Occupied Sartar

From: Saravan Peacock <saravan_at_perth.DIALix.oz.au>
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 1996 09:10:49 +0800


In GD #248 Nick notes:
>if the Lunars forbid barbarians to wander the countryside armed and
>armoured, this pretty much forces them not to attend tribal weapontakes: an
>elegant way of suppressing the centralised (tribal) manifestations of Orlanth
>worship, which doesn't in itself impinge on the religion back home in the clan
>steads. "Excuse me, sir, but that's an offensive weapon you're carrying. I
>>shall have to ask you to come down to the guard-post..."

Ah, now that's another question entirely, and one I had planned to get to in the near future. But since you write, surely the Lunars don't prevent the Orlanthi from carrying any weapons or armour _at all_. After all, there's lots of dangerous things running about even with (or perhaps because of) the 'glorious pacifiers' around. And the ban on plate armour doesn't make sense if in fact all amour is banned. (Though this ban sounds pretty gamey to me - I don't think many people of Orlanthi origin even have access to plate armour - probably applies more to the Yelmalion Sun Dome types - or matbe it's a status thing). And in addition, in Redbird's Treaty the safety of the roads is entrusted to the Sartarites... A pretty hard task to fulfill without weapons and armour.

However, the Lunars probably do keep close watch on the roads, and the people who are travelling around generally. They want to catch rebels at every opportunity, and prevent troublemakers from, well, making trouble. What would be the standard procedure? Guard posts at the cities and forts, obviously, probably with patrols moving around the place as well in areas of difficulty. Do they require 'papers' explaining identity and reason for travel? Makes sense. If you want to travel anywhere, you have to go to your local official and get him/her to write out a travel permit (for a reasonable sum of course), and maybe even a weapon licence (a la Home of the Bold - though this may apply more to cities). Of course most orlanthi can't read anyway, so all they know is they're carrying around bits of paper with ritual signs of peace. A sort of Lunar version of their Orlanth greeting.

What about locals travelling with Lunars? Presumably their Lunar companion will carry all the necessary paperwork, and do all the talking with any officails encountered. Of course, if he doesn't have all the paperwork on hand (if some goes missing...) and the official doesn't like the Lunar companion, trouble will inevitably follow...

I guess that answers it though. If everyone has to have a permit, a large bunch of tribesmen travelling to a weapontake will probably not meet the requirements for the permit. And the Lunars will know what's going on.

Yes, Martin Laurie's right on the demagoguery, I think: though it will probably be hard to organise an entire tribe, giving them a place and time to meet without the Lunars finding out. But if they do manage it, the first guy to get it will be the local official. The locals will just go in and cut his throat before heading off, thus preventing him from spreading the word. But then again, there're all these Spoken Word agents floating around, and Orlanthi quislings who're trying to get the latest word on all this sort of thing, and find out who is responsible. Assassins, secret agents, foolish constabulary... All the makings of a great spy novel... :-)

And what about travel 'abroad'? That is, outside Sartar. Do the Lunars permit travel to Wintertop, or to the Sun Dome, or to Tarsh, Esrolia or Heortland? Or rather, whom do the Lunars permit to travel to these places (and elsewhere) and under what circumstances?

Control at the clan level may be pretty difficult though. There must be nearly 200 clans in Sartar, and making sure none of them uses the forbidden rituals will be tough. As long as the chieftain and his council adopts a servile posture, I don't think the Lunars will care much what they do (as long as its not rebellion).

On population growth in peaces clans... Yeah, what an excellent point.

David Weihe talks about the taxation system and Etyries exploitation. Lots of great scenario material there. Lots of smiles all round...

To Craig Furber: My queries originally were about Orlanth because that's my current area of priority. I too would like to know about the whole situation, so feel welcome to post any ideas you may have. AFAIK, the focus on Orlanth comes a lot from the disputed notion that the Lunars are waging a religious and mythical war against Orlanth, singling him out for destruction while leaving all the others alone. I originally held this view but have since been convinced that its a little (or a lot) more subtle than that. Nevertheless, Orlanth gets special attention because he is the ruling god in Sartar, and all the political focus for unity and leadership comes through his worship and veneration.

Pax

Saravan.


End of Glorantha Digest V3 #253


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