From: Nick Brooke (Nick_Brooke@btinternet.com)
Date: Wed 26 Apr 2000 - 11:44:33 EEST
Alex says (rightly):
> The 'problem' case is if you want to keep the Lunar Empire much as it
> is, but 'can't agree', as it were, on who the 'real' Red Emperor is.
IMO:
The "real" Red Emperor is the only being who can pass *all* of the tests
that prove him to be who he is.
Rival claimants may pass some or none of the tests, but they *cannot* pass
all of them.
So you don't know who the "real" Red Emperor is until he has passed *all* of
the tests. If you're following someone and he passes one test (say, the one
administered by the Army, or the Household, or the Senate), that's well and
good, but he's still got some way to go.
WARNINGS: the tests could be rigged (horrors!). Rivals could generate their
own "proxies" to pass tests that they themselves would fail. Rebel claimants
(regional secessionist traitors, as opposed to rival Lunar claimants) aren't
even *trying* to pass all of the tests, and therefore have a head start.
The "Mandate of the Moon" is conferred on people who are suitable to become
the Emperor's Body. (It may be parallel to the Body or the Corpse of Yelm,
in the "Six Parts of Yelm" myth. But there are other, non-DH parallels too).
It usually descends when Moonson dies: selected high-ups feel "a disturbance
in the Force" and become aware of their potential destiny.
Claimants without a Mandate may be unable to pass any of the tests; they are
certainly unable to pass the Lunar tests which determine whether a claimant
is suitable to be recognised as Moonson.
WARNINGS: Some people know they have the Mandate while Moonson is alive and
well; some people can "force" a Mandate upon themselves, through ritual or
confidence or evil sorcery. Some people don't believe in Mandates and just
"pretend" to have them ("The Goddess came to me in a dream and told me I was
her Son."). And some people are mad as hatters.
Rival claimants who "drop out" (assassinated, defeated in battle, overcome
in a test) may be "reabsorbed" into the eventual victor; they may lose their
Mandate and become broken has-beens; they may be slain out of hand.
If the guy you thought was Moonson is killed or reabsorbed, or fails a test,
you could say:
1) I must have been mistaken: I'll follow the guy who defeated (and
"reabsorbed") my preferred claimant, instead.
2) Maybe the False Proxy slew Moonson before all his powers were
properly manifested. No doubt he will return again soon, and I
must be on the lookout for his second coming.
3) Curses! I'm getting out of here...
The claimant who "becomes" Moonson contributes his mortal, mundane elements
to the "mix". The Egi reconstitute the Red Emperor's being, using this
mortal clay as an important construction material.
The new Red Emperor's Mask will resemble the successful claimant (though not
identical to him); its personality and interests will be shaped by the
claimant's (though of course the Emperor will still retain knowledge and
experience from his prior life).
The new Mask is likely to reward people who assisted in his Manifestation,
and punish those who opposed it. This may involve (e.g.) rewarding
collaborators who assassinated the preceding Mask, or punishing people
who -- though utterly loyal to the Empire -- mistakenly followed a False
Proxy in the interregnum.
WARNING: Moonson has nothing to learn from Machiavelli: he may just as well
choose to *punish* the people who would dare raise their hand against the
Son of the Moon, and reward his loyal but misguided servants.
One certainty is that the new Mask will be severely disposed towards Rebels
and those who back them. It's all very well to support a (potential) Moonson
in the interregnal period; it's a very different matter when rebels "cast
off the shackles of Lunar rule" and try to bring back a Sun Emperor, or
Sable Stud, or Big Bird of Rinliddi, instead.
Sometimes, the succession may be "fixed". I would postulate that when a
Moonson is assassinated, the assassins have likely arranged to have "their"
candidate ready to sweep all before him through the tests. This may have
happened when Ignifer was slain by Harrek and quickly replaced by Argenteus
(who showed conspicuous clemency to his supposed murderers); it may have
been tried and gone wrong when Venerabilis executed the assassins of
Voracius.
REMEMBER: the Lunar Empire is devoted to Veils, Masks, Illusions, Mirrors,
Changes, Insanity, and Balance. It is *not* a Solar Empire of
straight-forward, upright, honest truths. This should be reflected in the
nature of the interregnal succession struggles. They should be confusing and
chaotic, not orderly and proceeding towards a pre-ordained and self-evident
conclusion. (Solars in the Lunar Empire are, of course, greatly upset by
this).
It is *normally* certain (these days) that the end result of this
interregnal activity is a new Mask of Moonson. If many years went by without
a Mask becoming manifest, then the secessionist centrifugal tendencies
represented by non-Lunar Rebel claimants might well manifest, as I believe
they are intended to in the Hero Wars period. However, I think that the
"normal" case is for an obvious Lunar candidate to quickly come forward and
be recognised as the new Mask of Moonson. Rivals are damned posthumously by
Imperial propagandists. ("The opponents of Celestinus were wild rebels
conspiring to resurrect Gbaji").
The Proxy Wars were an aberration, not the norm. But we are working within a
political landscape shaped by those traumatic events in the recent past:
utterly loyal Lunars unable to discern which of the many contenders was the
true Red Emperor. In some ways, this was the "worst case" scenario for the
Empire -- or at least, the worst case until the next time around.
Of course, the next time around will be even worse, because the scheming
plotters manipulating events *next* time have the experience of the Proxy
Wars to draw upon. They've seen just how confusing things can get when there
are many plausible rival claimants, and they're prepared to use that
knowledge, enhance that confusion, etc. to suit their own agendas. Maybe
that's a part of the reason the Red Emperor "disappears" for ten whole
years -- the rival Lunar camps have become just too damn' good at
identifying his manifestations and then squishing them before any of them
can inherit their full powers.
Please remember: even when fully manifest and recognised, Moonson has been
FINALLY: "Life of Moonson" does *not* accurately depict a normal Imperial
defeated quite straightforwardly, by e.g. Jannisor, Sheng, or Harrek.
Opponents of such power are likely to become *more* common in the Hero Wars
period than hitherto. And their rivals' propagandists' quills stand ready to
write off premature failures as False Proxies (and likely Gbaji-worshipping
dupes of the Dark Lord, to boot).
succession crisis. It's a freeform game, dammit! Greg helped write "The
Broken Council", but if you tore strips off his Gbaji Wars material because
that game presented the creation of Nysalor as a perversely complex
trading-card game, he would be justifiably amused (or annoyed, depending on
his whim).
:::: Email: <mailto:Nick_Brooke@btinternet.com>
Nick
:::: Website: <http://www.btinternet.com/~Nick_Brooke/>
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