The Fremen are the inhabitants of Arrakis, also known as Dune, the desert planet that is the sole source of the spice Melange in the known universe. The Fremen came to Dune thousands of years earlier as a religious sect in retreat; over time, surviving the incredibly harsh conditions of Dune bred them into the ultimate example of humans in extremis: a people bred purely to survive. Their language is based on Arabic, suggesting that they are descended from the Arabs of the forgotten planet Earth.

The Fremen are organized into sietches. Each sietch has a naib, whose word is law unless someone is willing to challenge him for leadership. The Fremen practice polygamy, apparently as a means of pinpointing male infertility. Each sietch has a sayyadina, a wise woman who is a native equivalent of a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother.

Table of contents

1 Customs 1.1 Justice 1.2 Water Conservation 1.2.1 Collection 1.2.2 Storage 1.2.3 Conservation

Customs

Justice

The Fremen system of justice always relies ultimately on trial by combat. The naib of the tribe is someone who killed the previous naib in single combat. Anyone may challenge another in a duel to the death over matters of etiquette, law, or honour; the winner of the duel claims the wife, children, and possessions of the loser, as well as the right of the circumstances leading to the duel.

Water Conservation

The most prevailant custom of the Fremen are their efforts in water conservation. Living in the desert with no natural sources of water has spurred the Fremen to build their society around the collection, storage, and conservative use of water.

Collection

Water is collected from the atmosphere in wind traps that condense the humidity and add it to the underground water store. Water can also be collected from dead animals and people (especially outside wanderers) and processed in a death still which removes the water from the carcass for addition to the seitch water store. The Fremen that caused or discovered the death of the animal or person is then given a set of water rings whose markings denote a volume of water equal to the amount of water collected. These rings are used as a form of currency (the writing device being that water is as or more precious as gold).

Storage

Each seitch has its own water store underground. This store can hold millions of liters of water and is accounted for literally to the last drop. This store is used as a bank for all the water owned by members of the seitch through water rings, as well as for the seitch's own store of water for the hopeful transformation of their planet into something other than desert.

Conservation