> I don't think the Lunar Empire is politically organized enough to
> have anything like the Red Guards or the Cultural Revolution.
The Cultural Revolution ("Let's send those teachers and graduates to work on the farms, so they'll know how the People live!") has more of a Loskalmi feel to it, IMHO :-) But you have to admit that Lunar Cyclicalism is pretty much a belief in "Perpetual Revolution" (if you take it literally!), which is why it makes such a good Lunar catchphrase. Thatcher worked in much the same way as Mussolini, in this regard: never give the opposition (or dissidents on your own side, for that matter) any time to catch breath and work out where they stand.
"Keep them off Balance and out of Breath": sounds like the basis for Lunar policy!
> The image of the Lunar Empire is more like Rome of the Late Republic
> to me, ie there is severe internal strife among the ruling elite while
> the Empire is militarily expansionistic.
I usually use Roman Imperial parallels: the Dara Happan staid, upright, patriarchal 'ancestral values' have a Republican feel to me (in this day and age); there was still severe internal strife under the Empire (look at the Year of the Four Emperors!); expansion was more likely to depend on the whim of one man (Moonson Himself led the assault on Boldhome). And, of course, there's the Emperor Cult.
The Dara Happan Senate is IMHO as relevant to contemporary Lunar politics as the Roman Senate was under the Empire. A great source for outdated titles and positions for the 'old nobility', but Real Power these days comes from Moonson and goes to his cronies and the 'new men' of the Bureaucracy (upon whom the old fogies look down from their patrician heights, contempt mixing with envy).
> The Lunar religion has hardly the capacity to enforce ideological
> uniformity considering the amount of Illuminates it has!
But what if the Illuminates wanted to enforce ideological uniformity (which I believe to be the case)? You have to admit, it makes running the Empire easier!
There are Lunar heretics, of course: best known are the Arrolians, the Redlanders, the White Moonies. Two of these groups are outside the Empire, while the third is about to be ideologically persecuted within it. I think this adds credence to the belief that, while tolerant and all-embracing in theory (especially with regard to 'lesser cults'), the Empire is ready to persecute those who would deviate it from its true path. Questioning the state-cult's version of the Red Goddess, the Red Moon or the Red Emperor is an easy way to earn persecution.
> I get the impression the higher Ranks are deeply cynical and are in
> it for the political and magical power they can snaff^H^H^H^H^H
> acquire for the benefit of others.
This doesn't contradict my role as self-appointed apologist and propagandist for the Lunar Way. I am sure there is some (maybe even much) truth in what you write. I provide justifications which Lunar missionaries, politicians, ambassadors, priestesses and diplomats might use, cloaking base motives and raw power-politics with an ideological mask.
I am also sure there are many dedicated Lunar fanatics, perhaps below the 'High Ranks' of which you speak, whose every thought is for the welfare of the Lunar Empire and the Lunar Way, and who'd believe implicitly every word of Lunar Propaganda that I write. There are honest, pious believers in the Lunar Empire who could write my 'justifications' with a straight face and a clear conscience. They Love The Goddess.
> Hmm. what are the odds of a catastropic fire happening in Raibanth
> or Glamour within the next ten years (and being blamed on the White
> Moon Nuts)?
Very high indeed. If you want to understand the current Moonson, think 'Nero'. Apropos of which, it's worth remembering three things:
i) The Lunar Empire is a means to an end: that end is the Lunar Cosmos. ii) Some imperial acts are vast Nysalor Riddles to illuminate the people. iii) Insanity is seen as a blessed state by Lunar believers.
Given these, it's hardly cause for wonder that some acts of the Red Emperor seem quixotic or just plain wrong, while some masks of the Red Emperor appear to have been insane by any normal standards. Eventually, once the Lunar Cosmos is born, everyone will see why these things had to be done. Until then, it doesn't much matter to the Empire how its 'arbitrary', 'insane' actions are perceived. At worst, these teach a very real lesson. At best, they expand the Lunar Consciousness of all participants, willing or otherwise.
I'll write more on the Triumph of the Lunar Way (as described in Argrath's Saga) when I get back from Down Under, at the end of this month.
> All true worshipers of Orlanth know that this face of the Lunar Empire
> is just a covering hiding the true monsterous face of the chaos loveing
> slime that they are. (etc., etc.)
Have you ever wondered why we Lunars characterise Orlanth as the god of stale wind? Look no further than Taz's last post! (The only mercy is that he didn't write it as Orlanthi so-called 'poetry'!)
Never mind, Tarry: *even*you* are loved by the Red Goddess.
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