Storm and Moon

From: Nick Brooke <Nick_Brooke_at_csi.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 06:44:40 +0100



Adam asks:

> Would a worshipper of Orlanth be able to worship the Lunar Goddess?

Tricky: best check with your Storm Voice and Moon Priestess, to make sure it's OK with both of them. Worshipping Orlanth as the Rebel God who Overthrows Evil Empires would probably be taken as being inconsistent with mainstream Lunar worship, wherever you look. Part of this hostility is cosmic (the Moon vs. the Middle Air), part is historic (Lunar roots in Yelmic Dara Happa), part is local and political (Lunars in occupying power in Sartar and Prax vs. local popularity in Tarsh and the Provinces). In general, I'd say there are likely to be few "Lunarised Orlanthi": the known propensity of the Empire to persuade Orlanthi to convert (with tax breaks, soft words, or fire and the sword) makes it unlikely that there are tens of thousands of loyal Red Orlanthi back in the Provinces.

In the "Guide to Glamour" article on the Lunar Pantheon, Greg and I wrote:

: The Old Gods who preceded the Lunar Way still receive worship within
: the Empire... The only exception is Orlanth, the Last Rebel, eternal
: enemy of peace and stability. Worship of this turbulent and barbaric
: deity is prohibited within the Empire, and its campaigns of conquest
: have been intended to break his power. Former worshippers of the Storm
: God are encouraged to worship tamer, more palatable atmospheric deities,
: such as Molanni, a consort of Yelm, or Entekos, goddess of Good Weather.

:

: Orlanth was not chosen by the Red Goddess as her Last Enemy. Their
: hostility is a cosmic process, and inevitable. When Rufelza's cyclical
: revolution replaces Orlanth's turbulent rebellion as the motive principle
: of the Middle Air, then Orlanth will no longer have a place in Glorantha.
: The defeat of this troublesome and disobedient god will finalise Rufelza's
: integration into all Glorantha. Vast lands in the East, West, and South
: will not need to be conquered by the Lunar Empire to defeat Orlanth.
: Their ultimate acceptance of the Lunar Way will be inescapable after
: Orlanth is bound.

Acknowledging a tamed or subdued Orlanth, one subservient to the Red Goddess (as the Sylilans do with their myths of the taming of the Star Bear by Orogeria), might well be compatible with the Lunar Way. Sartar-style worship of Orlanth Adventurous, Implacable Foe of the Empire, isn't. "Real" Orlanthi would sneer at "Lunarised" Orlanthi, who would almost certainly be unable to access all of their god's powers and myths.

Here's more Greg, from the RQCon-2 Compendium, p.81:

: When the Lunars overrun an Orlanthi area, they don't *really* insist that
: people join the Yelm cult ... they would set up a Yelm temple for them-
: selves and they would set up a temple of Entekos, the Dara Happan goddess
: of weather and atmosphere. They would set up a temple to her, and those
: people who attended that temple would get more favours than the Orlanthi
: people who did not. And it could be something as simple as, "The tax for
: *these* people is two sheep per year, and *these* is one a year, and it's
: up to you to decide where you worship. The Lunars would do this. The Yelm-
: ites probably *wouldn't* do this. They'd just suppress them. They'd say,
: "You're evil Orlanthi, just pay us extra money." They wouldn't necessarily
: set up the Entekos temple. And, again, I want to cover my tail and say it
: also depends upon the period of history you're talking about.

NB: Entekos is equated by Orlanthi with Molanni, the treacherous concubine of Yelm, goddess of Calm Air and mother of Drought.

> The main problem with Sartari campaigns is that the Lunars are often
> bunched up as one people.  However it appears to be the Tarshites in
> Sartar that are causing the problems.  The disciplined Heartland troops
> are less likely to pillage/torture/massacre at random than the thieving
> Tarshites thus would cause fewer problems for the locals. This is more
> a case of Orlanthi fighting Orlanthi than Lunars vs Orlanthi.

That's an interesting perception. I have tended to see things the other way around: the Tarshite rulers, seeking to extend their dominion over all Orlanthi in the Provinces (as High Kings of Dragon Pass, Kings of the Heortlings, etc.), might well be more touchy-feely and sensitive to Sartarite concerns; the Dara Happans, seeking to crush Rebellus Terminus beneath their hobnailed military sandals, are more likely to be *ordered* to pillage/torture/massacre (*not* at random), and less likely to have scruples about doing so to a "barbarian" occupied people. I guess you can spin it either way, perhaps having individuals on both sides (Tarshite and Heartland) embodying both stereotypes: fellow Orlanthi barbarians / plundering opportunist rabble, vs. disciplined civilised troops / hostile Yelmic occupiers.

The main "source" for my opinions would be the difference between Dara Happan governors (shits like Euglyptus and Tatius) and the ever-so-considerate Tarshite general Fazzur. The invasion of Sartar in 1602 looks like a deliberate attempt to rile barbarians -- the Lunars wheeled on the Bat, the Undead, and the Evil Emperor in person to make their point. Jeff Richard and I have speculated that this was meant to make Sartar impossible to assimilate into the Lunar way, for whatever deep and unfathomable reasons -- perhaps, like the Aztecs, the DHs wanted to preserve some Enemy Barbarians to beat up for the foreseeable future? Perhaps they opposed the growing Tarshite hegemony among the southern Provinces? Who Knows?

> I may be wrong in my interpretations but this is my Glorantha.

Your Glorantha is a wonderful thing, of course, and I only mention my own opinions as an alternative construction. I stress that it is ridiculous to suggest that "Orlanth worship is banned in Sartar" means there have been no non-outlawed initiations since 1602 -- while the big tribal Weapontakes have doubtless been suppressed (as these are dangerous gatherings of armed potential rebels), and known rebel leaders are proscribed, hunted down and disposed of whenever possible, IMG *most* Sartarites have continued to worship Orlanth -- and will do so until the costs of doing so (or the benefits of changing to the Lunar Way) become too great. The long-term Lunar strategy would be to make Lunarisation so attractive that the whole Sartarite population chose to Embrace the Red Goddess (and renounce Stale Wind).

Working for some kind of "Marriage of Orlanth and the Red Goddess" would sound kinda odd (and possibly heretical?) to plenty of high-ranking Imperials, IMG -- though, as in the Chaotic discussion before, I stress that this certainly appears to be a viable mythic alternative to the present policies of the Empire. One for the flaky fringe-groups and long-haired (or bald levitating) White Moonie weirdoes, perhaps?

Cheers, Nick


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