From: Carlson, Pam (carlsonp@wdni.com)
Date: Wed 03 Jul 1996 - 03:21:00 EEST
Crawling back from being mysteriously banished to the "bounce" list, I
Remember that the Lunar Army is quite varied. (From Nick and MOB in
find a debate about the "niceness" of the Lunar occupation.
their "Lunar Army" con seminars.) Therefore, local occupation policy is
varied, too. It's all MGF for _your_ Glorantha. You can have Lunar
Army units who are Tarshite farm-boys vaguely sympathetic to the
Sartarites, Tarshite tribesman eager to shaft their traditional
Sartarite foes, scheming, lazy Lodrilli out to make some quick silver
off the barbarians, or eager Cha-Un turning the countryside to ash. You
can have them all within a twenty mile radius. Whatever your campaign
needs.
> A good example of this touchy feely Lunar conversion is an attempt to build
a Lunar temple on top of Orlanth holy spot. Another example occurs
where they have one of thiers goons massacre the local Wind Priests.
Kid's stuff. Think about it - who did the Lunars learn about occupation
from? The Jenarongs. The Bull Shahs. Sheng Seleris. Then ask:
when's the last time Fazzur ate anyone's children? Did Euglyptus demand
the men of Jonstown all have sex with each other, bite off their own
thumbs, and then kill all the old men? Has Tatius the Bright
instigated a policy of burning alive every man, woman and child who
worships Rebellious Terminous?
Heck, ten thousand Bold Homers haven't even been sacrificed to
Shargash, and I'll bet you could actually find some support for that one
in the Heartlands. In my Glorantha, the Seven Mothers try very hard to
maintain the current policy of tolerance toward the Sartarites. And
based on the history of Peloria (and thus the POV of most Lunar
citizens), one can see how the Red Goddess, with her ideas of tolerance
and peace, is truely attractive.
But your PC's should still be upset at dead relatives, burned steads,
>Well then what have the Bloody Lunars ever given us. Well a descent into
etc. Their POV is purely subjective.
banality springs to mind. The Lunars, Romans and Soviets did not
destroy cultures for any mythical search for Utopia.
I think you're jumping to the conclusion that the Lunars destroy
cultures. Quite the opposite. A trip through the Heartlands would show
you LOTS of cultural diversity. The Lunar goal is to keep cultures
intact, but obedient. The Lunars gather strength through diversity.
They have now ABSORBED their old enemies; the sun overlords, the Bull
Shahs, and even most of the Pent Nomads. From each they have gained
more power. They have even fit Malikion into their pantheon, and can
use his magic as their own. Their goal now is to bring those Pesky
Southern Orlanthi into the fold, and welcome Orlanth as another brother
of the Red Goddess. I suspect they'd even let the Orlanthi clans
continue to raid each other, as long as they paid their taxes and
accepted a few shrines. (That's probably how much of Aggar, Dara-ni,
and Scylilla function.)
This is a very Orlanthi attitude, and essentially the heart of the
conflict. But, for MGF purposes, the Lunars _have_ to be a two-sided
enemy, or else they would be pretty stale. Remember "Battle Star
Galactica"? What big interest was there in a foe which was totally evil
and inanimate, to boot? What great moral complexities were involved in
destroying killer robots? (Yawn.) All great "Bad Guys" need several
facets. But the fun thing about Glorantha is that you can hop between
cultures and pretty much pick your "Villian of the Month".
Pam
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