Peering through the Mirror: How might House Richese function in game?

[FDR'sThinkTank]

House Richese is known for it's machines... but mostly that they aren't as good as Ixian Machines. Actually, House Richese shares roots with Ix if you go back to the Butlerian Jihad. However, where Ix continued to sneer at and flaunt the Great Conventions in regards to machines, always pushing the limits, House Richese took a different path. House Richese focuses predominantly on Miniaturization. This and their No-chamber/No-ship Technology was achieved using the Richesian Mirror. Technically, at the time frame of this game, the secret labs on the artificial moon Kronos have already been destroyed by the Pashida Emperor Corrino during his short lived "Great Spice War". Count Ilban Richese had his eyes burned out by the atomic J-rays from the Stoneburner that shattered his families greatest economic power. It's only after Paul seizes control of the Empire that it's revealed it was a ruse. House Richese retained their Richesian Mirror and all the secrets, selling their microchips on the black market for years as "lost Richesian Mirror Chips" which kept them nearly as valuable as Spice.

We don't know what the Richesian Mirror exactly is. It's never revealed, as Paul basically agrees to keep it a secret in exchange certain promises of limited use and for blueprints of the No-Chamber/Noship Technology... to be held in Trust until both Paul and Ilban Richese are dead. I suspect that because Electrafluid was manufactured on the Richese Homeworld that the Richesian Mirror may be a surviving Cogitor or Cymek who created the No-Chamber to avoid the Prescient abilities Humanity was developing. It's probably not important in this game, since such a thing could never be openly admitted to the empire.

House Richese's Finances, on the surface, have suffered in the economic battle with Earl Vernius of Ix, because their machines simply aren't as good. Much of this is attributed to Count Ilban Richese simply being more interested in spending time with his family than running his business. He has 6 Daughters and 4 Sons... so you can imagine how much time that takes up.

So... what does this mean in game?

~Noships: House Richese doesn't bother with the Spacing Guild because their own transports are reliable enough they can save a pretty penny doing it themselves. This would probably mean Richese has a Recycling Plant and or a Manufacturing plant that creates the parts they need for Air Power.
~Richesian Mirror: Perhaps House Richese can, with enough Hedgemony, spend authority to do an imperial inspection and copy the parallel researched technology of another faction to gain their special benefits on top of what the tech normally grants them. This would probably be limited to once per faction or once per game... but it makes a nice little flex in the way that House Vernius of Ix can use Obstufucate to counter it.
~Military Hardware Miniaturization: I would like to see the Richesian Armory be more robust than other factions. Individually, the upgrades aren't as powerful as other factions, but House Richese Units have more unlockable slots on each unit than other factions. This also stacks with nicely Richesian Mirror, since Military Developments often have Armory Unlocks in different places. You can get other factions extra Armory slot, basically, but use your own Armory to fill it. Upgrades would probably be stackable (Multiple of the same upgrade) unlike other factions, giving a variety of potential builds.
~ For councillors/Heros- It would be neat if Tenu Chobyn somehow survived, but at the time of this game, he has been dead for years. There really isn't much room anyway, since Count Ilban Richese spends so much time with his family. They are probably his closest advisors as a result.
a.) Wedding Planner- I know less about his children, but I expect there is probably one that loves Royal Weddings and could give House Richese some sort of Diplomatic Benefit. In this regard, perhaps House Richese could propose an Alliance with another faction, which links them for the match unless someone does a special assassination plot to destroy the alliance? Perhaps this would just leave people asking why they can't have alliances with all factions... Have more kids and you could!
b.) Orange-Catholic Zealot- We know Duke Leto's mother was from House Richese. Helena Atreides (Richese) was fanatical about her faith. While she is gone by the time of this game, she may not be the only Richese who really believes their technology is holy and follows the rules, where others break the rules. Perhaps they would have some sort of counteracting benefit when other factions lose Lansraad standing... gaining authority?
c.) Technology Wunderkind - This could tie in further to the Miniaturization I mentioned before, allowing enhancement of Richese Troops. It certainly makes sense that at least one of the family would be interested in the family business. This might be a Hero Choice.
d.) Merchant Master - House Richese machines might not be as popular with the Great Houses, but the Minor Houses certainly appreciate them for their cost effectiveness. It would stand to reason that at least one of House Richese young Royals has a knack for balancing and laundering their sales to Minor Houses with sales on the Black Market of their "Richesian Mirrors".
e.) Nosuit - The Ultimate in Counterintelligence, I have to wonder if Richese ever combined the No-Chamber with their Miniaturization. Even if it was a quirky prototype, it would make for an interesting Hero Unit. Perhaps they use Hunter Seeker Drones to attack? To be fair, without taking the Prescience Stealth tech to this level, a stealth unit with Hunter Seeker's would still be pretty cool for combat. Maybe Nosuit is just a nickname, not something they achieved with the technology.
f.) Illegal Spice storage - With a big family, they must have a big appetite for spice, even if it's only for longevity. They have a reputation for spice hoarding, which got then into trouble in the first place (albeit vastly exaggerated...) so it wouldn't be surprising if House Richese has some tricks up their sleeves when it comes to keeping the stuff.

These are just a few ideas... Thinks we could see for House Richese, if it get's a faction.

What would you all like to see for House Richese?

[omnius]

Someone else already made this suggestion in an earlier thread and it's a good one since House Richese actually ran the spice operations before the Harkonnens. The big question is whether or not the developer is going to add another DLC and family.

[IonizedMercury]

House Richese is thematically too close to IX, after all their one defining trait is that their machines are second-best.

I'd rather include Ginaz, Moritani or heck, even Torvald from Dune Imperium.

[FDR'sThinkTank]

Yes, this suggestion had been made, but there isn't any major threads dedicated to this House. It's mostly under other threads where it's more of a general question of what Houses are possible. It didn't really go into detail about what is possible.

I think I've done a pretty good job of making the case for House Richese and multiple defining traits about them which definitely set them apart from House Vernius of ix.

However, I would love to see Ginaz, Moritani, or Thorvald. A dedicated thread to each of those isn't a bad idea. Especially if you have suggestions or ideas for mechanics specific to each of those houses that you'd like to see in game.

House Ginaz is a tricky one, since Whitmore Bludd at Ecaz and Duncan Idaho with Atreides tend to suggest Moritani has already humilated the Swordmasters and largely eradicated their influence and power. However, if, for whatever reason, it's determined those events haven't occurred the same way, I think Ginaz could have some really cool features. If House Ginaz is still whole, there are so many other doors that open as well. House Pardee, for one.

House Moritani could get extra benefits for treachery... but they might need to build in some counter balancing mechanism that makes treaties with him more appealing. Perhaps an "Enemy of my Enemy" Truce discount? There's also the matter of Atomics: it's kinda hard to build that aspect of the game up, since Atomics are a last resort. You can always build "Downward" which is to say Moritani could be how they introduce Stoneburners into the game. I'm hoping Wolfram Moritani is still alive for all this. Otherwise, Hundro Moritani is really just too suicidal to bother with winning. It's meaningless to him.

For House Thorvald, I saw someone suggest Northgard references get build in... a neat opportunity for Shiro Games.

[IonizedMercury]

You mention Noships which, again, I need to remind you are an invention from tens of thousands of years in the future from when the game takes place. The game already fudges the timeline somewhat by having House Vernius still in control of IX, but for me that's too much of a jump and if you go like this you might as well have the Honored Matres as a faction.

[FDR'sThinkTank]

Originally posted by IonizedMercury:

You mention Noships which, again, I need to remind you are an invention from tens of thousands of years in the future from when the game takes place. The game already fudges the timeline somewhat by having House Vernius still in control of IX, but for me that's too much of a jump and if you go like this you might as well have the Honored Matres as a faction.

They are not. House Richese invented them, at least officially, in 10156 AG. If you read the books, Harkonnen is lead to believe that they killed the Richesean Scientist who built the Noship they used to frame Leto Atreides. For reference, Paul arrives on Dune in 10191 AG. Noships were a SECRET technology. Many factions had SECRET technologies that they did NOT share with outsiders. If you are talking about EVERYONE having Noships, you are correct, that won't happen until the Scattering.

However, once Paul ascends to the throne, he uses his Prescience to spy on the Great Houses to see who will oppose his rule, his Golden Path, and methodically eliminates them. There is one House that has a Room he cannot see into... and that's House Richese. When he confronts them on this, they immediately admit they had never lost their Richesean Mirror, the No-Chamber, OR the Noship technology. Paul agrees not to look in their No-Chamber on the promise they won't share this technology, they won't ever build one that can house more than 5 people, and that they give him copies of the Blueprints for No-Chambers and Noships to be held in a trust until after both he and Count Ilban Richese are dead.

I think your confusion stems from the fact that MOST Houses rely on the Spacing Guild to do all transport for them. The Spacing Guild holds a practical monopoly on Space Travel, not an absolute one. This is because while anyone can operate a Space Folding ship, even at 99% accuracy, the losses are too great when compared to simply using the Spacing Guild which has 100% Safety and Guarantee of delivery. I believe most Houses are capable of building their own Space Folding Ships with at least 80% accuracy, but only the Spacing Guild has Navigators. This means that if Richese refused to use the Spacing Guild, on top of all the faking how inferior their goods were... people just believed the House had fallen on hard times. What they were really doing was selling "Lost" Richesean Mirror chips on the black market: the demand was driven to the point where they were nearly as precious as Spice. They couldn't do that business through the Guild or they would have been discovered and the jealousy over that wealth would have drawn conflict. It's not a leap to say they were making secret deliveries by Noships. Their business partners would be lead to believe they were dealing with Faufreluche Renegades who risked Space Travel without a Navigator... NOT a House of the Lansraad, nevermind a GREAT House.

The PRIMARY factor here would be that they never used Noships in COMBAT in order to maintain the secrecy of this technology. Even the one ship the Harkonnen had purchased was destroyed by the Bene Gesserit. With Tenu Chobyn already dead at the hands of Glossu Rabban... only his old research was left. House Richese made it appear lost at the start of the Great Spice War. The Sardaukar hit the artificial Moon, Korona, with a Stoneburner. With the secret labs destroyed, it was easy to mimic a fall from fortune.

And as far as House Vernius being in charge of Planet Ix, that was exactly the case when Paul ascended to the throne in Dune. Where in the timeline do you think we are? Before Paul was born? Duke Leto invaded Ix and expelled the Tlielaxu, reinstating Earl Rhombus Vernius in 10175 AG. This is the same year Paul Atreides, Bronso Vernius, and Wolfram Moritani are born. Paul and Bronso are already in the game. I don't know what the official statement about the "current" year... but that has to mean something, right?

[IonizedMercury]

Bleh, is that from the Brian Herbert novels? Because if so I feel vindicated again for having skipped them as this seriously breaks the lore and practcally invalidates the entire plan of Leto II.

[FDR'sThinkTank]

The Scattering relied on Noships, ensuring that the people who left could be assured that even without a Navigator, they wouldn't die because of where they Spacefolded. It had to be practically 100% safety for long distance travel, because 99% after 100 jumps means you're on borrowed time. The Scattering didn't rely on Guild Navigators. At that rate, it doesn't matter how many colonists you send out, they will all die before they even have a chance to fight for survival. The alternative, which was the older FTL Drives from before the Butlerian Jihad wasn't practical because the Empire was already at a size where those ships would take hundreds of years to cross it. Spacefolding was required and the Spacing Guild was the bottleneck Duke Leto II needed to break away from.

Now, you could say that Duke Leto II predicted the invention of Noships... but the very nature of Noships prevented that. So how did he even have a Golden Path unless the technology was already in his hands? When Duke Leto II revealed the Noship Technology, he wasn't very well going to tell the people that his father had secured it from House Richese long ago. That would have just created new problems.

Simply HAVING the Noship Technology doesn't invalidate the plan because Duke Leto II was really just ensuring that people used it to FLEE the Empire, rather than greedily fight over what remained. He had to make people desperate for freedom and to view the Empire as more trouble than it was worth. If Paul had simply started to manufacture the Noships as soon as he could, those ships wouldn't have been used for colonization, they would have been used for WAR.

[omnius]

A scientist from House Richese actually first discovered the no-field tech and then sold it to the Harkonnens before the original Dune story timeframe, in one of the prequeal novels written by Frank's son Brian and Kevin Anderson. Of course the Harkonnens had to kill the scientist to keep their secret but then couldn't replicate the tech.