> What follows is my friend Chris Gidlow's explanation of why the Soviet
> analogy for the Lunar Empire, used in moderation, can be a Good Thing:
First, thank you very much Nick for sharing this wonderful text of Chris with us. And thanks a lot, Chris, for writing it!
> I chose my analogies according to context. In "Tarsh War" it is seen as the
> British Empire with late Roman trappings (the pictures of the Troops are
> pictures of individual regiments, and I do not wish to suggest that all
> Lunar troops look like late Romans. See Moon Runners illo in Tales #17 for a
> completely different regiment of Peltasts). In "Revolt in the Redlands", the
> Lunars are Americans of the Nineteenth Century, in "Citizens" early imperial
> Romans, in "Hunt for Red Storm Season" Soviets. I just take a paradigm that
> fits the game I am writing to squeeze out MGF.
"Revolt in the Redlands" is one of the smaller freeforms, right ?!? And "Hunt for Red Storm Season" is "Life of Moonson", isn't it ? But I don't have a clue to what "Citizens" might be...
> The Soviet analogy works on several levels. First, it is a humorous
> recognition of one of the (probably subconscious) influences on Dragon Pass.
> The rugged individualists fighting against the aggressive Red Empire. It
> seems pretty obvious where that idea was coming from (we are talking late
> sixties/early seventies here!).
Yeah, right ! Late sixties/early seventies... 19 april 1776 ! The shot heard around the world ! Captain Parker, Lexington & Concord, Patrick "give me liberty or give me death!" Henry, Tom Paine the magnificent libertarian & Thomas Jefferson the compromiser, the revolution that attempted to realize the ideals of the Levellers & John Locke !!! "Rugged individualists fighting against the aggressive red empire" indeed !
> Unlike the Americans, a lot of us Brits feel that the Evil Empire of the
> USSR was a construct as much of American paranoia as of reality.
It's not quite clear what you mean, my fellow Chris, because later you write:
> Yet the Soviet Union was an atrocious state, with hypocrisy, corruption and
> down-right evil from the top downwards. In many ways it could not be
> distinguished from the hierarchical feudal Russian Empire which had proceeded
> it.
So, you admit that the Soviet Union was evil & imperial, that it was part of its reality. But nonetheless you, "unlike the americans", are *not* paranoid & delusional ! Strange logic, don't you think ?!?
(Paranoļa *is* delusional. Henry Kissinger's famous saying, "even paranoids have enemies", is clearly wrong because inasmuch as those enemies are real, this isn't paranoia but sensible fear based on a correct perception of reality.)
> And Socialism is not a dirty word here.
Where is "here" ?! GB ? All of Europe ? I know many britons for whom it is
*the* dirty word "par excellence"... For them, the "red prussian", this
xenophobic & antisemitic socialist german of Karl Marx, is just as much much
a spawn of evil as Old Nick (Macchiavelli) himself. Of course, they tend to
gravitate toward extreme libertarianism of the Libertarian Alliance kind for
example:
( http://www.digiweb.com/igeldard/LA/ ; free-market anarchism & all that...)
And they have many comrades on the continent: look at the LIberty NEtwork
(LINE) at http://www.line.dk/
As for my own personal view... well, let's save that for later, shall we ?!?
> I have voted socialist all my life and intend to carry on doing so.
Good for you (?). My favorite socialist thinkers are, for obvious reasons,
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon & Benjamin Tucker. I hope that's the kind of
socialism
you like also...
> But why I think a lot of us Brits sympathised with the Lunars from the start
> was we could see another influence in Greg's mind was the previous time the
> rugged individualists had been up against the evil Red Empire: 1776! And in
> any Gloranthan film we knew just what nationality of actors were going to be
> playing the Lunars.
He, he, he !!! <ferocious american patriotic grin>
> But I digress.
Yes you do, beautifully... I appreciate it very much ! Thank you. (Internet discussion lists are also alive *because* of digressions as long as they do not degenerate, don't you think ?!)
> I think "the Lunar Invasion of Tarsh" should have the same gut feeling to it
> that "The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan" has, rather than the Sassanid
> invasion of Georgia, the Ummayad Invasion of Persia. This is one reason why I
> think the Red Army conjures up the right sort of feelings.
Yes, indeed ! My guts agree thoroughly with you, they feel exactly that way ! Jokes aside, the lunars came to Dragon Pass because they were called by their comrades in Tarsh just like the afghan communists who asked for help from Moscow.
> 2: Most modern people reading about the Lunar Empire will probably see
> nothing wrong in the Lunar Way. It seems a benevolent and reasonable
> ideology. This is exactly the feeling which many of us (perhaps not in
> America) have about Socialism.
Come on, Chris, that's unfair. There are many socialists of all kinds & ideological shapes in the US & this has been the case from the very beginning of the socialist movement (Robert "the *first* socialist" Owen & "Harmony" is an example). Besides, nowadays in America most of them call themselves -or are described by their adversaries as- "liberals". The following "liberal" Democrat presidents F.D. Roosevelt, JFK, LBJ & Clinton are fine socialists and/or social democrats in any one's book, aren't they ?
Furthermore, there are a few prominent americans who dare to use the dreaded "s" word & don't hide behind the cowardly & misleading term of "liberal". The world famous maverick "economic" professor at Harvard, best-selling author & former US ambassador in India, John Kenneth Galbraith springs to mind immediately. Noam Chomsky of MIT is another example. What is not so well-known, is that the whole Ivy League -the elite universities of the east coast like Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia & many others- have at least since the 30s of this century been very hostile to the individualistist & free-market american revolutionary traditions, i.e. they are hotbeds of socialists of all kind.
Today's US of A have a mixed economy, a welfare (-warfare) state & are just as social democratic as other western countries. Let's not forget that most of the ten points of the "Manifesto of the Communist Party" (1848) have been either completely or sometimes partly realized in *all* western countries including the supposedly pure capitalist ones like Switzerland & the US, the "sister-republics"...
> Count Julan may be James Bond in armour [...]
I find it fascinating that you say this: linking 007 to the Red Army & not to his own team, the Redcoats, is to me very revealing. After all James Bond is a national (british) socialist who is, supposedly, an enemy of the international (soviet) socialists, isn't he ?!? When talking of the man from MI6, we are, I submit, talking of the most popular hero of the 20th century, none is as well known as him especially because of the movies. And this hero is just as socialist & bloody as the century of his exploits !!!
Consider, if you please, the following points:
It is a sad century indeed, which replaced "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" with "privilege, elitism & "live & let die"" ...
I still happen to like Ian Fleming's stories & the movies they originated, even though they are politically obscene with their pornography of violence. Call my interest prurient !
By contrast, let's look at Sherlock Holmes, another famous british popular hero:
Truly, the Sherlock Holmes stories were the product of a more enlightened & freer period !
> The Union was organised into autonomous (most supposedly independent)
republics just like
> our Satrapies, Sultanates and Kingdoms. Yet as far as everyone outside was
> concerned, it was a Russian Empire, with Russian the main language and the
> main culture of its ruling bodies. This is exactly how I see the
> relationship between the Empire's Lunarness and its base cultures.
Very good. Russian Empire = Dara Happan Empire; Soviet Empire = Lunar Empire. SGU = Soviet & Godless Union... :) ;) :)
Personally, I see Greg Costikyan's RPG "The Price of Freedom" (WEG) as a great source of inspiration to play in occupied Sartar & Prax. (In PoF, you play freedom-fighters resisting against a soviet dominated world that includes ye good ole US of A. A great game & also one of the most learned; it reminds me very much of Pendragon. I'm looking for its only published scenario called "Your Own Private Idaho" (sic) as well as the gamemaster screen.)
> And is anyone going to tell me that the Kallikos Icebreaker was a complete
> coincidence?
OK, "Icebreaker" is certainly no coincidence, but is there any joke I didn't understand with the name "Kallikos" ?
Thank you again Nick & Chris for this nice post, I'm looking forward to seeing the reactions I'll get !?!
"There is but One Goddesss: Freedom !
Orlanth Is Her Prophet, Unofficial motto of thearmy of Argrath.
Christoph Kohring, socialist (I'm all in favor of society & I'm thoroughly
opposed to the state!), swiss citizen-soldier & veteran of the Cold War (We
won... without any shot fired !), american patriot ( I love America & its
people, I hate its government), social-democrat (I'm in full agreement with
the famous motto of the Bad-Godesberg conference of 1959 where the german
Social-Democratic Party [SPD] shaped its modern doctrine. "Soviel Markt wie
moeglich, so wenig Staat wie noetig" which translates as "as much market as
possible, as few government as necessary." I can easily accept such a
doctrine because the market is always possible & government, the state, is
absolutely unnecessary ! ;)
http://www.proLibertate.org
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