Mudir is a word in the Fremen language and means "governor". The word was used for the chief riders of Sandworms and had the privilege to command the steersmen. A youth usually rides the worms only as a passenger or steersman. It was customary at age 12 to call his first maker. The naib of his sietch along with various other men and a Sayyadina. accompanied him to the sand. The naib spoke the words of the ritual developed over the centuries to the would-be sandrider; the other men loaned thumper and hooks (it was considered ill luck for a boy not yet a rider to own such things); the Sayyadina, aloof from the proceedings, observed so that the events of the day could be properly recorded. Most boys were successful once the ways of the worm were better known.