Gian noted in passing, and I'll be forward enough to answer -- some of this, I think, is just historical trivia:
> I don't see any uniqueness in the Soviet Union as an Empire, except
> that it is a modern one.
That point Chris makes about "ideology" does put it in a rare category,
however: only the French Revolutionary state (short-lived) and the Sovs
spring to mind as empires united by Ideology, not an Emperor. (The
various "colonial" empires being a different cup of tea, really.) I'm
guessing he'd say that the Emperor is a representative of the ideology,
not the real ruler (just like Lenin, Stalin, et al were mere
representatives of the people according to the official line, and not
holding power for themselves.)
Plus the Sovs did have a heck of a lot of weird peoples under "one roof" considering they were a contiguous empire, like the Lunars, and also like the Lunars they tended to stress how each people ruled themselves (to the point where there was serious discussion at one point of creating a Jewish "autonomous region" that would be the Homeland of Russia's Jews!).
I'm not a fan of the strong Soviet model myself for the Lunars -- I reserve my "evil communist empire" label for the Elves, as is proper ;) - -- but there's a lot of elements that do lend to some fun and insight!
Among other things, the idea that the Lunars name new cities goofy things like "Glamour" or "Danfivexenongrad" seems dead right to me.
> AFAIK the chief model for Ivan was Paris. The Court of Le Roi
> Soleil. No way to connect Luis XIV with Glorantha, Rome or
> Byzantium. Let alone Ivan the Great.
<Blink> This is a *major* Russian theme! The Pan-Slavists rant about it
still. No, Ivan's not basing his "court" on Rome. The idea, much
simplified: Rome was the capital of civlization. When Rome fell,
Constantinople became the capital of civlization. So when the Turks get
their new capital, Moscow now becomes the new capital of civiliation,
the bastion of Orthodox Christianity, etc. etc. etc. Ivan played it up
(in part from a Byzantine princess or three that were in there on the
family tree) and the Romanovs keep up the game until 1917. Chris is Dead
Right about this.
I'm guessing (but slightly unclear) that Chris is saying that the Lunars draw on the pool of Dara Happan history and tradition as part of the empire, even if the current leaders aren't of that bent, like the Russkies do with the Byzantines (and to some degree, the Sovs do as well.) Empahsize the influence in art and architecture, emphasize how Dara Happan things are to the peasants, etc. etc. etc.
> Soviet Shamans? You mean like Raspoutin?
In theory, he'd died before Lenin took over. Though there's room for
doubt, with Rasputin (he was as _at_#$@ to kill off completely as the
freakin' Moonson!). And he wasn't a shaman, though he might've been one
of those nutty "sin-gathering" monks.
> You are really puzzling, here. I know the Zar Empire did fight
> against his quota of Steppes Nomads, back in the XVIII and XIX
> century. But by the arrival of the October Revolutions they were
> quite dead, weren't they? At least as much dead as the USA
> RedSkins. Confined in Reserves and kept under the boot.
Leaving aside the minor troll at the end, sure to get a rise people from
US citizens, Native Americans, and Washington DC football fans alike:
no, there were lots of shamans in the Russia & the SU in the 20th
century. Interestingly, shamans were a Big Bad Guy in some of the Sov
propaganda of the 1920s and 30s, because they were deluding their
primtive followers with fake magic tricks, etc. These were among the
Arctic and Sub-Arctic peoples, who the Tsars had generally just left
alone as long as they paid some taxes and bought enough booze and
beanshooters from his agents. Anyone who's interested might take a look
at _Arctic Mirrors_, which is a pretty good book indeed: the Sovs
couldn't use the popular "kulak" ("rich peasant") method of isolating
local leaders, and they had to try some new angles there (including,
among other things, being mean to shamans, arguing that herders with
more than a certain number of reindeer were greedy bastards, and using
women's lib as the big lure of Socialism.)
It's much closer to the Alaskan Athabathscans/Eskimo/Aleut situation in the 20th century than to the Rez, IMO, and noting the irony of that parallel. (American missionaries still get all worked up that the Aleuts et al. won't leave their heretical ways and join a good clean Protestant sect. Note that the native Alaskans in questin are Russian Orthodox...)
> Raspoutin as a Prophet of Yog Sothoth makes much more sense to me.
As a weird aside, I'm just guessing but I'd bet 5 stotinki that the "sin
monks" -- can't remember the damn Russian name for the group -- was the
basis for the chaos monk writeup in Tradetalk!
I agree completely, though, that modern-day stuff should be used with caution -- the brief glimpse of the Sartar Liberation Organization in a published scenario still fills me with horror, I fear...
And a side note on Chris's stuff:
What, no parallels to draw between the Rist Elves or Raus of Rone and
the Soviet re-settlement programs? :) "Come visit Corflu: the scenic
Crimea of Glorantha! See the Volga Elves, now happily content living
outside the Empire!"
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