Description
Giedi Prime is an industrial wasteland with a low photosynthetic potential, the planet's bio-resources depleted and its environment fouled with industrial pollution. Rich in mineral resources, the economy of the planet is based on mining, refineries, and industrial manufacture. In Dune, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his heirs live in the "family city of Harko."
Due to its ravaged environment, Giedi Prime has to import almost all of its food. Society on Giedi Prime has evolved around power and conquest, and the weak rarely survive. Gladiatorial games are a common form of entertainment, particularly for nobility, and vocational combat training from an early age is the norm in all classes of society. Slavery is legal and widely practised, while judicial punishment is usually draconian. Such conditions form the basis for a vast military-industrial complex and an army conditioned by fear, which make House Harkonnen the sole contender for House Atreides — or the throne — in terms of military power.
Following the events of God Emperor of Dune, Giedi Prime is renamed "Gammu" (it is noted in Heretics of Dune that Gurney Halleck had been responsible for the renaming) and has drastically changed. Its main city is renamed "Ysai" and is oppressed by a massive building complex referred to as either "The Keep" or "Barony" (formerly "Harkonnen Keep"), one of the few remaining buildings from the Harkonnens (apart from a secret no-chamber). The efforts of various new settlers have slowly improved conditions, though the cities remain dreary and overcrowded.
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