Sci-Fi Do Want: Dune Spacing Guild Highliner

After our last couple of Sci-Fi Do Wants focusing on a some death dealing pieces of futuristic gadgetry, the last of which saw me pay homage to the awesomeness that is the Chainsword from Warhammer 40k, I thought it would be appropriate to cast my loving gaze on something a bit less destructive.

Back when I started Light Speed Gaming I proclaimed my love for the Dune universe. Much like Warhammer 40k the Dune universe is a fairly bleak place for the most part. Filled with scheming houses of nobility that are all constantly trying to grab as much power as possible using whatever underhand methods that will get the job done.

The Machiavellian plotting is not just a favorite pastime activity of the various noble houses, it is also something that the many other powerful political factions of the universe partake in.
One of these factions is the Spacing Guild. Made up of humans that have been hideously mutated by prolonged exposure to huge amounts of the mystical Dune substance "Spice", they are the only beings that are capable of navigating spaceships safely through folded space, which is the only means of faster than light space travel in the Dune universe.

For these trips through folded space the Spacing Guild use gigantic freighters called "Highlingers". These massive cylindrical transports are over 20 kilometers long and able to hold absolutely enormous amounts of cargo.

The Guild Highliners have a simple and utilitarian quality to them. Which just makes them all the more impressive

"Okay, so it's a big container ship basically, why is that so cool?", you may be asking right now as you shrug your shoulders and roll your eyes, impatiently doodling laser pistols on a post it note while you wait for me to get on with it.

Well, first of all I really like how the Highliners have a simple design that is very clearly function over form. In most science fiction universes we tend to see spaceships that are very elaborately designed to impress the viewers/readers. I find the clean lines of the Highliners to be a refreshing change of pace from the sleek elegance of the Star Trek spaceships or the highly decorated ships of Imperium from Warhammer 40k.

The other thing that I think is so cool about the Highliners is the Navigators from the Spacing Guild that are required to pilot them. These mutated beings need to constantly be completely immersed in Spice gasses and  gradually find their limbs shrinking and withering away as they slowly turn into one giant floating brain of mental power.

Guild Navigators pay a terrible price for their powers. They also have to give up ever wearing hats.

With the entire galaxy being completely dependent on the space traveling monopoly of the Spacing Guild, the Navigators are on the one hand disgusting mutants and tragic victims of their addiction to the substance that empowers them, and on the other hand they are one of most powerful and influential players in the Dune universe, able to destroy any noble house by revoking its right to travel on board its Highliners.

So the Spacing Guild Highliners are not just a practical way of moving incredible volumes of cargo from one planet to another. It is a symbol of the political power of the Spacing Guild. And, much like the Chainsword represented the nature of the Warhammer 40k universe, the Highliner is a perfect example of how everything in Dune is about staying on the good side of the people with power and it also reminds us of the huge importance of the Spice, which is another key element in the Dune universe.

So for being a simple space vessel among a flotilla of over designed constructs. For being piloted by big mutated floating brains in sealed containers. And for epitomizing several of the core aspects of the awesome Dune universe. For these reasons I claim that the Spacing Guild Highliner is worthy of a Sci-Fi Do Want.



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