Re: Lunars

From: Mark Galeotti <Mark_at_galeotti.fsbusiness.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2003 17:09:42 +0100


> Peter writes:
>
> >>BTW, what is meant by "Lunars" in the ILH-1 population spread?
> >>
> >>
> >People that worship the Red Moon and associated deities?
> >
> <laugh>

<snip>

Kevin:

> Then there is "Lunar", which is
> the broadest term of them all! It is a religious/social term that could
> include anyone from Tarsh to Rinliddi, from Oronin to the Red Lands.
> Heck, even the Arrolians are Lunars! What about Dara Happan Lunars? Do
> they fall into the Dara Happan category or the Lunar category? In short,
> a list that includes both "Pelandan", "Dara Happan", and "Lunar" seems
> to be mixing ethnic and religious terms pretty freely. I can't help but
> feel that Mark means something more specific.

Actually, Peter is spot on. On the whole, there is a very strong, basic correlation between ethnicity and religion - for example, a Dara Happan is a solar, whether a hoity-toity Yelmie or a dirty-handed (and -minded) Lodrili or a blood 'n' guts Shargashi. However, the Lunar Way is explicitly and unusually apart from these traditional identities. Just as becoming a Lunar citizen (a specific juridical status) not only incurs special responsibilities, it also makes you subject to Lunar law rather than the local law of the culture in which you committed the crime, so too does turning specifically to the Lunar Way make you different. You may have been born a Pelandan, still dress and talk like a Pelandan, but you are now something apart. (This doesn't mean just accepting that the Red Moon exists and is powerful, it means initiating to a Lunar cult.)

So, 'Lunar' is the most general term of all. In the context of the Western Reaches, it means Lunarised Carmanians, Pelandans, etc and is there in part as an index of how 'Lunarised' each region is. Silver Shadow has a whacking 46%, for example, with Doblian at the other extreme, with a pathetic 5%.

After all, it is vital to stress that this is not just the Lunar Empire, it is *also* the empire of the Yelmic Imperator, the Padishah, etc. *Most* subjects of the Empire know that their Emperor is also Moonson, but they serve him not so much for that reason but because of some other, generally more primal allegiance. At present, one man is able to fill all these political, historical, mythic and sacral roles, to be the Yelmic Imperator, the Padishah, the Paradisal Aviator of the Rinliddi, the Provincial King of Kings, etc. But what happens when there is no such single figure able to wield such varied authority...?

All the best

Mark

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