Certainly the case, since passage of information would be slow and sporadic. Like the Russians in WW1 who thought they were winning until the army returned having failed. However, word would filter back through letters (military censorship is never 100% effective) and through troops returning from the front either through necessary rotation or through injury. The trader cults will make cash from the passage of information about the ongoing siege.
> Certainly those in the know understand it's a lot more complex than
> that but it's the disaster of the destruction of the Temple of the
> Reaching Moon along with Tatius and his entire army that really
> gets the average Lunar citizen's attention. News of that will be
> like news of the Indian Mutiny reaching Britain in 1857.
Absolutely. Perhaps the intelligentsia start murmurs of discontent after Whitewall - kind of like the US Congress in the last few years (I make modern comparisions a lot, which I'm sure is not to everyone's taste, but it's for my own understanding rather than to force other people to make the same comparisons), and the rest of the lunar citizenry only wake up after the Dragonrise.
> Tatius is Dean of the College of Magic, a political appointment.
> I've seen nothing to suggest he is a magician himself. Any magic
> he has is going to be related to the major Lunar HQ he's planning
> although I think he delegates the magic itself to others. He's going
> to be well aware of the implications of casualties to Heartland
> Corps units. And has plenty of provincial and mercenary soldiers
> who's loss has no political ramifications.
>
I always felt that Tatius has been portrayed as an overly cautious idiot. Doesn't it say in KOS that after his appointment all Lunar military successes stop? Do we reckon that Tatius is hampered by his fear of the political repercussions of committing his phalanxes and thus stops making decisons and fails in his leadership, or is he simply incompetent in the use of the Lunar army? Is he perhaps a slightly tragic figure who has been given a poisoned chalice by backstabbing politicians in Glamour, jealous of his rising star?
Stu
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