Personally, I instinctively HATE the "noble barbarian" stuff. Your basic tribal Theyalans/Orlanthings are no people I would by a used car from, want my daughter to marry or have as neighbours.
But Sartar greatly reduced the amount of bigotted infighting among the tribes of his realm, while still keeping the Theyalan identity. The Sartarites are very proud of this, and it is their reason why they are The Best People (all cultures on Glorantha consider themselves The Best People). IMC, Sartarites respect fabled Ralios as a source of much ancient knowledge and tradition, while at the same time laughing at the Ralian Orlanthings as "barbarians". Though the City people are those with the strongest exotribal patriotism, even the backwoods clans are proud to be citizens of the Kingdom. (Though, of course, they are much BETTER citizens than the clan in the next valley. You know, it was REALLY their great-great granpa, who was Sartar's shoeshine boy, who gave the Founder all his best ideas. Honestly.)
IMC, when the Lunars invaded Dragon Pass, they mostly did it because they wanted a Way To The Sea. They then more or less accidentally destroyed the Sartar concept by destroying the house of Sartar. This has caused the tribes to degenerate back to their pre-Sartar state in many cases. This is not only the result of the social changes due to the Royal House being wiped out, it is a mythical effect. The Creation of the Kingdom was the result of a Great Heroquest, and it was held together by the magic of Unity and Cooperation. The Great Theme of our heroic Gloranthan Campaign is the destruction of Unity. More people die in Sartar because of the old tribal wounds reopening than because of Lunar soldiers. Those who have most hatred of the Lunars are those outside the tribes, because their lives and their power bases are crumbling, and they can SEE that the standard of living is rapidly deterioating for everyone else as well. The traders of the cities, the guilded craftsmen, warriors like Kenth's character who had chosen whom to serve instead of just guarding their uncle, the clerks and civil servants of the old Kingdom. It is these people who are rapidly being replaced with their Lunar equivalents.
Of course the Etyries merchant is more likely to rip you off than the Issaries trader. Of course the Irrippi Ontor clerk is more corrupt than the old Lhankor Mhy scribe. Of course the Yanafal Tarnils soldier is more cruel than the Humakt Housecarl. To them, you are just barbarian scum. But remember one thing: this does not mean that the Issaries trader, the Lhankor scribe and the Humakti Housecarl were nicer people. They were LESS likely to be rotten just because they were your countrymen, and had a harder time forgetting that you are a fellow human. They would graciously cheat, steal and kill wantonly when dealing with non-Sartarites.
The Lunars did not destroy the Kingdom because they are Evil Scum, but for practical reasons - they did it to take the land for themselves, to gain control of trade routes and magical resources. Someone mentioned CIA hitmen - _I_ always think of Lunar Empire as the USA of Glorantha. The Lunar Faith have absorbed and eliminated the threats of cruel Carmania, repressive Dara Happa and the horrible Pentans. They embody ideals of Balance and harmony, equality of races , creeds and sexes, they are the source of culture and learning. AND they conquer small countries to extend their own power (no, I know the US never has done that, just helped local rulers to power who would support their interests), they employ extremely horrible weapons of war, their secret service is ruthless and terrible. They are quite interesting as the Great Evil Decadent Empire just because they AREN'T Evil or Decadent most of the time. They are excellent enemies. They come in all shapes and sizes.
I love to hate the Lunars. Some day I would like to play a campaign where I can love to hate the Lunars, while the players ARE Lunars. The honest bureaucrat fighting corruption, the genuinely nice officer which rather would not be fighting the barbarians (Fazzur Widereads unknown brother - anyone who has read the "Desert Peach" comic?), the White Moon activists who start protest rallies against the occupation of foreign territories, the Danfive Xaron secret agent who acts out of patriotism and religious fervor who has to fight his superiors, who acts out of sadism and power-lust ("The Runelord who came in from the cold").
"The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea, in a beautiful pea-green boat..."
>From "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear
Erik Sieurin
bv9521_at_utb.hb.se
Bodagatan 39, 2 tr
50742 Boras
Sweden
033/141731
Powered by hypermail