Alignment

Alignment is a categorization of ethical and moral perspective of characters. This is usually categorized into four points: Law, Chaos, Good, Evil, and Neutral..

Law, or Order is defined as the belief that everything should follow an order, and that obeying rules is the natural way of life. Law is usually associated with honor, trustworthiness, obedience, and reliablity. However, law is also associated with close-mindedness, reactionary thinking, and lack of adaptability. Lawful characters typically value security and rules over freedom and individuality.

Chaos is the belief that life is random, and that chance and luck rule the world. It typically implies freedom, adaptability, individuality, and flexibiity. On the downside, chaos includes recklessness, petty actions, and irresponsibility. Chaotic characters usually believe that only complete personal freedom allows people to express themselves fully and let society benefit from this potential.

Neutrality is the stance that either law and chaos are both equally important, or that they are equally unimportant. They can be honest, but tempted into lying, or simply not care at all about the ideas of law and chaos. In regards to good and evil, they typically have compunctions against killing, but lack the commitment to make sacrifices to protect themselves or others.

Good involves altruistic motives, and involves respect for life, and concern for sentient beings. Good characters are ususally willing to make sacrifices to help others, often putting themselves at risk.

Evil implies a compulsion to harm, oppress, or kill others. Evil characters have no compassion for others and will kill without qualms if doing so is convenient. Some may act evil out of desire, others may be serving a malevolent entity or master.

Entities that do not fall into these four often qualify as True Neutral, or unaligned, or have a different morality system (see below). This chart shows the most commonly accepted morality system. It is important to remember that neither law nor chaos can be classified as good or evil.

Blue and Orange (Undefined) Moralities
Blue and Orange moralities are defined as being completly or sufficiently different from most human systems of morality. For example, a species that defined the act of eating as good and not eating as evil would have a Blue and Orange morality. As most writers are human, blue and orange moralities can be difficult to effectively write, as they imply something totally alien to conventional morality systems most characters have and are used to.

Characters with Known Alignments
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Chaotic Good

 * Trickster