<< In the mythic structure of this world, the conservatives seem to be always right : the innovative revolutionaries are always wrong and pawns of Chaos or self-destruction (Nysalorians, God-Learners, Wyrm Friends, Lunars). The only successful revolutionaries seem to be Arkat (but he betrayed so many cults that he strengthened Krjalk) and Hrestol. My players complained that they always had to be conservative, "ethnocentric", else they would become awful Illuminates (i.e. Dark Side NPCs) or vile heretics. I could change this aspect of the world IMG but I'm afraid to lose the flavor of (the most commonly shared) Glorantha.>>
The only other succesful revolutionaries I can think of are the Kresh, and they're pretty new, so there's no reason to suppose they won't suffer the same kind of problem as the EWF and the God Learners in fairly short order. But I don't agree that this means your players _have_ to be conservative and ethnocentric; what about the Lunars?
Now, it is true that in KoS we are told that the Lunar Empire and its philosophy will eventually be wiped out. But this hasn't happened _yet_ (I'm making the assumption your campaign isn't set in Harshax's time :-)). So, for one thing, you can always ignore the future history and this will have no effect on the flavour of Glorantha as it currently is.
Many Lunars are still ethnocentric and conservative, of course, but the essence of the Lunar Way is that it breaks these boundaries. So, if you play pious Lunars, they can be relatively open-minded and radical. You're still playing characters living within a society, of course, but that's true in any realistic game.
You also appear to contend that Lunars don't make good PCs because
they're 'pawns of Chaos'. Cobblers!! This is only what the Orlanthi, Praxians
and other unwashed barbarians say. Sure, the Lunars have a more relaxed
attitude to Chaos than the animal nomads, but that doesn't make them
'self-destructive'. If anything, Chaos is a pawn of the Lunars. They're
hardly going to let it's most dangerous manifestations loose on their own
people. Well, some Lunars might, and the Crimson Bat is a bit on the nasty
side, but I don't agree that that's how the majority think. The most powerful
Orlanthi muck about with experimental HeroQuesting which is a pretty
dangerous thing to do if you think about it - and this doesn't make them
self-destructive.
I'm not aware what specific complaints your players have, but letting
them play Lunar PCs seems to solve at least part of the problem. Remember,
not all (or even most) Lunars or followers of the Lunar Way are Illuminated,
although most of the very high-ups are. Anyway, who says the Illuminates are
'Dark Side'? OTOH, I concede they can be a real problem in the hands of a
powergamer, and so wouldn't allow tham as PCs myself.
To close, and with an unusual degree of appropriateness:
All hail the Reaching Moon!
Trotsky
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