Re: Glorantha Digest V2 #444

From: Cheiron <cheiron_at_ix.netcom.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 17:17:38 -0800


Sandy wrote on my Rokari musings:

> Any peasant who attempts to make waves goes away, in one
>manner or another. What are they going to do, revolt?

Someone else pointed out that peasants revolting against their landlords is a common (or at least uncommon) event in Seshnela. But even if the threat of revolt was rare and easily squashed, other less obvious resistance probably occurs. Slow work output, poor craftmanship, and habitual laziness are all logical consequences of relying on a disatisfied and hopelessly oppressed peasentry (witness Tsarist Russia). I'm not saying such a system wouldn't endure. Just that it would be smart for the rulers to sugar-coat it in 1984-like fashion to convince the serfs that the system existed for their own good.

> The Forces of Evil often remain in charge of an oppressive
>society for centuries on end, and the Rokari lands, if you view them
>in that way, are no different. The actual Middle Ages were by and
>large a Lawful Evil kingdom, where might made right.

True. But part of the inspiration for my musing was a bit of RCC doctrine (at least the way I learned it from the nuns at my grade school) which said that the Pope was really the servant of the Church. The bible passage used to illustrate this point was the story of Jesus washing the feet of Mary Magdelene, where Jesus showed us that the mightest should make themselves servants of the weak. Or something like that. It's been a while. Mostly what I was going for was a bit of schtick where a Rokari character could justify oppression and really _believe_ he was on the side of the right. It seems part of the fun of Glorantha is that each culture has its own internally consistant and completely justifiable explanantion of the actions no matter how outragous ("The Bat is a necessary tool for healing the Invisible God and restoring true Order to the universe").

Now if someone could come up with a really believable "Lawful Good" sounding justification for the Kingdom of War...

Robert


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