Re: Re: lunar heroquests

From: Agent Groove <coridan_at_...>
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 09:56:18 -0500

> The biggest point of "We are All Us", is, is it really? I mean, do the
groups really keep
> their individual identities as cultures, or is it lost under the Lunar
influence? What
> does it mean when the Lunar view of Ernalda replaces that of the Orlanthi
view of
> Ernalda? What does it mean when a Lunar citizen can "study the mysteries"
of Ernalda
> for a month in some Lunar approved cult and is "granted" the same status
as an
> initiate, or even devottee who's spent their entire life at Ernalda's
breast?

Well, if this is the Storm Tribe's Ernalda we're talking about, then any Lunarised version is not *really* Ernalda as the Heortlings know her, but merely some Lunarised local Earth cult, like Hon Eel. Much of what Ernalda is depends on her interactions with her husband, Orlanth, in the context of Heortling society. When you take away Ernalda's husband-protectors and replace then with Yelm/The Red Emperor/whatever, Ernalda's entire social position and function are changed.

That Lunar citizen is truly incapable of studying Ernalda's mysteries - because the real Ernalda is dead by that point. Instead you have a localised face of one of the Red Goddess' Earth aspects. I'd argue the same for most of the gods worshipped in the Empire, except for the ones who reject all authority but their own. Where divine worship is magical, economic and politica power, any religious dissent must be immediately crushed. It's my view that the pre-Lunar deities that now are worshipped in the Empire are, in reality, dead - they are all merely faces of Sedenya, now.

> The ideas of cultural imperialism and appropriation all play a big role in
this.

Yes. :)

CB