From: MOBTOTRM@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Date: Mon 29 Jul 1996 - 17:08:28 EEST
G'day all,
__________________
Sun County History
Jane Williams:
>I actually asked this question as a private email to MOB: he asked me to
>put it on the Digest. So if anyone thinks it's trivial, or I should have
>read something, blame him (if you dare!).
Go ahead, make my day. I think this is damn good question, but was
distressing to have Jane tell me she is reluctant to post to the Digest
as she feels she gets told off for ignorance too often.
>What happened to Sun County in 1613? They had a change of Counts - why?
>And it was a change from a Lunar-loving (well, accommodating) creep to
>someone who kills Dara Happan Rune Lords as a hobby. Assuming everyone
>else got shuffled up at the same time, Belvani (another Lunar-lover) got
>passed over: Vega is younger than him as well as being female, but is his
>nominal equal. The only thing I know that happened in 1613 was a rebellion
>in Sartar. Were the two connected? If not, what was going on?
Jane, thanks for posting this publicly (and giving me time to think up
an answer!) - y'see folks, it is a *damn* good question!
The official version:
The Yellow Book baldly states that in the year 1612 st, Varthanis II
gratefully retired to the towers after a lifetime of service to the Son
of the Sun, the mantle of heaven passing to his brother-in-Yelm,
Solanthos.
Here's the Oliver Stone version (isn't that a grassy knoll just beyond
the Sun Dome walls?):
The Sun Domers of the Cradle Valley narrowly avoided outright invasion
and occupation by the Lunars during their Conquest of Prax and Drive to
the Sea in 1610. They did this by coming to an accommodation with the
Lunars, which resulted in them fighting with the Empire against the
nomads at Moonbroth, much to the nomads' surprise and cost. And in
what is still considered by many as an act of betrayal against a
traditional ally, the Sun Domers joined the Lunars at the Siege of
Pavis shortly after. (Indeed, some say it was a Suntown resident who
betrayed the city and let the Lunars in the next day; certainly few
Suntowners died in the sack, and apart from the confiscation of the
Count's palace there, little damage was done to Suntown property.)
Following this, a Lunar Resident was stationed at the Sun Dome and
Lunar missionaries had free reign to proselytize in the County.
Imperial troops had right of passage through Sun Dome lands to and from
Corflu; confrontations with the insular locals were frequent, particularly
with auxiliary troops. Lunar backers financed the reopening of the Count's
salt mines at Pent Ridge as a harsh penitentiary; it was soon full of
hazia growers, smokers and smugglers, seduced by the illegal narcotic's
easy money and mind-numbing potency. During this period of cultural
clash inroads were made into Sun Dome conservatism, with Vega
Goldbreath beginning her unprecedented rise up the cult ladder, supported
by the influential Light Son Invictus, himself a good friend of the Lunars
and rumoured to be Vega's lover. Shortly after he became the cult's
Light Captain they married, in late 1612.
In 1613 the Lunars had a full-scale rebellion on their hands in
neighbouring Sartar. Forces stationed in Prax were dispatched to cope
with this grave emergency. While the Lunars were preoccupied with
Starbrow and her revolt, elements within the Sun Dome Temple took the
advantage of the situation. This group, lead by Solanthos Ironpike and
Gaumata the Strange, resented the encroaching Lunar influence over their
people, which they thought inimical, corrupt and immoral. They also
resented Count Varthanis II's almost toadying policy of appeasement
and cooperation, which they saw as weakening Sun Dome independence
and sovereignty. Perhaps the Lunar Resident's plan for a Seven Mothers
temple in the Sun Dome Yard was the final straw. In any case,
Starbrow's Rebellion gave them the opportunity they needed, as that it
succeeded so well indicates to all it had Yelmalio's blessing.
Varthanis and his key supporters were packed off to the retirement towers,
some say none too willingly. Lesser lights found themselves condemned to
Pent Ridge. Karial the Pure, the popular and influential Light Keeper,
narrowly avoided the towers by accepting the post of high priest of
Yelmalio in Pavis, and Gaumata stepped into his shoes. Solanthos sent
his protege Haloric Glowbrow to Pavis to keep Karial in check; since
that time, Karial has kept his opinions to himself and so continues to
avoid compulsory blinding and retirement.
Solanthos's last obstacle was the Light Captain, but Invictus saw the way
the sun was shining , adroitly divorced his potentially embarrassing
wife* and switched sides, bringing the Sun Dome Templars over with
him. Solanthos Ironpike was acclaimed the new Count of the Sun Dome
and was invested with the globe of authority and the sceptre of order.
*by voluntarily adopting the "Love only earth cultists" geas, one of
the few ways to divorce in Sun Dome society.
The Lunar Resident, who had momentarily returned to Pavis for
consultations during the Sartarite revolt crisis, was refused entry
into the County, and the Moonie missionaries were politely but firmly
escorted to the borders. Yet Solanthos was canny enough to remit his
seasonal tribute, in full, on the day it was due, and do nothing to
hinder trade or traffic through the County (though Lunar troops found they
had an unusually large escort of grim, uncommunicative Templars, who made
sure they kept to the road and camped far away from local settlements).
The Count even offered to put his Templar mercenaries at Sor-Eel's disposal
at a discount rate, which the beleaguered and undermanned governor to
his chagrin had to accept!
With Pavis a powderkeg ready to ignite during the Starbrow crisis, Sor-Eel
could do nothing but let the new count's petty insolence go unchecked; by
the time the Lunars had their victory, Solanthos's regime and its policy
of resentful cooperation with the Empire was well on the way to
becoming entrenched in the hearts and minds of the Sun Dome people.
(BTW, where was Belvani during all of this? No one is certain, but he sure
knew the right time not to be around: despite his reputation as a
Lunar-loving libertine, he managed to keep not only his eyes, but also his
rank and his cult status, the crafty bastard!)
>I have my own theories on this, but since they're pretty outlandish and
>I suspect I'm missing something I thought I'd pass it to the experts.
I'd love to see what they are, no matter how outlandish!
Hope this helps, or at least provokes some ideas for your own campaign!
Cheers
MOB
P.S. Moments before I posted this, my somewhat prosaic, pedestrian account
of the fall of Varthanis II, I get Peter Metcalfe's inspired lunacy! So, Sun
Domers were tranvestite, hazia junkie *Somash* worshippers! While this
leaves my head spinning, I love it, even if it may be just *too weird* for me
to accept. Does go a long way to explaining the cult's preoccupation with
dressing up in women's clothes and their abhorence of hazia, but.
See Jane, posting to the Digest is a good thing after all!
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