Lunars are Roman?

From: Martin Laurie <MLaurie_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2000 18:12:16 -0500

> - - I am from Italy so I wonder how much "Roman" the Lunar Empire is.
What's
> your evaluation? 10%? 20%? 1%? Please do not refer to hollywood roman
empire
> (no capital letters here), but to History: the late Romans were heavily
> influenced by greek, celtic, egyptian, Persian, Ebrew ways and eventually

> christianized. They were not a classical culture anymore.

>I would say that the Lunar Empire is actually VERY Roman--specifically
>it's Rome after the Western (useless) part had receded into the background
>to be eclipsed by the Eastern (interesting, educated, wealthy,
>cosmopolitan, intelligent) part. The difference being that the Lunars
>successfully conquered their "Turks" (Carmanians) and now they're turning
>their attention toward civilizing their "Germans" (Orlanthi).

There is certainly many similarites between the mid-late Byzantine period and the 1620s Lunar Empire. However, I'd caution against looking at it as a pure source. More a help. The best way to look at the Empire is to consider its history and if you are unsure about the culture as a GM, use a RW template but modify it for the Empires very peculiar and un-RW past. The templates you use will affect your view naturally, but the diversity of views about the Empire is part of its charm!

Anyway, much of this will be explained and evident in the "She Guards Us" book and a HW campaign in the Empire will be playable and much more fleshed out than is possible with the printed sources now.

Martin Laurie

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