Illumination & the Half-Way Covenant
One of the strange consequences of illumination being necessary to
ascend to the highest levels of the Lunar Empire is that it becomes the
equivalent of the Calvinist concept of being a member of the "elect." (A
strange link here between Chaos and Law!)
There does seem to be some connection between the Lunar model and the
society of Puritan New England, where the "elect," those who knew they were
saved by God had rights over others. After a while, of course, the problem
was that many people never had the conversion experience which made it
possible for them to become part of New England's baptized rulers (apparently
faking it didn't occur to most people!).
So eventually came the Halfway Covenant, which admitted to baptism the children
of baptized persons who had not themselves experienced conversion, and
began the dilution of Puritan hegemony.
The Lunar parallel is obvious -- I find it hard to believe in ruling classes
that wil for long permit the evolution of societies in which their kids
don't have a better shot at being rulers than anyone else. I still have
trouble picturing the way illumination works in the Empire.
On a related question, that of Yelm, it does appear that Yelmies are
European nobles rather than British nobles. By that I mean that all the sons
of Yelm are themselves potential members of the cult, which, over time, means
that many Yelmies would be poor farmers, as is the case with Italian nobility,
frex. The primogeniture system of the British insures that the nobility
don't multiply beyond their numbers, and left us with "great commoners" like
Winston Churchill, the grandson of the Duke of Marlborough.
So I think that the families with Yelm members would evolve like the Tekumel
clans, where even aristocratic clans like Sea Blue have poor members. I
wonder how good the priests are in determining ancestry?
In the American version of Home of the Bold, as a priest of Yelm, I (Count
Leonidas) seem to have been indirectly responsible for having Greg Stafford
tortured to death, since I demanded correct generalogical "proofs" before
accepting a certain barbarian King (ably played by Mike Dawson) into the
cult!
Jim Chapin
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