From: RobStoll@aol.com
Date: Fri 05 Jul 1996 - 22:42:29 EEST
In Glorantha Digest V3 #9, david@dboat.demon.co.uk wrote:
<paragraph 1>
>Yes Mormons and Buddhists don't try and replace goverments.
>They just clutter up your doorstep. I used to be Mormon lay member
>when I came back from the states.
>
<paragraph 2>
>If you don't see the Empire is bad in a Orlanthi based Dragon Pass
>then what have you got. I suppose the Pc could always wander the
>country preaching the good word of the moon handing out flowers.
<the paragraph indicators are mine, for EZ reference>
Please avoid making inflammatory blanket statements like in paragraph 1.
First of all, I have *never* had Buddists "clutter up" my doorstep. Never.
AFAIK, Buddists proselytize about as much as Jews, i.e., not at all.
Secondly, I live in a Mormon rich area (near Washington DC, with the Mormon
Temple (the huge castle-like structure with the gold spires you can see from
the Capitol Beltway, near the Conneticut Ave. exit on the MD side) quite
literally dominating the central view looking off my front porch (it's quite
pretty, really, especially at night when they light it up). Many of my
neighbors are Mormon, and I have found, without exception, that they are
genuinly nice, friendly people who also don't proselytize particularly a lot
(the ones who are on Church Missions are the ones whose job it is to spread
the gospel). Even the ones who do respect the fact that I'm Jewish (and
intend to stay so), and wish me well without pushing any further. Sorry your
experience didn't go as well, but like any religion, I suppose it isn't for
everyone. I get my fill of RW religious flamewars in rec.games.frp.misc, so
I'd rather not see any erupt here.
Flamebait like in paragraph 2, OTOH, is perfectly alright by me. I disagree
with your analysis, however. Certain PCs (Sartarite Orlanthi, frex) are
pretty much going to hate the Lunar Empire, no matter what. As a GM, they
should then be played up as villians in that case - whatever they do will be
seen as evil anyway. Hell, I have a hard time liking the Lunars myself - I
played a Telmor from the Ormsgone Valley for 3 years; the Lunars did terrible
things to tribal folk like me (my tribe had basically been driven to Ormsgone
by Lunar expansion, IIRC). Of course, many of the "good guys" - particularly
rabid Storm Bulls, frex - had a hard time accepting me as well ("he's a shape
changer, but I don't SMELL any Chaos on him ..." <looks thoughtfully at huge
axe he's wielding> "...but I haven't killed any Chaos in two whole days...").
The Duck in my current game is having similar problems. In any event, I
believe that, for someone's actions to be understood, you can't (at first)
think of them as evil. If your Lunar POV is "we subjugate less civilized
people because it's great to be evil," I'd have a hard time believing their
motivations (I studied acting for several years - can you tell?). If, OTOH,
your Lunars' basic POV was, "We must strive to expand civilization throughout
the world. Whole cultures will be either assimilated or swept aside in the
process, but that is inevitable. The work we do is great, and someday all
Glorantha will see our greatness," then I could see their /raison d'etre/.
I'd probably even think that it was evil myself (and certainly would if I
were a member of a culture in the process of being "assimilated or swept
aside"). Hell, even the Empire (boo, hiss!) in Star Wars didn't think of
itself as evil - they only destroyed Alderaan as a demonstration of the Death
Star's power (which is an echo of one of the reasons the US had for using
it's entire nuclear arsenal on Japan at the end of WW II. After long and
careful consideration of the issue, I cannot conclude that Truman et al were
"evil" in doing so, even though I have a fundamental problem dealing with
nuclear weapons. YMMV).
Keep in mind, this is different from the "not evil, just misunderstood"
argument many people have used defending the Lunar Empire. I firmly believe
that you *can* completely understand someone's behavior, and still come to
the conclusion that it is evil. Understanding someone's behavior is a mostly
cognitive exercise, judging its moral implications is a different process.
robert
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