Butlerian Jihad. The rival of House Vernius is House Richese, which also specializes in machinery, but doesn't create controversial machinery. The strongest ally of House Vernius is House Atreides. Their friendship began when the Earl Dominic Vernius and Duke Paulus Atreides fought together in the Ecazi rebellion.

Several decades after the Ecazi rebellion Emperor Elrood IX was coaxed by Tleilaxu Master Researcher Hidar Fen Adjidica to fund research on artificial spice, and House Vernius' homeworld of Ix seemed the perfect location owing to the presence of science pavilions and the substantial income from Guild Heighliner production.

The Tleilaxu were able to create an uprising in the working class; this quickly overwhelmed the complacent Vernius forces. House Vernius went renegade, and the two heirs to the Vernius fief escaped due to a small rescue contingent created by Duke Paulus. Prince Rhombur Vernius sent limited aid to the resistance on Ix, but the presence of the Emperor's Sardaukar made any assistance difficult to render. After both the Earl and his Lady were killed in separate Sardaukar attacks, Earl Rhombur began to show more of an intrest in aiding his people. His sister Kailea became the concubine of Duke Leto Atreides and bore the Duke an heir, Victor. Due to the Duke's strong belief in securing political marriages, the Duke was unable to wed Kailea, and secure her son's place as an heir. An assassination attempt on the Duke devised by Kailea inadvertently killed Victor, and severely injured both Duke Leto and Earl Vernius. Though the Earl survived his body was rendered an almost lifeless lump.

Doctor Wellington Yueh was hired by Duke Leto to give the Earl cybernetic body part replacements. After recovering, the Earl was able to draft a plan for re-taking his lost homeworld, relying upon the Atreides army and the downtrodden Ixians. The Tleilaxu quickly failed in their defense and lost all of their research on the artificial spice. The Earl's Bene Gesserit wife was able to preserve a sperm sample and secure an heir for the recovered House Vernius.

See also

Planet of Ix, Ixians