From time to time it is worth reminding people why most Sartarites HATE the Lunar Empire, and are so willing to throw themselves behind Argrath in 1627.
Let’s ignore the big cosmological stuff. That’s there, but the Sartarites would likely largely ignore that but for the rest.
- The Lunars and Sartar had been skirmishing with each other all the back since 1538, with the Lunars fighting to maintain their stronghold of Furthest and the House of Sartar fighting to maintain their primacy in Dragon Pass. Most of this was through the Lunar client state of Furthest.
- In 1582, the Red Emperor personally made a full-court press against Sartar. At the Battle of Grizzly Peak they killed the King, the Queen, their key allies and so much more. The Lunar Army continued their march, but were repelled by the new Prince at Alda-Chur.
- The Lunar Empire kept pushing against Sartar, and had assassins murder members of the Sartar Dynasty in the Holy Country, wiping out Terasarin’s entire bloodline.
- In 1602, the Red Emperor marched against Sartar, with the Crimson Bat and allied with Delecti. The Lunar Army extermined the defenders at Runegate, took Boldhome in a bloody and brutal assault, and then directly ruled Sartar for 11 years. More distant members of the Sartar Dynasty and most known potential claimants were hunted down and murdered.
- The Lunar Occupation targeted the Orlanth and Storm Bull cults. When it finally sought to desecrate one of the most holy places in the world to the Orlanth cult, a coalition of tribes rebelled. This rebellion was defeated by a clever Lunar general, who also placed a puppet member of the Sartar Dynasty on the throne.
- For eight years, the Lunar Occupation was pretty cleverly managed by the clever Lunar general. But in 1621, the last free Orlanth major holy site in Dragon Pass fell to the Lunar Army, and the Lunars decided to make this a final triumph over Orlanth. The clever Lunar general was fired and replaced by a hard-core Yelmite. There were famines, persecutions, and a wide-spread realization that the Lunar Empire did not care whether the Sartarites lived or died. There was constant war, rebellion, famine, and hardship.
- In the end, the Lunar Empire suffered many reverses, leading to the Dragonrise. Kallyr Starbrow liberated Boldhome in the confusion, and proclaimed Sartar free after repelling a Lunar attempt to restore their occupation (led by the clever general). Kallyr scrambled to find a way to secure Sartar’s freedom, but her attempts to use the LBQ to do that turned out to be a catastrophic failure, and she was killed repelling another Lunar attempt to restore their occuption.
- It is absolutely certain that the Red Emperor intends to reconquer Sartar. It is also absolutely certain that if the Red Emperor reconquers Sartar, there will be widespread persecution, executions, and reprisals. Most people are also certain that without a Prince to relight the Fire, the Red Emperor will have little difficulty in reconquering Sartar. Even with a Prince, few hold out any hopes, but without a Prince it is a certainty.
In truth 1626 and early 1627 are the lowest point of Sartarite morale.
See also
Now I like the Lunars. I find them fascinating and endlessly intriguing. They are not evil or even the bad guys. But they have given the Sartarites very good reasons to hate them.
Again that’s not to say the Lunars are bad guys any more than the Achaemenids, Romans, Rashidun, Sassanians, or Russians are bad guys. But the Lunars are shitty neighbors if your aren’t into their religion.
The Lunars are a big expansionist empire. They do bad things as a big expansionist empire. The orlanthi have every reason for their rebellion and eat, but they too bring war, death, and suffering. This stuff is bad but it is part of the cycles of Glorantha since the gods war. The Lunars are an expansionist empire with cosmic claims, that makes them terrible neighbors but on the other hand, they like the orlanthi honor and revere chalana arroy. Now the Sartarites could just submit, embrace the Lunars Way, and this would end quickly. And plenty of people did this. But the Sartarites don’t. And it turns out that their resistance is not futile – they possess the resources and skills not only to rebel but to fight back hard. That’s the story of White Bear and Red Moon. Now if you want to reach outside of Glorantha and say the Lunars are evil or good that’s fine. But I think you are missing something then. Like the Trojan War this is not a battle of good versus evil – it’s not Middle Earth. It is a struggle between heroes, armies, and magicians with good and evil on both sides.