Re: lunar southern strategy

From: David Weihe <blerg2_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 22:47:38 -0700 (PDT)


roko_joko <roko_joko_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> Sean Foster's Dragon Skull question reminds me of a favorite
> thought exercise where the Lunars conquer Kethaela before Sartar. This sounds like suggesting that the Third Reich conquer the
Soviet Union in 1939, bypassing Poland until later.

> Meanwhile I claim Takenegi could get his mythopoetic Sun-Storm
> conflict on just fine by beseiging Wintertop and defending his
> expansions. Then between Kethaela, north side allies, and
> another Reaching Moon temple or two in the south, Sartar would
> be encircled.

Except that Sartar was, compared to the Empire, about like the Duchy of Grand Fenwick (at least by Imperial lights) and the invasions of Sartar were actually run by the (semi-independent vassal state) Kingdom of Tarsh, not the Heartland Army. Even the Building Wall was against mainly Tarshite troops, with some Imperial support.
What let the Sartarites eventually regain their independence was: (1) a Vinkotling High King, who was thus able to summon Orlanthi Heroes from across the world,
(2) a Western Superhero with as much hatred for the Empire as (3) a distant claimant to Sartar able to channel #2'a rage in a  constructive (at least to #3's interests) manner, who then  managed the double Lightbringer's Quest required to resurrect (4) another Superhero who hated the Empire as much as or more  than the others (and had a history of reducing the Empire to  ruins), and
(5) a very distracted Empire unable to concentrate enough on any  one front to completely knock out that threat and reduce its  enemies' degrees of freedom.

Basically, it was as hard as Operations Sea Lion and Barbarossa both coming off in our world. That it worked (at least for a while) just shows that God (or at least Greg) is not ALWAYS on the side with the most battalions.

Alternately, it was the Lunar version of the Roman Crisis of the Third Century, but without a Diocletian at the end, viewed from the barbarian PoV.

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