The Lunars are seen as the problem behind the problem. A coalition of tribes could stomp the Sables, except that the Empire is backing them up. Think of the Sables like the Campbells in the Scottish Highlands. They have all the up-front visible positions, but the real control is with the Imperials.
> What is really their problem? Well they are prevented from grazing
> their animals in the relativly fertile Prax. Who is preventing them?
Worse than that. The Lunars are forcing the tribes to pay a big tax, then letting them go on! The nomads can deal with outright blocking -- the top tribe always tries that -- but this bizarre new tactic drives them crazy.
And the grazing is easily controlled by controlling the oases. In the desert or chaparral country, who controls the watering rights controls the land. Unwatered land is nearly worthless, no matter how much there is.
> preventing them? I don't see the lunars being able to stop the bison
> nation from crossing the Zola Fel, and I don't see the lunar footmen being
> able to pose any treat to the nomadic tribes.
Catch them at the river crossing and they are dead meat. Catch them as they climb up the cuts, and a fairly small force will block them. In either place, the nomads cannot charge, nor stampede their herds, and they cannot easily retreat due to disorganization.
Standing orders will be to block access to water and let the parched herds force negotiations. Orders as old as Eusibius, and still valid.
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #423
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