> The Lunar Empire has snaffed up Vanch and Holay and is warring against
> Tarsh. They also are worshipping the Red Moon whose cry is 'Down with
> Orlanth'. Do you honestly think that if they _aided_ the Lunar Empire
> in their conquest of Tarsh, Mr Red Emperor is _not_ going to squash them?
> Or that when the Tarshites have become Lunarized that they are going to
> be real nice friends with the Kingdom of Sartar?
... You mean that all the Provincial Wars between ourselves and the Kingdom of Sartar are down to an error in translation?
What the Red Moon Goddess *really* said is that Orlanth, like every other deity, is bound into the cycles of being. His power naturally waxes and wanes with the turning tides of time. At the moment, he is in a sustained long-term decline, as happened at the end of the Godtime and the First and Second Ages of History. Once he reaches his nadir, he will be reborn, this time (we earnestly pray) in the Lunar Way.
At this point, he will naturally benefit from Progressive Cyclical Acceleration (possible given the Red Goddess's special relationship with Time), and become an integrated part of the Cosmic Whole. His powers of Violent Rebellion will instead be directed towards the Perpetual Revolution of the Red Moon. The future ebb and flow of his enhanced power will be harmonised and regulated for the good of all.
Just as happened to the Crimson Bat, or the mysteries of Gbaji, a great potential evil will be harnessed to the Lunar Way. The "Struggle for the Middle Air" is our attempt to redeem the soul of Orlanth. To describe this magnificent project as "snaffing up" does you little credit.
Before the coming of the Inspirations of Moonson, Vanch and Holay were led by vicious barbarian warlords whose ancestors had (without provocation!) attempted to sack the sacred surface of the Red Moon itself. Would the world be a better place had they prevailed? Tarsh, it need hardly be said, voluntarily accepted the Lunar Way from Hon-Eel herself, and only resentful self-exiled reactionaries and that violent drunkard Palashee Longaxe have ever rebelled against our rule.
Lunar Tarsh today is richer, happier and more fertile than it ever was after centuries of barbarian misrule. Any talk of the Red Emperor 'squashing' kingdoms he dislikes could not be further from the truth: the limited military actions of the Red Army are merely to hasten the inevitable, inexorable decline of these outmoded regions, so as to advance their joyous rebirth in the Lunar Way for the benefit of all.
The Red Goddess loves Sartar: she loves *all* the world. We Lunars are already the "real nice friends" of people who have never even heard of us. If only the Sartarites would stop their war-whoops long enough to listen to the patient, peaceful doctrines of the All-Embracing Moon.
Whom All Hail!
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