Weapons in Dune: Adventures in the Imperium

Shields make most ranged weapons useless, but what about swords?

The Dune universe is anachronistic in its weapons thanks to the Holtzman generator — which much like shields in other sci-fi settings are the “magic” that keep you from getting your ship (or self) blown to smithereens. According the the Dune wiki: “Shields were produced by a Holtzman generator, the field deriving from Phase One of the suspensor-nullification effect. Shields can be calibrated to permit the passage of matter below given speeds. This is vital in personal defense shields, as one would suffocate within a shield that did not admit atmospheric gasses. Depending on the shield's setting, the object's speed while passing through the shield would range from six to nine centimeters per second. A shield could also be set to cover either the left or right side of a person if the specific need for it arose.”

Cool. So could your assassin rig/reprogram a personal shield so that it just suffocated the user?

Okay, not the point… This meant that lasguns — which if used against a shielded target cause a sub-atomic fusion reaction (an atomic blast) that could randomly occur at the shield generator, the laser emitter, or both — while powerful are more likely to end up in a fiery death for everyone in a multi-kilometer radius. (And I wonder — if there are more shielded folks in the area, would an nuclear reaction cause these shields to chain, causing multiple, rapid nuclear blasts in the same area…) Firearms will just see the bullets stop cold or ricochet (which is what I’ve had them doing in our Dune game.) Another point from on-screen (rather than the book) we saw was that hammering a shield hard enough, long enough, does seem to eventually overwhelm it. This was especially true with explosive ordinance against the Atreides ships during the Harkonnen raid. Perhaps enough whacks on a shielded area in rapid succession might do the trick. That would suggest that an auto-fire weapon, if it kept the rounds close enough to point of impact, might eventually overwhelm a shield. Or a succession of explosions close enough to the shielded person; at the very least, it might cause them to be tossed about.

So…blades, and blades that are cutting slow.

Which would seem to imply that fighting styles are going to have to be a lot less hack and slash, and much more a grapple and slow thrust affair. That means the weapons used are going to be very specialized. Gone are the big claymores, bidenhander, jian. They might be useful due to their length in stopping an attacker from getting to you in a fight, but their main use is crushing/slashing/hacking…the personal shield is going to stop that much energy. Other slashing-style weapons, like the katana and broadsword, are similarly going to be at a disadvantage.

Rapiers, panzerstechers, tucks are all thrusting weapons, and stabbing — it would seem — is more likely to be able to get through a shield; but the thrust and retreat tactic still relies on speed. Speed is energy. The shields should stop this handily — and with a thin blade like the rapier, could potentially damage the blade just as if you’d stabbed a wall with force.

Shortswords and long knives, like the kindjal that the Ginaz swordmasters use (see above), would still afford some stand-off capability, blocking or turning attacks, but they would require you to get in tight with the target. However, the curve of the blade in some kindjali would make a slow thrust a bit more tricky. You would probably try and use your weight to control the opponent and get a good, slow push in through the shield. (It looks like, once through — at least in the movies — you can then thrust as hard as you like…) Weapons with a straight blade and good point, like the tuck, Italian stiletto, Sykes-Fairbairn, a navaja, or dirk would seem more useful here than the traditional blades of heavier of say a bowie or “combat-style” like the M-9 bayonet or Gerber Mark II with their angled point. However, a smaller point/blade means more energy in that point of impact…so the shield should more likely stop it, like a bullet. By that logic, the angled point coupled with a slow cut, expanding the area of energy, should be more effective in slicing through the shield, then move to a stab.

The problem of the personal shield has led my wife and daughter, for whom I’m running a Dune campaign, to develop interesting techniques in a fight. Anytime they think there’s the chance of a lasgun with the opposition, the daughter made a point of smacking their shield with their sword or hand to make it shimmer and warn the opposing force, so not everyone in the area gets nuked. She was the one that posited that you would want to grapple (although, again, shields might make this difficult) or use your weight to try and limit the target’s movement before you strike with a slow push, not a fast thrust. (Keep in mind, she’s 13 and hasn’t read the books…this is just the martial artist in her working it out.)

It’s an interesting thought exercise that those with more blade time than me might have a good opinion on. Comments would be welcome.