Approbation, elevation, and castration

[MOB]

 

Watching 'The Rings of Power' and Galadriel jumping off the boat just before it went through the magic portal to Valinor made me think of something I wrote about the Red Moon long ago.

 

Apart from the Egi, I think there are many other positions of essentially "revered impotence" on the Red Moon for nobles, priests, and other worthy citizens of the Lunar Empire.

 

For mystics, those in genuine honourable retirement, those who have suffered greatly for the cause, elderly “Model Citizens” (yeah, Soviet analogy), and other such types, it is a signal honour to be elevated with a one-way ticket to the Red Moon, there to spend the rest of your no doubt magically extended existence working on rarified pursuits in a state of satiated crimson radiance.

 

But for those still in the prime of life, it’s oblivion as far as their temporal careers go (the "getting kicked upstairs" House of Lords analogy is exact: see Yes Minister, ep 5).

 

Even worse - as with TRoP's Galadriel - it's an honour that is very difficult to decently refuse.

 

But perhaps "approbation, elevation, and castration"* is better than the old Dara Happan method of having your eyes poked out and shoved in a tower, which is one other time-honoured alternative way to dispose of rivals.

 

*I do mean metaphorically

[JRE]

I would expect there are many such elevations after the manifestation of a new mask of the Red Emperor, including many of the associates of the departed mask. Unless we have a ritual sacrifice by the Great Sister, when many of those associates will suffer the same fate, to keep the moon free of such failures. 

That would be one of the desired effects from a well conducted Dart war operation, getting one of the candidates to satrap of Holay appointed as Sacred guardian of the blessed moon fruit, after the current holder suffered an indigestion from eating unholy green tomatoes.

[EricW]

21 hours ago, JRE said:

I would expect there are many such elevations after the manifestation of a new mask of the Red Emperor, including many of the associates of the departed mask. Unless we have a ritual sacrifice by the Great Sister, when many of those associates will suffer the same fate, to keep the moon free of such failures. 

That would be one of the desired effects from a well conducted Dart war operation, getting one of the candidates to satrap of Holay appointed as Sacred guardian of the blessed moon fruit, after the current holder suffered an indigestion from eating unholy green tomatoes.

I wonder if the old dignitaries kindof fade away? If the moon is a chaos wound in the world, in the body of Orlanth, then hidden behind the glamour is a void. But not the traditional unsubtle void, all terror and screaming, something more hidden. Perhaps people who ascend to the moon eventually go missing, and if anyone asks they are told their old friend or guide or whatever has ascended to a higher plane. Lunar Mysticism meets Soylent Green.

Edited November 5, 2022 by EricW

[mfbrandi]

6 hours ago, EricW said:

hidden behind the glamour is a void … people who ascend to the moon eventually go missing

Well, an eventual and permanent return to the Void is fine. It is a matter of whether they were ready to jump into the memory crater, or whether someone had to stamp on their fingers as they clung to the rim.

[EricW]

20 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

Well, an eventual and permanent return to the Void is fine. It is a matter of whether they were ready to jump into the memory crater, or whether someone had to stamp on their fingers as they clung to the rim.

A lot of gods illuminated by Rashoran “succumbed without struggle”.

Maybe the final step in lunar enlightenment is Rashoranic illumination, the realisation that life has no meaning, that shunning the oblivion of the void is simply delaying the inevitable. 

So kindof a mockery of “I fought we won”, I succumbed we lost.

Nobody forces them to step into the void, they walk in of their own free will, when they lose interest in continuing.

Edited November 6, 2022 by EricW

[Qizilbashwoman]

49 minutes ago, EricW said:

Maybe the final step in lunar enlightenment is Rashoranic illumination, the realisation that life has no meaning, that shunning the oblivion of the void is simply delaying the inevitable.

I think it's notable that an ancient form of Rashoranx was the Atarks/Goakstart/the Groke

[mfbrandi]

5 hours ago, EricW said:

Maybe the final step in lunar enlightenment is Rashoranic illumination, the realisation that life has no meaning, that shunning the oblivion of the void is simply delaying the inevitable. 

I was thinking only that life is finite and that that is fine.

Is life “meaningful” only if prolonged indefinitely or repeated on the hamster wheel of reincarnation?

[EricW]

1 hour ago, mfbrandi said:

I was thinking only that life is finite and that that is fine.

Is life “meaningful” only if prolonged indefinitely or repeated on the hamster wheel of reincarnation?

People might be mortal but they strive to live despite their mortality, if they are healthy and happy.

I remember a radio discussion once about assisted suicide, the guest described a conversation with a Nordic doctor “this old lady, all her kids had abandoned her, every day was miserable, so we helped her die”.

”Why didn’t you buy her a cat?”

”Wow, I wish we thought of that”.

My vision of the Lunar void is it is always there, an option. And nobody is going to buy you a cat on the moon.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by EricW

[Nick Brooke]

Katrin Dirim writes:

Quote

Moon Cat is the daughter of the Red Goddess and Yinkin, the Alynx God. She was conceived when Yinkin came upon the Goddess during her Otherworld journey. He found her wounded and bleeding after her defeat at the hands of Wakboth, the Devil. Taking pity on this stranger and smitten by her otherworldly beauty he approached her carefully, and she let him come close and curl up in her lap. He stayed with her for a night, licking shut her wounds and filling her with warmth. Though he himself was too restless to stay long, Yinkin left her with a gift, a child to warm her within and fend off the cold spirits of death. This child is known as the Moon Cat, and accompanied her mother throughout her quest. She kept her warm with her fur while she was cold, hunted spirit mice for her when she was hungry, and played with her to fill her with joy when sorrow threatened to take her over. Now Moon Cat roams the palaces and landscapes of the Red Moon, and is said to guide those lost on its strange and ever-changing surface to safety.
 

Moon Cat is a minor goddess with no cult of her own, and is usually worshipped in conjunction with other Lunar deities. She has become unexpectedly popular among the rural barbarians of the Lunar Provinces, where she is often worshipped together with her father. Her worshippers act as intermediaries between their villages and the Lunar administration, as Moon Cat is in the rare position of being part of both the Lunar and Storm Pantheons.
 

... sometimes you get a silly idea and just can't help spending the entire day on it.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Nick Brooke

[Nick Brooke]

Here is Mooncat again in a tiny detail from Katrin's astonishing panorama of Nochet City, which Martin Helsdon shared with the RuneQuest group on Facebook last March. The full piece will be included in his next book, Ships & Shores (of Southern Genertela).