>Me> 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.
If you believe the Heortlings are a nationalist community with a uniform attitude towards the invasion - which is not the case.
>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.
It is not doing any of those things if my tribe is nice to the Empire. And it will cease to do many of these things if my tribe decides to be nice to the Empire. What happens to other tribes is something that most Sartarites do not care much about.
>Why are they not killed on sight?
Because the consequences of doing so are so much worse for your clan or tribe.
>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;
All Christian missionaries claimed to be neutral with respect to their colonial powers? I don't think so. Even as a generalization, I find it hard to believe that the majority of Christian missionaries did so.
> > Because they wish spiritual and political advancement within the
> > social order of the Empire perhaps?
>Why would any self-respecting Hoerlting want that?
Because self-respecting Heortlings worship the best and strongest gods. Normally they can say Orlanth is the best and strongest, but now a lot of them are not so sure for obvious reasons.
> > 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.
"mopping up" is totally the wrong way of looking at things. Most of the Provinces have been enjoying the fruits of Lunar Peace for a century or two. They are not under military rule yet the Seven Mothers are still there helping people to reach the Goddess.
>Would they not likely be present along the forward edge of military
>presence?
Well, it depends on what the military presence happens to be doing. If they are engaged in a search-and-destroy mission then it's highly unlikely. If they are a garrison to keep the peace and all that, then there will be missionaries.
But the Lunar Empire is far more than just military occupation.
--Peter Metcalfe
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