Duke Leto Atreides hasn't always enjoyed such popularity as he has after retaking Ix from the Bene Tleilax. House Harkonnen's enmity toward the Atreides eclipsed all others, so much so that one would forget that a House on such a swift rise would have had many enemies besides its most well-known archnemesis. Many attempts were made to remove this pesky rival from the board, one of which almost succeeded; and while the Duke escaped unscathed, it was not the case for all...
Here lies a mystery: among the wounded figured Rhombur Vernius, who went on to reclaim the Ixian throne with the Duke's help. He died a decade later, with his secrets kept close and with no ears to collect them, aside from his own son… who now has gone missing. On Arrakis, of all places. Bronso Vernius could be dead, but I doubt it; as does the Bene Tleilax, who seems to have developed a peculiar interest in the man. For one of Rhombur’s secrets I now know: he could not conceive. But no one knows where the child came from…