My guess is that it has Darjiian and Naverian influences, like Peter Metcalfe noted.
Darjiian - ancient land, largely drained swamp today. Almost everyone
considers SurElenslib, the Heron Goddess, an ancestor. (She laid the
eggs which hatched the peoples and monsters of the world.) Now, SE may
take any husband she wants, so the Darjiians have a wide variety of
variable fertility rites, which shocks the hell out of the Dara Happans.
Since the DH's have been occypying Darjiian for over 1000 years, teh
Darjiians have played up the lewd aspects of SE just to annoy them and
reinforce a sense of ethnic identity. Get you hands on a copy of the
Australian Con Book, and read the "Frog Boy" story. That's a good
example of the peasant class attitudes.
Manimat is their ancient solar/cultural hero - a decendant of SE who
founded a great Dynasty. Unfortunately, they were subsumed by Khordavu
into the Dara Happan Emperor, and thus Darjiian was mythically joined to
the Empire. This may still be a bone of contention.
Naveria is equally ancient, but a drier land made up of ancient city states, where women had far more autonomy than in DH. Naveria is still a popular goddess there, probably worshipped mostly by women of all classes. (Naveria brought civilization.) Naveria may overlap with Darsen, which seems to be a land of rocky hills and green valleys. Naveria has many ancient links w/ Dara Happa - more positive ones than Darjiian.
Doblian has had estates owned by foreigners (Dara Happans and others) for a long time. Khordavu's family held estates in Doblian, so I'm sure that's still a minor tourist atttraction.
Peter - Bern Eel Arashgern is draconic? News to me. I thought it was the fertility aspect of Yelm. What leads you to your conclusion?
David Boatright:
>If the Lunar occupation of Sartar had lasted longer then I am sure
they would have got around to the atrocities that you site.
Hmm. You do have a low opinion of the Lunars! I was using those examples to show how the Lunars must think they are being paragons of kindliness. And the clever ones would use Ian Whitchurch's suggestions.
> But thier [Lunar] attentions in Sartar is to replace the culture and
culture is what defines the Orlanthi. I am not sure but in the later
stages did the Empire not outight ban the Orlanthi cult.
Like they've destroyed Orlanthi culture in Aggar? Dara-ni? Imther? Tarsh? The Carmanian hinterlands? I think the Lunar reason for occupying Sartar is to hold the magical land of Dragon Pass, and to gain access to the southern seas. The fact that the Orlanthi there have offered the most stubborn resistance ever must be puzzling to them. I think the banning of the Orlanth cult was a response to this most stubborn resistence, not an original goal. However, I think the idea that different factions within the empire have varying ideas about what to do with Sartar is a good one, and accounts for a lot of the extremes of Lunar activities.
Occupation be a foreign power is always a source of contention. In fact, one of the future game settings on my plate is Darjiian, during the couple generations it's occupied by Arkat's troops - largely Orlanthi. All MGF, you know.
Barntar - UNIMPORTANT?
He's the most popular male deity in our Taming of DragonPass Campaign. We're gonna do a cult write up Real Soon Now...
Pam
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