> the Thing is only there as a mechanism to arbitrate a comprimise
between
> conflicting parties (clans) and hopefully end the (destuctive to
everyone
> except maybe the clan/tribes enemies) cycle of blood-feud - no-one
can make
> you do anything - The Lunars can not just walk in and ignore the
entire
> Heortling legal system ( with enough troops maybe they could! ..
but this is
> brute force and would have wide ranging consequences incliding total
> rebalion) - the Lunars do not have the power to do this - if they
did, why
> bother trying to woo converts to the Lunar way?
You seem to forget that the Sartarite tribes _did_ rebell and had their collective heads comprehensively kicked in. Entire clans were ripped apart, lands and good confiscated, punitive taxes imposed. They didn't do these things through the expedient of asking nicely.
Of course there are plenty of ways your clan can recover some of it's losses. Perhaps they could hire on with the lunars as mercenaries against those damned Volsaxi scum down south, lunar silver is as good as anyone elses and the plunder might come in handy.
The thing is, most Sartarites probably don't think of the lunars as being any worse than any other foreigners. For those clans that didn't take part in the rebellion, and so avoided retribution, things aren't all that bad. To their way of thinking, the troublemakers probably deserved what they got. In any case, what is the alternative?
Finaly, citizen wannabes quislings are an excelent plot opportunity. They're kin so you can't kill them, and they've got lunar and possibly even heortling law on their side. They may even be redeemable, but how are you going to do it?
Simon Hibbs
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