RH>> The reason Dara Happa no longer looks like Assyria/Persia is that
>> Sheng Seleris came in and destroyed most anything he found standing.
>I don't agree. It seems to me that Sheng had a thing for the Red Moon
>in particular. He _really_ persecuted Torang and maybe Naveria, so
>there may have been a lot of physical destruction there.
Sheng sacked and plundered just about every city in the Lunar Heartlands according to the Fortunate Succession. Such was his power that he managed to conquer Alkoth *twice* and desecrated the Towers and Holy Places of Yuthuppa. Although he did have 'a thing' for the Red Moon, it's far from a simple hatred IMO. He went against Kralorela *first* before invading the Lunar Empire and when he returns with Argrath's help, he sets up the New Moon Empire. Hardly consistent with being a Lunar-hater, methinks.
>But although
>Sheng sat on top of DH, I think the mythic path of greatest power for
>him would have been to rule it, not destroy it. Milk it for POW, money,
>slaves, whatever, but I just don't see him levelling the place.
However Sheng has to provide people with a good reason not to even think about resisting his rule. The Mongols accomplished this in the RW by being totally vindictive in crushing resistance. If a Dara Happan City were to resist him, Sheng would destroy their holy places, kill the Priests and then erect a temple to some foreign god from Kralorela (with imported priesthood) and command all the survivors in the city to worship it. This is in addition to sacking the City and killing the usual number of citizens to provide his entire army with new drinking cups.
>Even if he did, I also don't see the Dara Happans completely forgetting
>what their archicture used to look like - not in a mere 70 years,
>especially since they have literate priests who consider the past
>sacred.
You forget that the restoration era marked the *return* of literacy to the Lunar Empire. Also Sheng had this nasty habit of killing off the traditionalists in favour of quislings who were all to willing to filfull his wish ('You want your horse made a senator? I believe the position of Chief Censor is now vacant'). Thus I don't think buildings in the old style is going to be very popular in the Reconstruction Era when it is the new style of Greek Buildings that are in fashion ('We shall build an Acropolis to honor the Shah^H^H^H^H Emperor Magnificus'). Yes, some of the old buildings are still around but they are unfashionable.
>Besides, if the entire empire switched to the Pelandan style, what would
>happen to the 500,000 Lodrilli with "Craft Brick" skill? And what if
>they're unionized?
They can easily fall back on the KaCharal tradition, to wit, the hammer and chisel.
Carl Fink:
>I know it's Canon from Trollpak, but on reflection I don't like the
>trolls' primary sense depending on Air (or Water) to work. How did
>the Darkness spirits get along before the creation of Water?
If I were a God Learner, I would say something like:
'Know that if light travels upon the Ether, then Sound travels upon the Umbra. Since the Umbra is where the Ether is not, then we would expect its presence to be stronger in those elements in which the Ether is weaker. Accordingly Sound is weakest in the Pure Heavens. Within the Air, Sound can be heard by mortal humans since Orlanth slew Yelm...'
But since I'm not a God Learner, my own theory is that the trolls or material darkness entities came after the creation of water. (But if the Umbra exists, do Mistress Race Trolls need Space-suits?)
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