>What about the "freed slaves of the emperor dominating politics
>phenomena which angers old fogies" of emperors like Claudius and
>Nero? Is there any similar thing in LE?
This sort of thing stemmed from extremely high rate of Slavery within the Roman Republic and Empire which I think the Lunars lack. While the Lunars may enslave some people in crushing revolts, they are far more likely IMO to follow the Assyrian Practice of Forced Resettlement in a Strange Land (like the River of Cradles, the Redlands etc).
Whilst I think the 'Freed Slaves' is possible, I think it more likely that a high ranking Lunar Official would employ a clan _retainer_ in such a case. This is not a slave but merely a servant from a family who has been serving the clan for generations, say.
As an example: take a middle ranking Lunar Official, to make an appointment to see him, one has to see his secretary. This would not be a recognized position by the Lunar bureacracy (save for the Most High of Lunar Officials). The Official would employ as his secretary a scribe who is known to the Official's clan and has been conditioned for loyalty by the clan mages. The scribe is paid for out of the salary of the Lunar Official and whatever 'gifts' pass his way.
I do believe that some Lunar burecracts are so lazy that they delegate much of the work to their retainers so that they become the _de_facto_ officials.
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