> Garreth Martin wrote:
>
> > > 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.
I'm talking about from the Heortling perspective. If you are
presently experiencing a direct invasion and occupation, surely you
would see the 7M as an enemy cult. It's legitimiser, apologist and
a supporter of the same state presently taxing the hell out of your
economy, killing your warriors and occupying your cattle ranges and
possibly taking your citizens as slaves. Why are they not killed on
sight? At least in the case of the Christian missionaries, they were
able to cite or claim a certain level of personal neutrality or
ambivalence, even if this did not translate into action; you could
see why they could be persuasive or act as go-betweens under those
circumstances. It's difficult to see how the 7M would be able to
achieve this level of popular acceptabce.
> >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?
Why would any self-respecting Hoerlting want that?
> 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.
Hmm, thats why I was thinking of them as a mopping-up operation.
Would they not likely be present along the forward edge of military
presence?