Re: You're in the army now

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 09:32:06 -0700

> > After all,
> > you're not going to remain worshipping the Farming God when you're
> in the
> > Fifty-Third Dragoons, you'll have traded dieties (traditions,
> whatever) -
> > somehow.
>
> You're not?

Probably not.

If you join up with the army (voluntarily, not as part of a conscription, which isn't practised much in Glorantha it seems), you probably don't have the temperment to be a farmer. To maximize your chances (and to make sure you're not nicknamed "sh*t-between-your-toes"), you're going to conform to the regimental norm, including your worship. Also, the regiment (not the Lunars, but the regimental officers) will expect you (require you) to attend the services to the regimental god and probably won't give you leave to attend services to the Farming God.

> The sample Lunar units in BA all seem to have deities from their
> homelands (though they seem to be very uniform, not mixed, so no
> doubt it's easier).

They all *do* have their own cultural worship. Rinliddite units worship birds, Dara Happans worship stars, Darjinni worship swamp spirits, etc. (barring the gross oversimplifications...) The Lunar administration isn't trying to change that. There are some new "Lunar" regiments (who worship Lunar deities and don't care what homeland you come from) in the army, but most regiments are old cultural ones. And thos eold cultural ones have their old cultural deities.

> The homeland keywords in ILH all give a suggested
> cult/practise/whatever for soldiers and warriors.

Yep.

> And the Lunars are supposed to be the ones who accept everyone. Why
> would they insist that you drop your native religion to join the
> army? (Unless you're Orlanthi, of course). Seven Mothers *as well
> as* your native stuff, perhaps, but why would they want you to drop
> the nice effective magic you already know how to use
> and start again with somehing new?

The Lunars don't expect you to change, but the *regiment* is going to expect you to support the regimental diety. If you want to join, you've got to worship their way and their god. After all, a Dara Happan shouldn't be joining a Rinliddi regiment, or a Darjinnian one, or a Carmanian one. (He should be joining a Dara Happan one. The one raised from his home city. The one his daddy joined, and his granddaddy joined and his great grandaddy joined, all the way back to when the regiment was formed 10,000 years ago. And hold the same spot in the ranks as his daddy did, and his granddaddy did...) Rinliddites won't be joining another culture's regiments, but will join one from their own nest (though they aren't so caste-bound as the DHan's). And so on.

99.9% of the rank and file of the regiment are going to be of the same culture as the regiment. The other .1% is made up of player heroes and named Narrator characters and other wierdos...

I think, perhaps, you are misunderstanding the nature of the "Lunar" army. It isn't really "Lunar", it's "Imperial". There are regiments drawn from every part of the Empire. They have their own traditions, gods, uniforms, friends, hatreds, etc. (If you've ever studied the British Army, it's a lot like that, with "Home County" Regiments, "The Guards", Scots, Irish & Welsh, Indian & Nepalese, etc. Each regiment with it's own history and traditions and nicknames).

When you join one of these regiments you will be joining their own particular "culture". (That's Regimental culture, not Homeland culture - if you join the Silver Shields you'll pick up the customs of the Silver Shields, not the "Sylila" homeland keyword. Think of it as a Regimental Keyword) So you'll learn Silver Shields History, how to fight as an effective part of the Silver Shields formation (Loose order, javelin) and your worship will focus on the regimental diety.

The Lunars are *not* trying to mold this into a homogenous, bland, whole. Instead they appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the various cultural styles, and combine units via vexillae to cover this one's weaknesses with that one's strengths.

RR
C'est par mon ordre et pour le bien de l'Etat que le porteur du pr�sent a fait ce qu'il a fait.
- Richelieu

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