I go for maximum variety. I can see some Sartar tribes saying that new tribal leaders must resign from being clan chieftains, and maybe some tribes that don't allow clan chieftains to stand at all. Other tribes will have hereditary kings from one noble family whether they mask this in a mock election or not. But I'd suggest that most tribes allow clan chieftain's to become tribal king, and also to remain as their clan's chieftain at the same time.
Whatever the system there is going to be a tribal leader who comes from one clan of the tribe.
Now, a good tribal leader will attempt to be fair and non-partisan. However, this flies in the face of the fierce clan loyalty built up over the years and he or she may end up being a "bad" leader. That's life. In extremis clans in his or her tribe may secede, join other tribes, or form their own tribes. The original tribe might eventually cease to exist.
The network of Sartarite tribes and clans is not fixed and never has been. There's plenty of scope for partisan leadership, kinstrife, politiking, and role-play.
Killing Lunars:
The reprisals are the problem.
Early on in the occupation the Lunars utterly wiped out a couple of clans and a whole tribe (the Dundealos) just to show that armed rebellion wasn't a good idea.
Standard practice is to take hostages from the relatives of the Clan and Tribal leaders. By doing this you can rely on the Orlanthi leaders to control their people.
So, unless Orlanthi PC's decide to break with their clan (and what good Orlanthi would ever do that) then they are stuck with either supporting their chieftain or seeking to replace him. And if they ever do replace him then god help the women, the children, the old people, and the traditions of the clan.
Note that it's not going to be very hard for the Lunars to work out who killed their men - all they have to work out is which clan did it.
Martin Crim writes:
>I don't think most Sartarites would have any trouble rationalizing
>the killing of converts from their own clan or tribe, though close
> family members might give them pause.
Since close family members would probably be the whole stead, household, or clan it might be difficult. This argument seems to be advocating kinstrife.
Actually, I do wonder if everyone is getting rather too carried away with modern day terrorist and WW2 resistence parallels. There ain't Lunar soldiers with machine guns at every stead door. There isn't constant terrorism against the Lunars in towns or in clan lands. There isn't a Sartar-spanning secret resistence movement supplied by covert air drops. Most Sartarites don't regard the Lunars as Chaos spawn - that's an extremist's viewpoint. Many clans haven't really been affected by the occupation at all. And Lunar missionaries are not killed out of hand, and are often listened to if they appear to talk sense.
IMO resistence to the Lunars in Sartar comes in two forms. Within the clan and tribal structure it is in the hearts and minds of the people and will only manifest itself in outright armed rebellion "when the time is right". Outside of the clan and tribe, and amongst the outlaws, outcasts, and Storm Bullys of the mountains it takes shape in acts of mindless cruelty against the fringes of Lunar occupation (and often innocent Orlanthi clansmen and women). The latter are just pinpricks, hunted down by Lunars and good Orlanthi alike in the same way as an infestation of ogres or a nest of Malliants.
Cheers,
David Hall
End of Glorantha Digest V2 #678
WWW material at http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren/rolegame.html
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