House Corrino is the Imperial House - the ruling dynasty of the Known Universe at the time of Dune. Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV sits on the Golden Lion Throne, commanding the feared Sardaukar soldier-fanatics and maintaining a precarious balance of power between the Great Houses of the Landsraad. Shaddam's conspiracy with Baron Harkonnen to destroy House Atreides is driven by his fear that Duke Leto's growing popularity threatens the throne. The Corrinos' grip on power depends on two things: the military superiority of the Sardaukar and their control of the political system. When Paul Atreides proves the Fremen are more than a match for the Sardaukar and seizes control of Arrakis, the Corrino dynasty falls - though Princess Irulan, Shaddam's eldest daughter, remains a significant player in subsequent novels through her political marriage to Paul.

The Bene Gesserit are an ancient and secretive sisterhood of women who have developed extraordinary mental and physical abilities through generations of training and selective breeding. Their powers include the Voice (a form of command that compels obedience), Other Memory (access to the genetic memories of female ancestors), and superhuman observation and deduction. For thousands of years, the Bene Gesserit have pursued a covert breeding programme designed to produce the Kwisatz Haderach - a male Bene Gesserit with the ability to see where they cannot. The sisterhood operates as a political power behind every throne in the Imperium, placing their trained sisters as wives, concubines, and advisors to the ruling houses. The Bene Gesserit are neither heroes nor villains - they are pragmatists playing a longer game than anyone else, and their plans span centuries.