answers for bell

From: Peter Metcalfe <P.Metcalfe_at_student.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Tue, 06 May 1997 13:07:27 +1200


Chris Bell:

>(1) Does any one have any info as to a complete list of Lunar Cults in
>the Lunar Empire?

Easier said than done as the list of the Lunar Cults rivals that of the Catholic Saints or the Gods of India. In addition to this, Lunars often have the habit of worshipping the Pelorian cults that existed before the coming of the Goddess (such as Yelm, Dendara etc).

>(2) Do the Orlnathi of Ralios, Northern Pent, or Dragon Pass/Sartar
>practice slavery in any form, such as the Fonrit peoples,Pelorians or
>Prax Tribes do?

Yes, albeit there are no Orlanthi in North Pent. The redlanders do worship the West King Wind which outsiders think is Orlanth but they are as correct as the Hellenistic Greeks who thought that the Jews worshipped Zeus.

>What are the slavery practices, in brief, of the
>aforementioned peoples? I think it would be inconsistent that Slavery of
>any form would be practiced in Orlanthi culture, as Orlanth is one of
>the penultimate Gods of Freedom and Justice.

The Orlanthi do keep thralls.

	'Thralls are the lowest class of person, mere slaves without
	any legal status at all.  They are considered to be their
	owner's property, as if an alynx, cow or horse, but not
	identified as people.  Among the Dragon Pass Orlanthi, the
	status is recognized but has been long out of practice, 
	especially to enphasize their love of freedom and to 
	differentiate themselves from the slave-owning Lunars.  Most
	of the thralls we know about are either debt slaves, other
	criminals, and occasionally the recalcitrant war prisoner.  
	Traditionally, the children of the Orlanthi slaves are not
	slaves, but are adopted into the clan which owns the mother.'

				King of Sartar p244.

As for slavery being inconsistent with Orlanth's freedom, look at the Athenians or Antebellum American South.

>(4) Finally, what's the full story on Sheng Seleris? What God or Gods
>did her worship? Were his powers Shamanic in nature, gotten from pacts
>with various Great Spirits, did he serve Dara Happan Nomad deities,
>what?

Nobody knows. His beliefs would have been similar to that of the typical Pentan, worshipping the Stars, Planets and the Sun. We do know that he went against the Kralori first. After he had conquered as much of Kralorela as he could, he then unleashed his power against the Lunar Empire.

Much of the secret of his success is that when he encountered stiff opposition from one end of his empire, he imported troops from the other to scare the shit out of them. Thus the Pelorians found themselves oppressed by strange mystics with exotic magics while the Kralori were routed off the field by the sight of demonical hoplites.

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