On the fact that dissidents will inevitably cause massive social disturbances.
>Bosh; your most dangerous dissident is an Illuminated beaurocrat
>who (unfortunately) had a brainstorm, or some such. For a western
>example, look at Rokar. Anyone want to say he didn't have Divine
>Inspiration? He was burned at the stake, and later on there were
>Rokari Crusades! (I know this is sort of mix and match, to use a
>western example, but it's the best I can come with off the cuff.)
Perhaps you were thinking of Parg Ilsi? Let me correct you of your misapprehension. A lunar bureacract may go mad and _apparently_ cause massive social disruption far beyond that of any dissident. But because his illumination is completely in tune with the Sedenyic cycles, the negative effects will be transmuted by the checks and balances of the Lunar Empire to cause a far greater good to occur to those he has apparently harmed. As proof, take the land of Eol. As a result of Parg's ravages, do they call themselves the Once Cursed? No! They in fact consider the consequences of this event to be so fortitious as to change their name from Twice-Blessed to Thrice- ! Even now as I speak, a similar transformation is occuring in Aggar.
On the other hand, because dissident philosophers are _not_ in tune with the Sedenyic cycles, any social mischief that they do is _real_ and if unchecked will have catalysmic consequences and ultimately eradicate all the good that the Goddess has brought to us.
>>But the question asked was on combined rune magic use rather than
>>specifically Lunar examples as such.
>The SkyBurn is a singular event, poorly duplicted. This is, IMO, a
>HeroQuest sort of thing; more like Harmast performing an LBQ, than
>a bunch of priests getting together and performing a repeatable
>mass-magic.
Even you brought up the fact that the Empire duplicated the feat with the Moonburn on Rist. This sort of priestly magic is difficult to do because of the immense resources that are needed but it is still an example of combined rune magic (although on a larger scale than the Dragon Pass game). The Lunar Wane Chronicle describes Skyburn as being maintained by 'refugee priests from the cities of Yuthuppa who had taken refuge with the Char-Un Kahn.'
Other rituals of this size would be the the Seven Year Buildup that the Carmanians used to prepare their Gods for the Battle of Dolebury, the Perfect God project and Magnificus's preparations for the trap for Sheng Seleris at Kitor.
Nils Weinander:
>With only stone tools, the North
>Arm peoples cannot build larger sized sea vessels. Without
>the protection of a strong navy, they were an easy prey to
>the recent Vorumai invasion.
Polynesians can build catamarans that could sail the southern seas. And they weren't metal workers.
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