> I don't see why anyone should think the Red Moon will change color.
> The Red Moon was known during the GodsTime, and was Red then!
Can you quote a source for this? It's news to me, and I like to think I'm well informed about Lunar matters!
BTW, I think the "Red Heat" theory isn't very helpful; but the knowledge that the Red Moon is imperfect is one of the driving forces behind Lunar expansion, missionary activity, imperialism, etc. To use my fave parallel, think of the Communist Internationale: we can put up with flawed Lunarism in one country, or go for perfect Lunarism once we've converted the rest of the cosmos to our POV.
As for Harrek, I prefer him to be a grunting savage (traditional Conan type), whose "magic" is accidental/ incidental/ personal and not revealed through massive Runespells. In my view he doesn't consciously manipulate the awesome powers he has come to possess: in some ways, they manipulate him. I know Greg draws on the Harald Hardrada parallel, but a clever (as opposed to "cunning") Harrek goes against my grain. Meeting him is like meeting Conan-wearing-Stormbringer: he's savage and lethal, but the most obvious magic is in his weapon. Don't spill his pint.
Big Hralf gets scared -- well, maybe just a bit worried -- whenever Brigpice the Fool's in the Greydog Inn, because we don't know what limits there are on what he can do to us. He gives people rabbit heads, makes them laugh for hours, or bamboozles them in other ways. Then we chase him and throw him in the Yelm-pit. That's Tricksters, I suppose...
We went AWOL from the Tarsh War to see the Puppeteer Troupe play at Falling Ruins. Before they started, it looked like there wasn't much there: a handful of people, a few boxes and props. But when they were on stage, there was a cast of thousands. Whole armies marched on stage, in wide-screen sensurround odorama! We saw the Halls of the Dragon King, the depths of the Stinking Forest, the Falling Ruins as they were in their glorious EWF heyday. It was AMAZING! (Think of Doctor Talos' troupe from "The Book of the New Sun" -- the Puppeteers' specialty is using their "illusory armies" to bulk out the cast of their plays, while creating amazing scenery and sound-effects and so forth! The few live actors are all playing multiple roles, hopping in and out of character, and so on).
> I don't think the Kingdom of War is ritualistic in battle. Each Cult has
> its own method of fighting but that is more like a niche it has carved out
> in the Order of Battle rather than a divine mandate from the Cult's God.
i.e. they could be cults similar to Granite Phalanx, whose ideology, spells and techniques are those of a particular form of warfare.
A good book for Yelmies is "Lord of the Four Quarters: The Mythology of Kingship," by John Weir Perry. Collected ancient kingship sources that explain why the Dara Happans are the way they are. Easily Gloranthifiable, with lots of ideas for scenario spin-offs.
For example (to name but one), the sacred king of the Shilluk embodies the god Nyakang, making his fertile powers available for the benefit of his people. But: "As soon as the king carrying within himself this numinous power of Nyakang showed signs of failing, his unfitness was considered a threat to the health of the whole nation, which could only be sustained by keeping the king at a pinnacle of fitness; for as the Royal Father went,so went the entire realm. Thus at the time when his wives detected a flagging of potency, the old ruler would be dispatched by strangulation by the member of a certain clan. ... Not the king himself, but the kingly power in the person of Nyakang was divine. Rebellions were directed not against this divine power but towards its preservation against any weakening of it by the inadequacy of the individual who happened to be carrying that function at the time."
Now, if that's not the basis for a political scenario, I don't know what is!
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