Editing Bene Gesserit (section)

=== Avoiding direct power ===
The Bene Gesserit choose to use indirect methodologies to further their goals, rather than wield overt power themselves. They have noted the [[Taoist]] principle that whatever rises must fall; and so rather than taking direct control of the human race, they instead manipulate the social and political order with subtlety and insinuation, often using extraordinarily long-term stratagems spanning generations. The Bene Gesserit avoid appearing too rich or powerful, or revealing the extent of their powers, to prevent being seen as overtly responsible for the rise and fall of governments and empires, and to avoid any organized backlash. To this end, the Bene Gesserit provide some of their trained initiates as wives and concubines, and will train the daughters of noble families for a fee.<ref name="Dune"/><ref name="God Emperor fee"/>

In ''Dune'', [[Padishah Emperor]] of the known universe [[Shaddam IV]] keeps the wise but calculating Bene Gesserit Truthsayer [[Gaius Helen Mohiam|Mohiam]] by his side at all times. The Emperor's deceased wife, [[Anirul]], had been a "Bene Gesserit of Hidden Rank", and Herbert notes that every one of their five daughters is Bene Gesserit-trained.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |url=https://archive.org/details/dune0000herb |url-access=registration |chapter=Appendix IV: The Almanak en-Ashraf (Selected Excerpts of the Noble Houses): Shaddam IV |year=1965 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |url=https://archive.org/details/dune0000herb |url-access=registration |year=1965 }}</ref> In fact, Shaddam is kept without a male heir on specific orders from the Sisterhood, and is bound by an agreement that only a daughter will ascend his throne.<ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |url=https://archive.org/details/dune0000herb |url-access=registration |year=1965 |chapter=''In My Father's House'' ([[Epigraph (literature)|Epigraph]], Princess Irulan)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=Dune |url=https://archive.org/details/dune0000herb |url-access=registration |year=1965 |chapter=''In My Father's House'' (Epigraph, Princess Irulan)}}</ref> The Bene Gesserit had also placed their acolyte Jessica (herself the product of a secret Bene Gesserit liaison with the Baron Harkonnen) as the concubine to Duke Leto Atreides, and married the Bene Gesserit [[Margot Fenring|Margot]] to Shaddam's close friend and minion [[Count Fenring]].<ref name="Dune"/> After Shaddam's eldest daughter [[Princess Irulan]] is forced into marriage to Paul to secure his claim to the Imperial throne, in ''Children of Dune'' Irulan's loyalty to the Sisterhood gives them false hope that she can help them topple Paul, or at least control his offspring. Later in ''God Emperor of Dune'', Herbert establishes that despite Leto's many restrictions on them, the Bene Gesserit still train young noblewomen for a price.<ref name="God Emperor fee"/> In fact, when Leto meets [[Hwi Noree]], the [[Ix (Dune)|Ixian]] ambassador obviously bred and trained to charm him, he realizes "that part of her education had been conducted by the Bene Gesserit. She had their way of controlling her responses, of sensing the undertones in a conversation. He could see, however, that the Bene Gesserit overlay had been a delicate thing, never penetrating the basic sweetness of her nature."<ref name="God Emperor">{{cite book |last=Herbert |first=Frank |title=God Emperor of Dune |year=1981 }}</ref>