Devious Noble Siridar Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

Traits: Noble, Cunning and Cruel

Talents

• Binding Promise: The Baron may spend 1, 2, or 3 points of Threat to make an agreement binding. To break it, an opponent must spend twice this in Momentum.
• Constantly Watching: Whenever Baron Harkonnen attempts a test to detect danger or hidden enemies, he reduces the Difficulty by 2, to a minimum of 0. In addition, once per scene, he can increase the cost for an opponent to Keep the Initiative by +2.
• Direct: Once per scene, Baron Harkonnen can give an ally an extra action on his turn.
• Subtle Words: Baron Harkonnen can create a new trait whenever he spends Threat for extra dice on a Communicate test.

Siridar Baron Vladimir Harkonnen was one of the most feared, hated, and admired men in all the Imperium. From his home on Giedi Prime, the Baron ruled with an iron fist, sans velvet glove.

A corpulent and venal man, the Baron took great pleasure in the discomfort his appearance caused in others. So fat that he required a suspensor harness for mobility, Baron Harkonnen delighted in making his allies and rivals alike uncomfortable. As a younger man he took great pride in his body, until a virulent disease corrupted his hard work. The loss of his athletic physique remained a sore point to the Baron, although he hid this vanity to all but those who knew him well.

Baron Harkonnen was a man of brutal policies but was possessed of a subtle mind. Having raised his House to untold heights of power, his schemes and plots were multitudinous, some decades in the offing. He was a man who did not brook failure in his subordinates, and even his own heirs feared and hated him, a fact of which he was keenly aware and, indeed, encouraged. His closest confidant was the twisted Mentat Piter de Vries, chosen by the Baron precisely for his perverse and cynical mind. It was de Vries whom the Baron encouraged to play his nephews against one another to better control them. This cruelty in policy dripped down to every level of the House, and those that toiled under the Harkonnens suffered terribly.

It was the Baron’s maneuvering that maintained House Harkonnen in control of Arrakis and the spice melange. The House’s fortunes swelled under the Baron’s rule, eclipsing every accomplishment of his forbearers. The wealth gained legitimately was only eclipsed by the embezzling and hoarding of spice that occurred under the Baron’s direction.

The Baron’s ambitions were not fulfilled through this wealth. It was his desire to see House Harkonnen rise to take the Imperial throne itself, a goal he set about achieving through the most complex of stratagems, utilizing his two nephews as willing pawns. With the aid of de Vries, the Baron set into motion a plan that would see the Atreides temporarily gain control of the precious fiefdom of Arrakis, but only that he might supplant and destroy them entirely, with the help of an Emperor whom he would soon after betray. The outcome of this plot would prove to be more complex than even the Baron himself could imagine.