> Lunar Politics:
>
> I think a more complicated set of affairs than the simple division
> between Dara Happans and Tarshites is happening here. A major
> factor is the feud between Tatius and Fazzur but a clean split
> of allegiances over this matter is unlikely.
>
....
> Now the comparable event is almost certainly the repulse
> of the Crimson Bat. I know how Orlanthi Historians like to
> talk about Whitewall being a magical trap to enslave Orlanth.
> But was it really like that? When the guns were fired in
> August, almost everybody believed they would be silent
> by Christmas and there's other parallels that can be made.
>
I'd expect this to be the usual mix: military goals, mythic 'healing'
goals, economic goals, propaganda goals, all working in isolation and
across each other, with Tarshite pragmatism, Darra Happan
inflexibility, Pelorian wackiness, Malkioni opportunism, and the
entire mess overlaid by the politics of nationality, cult, ambition,
payback, career sabotage, Imperial favouritism, concern for the lives
of the troops, concern for maximum entertainment for the growing band
of upper class spectators, concern for Lunar hero stories for
consumption by the masses back home, concern that these troops are
actually really needed somewhere else, concern that the dratted
Orlanthi temple is an impediment to other plans, and the occasional
dart war thrown in just to liven things up.
And then, of course, the College of Magic shows up... :)
I certainly agree that the holdout took everyone by surprise, including, probably, Broyan, even though he had been preparing for years. But after the bat blat - wow, the entire ballgame changes. Broyan is no longer a petty Volsaxi, he's a celebrity symbol of resistence to Orlanthi throughout Dragon Pass. And in the city, there's a growing realisation that they CAN stop the empire, at least for a time. I can imagine Broyan going around pinching himself for *weeks* after the bat blat. It's a year of miracles.
Whitewall is isolated, and militarily unimporant, anbd in some ways its better to have the troublemakers all holed up in one spot, but suddenly the propoganda value for both sides becomes enormous.
And while strategies, goals and propaganda all changed, and are doubtless much clearer in hindsight, I do see the need for an overall mythic strategy on both the Lunar and Heortling sides. The construction of the Reaching Moon temple doesn't begin until 1622, after the fall of WW, and some twenty years after the invasion. That seems a long time to wait unless the Orlanth temples had a real magico-mythic significance.
In that, I take the basic understanding of the mythic significance of the Temple as valid. It certainly allows for a burst of creative heroquesting that otherwise wouldn't be important. IN roleplaying terms, that's important.
The odd Kev visonary aside - and in my campaign at least, prophesies of coming doom and gloom have been rife for years, did anyone on the Orlanthi side really expect Fimbulwinter? Did anyone prepare. I don't think there's a clear or easy answer to this, but it will be something to chew on in the months ahead.
>Finally the story of Whitewall's fall need not have happened
> precisely as laid out in King of Sartar. We must remember
> that we only have a single source and we all know the perils
> of intelligence based on such a source. What has been
> left out? What does the compiler of the CHDP not want
> people to remember?
Absolutely. I think most people realised long ago that *very little* happened precisely as described in KOS, valuable as it is as a guiding and limiting framework. The joy is that we have more than two years of epic derring do to play with, and very few canonical limitations. The canvas is still largely blank.
Bring on the Magic!
Cheers
John
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