Re: Re: Thanks on Sartar Rising, Lunars

From: Paul Andrew King <paul_at_...>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 19:23:43 +0100

>The Lunars are civilised folk, and it all depends on your point of view as
>to exactly *who* is the bad guy. The Lunars have been portrayed as
>jack-booted thugs in HW/HQ scenario books just because those have all been
>written from the PoV of the oppressed Sartarites so far. But with the ILH
>series, you'll see a different side of the coin. (Especially since "Lunars"
>encompasses a whole ton of homelands!).

I think you would have to look very hard to find a culture that could be considered "good" (by modern Western standards) in Glorantha. For all the cruelty and corruption within the Empire the Lunar Way itself embodies some high ideals.

The Lunars are villains to the Sartarites because the magico-political realities demand a quick conquest and the crushing of all opposition. Those needs and the scope they allow to some of the worst elements within the Empire explain much of the cruelty and oppression.

The Lunar Empire has everything from idealistic heroes to black villains.

-- 
--
"The T'ang emperors were strong believers in the pills of 
immortality.  More emperors died of poisoning from ingesting minerals 
in the T'ang than in any other dynasty" - Eva Wong _The Shambhala 
Guide to Taoism_

Paul K.