> Mikko Rintasaari.
>
> > > [The Bat] devoured the fort of Runegate after putting the army
> > > of Salinarg to flight.
>
> >That's true. But it seemed that Salinargs army did not know of the bat.
>
> How do you work this out? The Bat's hardly something that could
> be kept secret since it was first used in the zero wane. Even
> the Malkioni know about it.
Ok... I gathered it from the description in KOS
"That night a glow from the north unreasonably frightened the Sartar army. Many fled and saved themselves. Others watched as a huge bat, town-sized and glowing like the Red Moon itself, heavily flew into sight and clumsily swooped towards Runegate..."
It just sounds to me like they have no Idea what they are facing, and that they definitely expected no such thing.
> >So what keeps the bat from being the deciding factor of every war the
> >Empire faces?
>
> It's difficult to control.
But they have a whole cult to control it. The details fall onto them.
> The Bat does not will it.
I sure hope this is not a factor. Isn't the bat of animal intellect anyway? Poor Lunars if the bat is a willful and intelligent demon.
> Sometimes the Empire desires a victory without having to feed
> the bat its due.
This I can understand. The cost seems to thousands of troops (according to the DP boardgame at least)
> The resummoning rites to the bat haven't been performed since the
> Stars are not Right.
Does it tend to die a lot then? It seems almost impossible to kill with less than a truedragon.
> Professional rivalry by the Yanafali who like to win clean and
> honorable victories without the excessive devastation caused
> by the Bat (and also by the Lunar College of Magic). Not using
> the Bat is like not playing in God Mode in Doom/Quake/Duke Nukem
> etc. It's riskier but people respect you for it.
That's true. But is it really THAT powerful? (the mind boggles). So if the armies fail, you can always nuke the site? (send in The Bat)
> The High Priest of the Bat has more important things to do right
> now (re-enact the bat's spiritual enlightenment, punish nobles
> who slighted him, clip his toenails) than to stoop to petty
> mundane conquests. Should messengers attempt to command the Bat
> to obey the orders of the Emperor, the Bat will digest the
> implications of the messenger at length before informing the
> High Priest of her desires.
:) amusing, but I think the Lunars are more disciplined than that. The people selected into the cult of the bat propably are the same kind of serious and down to earth types that get selected to man nuclear missile siloes.
> There is too much life magic in Rinliddi. It must feed to save
> the compromise.
Aiiiiiii!!
> The Bat is hired by Buserian astronomers as a vessel to visit
> the dark planet Artia and won't be back for many years.
>
> --Peter Metcalfe
Ouch... parhaps not.
-Adept
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