> The western reaches are composed of 4 areas - Bindle, Spol, Jhor
> and Worion. They are not, if I understand correctly, satrapies.
They are *not* full heartland satrapies/sultanates of the Lunar Empire. Remember, though, that the word "satrapy" comes from the Carmanians -- in all my Carmanian work, I've always assumed that the "Counts" of the old Genertela Book are Carmanian Satraps, and that the "Counties" (Jhor, Spol, Worian and Bindle) are Satrapies.
> Would the whole of the western reaches be found in the lunar
> organisation at about the level of a satrapy, or would each of
> the 4 reaches be a satrapy-equivalent on their own?
That's a bit of a theoretical question, rather along the lines of: would the United Kingdom be counted as one US state, or four? Since the two are distinctly different things, it's kinda tricky to answer.
Look at wealth and power and independence and anything else you want to, but there isn't going to be a single, definitive answer. My best guess is that since Moonson's man-on-the-spot is the Governor of the West Reaches, who has one voice (and collects one set of taxes), the Empire tends to treat the West Reaches as one organisational unit, equivalent to a satrapy.
The question this gives rise to, then, is whether the Empire thinks of all the southern Provinces as one unit or many ("there's only one Provincial Overseer...). Given recent revelations about Lunar (and Dara Happan) cultural insensitivity to Heortling hot-spots, you could probably argue the toss either way.
Cheers, Nick
Powered by hypermail