The Lunar Way is pretty darn easy for someone in the Heartlands or the settled Provinces to defend. The Red Goddess displays her power simply by existing in the Middle Air for all to see. The storm gods, the darkness demons, the powers of death and disorder, dragons and other monsters, all fight and oppose her AND still she remains in the sky untroubled. That’s a clear reminder that the Red Goddess is one of the greater deities of Glorantha.
But she’s not just a greater deity like Yelm or Ernalda or Orlanth or Humakt and so on. She shows us the path towards spiritual liberation.
See, the Old Gods are all chained to the Cosmic Compromise, forced to forever fight the same old battles that so wounded the world and let Chaos into the world. Thanks to them – all of them – Chaos is in the world. But where they endlessly fight its existence, the Red Goddess teaches us that Chaos is part of the cosmos – the cosmos came from Chaos, after all. One does not need to embrace its horrors, but one must accept that it is part of the world, just as death, famine, disease, age, etc. is part of it.
Only through this path can we be liberated from the senility of the Gods War and the cosmos be healed.
Now this obviously doesn’t appeal to gods like Orlanth or Storm Bull or Zorak Zoran or Humakt (or their worshipers), and admitted it has little interest to the Elder Races, but for millions of others – especially to those who suffered terribly in the Darkness it has a lot of appeal.
But there is more to the Lunar Way! The Lunar Empire brings that order and justice derived from the Golden Age of Yelm that so many long for. A sacred emperor, the demi-god son of the Red Goddess, rules over his mother’s worldly domains. Although his mask changes (or each emperor is a long line of identical wizard-kings, take your pick), it is as if one man has ruled for centuries.
This has brought almost two centuries of peace to the Lunar Heartlands (since 1460) – that’s millions of people living removed from war. This has made the Red Emperor fabulously wealthy, able to pay soldiers to fight outside the Heartlands, able to perform huge magical ceremonies that tame the winter and end drought and famine, and so much more.
Indeed, the Heartlands have enjoyed so much peace and prosperity thanks to the Red Emperor’s rule that there are even those misguided mystics who preach that the empire should be dissolved so that all could live in peace. That day will come, but only when the Red Goddess herself decrees.
And the Red Goddess makes few demands upon you beyond those that have always been made. You do not need to give up your traditional gods, so long as they have made their peace with the Red Goddess. Most Pelorian gods did so long ago when she defeated them at Castle Blue, and some were with her from the beginning. You offer worship to the Red Emperor and the Red Moon, but that does not require any devotion beyond what is always expected. You need not pursue her mysteries, you need not follow the Lunar Way – we only demand that you accept its presence and do not fight it.
So a powerful greater goddess, cosmic mysteries, and a well-run and stable government. Those seem like plenty of reasons to defend the Lunar Way to me.
And that appeal worked extremely well in the lowlands of Peloria. The Lunar Empire gained acceptance from the Sweet Sea to the Redlands in the Wane after the Red Goddess’ apotheosis.
To the south and the east, the appeal didn’t go so well. Against the Orlanthi, with their own greater god and dynamic mythology (that hits very different strong points), it required more than three centuries of warfare to seemingly get accepted, and much of that fell apart in the last four years.
And in the east, the solar-worshiping Pentans were an even bigger failure. Other than the Char-Un, the other Horse Barbarians have resolutely and stubbornly rejected the Lunar Way. Only Etyries with her Red-Haired Tribe made any progress, and that now has been revealed to be more limited than many thought. Sheng Seleris, the wayward planet, was the biggest test the Red Emperor has ever had, and even in defeat the Horse Barbarians refused to accept the Red Goddess.
But none of this disqualifies the Lunar Way as something worth defending. Just that the Orlanthi and the Pentans are about as accepting of it as are trolls. Maybe even less.
The Blue Moon Trolls embrace Annilla, not the Seven Mothers or the Red Goddess. Now I am sure plenty of Lunar mystics and sages call that a triumph, but I am not so sure. Those Blue Moon folk do things for their own enigmatic reasons.
Sylila was easier. Hwarin beat the Orlanthi into submission and then built a few good Heartlander colonies (like Jillaro and Mirin’s Cross) and magic roads to hold things down. Which was the model for Furthest. Sure maybe 10% of the population still spits at the Red Goddess, but Talastar and Dorastor is a greater distraction for them. Keep them bogged down there where they can keep themselves busy engaged in tribal feuds and fighting broo.
As an aside Sylila shows that with a good base and enough time and effort, even old Orlanthi lands can be brought in line. Give the Provinces another century or so, and they will be as tame as the Heartlands.
Except Aggar. They are all nuts there.