> It could easily mean they were unreasonable to flee from a mere
> glow and should have waited until it was confirmed they were
> facing the bat _before_ running like buggery.
After being at Moonbroth I've seen hardened PC's flee from anything that even hinted at being a glowspot.
> > > >So what keeps the bat from being the deciding factor
> of every war the
> > > >Empire faces?
>
> > > It's difficult to control.
>
> >But they have a whole cult to control it. The details fall
> onto them.
>
> The existence of a whole cult doesn't mean that it's any less
> easier to control the bat.
Bat Control Used to be a skill that had a large amount of learning by experience in it.
> > > The Bat does not will it.
>
> >I sure hope this is not a factor. Isn't the bat of animal intellect
> >anyway? Poor Lunars if the bat is a willful and intelligent demon.
>
> It has normal intellect in the RQ3 rules (13). As for it being
> willful and intelligent only makes the Lunar Empire more interesting
> IMO.
It is if I am not mistaken Mystically Enlightened [Whatever that
means, Refute Bat Priest perhaps?] by the Goddess before she rides out
of hell on it. That's why it has so many Eyes IIRC.
Perhaps it yearns for the simple days when it was a perfectly normal fruit bat and wanders off looking for giant fruit trees.
> > > Professional rivalry by the Yanafali who like to win clean and
> > > honourable victories without the excessive devastation caused
> > > by the Bat (and also by the Lunar College of Magic). Not using
> > > the Bat is like not playing in God Mode in Doom/Quake/Duke Nukem
> > > etc. It's riskier but people respect you for it.
>
> >That's true. But is it really THAT powerful? (the mind
> boggles). So if
> >the armies fail, you can always nuke the site? (send in The Bat)
>
> Nuking the site can be done by the Crater-makers. But if the enemy
> takes to the hills and the Lunar Army is knackered, then the bat
> is the weapon of choice.
The Crater Makers are quite high up on the list of Lunar Strategic weapons that might end up killing the bat due to unexplained errors in their orders. They've got the firepower to blow it away and when the politics get really intense some people will want to ensure its not involved in selecting/assembling the next Red Emperor.
It also keeps the Batpriests busy reinstantiating it.
> > > The High Priest of the Bat has more important things to do right
> > > now (re-enact the bat's spiritual enlightenment, punish nobles
> > > who slighted him, clip his toenails) than to stoop to petty
> > > mundane conquests. Should messengers attempt to command the Bat
> > > to obey the orders of the Emperor, the Bat will digest the
> > > implications of the messenger at length before informing the
> > > High Priest of her desires.
>
> >:) amusing, but I think the Lunars are more disciplined than that.
>
> Why? This is a doctrine dedicated to insanity, illumination,
> change, transformation and chaos. Discipline is a non-starter.
> Since virtually all other factions within the Empire have
> agendas why not the High Priest of the Bat?
Then there is the possibility of Broken Arrow style Internal factions inside the Cult of the Bat Hijacking it for their own purposes. After all becoming a Giant Bat Driver is not the sort of thing the sane or stable are likely to wish to do.
And the infamous Bureaucratic Error that sent the Bat on a Goodwill Tour of one of the Heartland provinces.
Adam
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