John Biles Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 The Red Emperor is caught in a cleft stick on this issue. The Lunar Way wants illumination wide spread. Keeping control requires keeping a leash on it. Thus he has to waffle between these imperatives. But there's another factor - if you're a normal citizen, illumination is basically useless. Will it make goods? No. Will it feed your family? No. Clothe them? No. Will it liberate a slave? Maybe? That's not clear. But for the average Lunar, illumination promises gleem peeble blasney. And that means a lot of people won't go to extra effort to get it... especially as the average person doesn't have *time* to seek it. Illumination ends up for the elites to a large extent because it has little to no practical survival value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theconfusingeel Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 36 minutes ago, John Biles said: The Red Emperor is caught in a cleft stick on this issue. The Lunar Way wants illumination wide spread. Keeping control requires keeping a leash on it. Thus he has to waffle between these imperatives. But there's another factor - if you're a normal citizen, illumination is basically useless. Will it make goods? No. Will it feed your family? No. Clothe them? No. Will it liberate a slave? Maybe? That's not clear. But for the average Lunar, illumination promises gleem peeble blasney. And that means a lot of people won't go to extra effort to get it... especially as the average person doesn't have *time* to seek it. Illumination ends up for the elites to a large extent because it has little to no practical survival value. Maybe being illuminated could provide social status? Either way I'm pretty sure that while the lunars want to spread illumination, they only want people prepared for it to be illuminated. Random peasants wouldn't be able to restrain themselves from becoming chaos monsters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joerg Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 1 hour ago, John Biles said: And that means a lot of people won't go to extra effort to get it... especially as the average person doesn't have *time* to seek it. The HQ1 material on the Lunar Way had (among weird new cults now well forgotten) the concept of Lunar urban mobs of jobless dolists following demagogues spreading illumination - a bit like Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, only illuminating. If you have access to the daily portion of maize and decent water, you might as well enjoy the uproar when rivaling demagogues and their followers meet. Who needs chariot races for a nice little shindig? Quote Telling how it is excessive verbis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali the Helering Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 7 minutes ago, Joerg said: The HQ1 material on the Lunar Way had (among weird new cults now well forgotten) Along with a few who are sadly missed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Biles Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 49 minutes ago, Joerg said: The HQ1 material on the Lunar Way had (among weird new cults now well forgotten) the concept of Lunar urban mobs of jobless dolists following demagogues spreading illumination - a bit like Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, only illuminating. If you have access to the daily portion of maize and decent water, you might as well enjoy the uproar when rivaling demagogues and their followers meet. Who needs chariot races for a nice little shindig? That is a cool idea and it does make sense how some of those at the urban bottom would get exposed to both illumination and other crazy ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metcalph Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 I don't see much evidence for the Lunar authorities having controlled illumination. Throughout much of their time, they seem to take the attitude the more everybody is illuminated the better. There is a persecution against a specific school which owes more to its problematic origins (Sheng Seleris) but other than that, there's hardly anything. I can see the Lunars working themselves into increasingly repressive measures against the White Moon Rebels. But they only punish its overt supporters while covert supporters are by their nature hard to detect - it's not just detecting illumination, it's also ascertaining whether they believe in the White Moon. That illumination has popular support among the urban masses has been true ever since the Imperial Age. Most such supporters are not illuminated or even exposed but closer to street gangs. CoR: Mythology suggests there's 20K such worshippers in First Blessed, Silver Shadow and Oronin. The number of illuminates within other Lunar cults is unknown but probably a multiple or two of the Nysalorans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecake Posted Tuesday at 12:20 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 12:20 PM On 6/19/2024 at 3:01 PM, theconfusingeel said: Maybe being illuminated could provide social status? Illumination is one of the most important ways the Lunars gatekeeper access to the higher echelons of real power as much as they are able. But as to whether Illumination is a big step up for those who are nowhere near real power I don't know. You surely get invites to more interesting parties, but I'm not sure about more significant ones. Probably, in that some Lunar notables probably drift around amongst bohemia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squaredeal Sten Posted Wednesday at 09:41 AM Share Posted Wednesday at 09:41 AM On 6/19/2024 at 2:01 AM, theconfusingeel said: Maybe being illuminated could provide social status? ...... Since being illuminated is a prerequisite for initiation to the cult of the Red Goddess, THAT will give social status. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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