Chapterhouse: Dune – Entry #16

     The conversation that Duncan has with second-in-command Reverend Mother Bellonda is nothing short of amazing.  Duncan is, well, Duncan ... the most amazing character in the Dune series.  And this conversation enlightens us to the historical background and glimpses of the future that Frank Herbert envisioned.

Simulflow poured it through her awareness: Order of Mentats, founded by Gilbertus Albans; temporary sanctuary with Bene Tleilax who hoped to incorporate them into Tleilax hegemony; spread into uncounted "seed schools"; suppressed by Leto II because they formed a nucleus of independent opposition; spread into the Scattering after the Famine.

(Chapterhouse: Dune, p. 230)

And then later in the conversation ...

     "By the way, Bell," as she stood to leave, "Honored Matres could be a relatively small group."
     Small? Didn't he know how the Sisterhood was being overwhelmed by terrifying numbers on planet after planet?
     "All numbers are relative. Is there something in the universe truly immovable? Our Old Empire could be a last retreat for them, Bell.  A place to hide and try to regroup."

(Chapterhouse: Dune, p. 231)