>>. . . but we all know about the Legions, Boudicca, and Asterix the
>>Gaul.
>
>Bou-who? I suspect this may be a bit of orientation toward the British
>isles, because all I know is (a) she's a she, (b) she was some variety
>of Celt in what's now England, (she had some leadership role. No clue
>what her story is.
She's a Kallyr analogue for Roman Britain. There's the myth and the history - at some points they meet.
>Also, the allusions to the British empire are probably a lot less
>enlightening for me than for you. For me, the British are the ones
>we shot in our revolution, but they ruled the seas, Egypt, India,
>and a lot of Africa for a long time. And Canada, I guess. Oh yeah,
>plus Queen Victoria lived long enough to have an age named after her.
>
>So, actually, "something like the Persian empire" is more useful for
>me than "something like the British empire."
The analogue works with any Empire, most of it is about the clashes that occur between a ruling class who impose their language and culture on another community.
The point Greg makes about the Persian Empire as an analogue rather than the Roman one is that the Persians were far more tolerant of cultural differences within the Empire.
>> One standard military unit, with standard uniforms and names. "You
>>turn the corner and see some Lunar soldiers".
>>How do you know that's what they are? They're wearing standard Lunar
>>uniforms, and doing standard Lunar things.
>>You're never going to find out what their cultural values are, you're
>>just going to loose a volley of javelins and then go in with swords.
>
>I actually agree a lot with this. I think the Roman-style legion
>caricature is perfect for the run-of-the-mill encounter in the
>barbarian belt. These are "Lunarized units." I think you only run
>into the odd Heartlands units in bigger conflicts. And, Whitewall
>would be such a conflict. That also guarantees that they come as a
>big surprise for players used to seeing legions with supporting
>troops. "Whoa! Who are those guys?" It also gives the GM some
>flexibility if the players are ignorant of the capabilities of the
>weird troops from up north. The players have to do some scouting
>to find out what they are up against. If that turns out to be too
>tough for our characters, the GM can always say that what they
>found out was just an overblown reputation.
That's why the Sartar Rising books introduced all sorts of Heartland soldiers - most are not significantly better than the provincial (Tarsh) army but there different styles of fighting provide interest and a new challenge to players. I don't see most of them as common, they may appear for just a single campaign.
>Stuart Cogger:
>
>> But I find it hard to get away from everything I loved about the
>>Lunar army as presented in White Bear, Red Moon.
>>Built around the Stone Phalanxes as the toughest 'normal' unit.
There's absolutely no reason to get away from that. The Stone Phalanxes are still there although with thousands of years of Dara Happen tradition and magic rather than Lunar stuff. The Beryl phalanx appears in Barbarian Adventures.
Equally the other Lunar cultures have their elites - the Avilry of the Rinliddi, the Cataphracts of Carmenians. They just don't appear in Dragon Pass much if at all.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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