The Solari and Lunari, and The Aspects.
When the Solari first appeared, along with Leona, they were portrayed as a cult of compassionate people who worship the sun. There was nothing that overtly sister about them. Then Diana was released, and when she found out about the Lunari and eagerly showed off the result of her research, the elders of the Solari decided to murder themselves a heretic. The Solari Elders were aware of the Lunari, and they decided to murder a girl who, while a bit odd, was still faithful. Seeing the people who backed a morally-outstanding person like Leona try to murder someone else for having direct evidence and presenting her findings. Hell, her findings weren't even declaring that their religion was wrong, it was archeological evidence that proved there had once been a civilization that praised the moon.
Now, I was invested in this. I am a religious person myself, and I found this conflict every interesting. The Solari are a religion of people who follow a code of ethics, lead by people who may be manipulating them from the shadows. The majority of the worshipers were probably just good people who true followers of the philosophy preached by the elders. Religion in the real world helps people through their daily lives, gives them hope, and gives them philosophes to help them. However, those in need of having an easy way of controlling the masses have used them as tools. It was implied that the Solari elders hijacked the religion to give themselves higher positions, and having an alternate faith around would make it... problematic to retain their powerbase.
It's also at this point that I should mention that we know nothing about the Lunari. For all we know they were a dangerous cult, but at the same time they could have been relatively peaceful, in fact Nami's 'moonstone' might have once been in their possession, and while we don't know why the Lunari were wiped out, whether it was justifiable or not, the Solari may have caused the potential extinction of the multiple species. The Lore on the Lunari was and is still mysterious,
In the new lore, the Solari are Zealots who kill people for suggesting their wrong. Leona, or rather Linda, has killed people and is implied to have been a fanatic even by their standards. Diana, original being someone who researched her way... basically read one book and practically had her hand held.
Strangely, despite the Solari basically losing it's morals and being "Worship the sun, or we'll kill you." Diana was not executed despite getting into theological debates with the Solari at the temple. (which makes me think she didn't actually have any good arguments as no one saw her as a threat). Zoe, a champion who was around with the Lunari... didn't share anything other than her lore implying the lunari knew the study of magic. The Rakkor, a warrior culture worship the sun, but the brief thing in the universe section points that the Lunari still exist in fractured numbers among them.
However, the Solari/Lunari conflict is currently being pushed aside so that they can fight The Void. Linda is no longer interested in killing Diana the moment she gets the Aspect inside her (which, while implied to have been the aspect broadening her worldview, is way too sudden and makes it look like the Aspect has influence on her mind) and wants to talk. Diana meanwhile, has had incidents were the aspect controls her body, and is implied to have helped her kill the elders. While these two factions still exist, it's implied that they were once on and they will return to that to be cannon fodder in the war agaist the void. Which... look, I know the lore team wants this epic story, but... well the only aspect who's well being I care about is Taric, Linda was an insane zealot and doesn't seem to have any remorse, Diana seems to have the will of a discarded candy-wrapper, Pantheon is a body-stealer who no one likes, and Zoe casually disintegrates people who were trying to defend themselves, I want them to lose.
My hopes for the aspects complete and utter destruction aside, I don't like the Solari/Lunari conflict to have been downplayed. The conflict between two religions could have been enough of a cause to make Targon an awesome setting. It's very human conflict, and we don't know if either side is in the 'right'. The aspects take it away, as their 'gods' are right there... and don't care. Hell, the Moon Aspect proably made it worse as theirs a dangerous heretic on the loose as far as the Solari are concerned.
I have two theories, one for the old and one for the new, about the Soalri and lunari, and I hope you enjoy them.
Old Lore Theory
The Solari came from Shurima, after Azir's attempt of becoming an Ascended. I say this because the sun is an important part of Shurima's culture, and while worshiping the sun is a common thing in ancient cultures, well, Egypt and Greece did interact and it might be a similar case. The Lunari were already there, and they welcomed the new immigrants and tolerated the new religion. Eventually, the new religion had become the majority. I'm not sure what would have caused them to fight, but everything continued as we knew it.
New Lore Theory
If there's one good thin that came from the aspects is that I can use them to talk about Warhammer 40k. The fact that Graham Mcneill is working with riot only makes the comparisons stand out more. Now, a common trait for recruiting world for the Imperium of Man's Space Marines and other warriors is to have a world stuck in a medieval (or worse) states and in a constant state of war. It helps them get them warriors who are already battle-hardened and easy to control.
I believe this is what the aspects do. The Sun and Moon aspects set up the cults, after all, it's easier to get hosts if they believe they were divinely chosen for the role by their 'gods'. We also know the people of Targon know about the Aspects, or at least Mister-steal-your-bod, but also consider being chosen an honor. As for how the Lunari died off, I blame Pantheon. He wanted to make sure both sides were battle-hardened and made them fight one another. As the Sun and Moon did not intervene despite Pantheon showing that the aspects are aware of each host body and aware of the bigger picture, I can only assume they either didn't care, or encouraged it. It's not like the aspects have any interesting characteristics beyond being Shrouded in mystery and being enigmatic, so no one of us can say it's in or out of character.
To make a long post short, The solari/Lunari dynamic seems to be being ignored, and the old lore, while not giving a lot of information on it, had a more interesting dynamic and could have been great. Please tell me what you think in the comments.
