by Nick Brooke and David Hall
History
The Red Moon rose in the year 1247 ST, and hangs above the eastern land of Peloria. Her worshippers have spread from there across the whole face of the world, to wherever her light shines. In the fifteenth century, settlers came from the east, fleeing oppression by nomads and imperial forces, and following the course of the beautiful blue Janube. They made their home in three proud cities in the land of Dona: Riverjoin, Eastpoint and Southbank. Their land was known as Arrolia, and from it missionaries spread peacefully throughout the surrounding countryside, making many converts.
The jealous wizard-lords of Loskalm were alarmed at their successes, and performed a magical ritual known as the Ban to prevent the spread of Lunar doctrines. But philosophers from Eastpoint were easily able to fathom the rigid pattern of their sorceries, and (as is ever the Lunar Way) insinuated their way around the barriers of this spell. In 1589, the Arrolian cities were released from the Ban, and in the generation since the Lunar Way has waxed ever more popular among the peoples of Dona and Junora.
Lunar History is divided into seven Wanes of 54 years each, with each Wane corresponding to a phase of the Red Moon. The first three Wanes saw the birth and decline of the Lunar Empire. At the end of the Third Wane, the Wane of the Dying Moon, the old Empire was dead. Everyone could see that the Moonlight had changed! The Fourth Wane was the Black Moon Wane, a time of sore travails which ended with a great triumph: the conversion of Riverjoin, and the birth of the Arrolian Confederation. The last three Wanes have been a time of strength and expansion for the Arrolian cities, culminating in their liberation from the Ban in the current, Full Moon Wane. We are now in the fifty-fourth year of this Seventh and Final Wane: a time of great transformations looms.
Theology
The world of Glorantha was fashioned from Chaos by the Creator. Everything in it was formed from fertile, ever-changing Chaos, and shaped by his stern, inflexible Law. The place where Chaos and Law come together is known as Nature. Within nature there are cycles: night and day, summer and winter, birth and death. Everything mirrors its opposite, and must pass from one side to the other of the created world.
Over time, mankind has fallen away from union and understanding with the Creator, who sent the Three Prophets to teach us how to find God through body, heart and soul. The first prophet was Malkion, who taught the Solace of the Body. The second was Hrestol, who taught the Joy of the Heart. The third was the Red Goddess who teaches the Freedom of the Soul.
Even from this latest liberating message, so recently granted to mankind, there has been a fall. The Lunar Empire, weakened by Horse Nomad invasions, turned into a grasping and repressive state, oppressing its own sickly body and limbs in the vain attempt to preserve its swollen head. Only in Arrolia, beyond the clutches of the Dead Moon Emperors, can true freedom flourish.
We do not follow the Ancient Laws of Malkion, or the Old Laws of Hrestol, but rather pay heed to the Lunar Way of the Red Moon, which replaces them in their entirety.
We know through the example of the Goddess that Death is not the end: like that of our mistress, our lives may wax and then wane, die and thence, in some form, return. We cannot say, however, what comes after death. This is a Mystery, and rightly so. It is conceivable that the Lunar Way offers a sure path to Solace in Glory, as did Malkion's Law of old.
We stand now on the brink of a great Transformation. The Seven Wanes are all but completed, and a new era is about to dawn. Many believe that the long-awaited White Moon is due to appear at last, ushering in an Age of universal peace, calm and beauty. All those who join us in welcoming her advent shall find their reward, and bask in the glory of her argent radiance.
Hierarchy
There is no 'hierarchy' in the Lunar Way, which is the way of freedom from control. The old churches needed to have hierarchies, because their faith was not self-supporting. The Dead Moon Empire has built elaborate skeletons to hide the hollowness of its doctrines. But our own living and vibrant Lunar Way is its own support: witness the Red Moon herself, if proof were needed! Each of the Arrolian cities organises itself for political, military and religious ends as it sees fit; the confederation is a loose league, not a centralised and oppressive state.
There is an Empire underneath the Red Moon in Peloria, which was once ruled by the lover of the Goddess, a powerful wizard-king called the Red Emperor. He was slain in the Black Moon Wane by the evil Nomad leader, Sheng Seleris. Since that time, the Empire has been ruled by the Dead Moon Emperors, mere shadows of the original. By wanting to be someone who they are not, they all fail to recognise what they truly are.
The free cities of Arrolia have voluntarily and piously sent an offering of tribute to the holiest Pelorian shrine of the Red Goddess each year since their liberation from the Ban, but they are in no wise commanded by the so-called Red Emperors. The Lunar Way is one of freedom and liberation: the confining structure of the Dead Moon Empire does not allow these tendencies free rein.
Inspirations
The old churches have Saints: ancient holy men who can sometimes intervene on behalf of their followers. In the Lunar Way, there are Inspirations. An Inspiration is unlike a Saint, as she encourages others to follow in her path and attain the same state of grace that she herself enjoys, as a favoured daughter of the Red Moon.
The most popular Inspirations are the Seven Mothers, who brought the Red Goddess into the world through a ritual. Their names are: Jakaleel, the Wise Woman; Teelo Norri, Ever-Virgin; Queen Deezola of the Lands; Yanafal Tarnils, the Knight of the Ram; Irrippi Ontor, the Wizard; Penitent Danfive Xaron, Redeemer of Sinners; and their mysterious servant, She Who Waits. We emulate and venerate them, and they grant us their blessings.
The symbol of the old Lunar Empire was the Crimson Bat, a monstrous creature of Death and War. Our Arrolian Confederation takes as its symbol the White Dove, a bird of Peace and Life.
Heresy
There are no 'heretics' from the Lunar Way, which is the way of freedom from dogma. All are welcome within the bounds of the Church of the Red Moon, be they Hrestoli, Rokari, Syanoran, Stygian or Pagan. The Red Moon bestows her light on all alike. Only accept her truth, and petty bickering will be seen for the empty discord that it is.
Attitudes to Malkioni Sects
Hrestoli
The Hrestoli Way offers man the full development of his mortal self: a wonderful gift. Yet the Way of the Red Moon can provide still more: spiritual immortality and transcendence!
Rokari
The Rokari Lords of Seshnela have ordered their society in a way that seems good to their rulers. What about the consent of the ruled? In the Lunar Church, all may choose the path they will follow in life, and pursue it as their abilities allow.
Syanorans
Many pious Malkioni of the Syanoran Church have accepted the truths of the Red Goddess, and they find no contradictions between the two complementary faiths. The teachings of the Lunar Way are the culmination of the message preached by the Prophets in bygone ages.
Stygians
Arkat the Liberator was a hero of bygone days who attained to some of the secrets of the Red Goddess before her rebirth. We respect him for his partial knowledge, and offer his followers the whole of his secret, if they would learn it.
Pagans
The Red Goddess offers peace and healing to all the entities of the world. By educating the followers of the old pagan gods in the light of the Lunar Way, these deities can be brought once again into union with the Creator.
Notes
Lunar History
The original Red Emperor died at some point during the Fourth Wane, killed by Sheng Seleris, and he was never the same again. The Arrolians call his heirs the Dead Moon Emperors, and deny that they are in any way related to the original. They also call the original Red Emperor the lover of the Goddess, and do not use the name "Moonson": this is one theme of the blasphemous Seleric Verses, inspiring a heresy which was eliminated in Peloria during the Fifth Wane under Emperor Magnificus.
The Old Moon died at the end of the Third (Dying Moon) Wane -- everyone could see that the moonlight had changed. The modern Lunar Empire agrees that something changed: it calls this event the creation of the Glowline. But from outside its confines, interpretations were rather different...
The Arrolian Confederation was formed at the end of the Fourth Wane (the Black Moon or New Moon Wane): the Arrolians see this as the 'rebirth' of the true Lunar Way. Many of its founders had fled political oppression or religious persecution in the declining Lunar Empire: a healthy mix of anarchists, liberals, pacifists and White Moonies. The 'liberation' and freedom from dogma that they preach are a direct reaction to tendencies in the Lunar Empire in the Third and Fourth Wanes. As the Seventh (and final?) Wane ends very soon, they are rapidly slipping into various forms of White Moon hysteria.
The Arrolian Confederation
Over two centuries ago, many Pelorians fled to the West to escape nomadic invasions, military oppression and religious persecution in the land of Peloria. The Lunar Empire was in its death-throes and failing to protect them; they chose to find their own path to peace and safety. Refugees streamed down the Janube valley, a trickle at first, but later a mighty tidal wave. They brought with them their Pelorian manners and beliefs, forged in the Lunar Way but tempered by their suffering. In the land of Arrolia, they found the safety they sought. Three cities on the beautiful blue Janube became their new homes: Eastpoint, seized in 1392 (3/37); Southbank, newly founded in 1427 (4/18); and Riverjoin, which was converted wholesale in 1462 (4/53).
Their grievances with the dying Lunar Empire were threefold:
The Empire was failing to protect its citizens against the Horse Nomad Invasions. Its armies and leaders were unequal to the struggle, and throughout Peloria townsmen and country folk were being slaughtered and enslaved. Most of the refugees who fled to Arrolia were simply displaced persons, their homes destroyed and livelihoods ruined by the Horse Nomads.
In its desperate attempts to defend its capital, the Empire was becoming an oppressive and militaristic state. Children were conscripted, snatched from their parents to suffer and die in badly-trained, poorly-led militia formations. Taxes shot sky-high, as Peloria was bled white so that Glamour might survive unscathed. A substantial minority of the Arrolian Migrants were pacifists and political dissidents who supported the outlying regions against the centre, their own individual freedom against brutish imperial oppression.
Finally, a select core of the Arrolian Migrants were followers of various popular religious movements which were relentlessly persecuted in the declining Empire. Weakened in its structure, the once-liberating Lunar Way turned tail and sought to impose conformity on all its citizens. So-called "heretics," most notably the followers of the White Moon, were hounded from public life and made into scapegoats for the collapse of Imperial fortunes. Naturally, they sought a life free from religious oppression elsewhere.
In Arrolia, the liberating doctrines of the original Lunar Way made many converts. Even as freedom died in Peloria, it was reborn in Fronela, as the Dying Moon of the old Lunar Empire gave way to the New Moon of the Arrolian Confederation. The Confederation has ever upheld the ways of its founders: it remains a loose association of sovereign city-states, whose armies are employed only for defensive purposes. Religious freedom is a fundamental tenet of the Arrolian Lunar Church.
