system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Dune] How was the emperor still in power?

I'm not the most knowledgeable person on Dune lore, but from how it has been described to me, various houses, such as Harkonnen, was richer than the emperor. Yet he doesn't seem to be a puppet, and his word has seemingly significant sway. This leads me to ask, how was he still in power, if other houses could in theory wage a successful coup d'état?
gpt
The emperor controlled the most powerful military force in the known universe. If the entire landsraad turned on the throne there's not much he could do to save himself but the Sadraukar would be sure to wipe out much of the aggressors. So many of the landsraad would be defeated by the emperor's forces that only a handful of houses like Harkonen or Atreides could even hope to survive the affair by sacrificing smaller houses to achieve their goals. In effect the major powers of the landsraad happily payed a tithe to the emperor and went about their affairs without worry. Trying to topple the corrinos without a trump card would end with much of the lesser houses wiped out and even possibly the greater houses. Breaking the kanly rules could speed things up but no one would trust anyone willing to commit war crimes afterwards. 


The way the universal tripod works is that the space guild controls all travel between stars. Then the houses control all the planets and stars but rely on the guild to get around. The emperor is just the adjudicator in disputes. He recieves a tithe and can make a few decrees but ultimately his role is just to stop others from going too far in their personal affairs or breaking the laws of the jihad and kanly.