>OLD SESHNEGI vs BASMOLI: At the Dawn, the people of Seshnela were
>overrun by the Basmoli. Despite the Seshnegi being equipped with
>Iron Armour, Sorcery and Aeons of Experience, they are amply defeated
>by the Hsunchen Basmoli who have none of these things. In order
>to save Seshnela, Hrestol has to heroquest to make a new religion.
Actually, a sorry bunch of ex-Brithini (who had just discovered that their Aeons of experience had about as much meaning as the ability to read punched cards has for modern programming) had taken some land granted to them by a generous and _city-dwelling_ king of the Basmoli, in exchange for some minor military service against some krjalki force during the Greater Darkness. The Seshnegi supply of iron armour was likely worse than that of the Basmoli - or Pendali, as this certain branch of Basmoli called themselves - since the Pendali had been living close to the Iron Mountains a lot longer than King Froalar's people. The entire conflict arose when a Malkioni lordling killed a Pendali city ruler in a friendly wrestling contest for the hand of a Pendali noble daughter. The outraged Pendali summoned their orderly army and their powerful priests and sorcerers summoned their ancestral gods, the spirits of the land, and the great elemental forces - very much like the Malkioni wizards tried to do, and failed to succeed with the spirits of the land until Hrestol the Killer slew the ancestral land goddess of the Pendali during a friendly meeting.
But yes, the barbarian Malkioni prevailed, adopted many of the Pendali cities, and condemned the purist survivors to a life as Hsunchen in southern Ralios.
>SIX LEGGED EMPIRE vs HON HOOLBIKTU: The Six Legged Empire is
>vast, powerful and organized. They maintain a professional
>army on horseback. They are overthrown by a hero who leads an
>army of half-naked savages wielding pointed sticks.
Easy. The Six-Legged Empire was doomed as long as it relied solely on its mounted forces to win their battles, since horses get sick on the plains of Jolar quickly. The half-naked savages with pointed sticks kept their "light cavalry" of Jmiije skirmishers and were able to outrun any maneuver of the empire.
>GOD LEARNERS vs CLOSING: Zzabur unleashes a massive spell called
>the Closing. Despite the combined intellectual power of the God
>Learner Empire at its height, they are unable to counteract this
>curse and so their Empire is shattered. Later the curse is
>nullified by a two-bit sailor turned heroquestor.
Curses, even powerful ones like the Deathline and Crossline in post-Dragonkill Dragon Pass or the Syndics Ban, fade with time. (Even parts of Dorastor are deemed worth colonizing efforts again...) I don't think that Dormal could have succeeded if he had tried his methods around 1000 ST. IMO a lot of his discovery is to trick the guardians of the Closing into mistaking the ships for something different than they are used to look for.
This said, I don't really blame the Lunar Empire for the depredations in Dragon Pass - the events heating Sartar for the Hero Wars are mostly driven by the Dara Happan bureaucracy out of their heads to finally really bash Rebellus Terminus, combined with a greed for dominance by the Tarshite dynasty. I doubt that the Lunar Way is served in Dragon Pass in any other way but to procure another challenge to put it to its breaking point.
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