> The Poor Westerners All Are Bastards, Their Faith A Sham, Their
> Society A Disgrace.
Que? Have you read our sect writeups (now available through Loren's home page, details at the end of this message). These are all written from the sects' own point of view. Of course, as the West is so incestuous in its theology, each sect has a fair number of one-liners knocking its own perspective in other writeups, as well as paragraphs setting it out in its own. But you don't have to read those bits, and (what's more) they're usually Not True. In so far as they're based on a partial, prejudiced and ignorant outsider's viewpoint, not informed by a detailed knowledge of the theology and society complained of.
You may find this hard to believe, but I found many aspects of the Western societies I was describing admirable. It's *because* I did my best to sound happy and optimistic about everything in the sect writeups that I spend time pointing out the drawbacks on the Digest (e.g. with the Castle Coast, who most people have forgotten), and had to add a section on internal tensions to the Tales #13 Loskalmi Idealist piece (in the misc. notes at the end).
Societies in the Gloranthan West have a disadvantage over Pendragon's Arthurian Britain, frex, in that they're usually viewed by outsiders, either other Westerners ("Heresy!") or visiting barbarians ("Sorcery!"), all of whom delight in pointing out the many Manifest Errors in the local way of life. But, that said, you could find plenty of:
> The apologists of idealistic Loskalm, pragmatic and pious Sehsnela,
> the chivalrous Castle Coast, the wise Brithni, the mystically
> insightful Stygians,
especially if your campaign has players from the West operating in their own Western society.
Just don't expect such folk to be starting the Hero Wars: that's a job for the narrow-minded bigots of Loskalm, the power-grasping brutes of Seshnela, the lunatic dreamers of the Castle Coast, the sinister Brithini, or the turbulent, untrustworthy Stygians. ;-)
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