Location from Dune by Frank Herbert
The Harkonnen administrative capital on Arrakis — a brutalist garrison city built for extraction and control, where the oppressor's boot meets the desert's throat.
Carthag sounds like an occupation — the stamp of military boots, the whine of surveillance thopters overhead, the bark of orders in Harkonnen-accented Galach. The air carries the same desert heat as everywhere on Arrakis but adds the exhaust of heavy military equipment and the chemical smell of suppressant gas used for crowd control. The city exists for one purpose: extracting spice and shipping it offworld. The spice processing facilities occupy an entire district. Workers — mostly enslaved or indentured locals — move under armed escort between dormitories and processing plants. The Harkonnen administrators live in comparative luxury in the residency compound, surrounded by layers of security and contempt for the planet they're strip-mining. Under Rabban's governance, Carthag became synonymous with brutality. Public executions, collective punishment for smuggling, water rationing used as a weapon. The Fremen avoid Carthag entirely — there is nothing here for them but chains.
Blocky ferrocrete structures arranged in a military grid pattern. No concession to aesthetics — every building is a fortress first and a dwelling second. Guard towers at every major intersection. The Harkonnen residency is an armored compound at the city center, bristling with defense turrets. Landing fields scarred by heat exhaust. The streets are wider than Arrakeen's — designed for troop movements, not foot traffic. Everything is grey concrete against orange sand.
Also known as: the Harkonnen capital, Carthag garrison