I was pondering how Lunars might view Sartarite attitudes towards sex, and came up with this. I figured some of you might enjoy it.
A Lunar take on Sartarite Attitudes Toward Sex from an 8th Wane text
On the Customs of the Sartarites and Their Barbaric Lust
The Sartarites, a fierce and unkempt brood of Dragon Pass, meld the stormy vigor of their god Orlanth with a vulgar excess borrowed from their Esrolian kin, their sexual habits a riot of savagery and superstition. They have twisted Orlanth’s noble thunder into a base revelry of the flesh, yet cling to a crude pride in their warrior might—a contradiction that renders them both brutish and lamentable.
Among the Sartarites, copulation is no discreet act but a loud and lustful rite, which they deem sacred yet pursue with the abandon of wild beasts. They fancy that their couplings stir the barren crags of their land to life, a primitive delusion far beneath the enlightened rites of our Lunar Way. Where we honor the Red Moon’s phases with transcendent unions, they rut in the dust, trusting their base desires to mend their wretched hills—a folly born of ignorance.
Their women wield an unnatural dominion over the bedchamber, selecting mates as a petty despot might her minions, their pleasure the supposed key to some earthy magic. Men, though they swagger as Orlanth’s warriors and rule with martial fist, bow to this female sway in secret, their battlefield glory diminished to mere stud-service. We, in contrast, preserve a civilized balance—our noblewomen veil their power in Dendaran modesty, while our men uphold Yelm’s radiant order.
Marriage is a sham among them, a loose and lustful pact where men and women bind multiple consorts to their will, driven by caprice or crude alliance rather than sacred duty. Procreation, they boast, fortifies their clans, yet it hinges on the martial valor of their men—chieftains must prove their spear in war and loins alike, a barbaric measure unfit for our solar lineage. Our unions secure empire; theirs breed chaos like sheep on a hillside.
Their liberty in carnal matters is boundless—premarital trysts, adulterous liaisons, and even perverse pairings thrive under their storm god’s negligent eye, a freedom they owe to Ernalda’s wanton ways. Such excess, unshackled from any civilized restraint, marks them as slaves to instinct, their debauchery a crude shadow of our Illuminated’s higher liberty.
Most repellent are their rituals—public displays where priestesses couple with warriors, their throes meant to coax blooms from the dirt. This they call divine, yet it is a grotesque mockery of our own Hon-eel’s rites, where blood is shed in sacred sacrifice to enrich the maize and bless the empire with bounty. Their reliance on carnal ecstasy is a vulgar jest, lacking the solemn grandeur of our human offerings to the Red Goddess’s glory.
Nothing is hidden among the Sartarites—feasts resound with tales of their couplings, and their rites flaunt flesh without shame. Where we cloak our freedoms in the dignity of privacy, preserving Yelm’s harmony, they revel in open lewdness, their warrior-kings tying lust to leadership in a savage display. Their lack of decorum is a stain upon civility.
And man, this writer really dislikes the Esrolians.
This is also probably pretty standard take with the Lunar upper class on Lodril and Oria. The difference is that those are lower classes that serve them – whereas in Sartar even the rulers behave like Lodrilli.
Modern Lunars in 1626 ST view old Dara Happan attitudes on sex and gender as a respected but outdated framework, overshadowed by the Lunar Way’s expansive vision. The nobility and solar cultists honor Dara Happa’s legacy as a source of imperial legitimacy and order, preserving its echoes in public restraint and noble marriages.
However, many others empowered by the Red Goddess’s divinity (and lets face it, an element of acceptance of Primal Chaos) see it as a rigid past, ill-suited to a larger empire. They critique its ancient hierarchy as exclusionary and its sexuality as far too repressive, preferring a liberated approach that integrates Dara Happan discipline into a broader, more vibrant tapestry. This reflects the Lunar Empire’s ability to venerate its roots while transcending them, perhaps viewing Dara Happa as a stern ancestor whose lessons have been surpassed by a more Illuminated present.
But that doesn’t make them appreciate Ernaldan and Orlanthi attitudes towards sex and fertility any more than before.