Roaring 20's AU

Roaring 20's AU

Shaddam Corrino IV, who heads a stockbroking firm in New York, also owns a string of large warehouses, across the states, bought by his father some thirty years ago. He's been trying to sell them off, to raise money and offset the losses he suffered in the Russian and the European market due to the war and revolution, when he's approached by the Harkonnens. They're into manufacturing steel, mining coal and drilling for petroleum--also saloons and the flesh trade. They'll lease the warehouses from him, using shell companies, to store the liquor they plan to smuggle into the US when prohibition becomes law. Shaddam agrees to this proposal.

But, unknown to Shaddam, the Harkonnens have enemies, FBI agents Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho, who are keeping them under scrutiny. A year after the deal is made, they raid one of the warehouses where the smuggled liquor is stored, just when Glossu Rabban Harkonnen is present to ensure the despatch of goods to their destinations. He is killed and the FBI has a lead. They also find more than liquor in that warehouse--they find drugs.

Meanwhile, Glossu's uncle, Vladimir, is determined to have his younger nephew, Feyd-Rautha, marry into the Corrino family to control the stockbroking firm Shaddam and his forebears built up. The younger Corrino girls are married; Irulan, the eldest daughter, now a woman of 28, has been looking after her father's household and her younger sisters since her mother's death seven years ago. The Baron settles upon her as the bride for his nephew.

When the local FBI station director, Leto Atreides (who is also related to him) begins asking Shaddam questions about the warehouse and its lease, he clams up, just giving Leto the name of the shell company with which he'd signed the contract. He's ready to bail when he learns that both liquor and drugs were found in that warehouse. However, Vladimir reveals he has evidence that could implicate Shaddam in his smuggling operations (tapes of their conversations re the leasing of Corrino warehouses). He says he will not reveal this if he allows his daughter Irulan to marry Feyd-Rautha. Shaddam reluctantly agrees.

When he learns of the Corrino-Harkonnen engagement, Leto begins to investigate the other warehouses Shaddam owns. He also recruits his son, Paul, who's just returned from the war in Europe, to tail Irulan, who might be in danger from the Harkonnens.

Meanwhile, Shaddam asks Hasimir Fenring, his assistant, to investigate Feyd-Rautha. Fenring digs up disturbing details of his sexual proclivities. That's when Shaddam asks Hasimir's wife, Margot, for help and also warns Irulan about what to expect.

Late 1920s AU

Irulan Corrino is a poor little rich girl--her mother died in 1908, three years after Irulan was born, failing to give her father a son. Since then, she's been cared for by her grandparents, governesses, housekeepers, and so on. Her father, Shaddam Corrino IV, remarried as soon as it was decent to do so, but her stepmother has so far not produced a single child. However, she did send Irulan off to boarding school and college, to separate her from her father. But this proved to be a blessing in disguise--Irulan threw herself into academics, sports, and co-curricular activities, hoping her success at these would get her father's attention. However, her father is too busy running his bank to care... So Irulan only gets her father's attention after her stepmother dies in a car crash in 1926, and she has to act as her father's hostess. It is then that she meets her cousin, Paul Atreides, ex-World War I ace and a widower with two kids, who works as her father's assistant. She also meets his mother and sister, who care for the two kids. Paul's father was her own father's second-in-command, and died of the flu.

Shaddam is having a difficult time because he's given so many loans to European governments during the War. It's then that the Harkonnens, who own a large chunk of the steel, coal, and petroleum industries, offer to invest in his bank if he marries Irulan off to one of the Harkonnen boys--Glossu or Feyd-Rautha--neither of whom is an attractive marriage prospect for Irulan. She's far more interested in her somewhat grim and stern cousin. How does she go about changing her fate?

Finding a Terran Time Capsule AU

During the reign of Paul Muad'dib Atreides, a Terran time capsule from the mid- to late 20th century is found on a planet in the Imperium. Irulan, being the history geek that she is, has to make sense of it. Let's assume there's lots of music, literature, art works and tapes of art forms, as well as the necessary equipment for viewing contained in this time capsule. What is Irulan likely to find and what impact will this have on the Atreides empire?

Election AU

You have three parties contesting the elections in the Imperium: 1 Harkonnens--far right, no interest in the environment or labor rights. 2 Corrinos--conservative, very cautious about introducing change, fear of rocking the boat. 3 Atriedes--liberal, very environment-friendly, somewhat pro-labor, somewhat pro-indigenous groups (Fremen) Some interest is added to the election because Shaddam Corrino, the conservative party leader, has five beautiful girls and the red tops are speculating about the girls' personal lives, much to their disquiet. Also, there's Paul Atreides, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, and Duncan Idaho (the Atreides troubleshooter) who're being gossiped about.

Bridgerton AU

This could be the background of a Bridgerton-style AU.

In an AU where Shaddam does not get jealous of Leto, Leto marries Jessica (this could be an entire story by itself) and the Baron and Glossu Rabban are killed in a slave rebellion on Giedi Prime... 1. Shaddam has to not only send in his Sardaukar; he also has to ask Leto to send in troops. Leto sends his best men, led by Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho. They find out what became of Wanna Marcus and bring her bones to Caladan for burial. While the Atreides quell the rebellion, Leto also uses the Landsraad to demand an end to slavery on Giedi Prime. 2. Feyd-Rautha is placed in Leto's care--he's close to 14-15. He does not get along well with Paul, who's the same age, or Paul's younger sister, Alia (12). Feyd and Alia spend their time quite literally fighting each other with knives, much to Jessica's horror. Paul has to constantly adjudicate between them and often scolds his sister for starting fights. 3. Arrakis needs a strong hand--Leto is sent to take charge, along with his family. He manages to reach out to the Fremen and creates a joint force of Fremen, Sardaukar, and the Atreides troops to maintain order in the Imperium. He also reaches out to Dr Liet Kynes; Chani (13) becomes a friend of the family, although she hates Feyd as much as Alia does. Paul has to reluctantly protect Feyd from the tricks the girls play on him. He does his best to treat Feyd as an equal, if not a friend--what Glossu did to Gurney and Duncan still comes in the way. 4. By this time, the kids have grown up; both Feyd and Paul are young men of 17-18 years. Feyd will come into his barony on his 21st birthday (when he's recognized as an adult). In the meantime, Gaius Helen Mohaim is prodding the Emperor to find husbands for his older girls, especially Irulan, who's the same age as Feyd and Paul. 5. Shaddam has no desire to wed any of his daughters to the na-Baron, but he does not want to give Paul or any other the sole right to woo his daughters. So he arranges for a festival of dance, music, operas, poetry recitations, ballets, exhibitions of paintings and sculptures, plays, and other entertainments, whilst holding a session of the Landsraad alongside these jollifications. He insists that all his lords, both high and low, bring their marrigeable children to Kaitain to see and be seen. Many of these lords have arranged betrothals for their children while in the cradle; the Emperor and Empress insist (with the Reverend Mother adding her authority) that the betrotheds should get to meet under proper supervision before they marry and set up home. 6. It's in this heady atmosphere of entertainment that the Atreides, with a long-suffering Feyd-Rautha and Dr Kynes and his daughter, arrive on Kaitain. Everyone is expected to be on their best behavior. However, Feyd ends up getting entangled with a married noblewoman; her husband finds out and sends assassins after him. Alia and Chani, who both loathe Feyd, end up helping him fight off the assassins. Their attitude is that only they are allowed to bully and be mean to Feyd!

Roman Holiday AU

Historical or modern-day AU

In which Irulan, who's a diligent, hard-working royal, is asked to rest and do something she enjoys for 24 hours. She's been on a whistle-stop tour of Thailand and has had no opportunity to see the sights. She leaves the embassy and falls asleep on a wall, where Paul, a photographer, finds her. Thinking she's drunk, he takes her home. Irulan is supposed to hold a press conference the next morning, which is postponed in her absence. Paul misses the press conference because he oversleeps, but when he sees Irulan's photo, he's certain he can get an interview with her... Follow the plot of Roman Holiday but in a new setting.