Terra posed all sorts of interesting questions and got all sorts of
interesting answers. Just for the record, though, I don;t think Unspoken
Word 1 really presents the Lunar Empire as Roman. Sure, there's the cosmetic
stuff like togas and amphitheatres, which is already canonical, but as Greg
says, the key point is that the empire is so comfortable with variety. Tarsh
is Tarsh. There is a veneer of 'lunarisation' (which is often 'Dara
Happanisation' - certainly Moirades has a DH concept of rule that he is
trying to impose), but essentially this is a land whose style of rule,
culture and organisation is for its own rulers to define. As the regimental
list shows, there are certainly no standardised legionaries tramping in
ordered lines. There is no central code of laws except insofar as Lunar
worshippers may choose to appeal to a Lunar judex (if they can find one in
Tarsh!).
If anything, my prsonal view is that Tarsh itself is much more Roman *than
the Empire*, if one looks at early Rome of the just-post-republican age,
with a layering of ancient animism (Etruscans), republican/democratic
tendencies Republicanism) and new autocracy (Caesar), all infused with a
warlike vigour and the wealth to do something about it...
Mark