Re: Re: Axes

From: donald_at_...
Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2005 02:03:23 GMT


In message <177dc5fd050203152841624c54_at_...> John Machin writes:

>I sort of got a 'forced collectivisation' vibe from Lunar policies in
>Sartar. I'm not sure if that is accurate, or just horrible
>anachronistic.

They are forcing the Sartarites to change, from a storm god to something more peaceful. I think collectivisation is anacronistic and basically wrong - the Lunar Empire is not communist. A closer parallel would be the highland clearances of 18th Century Scotland.

>The Lunar reasoning might be something like:
>"Destroying rebel clans is a horrible act, but one that is neccessary
>for if the barbarians remain Orlanthi then they can never be truly
>Included".
>Is this reasonable? Does one bloody example mean that five other clans
>submit to Lunar authority without violence?

Certainly this approach has been used, the results have been mixed.

>Unless they take -all- the animals and leave nothing to draw the
>plows? Orlanthcarl and Barntar initiates can't actively Plow Fields
>afterall.

You don't need ploughs to grow vegetables, modern farming uses them but there are plenty of people who grow their own with nothing more than ordinary gardening tools. The Orlanthi carl owes his status to the ox plough because it enables him to produce the staple food crop efficently in quantity. It's a major change for a clan to switch but it's happened in the past.

>My thinking is that these acts will push clans towards the Lunar Way
>and are therefore Extremely Good Things, to the Lunars, even if they
>cause some suffering in the meantime. A little bit of 'bad times'
>might even help them understand the Goddess' contradictions when the
>time comes.

Sometimes it will, sometimes it provokes rebellion. Bear in mind that the Lunars are not a monolithic body with a single idea but an enormous mismash of cultures and ideas. Even the Emperor gives out contradictory orders and then everything is interpreted by various people down the line, all with their own agendas. So the one thing you won't get is a clear policy carried through.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/

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