Re: Exclusive Worship

From: Jeff Richard <richaje_at_xyZSr5Y70dskYCC2hb0u8BZoS37-zKaQidVKxHSw3qCP1Tza1hBaj8XXxVQxeXCx5_VO>
Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:03:12 -0000


> 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.

The Lunars did not convert whole clans through peaceful missionaries!  But for the Lunar army they would have gotten just a few Orlanthi converts - outcasts, exiles, and weirdos. With the Conquest, the Lunars have made it increasingly difficult to worship Orlanth - see the short article Greg and I wrote a few years back:http://www.glorantha.com/new/lunar_suppression.html

> The question is that faced with the choice between claims of evil
> and family loyalties which is the typical Orlanthi going to choose?

If the evil is such that the person cannot remain a member of the community - for example by bringing evil demons into the community - they will be outlawed. And then they aren't family any more.

> 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.

Initiating to the Red Goddess or her minions harms the community. No priest or god-talker would dispute that. The ancestors will not dispute that. These deeds are manifestly worse than killing that Grey Dog carl without provocation.

> Only if the local 7M temple is prepared to upset the clan they are
> living amongst by siding with tax collectors against the clan.

The local 7M temple is located in a Lunar garrisoned location. If the clan revolts, they get crushed, sold into slavery and their lands given to a less stupid clan.

Jeff            

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