<< The testing of the Emperor is certainly not a foregone conclusion, it doesn't always happen and some parts of the Imperial system might have very specific reasons for lying ot denying the results of such tests, or admittance to the very tests themselves. There is tons of room for succession problems, even with the Red Emperor being singular. >>
So, if I've understood you correctly, you're saying that when the Red Emperor dies, he is sufficiently weakened that there may be rebellions and attempts to put somebody else on the throne, which the 'new' Red Emperor must overcome. The leaders of these groups - though not necessarily their followers - know what they're doing, but do it anyway because its the best chance they're going to get.
Clearly this is not a dull and uninteresting set-up, but is it as much fun as the Previous Version (for lack of a better name)? IMO, no. Consider the LARP Life of Moonson. Had it been set up according to these new ideas (new to us, anyway) interesting things would likely still have been going on. Roan-Ur and his supporters would, I suspect, have been one of these rebel groups you're describing, attempting to put, as it were, a Black Emperor on the throne to replace the Red one. Other characters would have been attempting to gain influence over the newly revealed Moonson, as well as to put down this rebellion and ensure the real guy got onto the throne.
But, at the same time, the overwhelming majority of characters would have sided with the real guy, there'd likely have been more a sense of inevitability as to who would eventually win and there would have been a lot less setting up of factions and independent action by relatively lowly characters (unless you can really discredit or remove your boss you may as well do what he says, since you can't gain promotion simply by supporting a different candidate who might beat his). This isn't to say that the writers couldn't have come up with something else, other than the succession contests, to make a fun conclusion to the game out of, but it does, IMO, represent a less interesting situation than the Previous Version.
Now, just because something is more interesting than the alternative doesn't make it true. Judging from Martin's postings, any chance for keeping things the way we had previously believed them to be is long gone. Which is a pity, but sometimes good ideas get ditched - although I don't understand quite *why* that's being done in this instance. Still, even if the old idea is Officially Wrong as far as new canonical Glorantha goes, there's no reason we have to take any notice of it in our own games.
I'm with MOB; I'll read the information on this topic in SGU as if its just the official political spin on how events transpire rather than an actual description of what's going on. Even if I'm not intended to ;-)
Forward the glorious Red Army (just as soon as we figure out who we're going forward against)!
Trotsky
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #569
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