Frank Rafaelsen suggests that the Praxians may fear the Lunars becoming the hedgemon of Genertela and unite in a Grand Alliance against them. (All hail the Balance of Power!)
> There are crucial differences and I would agree to your example if the
> lunar forces did have total controll in Prax and the Wastes.
Hmm. Instead of the Soviet Invasion of Ireland, I present a new example:
the medieval Ottomans' subjugation of the Balkans. No total control
involved there (until the 16th century or so, and that's debatable).
Every historian I talked to in the Balkans lamented that the various rulers didn't unite against the Turks and throw them out of Europe. Oddly enough, every ruler saw the invasion as a glorious chance to either:
Yah, many _did_ fight the Turks. But they also gleefully tried to bushwhack their fellows up until the last minute. There _were_ figures that fought the Turks -- say, Vlad Tepes, Skanderbeg or John Hunyadi -- but they fought their Balkan fellows a-plenty.
So too with the nomads. You have the nomad khans that are too short-sighted to see the long-term menace of the hideous Lunars; the khans who'd rather revenge Great-Grampa Iggy the Impala Rider's horrible death at the hand of the Bison Riders rather than unite against the lunars; etc., etc. So I think of Vlad the Impaler as being the great Nomad Khan rather than, say, Metternich; ol' Vlad killed Turks when he saw 'em, but he also killed _lots_ of other people; and his family was willing to deal with the Turks (um, sorry about Dad impaling all those soldiers, Sultan) in order to hold their lands and take lands away rivals. Balance, shmalance -- what's in it for me?
> I wouldn't be very surprised if there is a growing appreciation of "big
> politics" among the nomads.
A perception, an appreciation, but not an understanding. More likely that
the nomads will bitch and moan about all these foreign empires that invade
them, fail to prevent others from invading them, and who stop them from
raiding. Blame 'em for everything.
Pavis? Only reason it hasn't been leveled is that foreign empires (spit!)
support it.
Trolls? We'd have wiped 'em out years ago (spit!) if Dakori Inkarth didn't
aid them. ['Course, it's really 'coz crippled trollkin can beat up them
weedy nomads, hur hur hur.]
Bad trading? It's those damn foreign traders, messing with us honest
plains folk, manipulating markets! I'm givin' a hyena skin to the next
foreign trader _I_ see! (spit!)
Pentians? Oh, sure, the Lunars _say_ they hate them, but I say the Red
Moon Freemasons (spit!) secretly support them (spit!) ;)
> And once they have cut the sable riders down to size, by tossing
> the lunars out, they'll fall back to the old internal bickering
Plenty of historical examples, though, that many people will use invasion
to their own benefit; or at least deal with the invader to secure better
terms. Look at the Chetniks: they didn't like the nasty invading Nazis one
bit, but they felt that the war would be won by foreign powers in any
case, and that the important thing was to secure power for the post-war
struggle with the Commies and the Croats, and thus rationalizing
cooperating with the Nazis. Go fig.
And, of course, it depends on whether or not the Lunars seem to be _winning_. If I'm the khan of a smallish clan that's not doing so well, am I going to risk my people for Great Power politics? Hell, no. I'm going to adjust to reality, try and minimize our losses, deal with the vile, horrible, Chaos-loving Red Scum when I have to, and wait for things to go my way. Let the exile Sartarites do the Glorious Rebel crud you see in the movies. ;)
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