The Honored Matres make many attacks on Bene Gesserit strongholds throughout the known bounds of the Old Empire. Similarly, the Bene Gesserit hope to decipher their new enemies' motives, and learn enough about the fearsome Matres to defeat them.

The Matres target the Bene Tleilax, and capture and torture as many Bene Gesserit Reverend Mothers as possible to glean their secrets. They do not, however, possess Other Memory or use melange, though their skill as sexual imprinters has surpassed that of the Bene Gesserit. Violent and without mercy, the Matres possess military and sexual skills that seem to indicate to some that they are an outgrowth from or a combination of the Fish Speakers and Bene Gesserit who fled out into the Scattering. Tleilaxu Master Waff notes that they are 'Far more terrible than Reverend Mothers of the Bene Gesserit.' It is ultimately indicated in Chapterhouse Dune that they are fleeing a powerful 'unknown enemy' who had conquered their own massive empire out in the Scattering. The Honored Matres develop during this Scattering in Heretics of Dune, they return to the Old Empire, wreaking havoc and leaving destruction in their wake. Representatives from each major race and order of the Empire spread out beyond the known universe in fleets of no-ships, beginning the journey along Leto II's Golden Path to save mankind from destruction. Storylines Īfter the death of the tyrant Leto II Atreides in God Emperor of Dune (1981), trillions of people of the Old Empire take to the stars in a diaspora known as the Scattering. The sequels are based on Frank Herbert's notes for his planned seventh novel in the series. Anderson that conclude the original series. They also appear in Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), novels by Herbert's son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. The Honored Matres are first introduced in Herbert's Heretics of Dune (1984) and play a continued role in his final Dune novel, Chapterhouse: Dune (1985). For this reason they are often described as 'whores', especially by their enemies, the Bene Gesserit. They are described as an aggressive cult obsessed with power, violence, and sexual domination. The Honored Matres are a fictional matriarchal organization in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. Superior fighting and sexual domination skills

Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert