> Are the Tongs a powerful force?
Yes, no, and both, as Peter says. This is a bit of a how long is a piece of string?/how many thieves are there in Boldhome?/how decadent is the Lunar Empire? type of question: sliceable numerous ways according to personal prediliction, scenario need, and particular location within the empire; fiendishly powerful (quite literally) gangs with immense material resources and otherworldly backup would be well within the idiom; as would an omnipresent judicial state that stomps on the slightest of transgressions vigorously.
> Why all the bridges?
I'm aware of three general sorts of notions about this. As I don't believe the mandarins are at all specific in their public pronouncements as to _why_ this is all going on, Gloranthans may take different views on this also (whether or not they believe the mandarins, anyway).
Firstly, like the chicken in the joke, to get to the other side. The Suam Chow cuts the empire right in two (and a bit), and must be an inconvenience in some ways (though also a major thoroughfare itself).
Secondly, they are certainly impressive and monumental objects, and could be justified as the proverbial Public Works.
Lastly, foreigners who have glimpsed these awesome structures conclude that they are magical devices for some utterly inscrutable purpose.
Obviously these are not mutually exclusive. Pub talk demonstrates definitively that the chunnel is both, for example.
> What about th cult of Atyar?
> Who was the Ogre King and where did he get his Legion of Red Bones?
> What is the Curse of the Ancestors?
Give this man his money back for these ones. Anyone else's theories and lavish creations gladly entertained, mind you.
Slan,
Alex.
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