After 1460, large sections of Peloria (especially east of the Oslir River) were depopulated grasslands. To resettle and repopulate, land was assigned to nobles and temples with low initial taxes (who then offered low rent to peasants), cities were rebuilt and new cities founded, and irrigation systems reconstructed. Settlers were given seed grants of maize and often loans. New temples were established.
The high point of this was in the Lunar Province of Tarsh 1490-1502, when some 30,000 to 40,000 Heartland colonists followed Hon-eel to be settled along the Oslir River in Tarsh. That comes out to some 3,000 settlers a year, although no doubt it was in waves. These settlers built Furthest, Talfort, and the Temple of the Reaching Moon, and planted maize along the river valley. When Palashee took Furthest in 1538, the settlers remained (Palashee tolerated the Lunar religion in Furthest and lacked the resources to do otherwise).
When Phargentes reclaimed Furthest in 1555, he was followed by another large wave of settlers, some 20,000 to 25,000 over almost 30 years. These included farmers, priests, administrators, etc. A new class of nobles were established, tied to the Lunar kings through kinship, marriage, and military service.
A new culture had formed, with New Pelorian as the official and primary language used in administration, coinage, and elite culture, and Tarshite used in trade and daily life. This Lunar Tarshite culture was bilingual, and their art and architectural followed Heartland styles. Given that this Lunar-Tarshite culture ruled over a majority Orlanthi surrounding population, it had many material influences from then.
Religiously, this new culture followed the Lunar Way (especially the Seven Mothers and Hon-eel), but the Lightbringers were far better known here than in the Heartlands. Stories about the Red Goddess’s conflict with Orlanth and the Storm Gods are well known, and Yelm is of lesser importance here. Religiously, Furthest and the Temple of the Reaching Moon are revered as the Red Goddess’ redoubt in her enemy’s homeland.
After the defeat of the King of Dragon Pass in 1582, and the conquest of Dunstop, Bagnot, and Slavewall, another smaller wave of settlements (really military garrisons) took place in the conquered lands.
Tarsh still receives settlers and colonists from the Heartlands, but these are mainly soldiers sent to fight in the wars around Dragon Pass or people seeking new opportunities on the frontier as scribes, administrators, merchants, etc. The royal household is one of the wealthiest patrons in the Lunar Provinces, and attracts many from the Lunar Heartlands.
You can think of Furthest and its environs as being somewhat analogous to Seleucia-on-the-Tigris. It is a Lunar Pelorian stronghold because of colonisation. About a quarter of the total population of Tarsh view themselves as Lunar Pelorians, not as Orlanthi who became Lunars.
There certainly has been some conversion, but some 2/3rds of the Lunars in Tarsh can claim to have been Lunars since before 1460. This includes the vast majority of the priests and rune lords.
And yet they do form a hybrid culture – even if Orlanth is not worshiped by them, he and his cult are far better understood as the great rival and adversary of the Red Goddess than in the Heartlands. Dragon Pass holds a much greater place in their world view than does Dara Happa, and the Solar cults (with the exception of Yelmalio) are far less important here than in Dara Happa.
Imperial nobility fans the Lunar Empire and is made up of the children of the Emperor himself. Is there a religious or traditional reason for this? Is it a trace of the Dara Happan social order that persists under Lunar religion? A trace? The Lunar Empire can be thought of as a Lunar dynasty ruling a Dara Happan empire.
The children of an emperor are noble, but normally with the passage of ruling emperors and dynasties, individual families become too distant from the current emperor. However, the Lunar Empire claims to have had only ONE emperor over the last 375 odd years, which means there it is a lot easier to claim imperial heritage.
And with marriages between the Emperor’s children and other, more modest houses, all the nobility gradually become the Emperor’s descendant? Clearly, the Dara Happa remains an empire with a fairly rigid social order, despite the upheaval of the lunar cult- Even if it rejected patriarchy and allowed women to play roles equivalent to those of men. This would explain the discontent of white-moon supporters.