The God Emperor, Leto Atreides II is more than just a necessary tyrant; he is a guide, humanity’s greatest guide, and a teacher. With the summation of all his ancestral memories to draw from, his understanding of the evolution of human societies and the cyclical patterns of eras is held as second to none. In order to ensure the survival of humankind, Leto had set the imperium and all of humanity, on what he referred to as the Golden Path. Throughout his 3.5 millennia rule, he was able to carefully manipulate all facets of civilization, from technology, to genetics, to economics, religion, and military power.

This power, and assumed godhood, required a deep sacrifice, one that even his father, the great Paul Muadib, shied away from. To save and preserve humanity, Leto would have to relinquish his own humanity; watch it erode over thousands of years. The metamorphosis that Leto began in Children of Dune has progressed significantly. His body is now a grotesque bulk resembling the giant sandworms of old; only his cold hard face, along with appendages that were once his arms remain in any semblance of his old personhood.

Arrakis, now known simply as Rakis, has lost its deserts, and with it, the mighty sand worms. Only the God Emperor’s lonely Sareer remains as a small isolated and contained reminder. With a monopoly on the limited spice stores, Leto has brought the universe to its knees. The old houses of the landsraad have diminished, only the religious sisterhood, the technocratic Ixians, and the genetic engineers of the Bene Tleilax remain potent forces of the imperium, conspiring to subvert the wise and all-prescient Leto.