> Does the White Moon cult actually have any true magic or power?
Yes. There was, is now, and will once again be a White Moon. If that is confusing, remember that it's a mystical kinda thing. Obviously, this is Mythic Reality, and not flash-bang magics.
White Moon doctrines are like the Red Moon religion "taken seriously": they have nothing to do with the Empire, and everything to do with healing, transformation, liberation, peace, love, beauty, and so on.
> I'd suspect that if there weren't kind of mythic back-up or some
> power/legitimacy to the Cult, that the Lunar inquisitors would have
> checked the White Moonies into a Danfive Xaron penitent legion for
> treasonous apostacy.
Well, they still might (and shortly will, in "orthodox" Glorantha). Just because someone worships a "true" religion doesn't mean they *ought* to, or that everything else they do is OK. Consider the recent discussion of "banned heroquests" -- there are plenty of good and admirable and praiseworthy things that you Ought Not To Do. For example, a Red Army officers who saw the White Light and embraced pacifism would almost certainly find himself in conflict with the desires of his superiors.
By "cracking down" on the White Moon Cult, the Authorities aren't saying "belief in the White Moon is evil" -- they're regretfully reacting to the spread of a malicious heresy, concealed under the guise of True Religion by sinister Enemies of the State. Citizens, if you know anyone who has been duped by these malevolent evildoers, please inform the Black Army (anonymously, if you prefer). Once the vicious and depraved so-called Keepers of the White Moon have been successfully re-educated in the truths of the Lunar Way, the current unfortunate state of affairs can quickly be brought to an end.
Belief in the White Moon and its eventual rise is part of orthodox Lunar religion. Devoting yourself to the White Moon to such an extent that you oppose the actions and policies of the Lunar Empire is risky.
> In order to be such a threat, wouldn't the White Moon worshippers,
> even if they haven't any true magic or power, have at least some
> backers amongst the more powerful in the Lunar Empire?
Certainly they do, and rooting them out will be hours of fun for the Inquisitors -- "Whites under the beds," anyone?
The White Moon Cult is like an actualisation of the way the Red Moonies say they're behaving. They say they're suffering for the good of us all: the White Moonies really are! They say they're pacifists: the Keepers and=
Seekers of the White Moon would rather die than harm an enemy. They say they're working for the ultimate Triumph of the Lunar Way, but mean the Empire when they say it -- the White Moonies have seen the truths that lie beyond, and propose a transformation so mind-boggling that not even the upper echelons of the Illuminated imperial administration can bring themselves to embrace it.
But bring on all the McCarthyite, Christians'n'Lions, weird Islamic sectarian, millennial/apocalyptic/messianic parallels you like. The great thing about the White Moon is that it's a cluster of heresies, not a single mainstream promulgated cult. Kill for Peace! Die for Love! Destroy to Create! What's Red shall be White, That Which Is Within must come forth, and all's well that welds ends...
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Nick
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