The Scimitar and the Bat

From: Nick Brooke <Nick_at_...>
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 22:58:57 -0000

Jeff asks:

> Additionally, how did this look from the Lunar side?

One thing I'll add to the mix: IMO (and as expressed in my "The Scimitar and the Bat" misc. note to the Yanafal Tarnils cult in Tales #17, cf. below), the Lunar Army is about as keen on use of the Crimson Bat as the US Army would be on the use of tac-nukes, biological/chemical warfare, etc. (And looking at that Chaos Scream, you can understand why).

Resorting to the use of the Bat at Whitewall *could* mean somebody outside the normal military decision-making process has forced something unwelcome upon the Army.

Or, a note re: Jorkandros Blinder -- there is a red Southpath planet called "The Bat" (Artia, in Elder Secrets). *Surely* his astrological mastery enables him to predict that it is scheduled to occlude Orlanth's Ring on such-and-such a date...

Cheers, Nick

THE SCIMITAR AND THE BAT "The Lunar College of Magic is distinct from the Red Army and has its own view of how Lunar conquest and assimilation should progress, which is often at odds with that of the Yanafali. The Comrades of Yanafal enjoy the clean certainties of honourable battle, in which the fervent zeal of the Red Army's troops drives their opponents from the field. The College of Magic prefers to devastate opposing armies and lands with its arcane powers. Although this magical superiority is a trump card in the Lunar order of battle, many generals feel uneasy about waging war by Moonburn and Crimson Bat, holding that the only true resolution comes on the ground, man to man. They point to the military disasters which over-reliance on magic has caused, most recently at the Nights of Horror."