This one seems to run and run...
I agree that there must be all-Yanafali regiments in the Heartland Corps
(probably) and the Imperial Bodyguard (certainly). But I'm also sure that the
different regiments of the Lunar Army *all* have their own traditions (read,
"cults"), and have all developed their own relationships with the Imperial
authorities. "All" (i.e. 85%+) senior officers in the Lunar Army must sacrifice
to Yanafal Tarnils. But there is no necessary correlation between Scimitar (or
any other) status in the Yanafal Tarnils cult, and any specific military ranks:
while this would obviously be desirable in theory, it would create intolerable
problems in practice, especially in as heterogenous an organisation as the Red
Army.
Regimental cults are the cults of the common soldiers: you'll note in Chris Gidlow's "Granite Phalanx" that the real high priest of that cult is the Regimental Sergeant-Major, not the political appointee put in by Moonson and/or the Red Army's high command and given a purely *nominal* cult rank. The officers of a hoplite regiment are not hoplites! (Find me any ancient army where the common soldiers worked up through the ranks to become commanding officers and I'll judge another "Eat at Geo's"). So the officers of different cultic regiments have to have something else in common, other than service in identical units. That "something" is the cult of the Ram and Warrior, chief war god of the Lunar Empire.
Yanafal Tarnils is the god of the officer corps of the Lunar Army. This doesn't mean that people who were *previously* in the Army, or those who aspire to the values espoused by its officers, or those who view him as primarily a religious rather than a military figure, cannot gainfully worship him in their own way. But these are in a minority compared to the vast number of serving Yanafali, and we'll be writing the cult for the latter (just as *all* cult writeups present the majority practice!).
Regiments with a thoroughly Lunar tradition (the elite Imperial Bodyguard at once springs to mind) could surely require that all recruits practice and embody the Yanafali virtues. This does not mean they aren't found elsewhere; nor does it mean that an enlisted Yanafali in the Steel Swords legion would have officer rank (other than that conferred by his "elite" status) in any other regiment. But how do you suppose auxiliaries reacted to Praetorians?
Non-Lunar formations (the infamous Char-Un spring to mind) would come in at the low end of the scale. Hetman Ignatieff probably sacrifices a pinch of incense to Yanafal on the high holy day if anyone reminds him to; he's far busier worshipping Char-Un the Butcher and Holy Katharine, Mother of Horses, the ancestral deities of his brutal people. The requirement would be that while serving as a commander of the Lunar army he should publicly worship Yanafal, *not* that he must qualify for and hold a specific level of initiation or rune status in the cult.
Those betwixt and between do whatever you've seen them do in your own RQ games. There are tens of thousands of Lunar soldiers, and you haven't met all of them in your own campaign (I fervently hope!). Yanafal Tarnils, I hope, will be the one thing their commanders *have* to have in common, if they're to be in the Red Army. But enthusiasm for the cult can range from grudging lip-service (that Char-Un hetman's vestigial lay membership) through to moonstruck fanaticism (I'm sure many Steel Sword legionaries will strive to attain Scimitar status in the cult).
My "Mithraic" parallel, quoted recently, was meant to point out that the cult
*could* represent a common ground for troopers and their officers, in which
members of both groups meet in a religious hierarchy and take on cultic roles
which could be entirely different from their military ranks: the unit's Captain
(a mere Comrade of Yanafal) deferring to his Sergeant (the Scimitar for that
'lodge'). Mithraism in the Roman Army had a cult structure unrelated to the
military hierarchy: this is a way of allowing "inept" generals and "heroic"
common soldiers, and thus fits in with MGF, which is (of course) what our
development of the Lunar Army is all about!
However, Mithraism was also unofficial, non-compulsory, etc. In RuneQuest terms, I'd imagine that the notionally-Yanafali commander of a non-cultic regiment would be unlikely to possess as high status (initiate, rune lord or whatever) in the cult as the devoted Yanafali commander of a fanatical Yanafali regiment. Think of it as a "temple size" question, but remember that when a whole army worships together, there's likely to be plenty of officers (and fanatics/wannabees) around. Individual commanders' whims could also dictate cultic fashion in their units, to a certain extent!
Membership in the Yanafal Tarnils cult is a privilege, which gains value from
its exclusivity and is thereby debased (becoming another commodity). Remember
that the Lunar Empire is now grossly decadent: if the buying and selling of
commissions was ever to be found there, it'd certainly be apparent now.
(Besides, I've seen it run rampant in the Bagnot militia!)
Aside from all that:
Surprising as it may seem, the panel of the Lunar Tunes seminar were not
plugging a pre-ordained "party line": we were improvising, based on our love for
(and gaming experience of) the Lunar Army, and our desire to see it properly
reflected in the next RuneQuest publication. When we agree among ourselves that
we've "got it right", the product will be finished. Criticising our performance
on the grounds that we all seemed to have different ideas is quite a compliment:
that's what collaboration is all about! We are all striving to convince MOB that
the sum of our individual contributions adds up to MGF.
On a last note: "Nobody can make you do anything." If your view of the cult of Yanafal Tarnils is utterly incompatible with someone else's, why not ignore theirs, and carry on the way you always did? If Cults of Prax contained all you want to know about the Lunar wargod, you're fortunate: it's been published already. But please let us know what details you've added in order to make the cult colourful enough to use in play: that's what the Digest's here for!
As a sideline on the 'homosexuality in Glorantha' question: the Vadeli!
As everyone in the West knows, the Vadeli are complete shits. They are engendered through anal intercourse, and born through the back passage: literally shat out into the world. This is the scriptural reason why buggery is an intolerable sin to all right-thinking Malkioni...
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