My questions:
> > What is the connection between clans, tribes and Sun Dome
> > temples in the Lunar Provinces? Are the Sun Dome temples
> > embedded in the tribal society, or are they separate societal
> > entities amid tribal society?
Greg's answers:
> First of all, I do not think that there is one answer for all
> these provinces. The provinces themselves differ from each
> other, even if they are all Orlanthi. The harsh, infertile lands
> of Brolia, far from the core Empire, provide a very different
> environment than fertile, very Lunarized Sylila.
I agree, although there are no Sun Dome temples in Brolia, so that the comparison goes a bit out of context.
> Even the two that we know quite a bit about are pretty different.
This I know. They've been described in splendid detail.
> I have always assumed that the clans are separate, dominating
> the local politics and working to influence on the temple
> hierarchy in a lively internal rivalry.
As I see it, this could be the situation in the Lunar Provinces also.
> So, the other 13 seem to have been resurrected (not surprising
> for a solar god, of course.) Some likely had a core of worshippers
> who survived, hiding away and later coming back to the holy place
> to establish the temple anew.
Presumably this core of worshipers may have been clans with Yelmalian traditions? Resurrecting the temples probably didn't cut their ties to other local clans & tribes, resulting in an embeddedness not seen in Sartar or Prax: not just "lively internal rivalry", but also lively politics with the surrounding polities (clans, tribes, kingdoms, provincial command, the emperor...).
On the other hand, the people following Monro in Sartar may have cut their ties to neighbouring clans & tribes. Considering the strict Yelmalian society, they at least distanced themselves from the Orlanthi. Yet they are part of the kingdom, and considered a tribe.
> May I solicit YOUR insights, opinions and campaign experiences?
My insights & opinions are above.
My campaign experiences are meager: a sequence of scenarios in Copper Town (Western Tarsh) where we had a Yelmalian shrieve (administrator). In the middle of clan rivalries, economic pressures, loss of tribal cohesion, semi-independent Lunar military units and Lunar-Orlanth conflict, the Yelmalian shrieve was held to be impartial, although he (naturally) had his own agendas.
Things got very confusing when imperial representatives, who were of Dara Happan Yelmite nobility, arrived to "clear the situation". The role of Yelmalio as a son of Yelm made the situation of the Yelmalian shrive very uncomfortable. Should he have carried the new Yelmite/Imperial orders, which were potentially destructive to what was left of the local cohesion? Or should he rise against his superior, his father, and claim lordship over matters best handled his own way?
I think this is a glimpse of a role the Yelmalians in the provinces might have: they are locals, have always been, but they are not Lunar. In their strictly ordered temple hierarchy they achieve a sort of independence and impartiality, and may play a very important role in the Provincial politics.
-ile
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