inept and degenerate Dara Happans

From: owner-glorantha_at_hops.wharton.upenn.edu
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 95 10:02:00 PST


Sigh. Am I the only lonely voice in the wilderness that thinks the DH's aren't all Caligula wanna-be's? (Help me out here, Dennis!)

Here are my answers to David Gadbois' questions:

> Lately, I have been wondering how the Dara Happans, the
incompetent twees that they are, could have possibly managed to lord it over big chunks of Peloria for so long save a few minor interruptions by random Carmanians, Pentans, and Dragonkin.

Yes, the Dara Happans have had a history of being overrun quite regularly - but not because they're incompetant. They're sitting on one of Glorantha's prime peices of real estate. Who really wants to try to overrun the Wastes? Or Prax? (Even Prax was taken by the Pure Horse People). The DH's have also had BIG enemies. Arkat had most of Western Genertela on his side, the Golden Horde was wiped out (along with everybody else) by dragons, and Sheng was backed by the hordes of Pent *and* Yelm/Kargzant when he trotted into the Oslir bowl.

One might consider that the DH's don't seem to have the military strength their population might warrant. But the DH's have always feared internal rebellion almost as much as outside invasion, so arming and training their vast numbers of peasants has never been a good choice for them. Instead they relied on powerful community magic and a few elite and very loyal armies. (Shargashi, Yelm the Warrior, etc.) Well, so maybe they didn't resist large waves of invaders this way, but their social fabric is so strong that they've managed to remain intact for over a thousand years, through several different invaders. And whenever the fabric broke apart, some new fellow would show up as an avatar of Yelm (Khordavu, Odey-somebody, and Yelmgatha) to rebuild the cult. (Don't have FS at work.)

> One way I proposed is a certain largesse that makes the peasants want to
partake in degrading Yelmic rituals.

Not to mention the Lodril parties. When you get lusty Lodril festivals every season and all the beer you can brew, life doesn't look so bad. (Yelm doesn't get cool parties.) Also remember the average DH peasant never travels more that 10 miles from home. He's never seen an Orlanthi free-farmer's stead and never heard of anything other than "Yelm Rules Justly, Lodril Digs in the Fertile Earth". Dara Happan probably doesn't even have a word for "freedom". At Worship he hears about the infighting and the horrible monsters that plague the Storm Peoples because they don't live according to Yelm's proper rule. If things get _too_ bad, both Lodril and Gorgama have secret rebellion powers. Why would a Lodrili peasant want anything else?

> The gazzam offer another possibility: Of
all the Pelorians, only the Dara Happans own, and, more importantly, know how to control, the gazzam.

Ok - I can buy that. But an pair of oxen seems a tad more plausible. After all, Bisos the Bull is a Pelorian deity.

>There is still the question, though, of how the Dara Happans, with all
their inbred snobbery,

I'll give you that one. But just as the peasants supposedly value obedience, the Yelmies value Nobless Oblige. If they are truely pious, they feel obliged to care for and justly rule thier peasants. Why can't a Yelmite be just as zealous about his god's values as an Orlanthi? After all, by acting purely and justly he acts as Yelm, and that is the source of his social and martial power. I don't think the Yelmic nobles have a word for 'freedom' either - just an endless series of stifling obligations.

> secret depravity,

This one I take exception to. In Yelmic society, depravity would have to be very secret. These people aren't even supposed to enjoy sex with their wives, so how could they justify depravities? A virtuous Solar (Yelmite, Dendaran, Yu-kargzant worshipper, Yelmalian - you name it)- is valorous, chaste (pure), honest, just, and generous.

STOP LAUGHING! I'm referring to a perfect world, here. (Note that these are almost identical to that other ruler god - Orlanth. Swap Proud for Chaste). I'll bet that to attain the more powerful Solar magics, Yelmies have to at least make a darn good attempt at following these virtues.  They'd have to abide by the 347 Rites of Cleanliness (I made the number up, but it's a low estimate), and not be scorned by the other Yelmies.   Sometimes the pressure of all those obligations gets too great, and a Yelmie is tempted to have "impure thoughts", or even worse, led to impure actions. But I'm sure there are rituals one can undergo to purify oneself again. I picture Yelmies as seeing themselves torn between the pure sky, where their souls belong, and the impure Earth, where their bodies live. So they are always tempted.

As their society gets larger & more urban, more secrets can be kept, and more leisure is available for the upper classes. So the DH's may be a bit more depraved that other Solars, but they certainly try to hide it, and may even feel guilty about it. I just can't picture rampant depravity being accepted in old Solar society. Now that Lunar glasnost is the rule, the DH's are probably more free than ever. They have other paths to power (different cults), and if they become illuminated they can do pretty much whatever they want and still worship Yelm.

>and overwhelming uselessness,

What? Magistrates, architects, astronomers, historians, healers, and warriors are _useless_ ? Not to mention those Sunspear, Sunripen, and Cure Disease spells...

>could have managed to survive in an apparently culturally intact way these
400 or so years since the Glorious Revolution of Our Goddess.

Ah - now that's a problem. I picture the Lunars as a BIG threat to Solar society. Not only are their women defecting in _droves_ to cults where they can talk to each other without permission, but the Red Emperor has been displacing whole families of nobles whenever they request that his latest incarnation undertake the Ten Tests. The Lunars, originally Yelmgatha's secret weapon, are now the Solar's nemesis - can't live with 'em, can't fight them and survive, and maybe they can't even survive without them anymore.

All right - falme away!

Pam


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