> Well, there is less trouble with clan feuding
Sartar's peace brought by the Lunars?
> And there's the new roads.
So the Lunars built the highways from Wilmskirk to Aldachur?
> And the soup kitchens
So Geo's is a subcult of Teelo Norri
> And the aqueducts...
In rainy Sartar...
Think of that. What _did_ the Lunars ever bring to _Sartar_, except the Bat, high taxes, and unwanted troops?
They did bring all kind of good stuff to Tarsh, that much is true. But they did so at the same time a certain Heortland nobleman introduced paved highways, arching bridges, and numerous other advantages from civilized life. The Quivini took their pick from the niceties of civilization, and let the rest remain where they didn't need it.
The country invaded by the Lunar army in 1602 was as well developed as the Lunar Provincial Kingdom of Tarsh wrt the niceties of civilization. The rural people lived the old way out of their own choice, or went to the cities when they chose otherwise, joining their tribesmen (and even clansmen, in case of the majority of the tribes which formed city confederations) there.
Ok, so the Irrippi Ontors have a different approach than the Lhankor Mhytes. So Etyries deals a bit different from Issaries. But pray tell me, where did the Lunars bring anything that wasn't there in a local form before?
>Lots of
>money floating around, new trade routes, old ones made safer, charitable
>institutions of various kinds (free resurrection for many of those the CAs
>refuse - and at a cheaper price)
Lots of money: maybe. Floating around? Redirected, rather. So the Lunars heightened the importance of cash? If so, only to have a way of taking taxes, really.
New trade routes: Which ones? Sartar had always traded with Peloria through Tarsh...
Old ones made safer: I'll yield the Pavis "Road" to the Lunars, since they managed to hire native Praxians (Sables) rather than more or less recent immigrants (Pol Joni). Whether this was an improvement I'm not sure... The Kethaelan river trade has been all but closed down after the unfortunate 1613 aftermath, and the Volsaxi trade route hasn't improved during the siege of Whitewall either, except maybe for the smugglers providing the besieged city.
The charitable institutions are the Teelo Norri soup kitchens which don't require initiation (as opposed to Geo's). They do their best to illuminate you about the wisdom of the moon goddess, though, which Geo's doesn't. Still, I'll yield that.
Free Resurrection: Wow! Every rebel is urged to make use of this service. Beat the Lunars by using up their Resurrection pool! (Humakti excepted...) Frankly, I don't believe this. The Lunars will be as picky about their resurrectees as will be the Chalana Arroy healers, the only advantage being a temporarily greater offer. This competition will wear off, though, and sooner or later availability of Resurrection will drop to a normal level.
IMG the Lunar conquest of Sartar was performed for royal Tarshite territorial craving and some quite far-fetched mythological identification sold to the Dara Happan officials in order to support this materialist conquest. What the Tarshites did not recognize was the seriousness with which the Dara Happans pursued this mythological goal much more fervently than expected. Instead of yielding control of the conquered territory to the Provincial Government, which would have to act and control through the Kingdom of Tarsh, they installed some Yelmic fanatic within the Lunar Army in the key position of Gouvernor-General.
Instead of gaining their neighbouring kingdom's choice part as added provinces, the Tarshites gained an imperial controlled independent province as neighbour, with some autonomous imperial leaders.
I won't say that the Sartarites would have tolerated assimilation to the Kingdom of Tarsh better than the status as an independently managed province. Some things would have developed differently, and possibly there would have been less resentment among some tribes. After all, the Tarshites still were Orlanthi only a few generations earlier (Palashee Longaxe's kingdom, for instance), and the descendents of Hon-eel seem to be accepted by the vast majority of the half million Tarshites.
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