> > Since the Lunar Missionaries
> > preach the goodness of the Empire is good and act as a arm
> > of the Provinical Government, to adopt a position of
> > neutrality vis-a-vis the Empire would be somewhat
> > counterproductive.
>Well, I was thinking of the way Christian missionaries operated; even
>those with quite explicit sympathies for the British Empire, say,
>might still preach about peace for all men including the heathen;
Very few British missionaries went around adopting a posture of neutrality towards the Empire. And the Christian parallel is also inappropriate in that the Christians seek to convert everybody whereas the Lunars do not.
>But if the 7M is a deliberate an overt
>tool of the imperial structure, then why would any non-Lunar tolerate
>their presence
Your question is based on the wrong assumption that anybody who is not a lunar is against them. The Seven Mothers are not there to turn everybody into Lunar Worshippers. They are there to guide prospective provincials into the Lunar Way. At most 5% of the population of the provinces are Lunars - everybody else worships other gods.
>- they advertise the fact that they're only here to
>bring you under the Empire's heel and are a direct tool of the state.
Where are you getting the idea that the _only_ point of the Seven Mothers cult is to bring people under the Empire's heel? All I've said was that they believe the Empire is a good thing.
> > The Lunars do not have a policy of destroying temples. They are
> > hostile to Orlanth but his worshippers do not rely upon temples
> > and idols to worship him.
>Hmm. So why does anyone convert to the Lunar way, then?
Because they wish spiritual and political advancement within the social order of the Empire perhaps?
>I mean if
>you can continue to worship your own gods, without let or hindrance
>from Lunar authorities, then surely the whole idea of "being a Lunar"
>falls by the wayside; you get a Lunar state taking taxes instead of
>the old state, but for most people this is a rather nominal change.
But few people within the Lunar Empire are Lunars. Lunars have a distinguished and privileged position within the Empire. The Seven Mothers exists to help provincials become Lunars.
--Peter Metcalfe
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