Remember that the Lunar Army is quite varied. (From Nick and MOB in their "Lunar Army" con seminars.) Therefore, local occupation policy is varied, too. It's all MGF for _your_ Glorantha. You can have Lunar Army units who are Tarshite farm-boys vaguely sympathetic to the Sartarites, Tarshite tribesman eager to shaft their traditional Sartarite foes, scheming, lazy Lodrilli out to make some quick silver off the barbarians, or eager Cha-Un turning the countryside to ash. You can have them all within a twenty mile radius. Whatever your campaign needs.
> A good example of this touchy feely Lunar conversion is an attempt to build
a Lunar temple on top of Orlanth holy spot. Another example occurs
where they have one of thiers goons massacre the local Wind Priests.
Kid's stuff. Think about it - who did the Lunars learn about occupation from? The Jenarongs. The Bull Shahs. Sheng Seleris. Then ask: when's the last time Fazzur ate anyone's children? Did Euglyptus demand the men of Jonstown all have sex with each other, bite off their own thumbs, and then kill all the old men? Has Tatius the Bright instigated a policy of burning alive every man, woman and child who worships Rebellious Terminous?
Heck, ten thousand Bold Homers haven't even been sacrificed to Shargash, and I'll bet you could actually find some support for that one in the Heartlands. In my Glorantha, the Seven Mothers try very hard to maintain the current policy of tolerance toward the Sartarites. And based on the history of Peloria (and thus the POV of most Lunar citizens), one can see how the Red Goddess, with her ideas of tolerance and peace, is truely attractive.
But your PC's should still be upset at dead relatives, burned steads, etc. Their POV is purely subjective.
>Well then what have the Bloody Lunars ever given us. Well a descent into
banality springs to mind. The Lunars, Romans and Soviets did not
destroy cultures for any mythical search for Utopia.
I think you're jumping to the conclusion that the Lunars destroy cultures. Quite the opposite. A trip through the Heartlands would show you LOTS of cultural diversity. The Lunar goal is to keep cultures intact, but obedient. The Lunars gather strength through diversity. They have now ABSORBED their old enemies; the sun overlords, the Bull Shahs, and even most of the Pent Nomads. From each they have gained more power. They have even fit Malikion into their pantheon, and can use his magic as their own. Their goal now is to bring those Pesky Southern Orlanthi into the fold, and welcome Orlanth as another brother of the Red Goddess. I suspect they'd even let the Orlanthi clans continue to raid each other, as long as they paid their taxes and accepted a few shrines. (That's probably how much of Aggar, Dara-ni, and Scylilla function.)
>Conflict is progress, peace is stagnation.
This is a very Orlanthi attitude, and essentially the heart of the conflict. But, for MGF purposes, the Lunars _have_ to be a two-sided enemy, or else they would be pretty stale. Remember "Battle Star Galactica"? What big interest was there in a foe which was totally evil and inanimate, to boot? What great moral complexities were involved in destroying killer robots? (Yawn.) All great "Bad Guys" need several facets. But the fun thing about Glorantha is that you can hop between cultures and pretty much pick your "Villian of the Month".
Pam
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