Re: Exclusive Worship

From: donald_at_vnelQ3qV_Krmue9S1vbvax-DD_dBXhfqO5VGBbtA6yYlcfXpvCVaOJmMfm1SXqeMXCuRb
Date: Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:04:06 GMT


In message <g4gho1+njfe_at_eGroups.com> "Jeff Richard" writes:

>It is extremely rare in normal Orlanthi society for a clan member to
>decide to initiate to a hostile demon like Jagrekriand, Shepelkirt or
>Malkion! These are not "strange new ideas" like shaving your beard -
>these are folk who are offering sacrifices to strengthen the enemies
>of your gods and of your ancestors. Believe me, farmers would be the
>first folk who would demand outlawry of such folk!

Yet in less than a generation the Lunars have managed to convert sufficent numbers to get whole clans supporting them. Which suggests to me the same effect as the christian church had in Dark Age Europe. Rulers tolerated missionaries converting individuals until there were sufficent converts to demand the suppression of non-christian faiths.

>Keep in mind, few Gloranthans are even remotely tolerant of "strange
>new ideas" - such thinking has always been disasterous in the past:
>Gbaji, the EWF, the God Learners and now the Lunars. Many Orlanthi
>believe that the Lunar "strange new ideas" are nothing more than the
>return of Gbaji and are inspired by Wakboth the Devil. And the
>Orlanthi are one of the less xenophobic cultures in Glorantha.

The question is that faced with the choice between claims of evil and family loyalties which is the typical Orlanthi going to choose?
>From my experience of a culture with strong family loyalties the
latter will be the general rule, easily coming before law and even proven wrongdoing. Orlanthi tolerance isn't based on fine principles but the practical issue of avoiding things which provoke kinstrife. And outlawing people over religious issues unless they can be shown to have harmed the community is one of those things. That's not to say it doesn't happen but it's not the default.

>> >With the Lunar Conquest, that's harder to do - most Lunar converts
>> >are under the protection of the Lunar Army. Kill them and you pick
>> >a fight with the Empire.
>>
>> Which is little or no protection in a rural area like most of Sartar.
>> Sure Lunar missionaries can call on the army if their temples are
>> threatened but who is to know if an ordinary convert dies - "He was
>> kicked by a cow and the healer was too late to save him".
>
>If the convert was under the support of the local Seven Mothers cult,
>that clan better be ready to give that cow - and fifty more - to the
>tax collector next year.

Only if the local 7M temple is prepared to upset the clan they are living amongst by siding with tax collectors against the clan. Which in a clan based culture will antagonise all the people they are trying to convert. While bungling missionaries, stupid soldiers, greedy tax collectors and fanatical rebels are a great source of game conflict they aren't useful as the default. If it was the default Sartar would have been devastated by a decade of Lunar occupation and the occupying army would have to be ten times as large.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/

           

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