Skip to content
The Well of Daliath
Menu
Menu

The Lunar Empire is a universal empire

Posted on October 15, 2021

The Red Emperor does not acknowledge the existence of other peers – his sovereignty and lawful authority is everywhere touched by the light of the Red Moon (ie., the entire Surface World). Near him, in the Heartlands, the world is governed by his satraps – powerful people who collect taxes and organize worship for the Red Emperor, and are tasked with maintaining the peace. Further beyond are the Provinces – ruled by barbarians who have submitted to their rightful ruler. Beyond that are the allies – barbarians who follow the direction of the Red Emperor but have not submitted to him. Beyond that are only rebels – some are rich and powerful, others savage and benighted. This is model is obviously derived from the Solar Empire system. The Red Emperor is perfectly willing to pay barbarians and rebels to submit to him or at least to be allies. What is important is that they acknowledge his position as the sole pillar of legitimacy in the world.

All universal empires are Yelm’s empire. At least on some level.

The Lunar Empire does not acknowledge any peers. Now that does not mean it feels compelled to conquer the world – and in fact it is even willing to accept only a tacit acknowledgement of the Red Emperor’s suzerainty. Which plenty of folk do – the Eolians, the Talatastarings, the Char’un, Garsting, etc. But not the Prince of Sartar, the Holy Country, or most of the tribes of Prax and Pent.

Isn’t this the attitude of the Brithini and possibly the Seshnegi/Rokari?

Not really. The Brithini never claimed to be universal rulers. They claim to possess universal truths, but believe that most of the beings of the cosmos are too deluded, foolish, arrogant, etc., to see those truths.The same thing holds true with the various Malkioni groups. None assert claims of universal legitimacy. Even the Middle Sea Empire made its claims based on Power and superior Knowledge, not that it had an inherent authority. They sought to rule the world because they could – that’s a subtle but important difference.

In the end, Yelm and Orlanth did acknowledge each other and reconcile, right? both religions hold that their respective gods made amends and also that in Time their worshipers made trouble. So Yelm is always making the compromise with Orlanth, but also is always the arrogant and foolish emperor, and always in the Weapons Contests with Orlanth. All of these are always true, simultaneously. Worshipers in Time of course can pick whichever always they want at the moment.

Jeff Richard

Next
Previous
Lunar Empire

Sections

  • Search Tips
  • Current RuneQuest Glorantha Publications
  • RuneQuest Glorantha Corrections and Q&A
  • Catalogue
  • References for Glorantha
    • Gloranthan Canon
  • Gloranthan Documents
  • RPG Systems & Versions
  • Gallery
  • About This Site
  • Get involved!

Latest Posts

  • The Grasslands of Prax

    Something to keep in mind about Prax. The grasslands of …
  • Praxian Kinship Groups

    Praxian tribes are divided into smaller kinship groups or clans, …
  • Lunar Resettlement of Tarsh after 1460 ST

    After 1460, large sections of Peloria (especially east of the …
  • The Spread of the Lunar Way

    In the Lunar Provinces, about 26% of the total population …
  • Gods of Fire and Sky and the Lunar Way

    The Gods of Fire and Sky co-exist alongside the Lunar …
  • How Much Land is a Hide?

    So in RQ, a “hide” is a unit of accounting …
  • Agricultural Data for RuneQuest

    Back in the late 70s and early 80s, Greg‘s only …
  • Farming in Dara Happa

    In anticipation of the Fire/Sky Book, here’s a few notes …
  • Farming in the Big Rubble

    There are some 1600 humans in the Big Rubble, with …

Links

  • Chaosium
  • Chaosium’s RuneQuest RPG Wiki
  • Glorantha on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on BRP Central
  • RuneQuest on Discord
  • Prince of Sartar Webcomic
  • Glorantha G+ Archives on Tapatalk
  • Search mailing list archive

Latest from BRP Central

  • creating a spirit cult of Fralar
  • Thoughts on running an Animal Nomad/Praxian game
  • Fillable excel RQG character sheets?
  • Where is there a list of temples in Dragon Pass?
  • New on the Jonstown Compendium: Many Suns
  • Subcults vs Associated Cults
  • Gorgorma and Dendara's Chess Game
  • Merged deities
  • Elf plant ships and dwarf stone ships
  • Do Dwarves have souls?

Popular Tags

Boldhome (large city) Chaosium Colymar (Sartar tribe) Contents Cult demographics Cults of Runequest (preview) Ernalda Esrolia (homeland) FRA Furthest (large city) G+ post Gods Wall Greg Stafford Guide to Glorantha (preview) Humakt Jar-eel Lunar Empire Lunar Pantheon Magazine Malkioni pantheon Map Michael O’Brien Mongoose MRQ1 New Pavis (small city) Old Glorantha Q&A Orlanth Orlanthi pantheon Photo reference Population demographics Prax (homeland) RQ3 RQG Sandy Petersen Sartar (homeland) Spirit Cult Star Subcult Tapatalk post Tarsh (homeland & Lunar province) Troll Pantheon Yelm Yelmalio Yelm Pantheon Youtube

Recently added or updated

  • Spirit Magic by Cult and Associate Cult

  • ISS1102 Glorantha: Introduction to the Hero Wars (2000)

  • Dragon Pass – A brief outline (2013)

  • Some Fronelan Population And Cultural Details

  • Notes on Fronela III

  • Notes on Fronela II

  • Notes on Fronela I

  • Hon-eel Temples and Shrine

  • Seven Mothers Temples and Shrines

  • Ernalda Temples and Shrines

  • Barntar Temples and Shrines

  • Babeester Gor Temple and Shrines

  • Voria Shrines

  • Ty Kora Tek Temples and Shrines

  • Asrelia Temples and Shrines

  • Maran Gor Temple, Shrines and Site

  • Odayla Shrines

  • Humakt Temples, Shrines and Sites

  • Orlanth Rex Temples, Shrines and Sites

  • Hippoi Shrines

©2025 The Well of Daliath | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme