Glad the snippishness has subsided. I value your contributions even if I disagree with them. And I certainly could be wrong - I often am.
> Whether the Lunars are monotheists or not, or concern themselves
> with orthodoxy (though tell that to the 'White Moonies') is
utterly
> irrelevant to me.
Here's my bias - I just don't think that polytheist cultures tend to spend a lot of effort trying to investigate whether there is illegal worship of some entity. It is the political or social ramifications of such actions they care about. So for instance, the Orlanthi don't spend a lot of time investigating whether folk are making offerings to Krarsht or Malia - unless there all sort of ill omens from the wyter and ancestors (blood dripping down the walls of the tribal hall, children dying in droves soon after birth, dogs and cats living together peaceably, that sort of stuff). Then they try to find out what triggered this communal punishment and correct the problem.
Same thing with the Lunars. Orlanth is the Rebel who refuses to make peace with the Red Goddess. By and large, the Lunars don't seem to care if folk are offering hidden sacrifices to Orlanth - for instance, some old sources suggest that 20% of Tarshites still worship Orlanth, as do 50% of Aggarites. They just want to crush the major centers of the cult.
Look at how the Romans dealt with the Jews and Christians. Sure plenty of Romans thought the Christian cult was nasty, with blooddrinking, child sacrifice and the like. But the main problem is that the Christians wouldn't sacrifice to the Imperial Cult or participate in ANY civic rites or ceremonies. They stood out like a sore thumb - no need to spend much effort investigating them, they announced their presence.
I'm suggesting that the Lunars are more like the Romans (or the Hindus, Persians or whoever) than like any monotheist culture. Again, that's just my take. It isn't official, it isn't anything more than my opinion - but that is my opinion.
Jeff
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