From: Nick Brooke <100270.337_at_compuserve.com>
> Lunar Tunes: MOB, David Hall, myself and others on the peculiar ways of the
> Red Army, and secrets from MOB's forthcoming pack, "Soldiers of the Red Moon".
> Strangest question of the Con: if Yanafal Tarnils priests have to spend 90%
> of their time on 'cult duties', how can they be the officers of the Red Army?
> (answers on the back of a postcard, please).
As the individual who asked the "strangest question", I beg to differ.
Several items mentioned during 'Lunar Tunes' struck me as exceedingly peculiar,
but I let them pass so that more material could be covered, rather than bogging
down over one or two points that appeared to be rather poorly thought out.
For example:
- A priest spends 90% of his time taking care of _cult_ business. This
includes; leading/performing cult rituals, care & maintenance of the temple/
shrine (both physical & spiritual), delving deeper into the mysteries of the
cult, instructing other cult members in said mysteries, teaching cult spirit
magic, teaching non-cult spirit magic (if time & cult principles allow), renewing
expended rune magics, teaching cult approved skills, providing healing
to cult members & performing divinations, (have I left anything out?). This
list doesn't even touch upon cult 'missions' for the purposses of recruitment,
diplomacy or outright war. Who has the time to be an officer in the army?
The duties of an officer are as many and varied as those of a priest.
A Leutenant must know his NCO's, and remain in a good working relationship with
them. He must know his fellow Lt.s and get along with them. He _must_ satisfy
his superior(s) with his performance, and that performance of his command. He
must see to morale, supplies (food, armor & weapons), training, heal/arrange
for healing, bivouack (sp? shelter), discipline (& punishment, if necessary),
misc equipment (wagons, cordage, etc), & timely payment for his troopers.
(Again, did I leave anything out?)
The Lunar equivalent of a Luetenant could probably get away with dumping
much of this on his staff sargent. A captain could not, he has too many administrive
details that he must handle personally. Who has time to be a priest?
As an example, I harken back to a write-up of Fazzur Wide-Read in an
old 'Wyrm's Footnotes', and he is listed as an initiate of Yanafal Tar'nils.
Imagine the duties of a man responsible for the invasion and occupation of
Sartar! Supreme command of a large, diverse army with bronze age communications
problems. He must coordinate the movements of the entire army, devise strategy,
command in battle, settle disputes of unruly regiments (or their commanders
quarrels), parlay with the enemy when and as required, set terms for & accept
surrender of opposition forces, and GOVERN the occupied areas until civil
authorities are in place. All of this besides the political infighting that
got him his job, and keep him in it.
A priest of Yanafal Tar'nils would be much better suited to the role
of chaplain/healer (any memebr of a war cult without gobs of healing magic is
a fool). He doesn't have time to learn squad/company tactics, he doesn't even
have time to train is own personal combat skills! (<-- RQ2, did this change in
RQ3?). A priest or two, traveling with a company/regiment & caring for the
unit's mobile shrine with the help of a squad of initiates/acylotes is much
more reasonable.
- "Yanafal Tar'nils is an officer's cult." This statement struck me as
ludicrous, and even the panel was divided on the subject. One panel member
expressed the opinion that the cult was like the Mythraic cult of the Roman
legions; army rank had little or nothing to do with cult standing.
Let us remember that Duke Yanafal is one of the Seven Mothers. As
such his cult should be open to those new Lunar followers who have joined the
cult of the Seven Mothers, and are looking to move more deeply into the Lunar
way. How can you deny membership in a cult of one of the Seven Mothers to 98%
of the population of the Empire?
One of the panel members said, "If you want to join Yanafal Tar'nils,
the first thing you do is buy a commission." What is this, a country club for
wealthy Lunars?
PS Cults of Prax lists this cult as "the major war cult of the empire."
PPS Has anyone asked Greg about this?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Andrew Joelson joelsona_at_cpdmfg.cig.mot.com
AKA Rupert von Harl, priest of Yanafal Tar'nils, follower of Humakt
"Contradiction? No, I always did tend to kill chaos creatures anyway."