Should I use an Alignment system? Yes

What are Alignments?
Are they like Classes?
Can I use Alignment in every Setting?
How do I combine Alignments & Classes?

Here’s how you may want to Align your characters.

The Traditional Alignment system

• It revolves around 2 axes:
  • Good, Neutral & Evil
  • Chaos, Neutral & Order/Lawful

• These 2 axes combined create 9 possible scenarios:
• Lawful Good
  • Parangon/Exemplar
• Neutral Good
  • Knight/Champion
• Chaotic Good (close to Chaotic Neutral)
  • Hero/Revolutionary
• Lawful Neutral
  • King/Arbiter
• True Neutral
  • Mercenary/Leader
• Chaotic Neutral (close to Chaotic Good)
  • Pirate/Anarchist
• Lawful Evil
  • Dragon/Monolith
• Neutral Evil
  • Fiend/Mask
• Chaotic Evil
  • Jester/Beast

• Each of these combinations can be used as an archetype.
• They are an Effective & Straightforward way to create characters.
• Though, the characters may lack of depth or diversity, it’s not hard to add a twist to the archetype by adding a special quirk.

• Make an evil character more likable by showing her care for her partners/servants.
• Make a good character less polished by showing her lack of temperance at mealtime or/& her laziness when she ought to do chores.

Do not create a Universal system

• Alignments systems are dull because they dampen diversity?
• Only if you design an Universal frame of reference.
• Creating Layers of Complexity will create Diversity.

• What is considered Good in 1 part of the world can be considered Evil in another.
• You have at least 3 options when it comes to Potentially Undesirable acts:
• 1/The treatment is effective or desirable.
• 2/The treatment is ineffective or unacceptable or heinous.
• 3/The treatment is flawed but is still use for there is no alternative.
• 4/The treatment is legal or legitimate but has lapsed.

Potentially Undesirable acts:

• Murder & Assassination can be construed as Potentially Desirable acts.
• If a State Leader is threatening to unleash a new World War, most opposing powers, and even some allied powers, would unite to organize her assassination.
• Killing for protecting the self or another is recognized as a legitimate mean of action.
• On the opposite side, whatever system you are using, legitimating rape or sexual assaults is impossible.
• Because the only outcome of these acts is self-satisfaction at the expense of another.
• Self-satisfaction at the expense of another defines Ever Undesirable acts.

Applications

• In 1 part of your world corporal punishment is accepted as part of a child’s education.
• In another part people understood it was alienating to the child’s growth.
• In a 3rd part the corporal punishment is not illegal, but it is not used either.

• In 1 part of your world Death penalty will be considered effective.
• In a 2nd part is considered unacceptable.
• In a 3rd part people know it is a flawed system, especially in the case where innocent is incarcerated & then condemned.
  • Mistakes happen
  • But they have no alternative
  • So they use it
• Death penalty is a great opportunity for you to create diversity in your worlds.
• The system is inherently flawed, it cannot be seen pertinent anymore, mostly because of the numbers of cases to study, but its original & core intent was & is to protect society from dangerous individuals.
• There are other cases of flawed or dangerous systems & treatments but this one is definitive.
• And therefore, allows to create definitive consequences.

Relativism, Utilitarianism & Necessity

Chaos & Order?

• Order is the Law.
• It does not signify that the Law is made for Good.
• Law is made to ensure Peace according to the Administration who has enacted it.
• In most cases, Your Core Laws must be Legitimate.
• They must embody Equity & Fairness.
• Or there will be a revolution.

• What’s Chaos?
• Chaos is Choice.
• The Choice to follow the Law or to deviate.
• Deviations operate when the Law is considered inappropriate.
• Chaotic character may commit crimes or they may follow the Law.
• Which happens most of the time.
• A Chaotic character react to an unfitting Law.
• They challenge Principles, Traditions & Edicts accepted by the largest part of the population.
• A Chaotic character act as she sees fit at the moment.

Good & Evil?

• Is it Arbitrary?
• Are there criteria to identify Good/Evil?

• Good is selfless, Evil is selfish.
• An Evil character will mostly satisfy herself.
• She will act at the expenses of another in order to acquire resources.
• A Good character will look for individuals to help.
• She will follow her good intentions to evolve & male the world around her evolve in the same way.
• Most of the time Good characters cares what others think.
• Most of the time Evil characters do not care what others think.

• Good is Hard, Evil is Easy.
• Laziness, Gluttony, Lust are easy.
• Evil is animalistic, it is natural.
• It requires little to no effort.
• Evil is essentially abandonment to one’s instincts.
• It is thrilling.
• It is Short-Term.
• Evil creates Relish.
• Temperance, Courage, Forgiveness are difficult.
• Good is individuating, it is humanizing.
• It requires effort, hardiness & consistency.
• Good is Control.
• It is taxing.
• It is Long-Term.
• Good creates Peace.

Neutrality is Necessity…

• There is Good everywhere, there is Bad everywhere.
• And there is Neutrality.

• Neutrality is Indifferent.
• They are not attracted by either following the Law or disrespecting the Law.
• They do not look for Relish, nor do they look for Peace.
• Order & Chaos are both the ways of the World, the Neutral character accepts it.

• Neutrality is Utilitarian.
• Neutral characters think of the Team’s best interest 1st.
• They do not seek self-satisfaction.
• They are not generous.
• They attempt to be fair.

• Neutrality is Balanced.
• The Neutral character will question both Order & Chaos.
• Her objective is Comprehension.
• Pondering Layers of Complexity will create Understanding.

Alignments are like Classes – They show Individuality

• Wherever, you wish to use them or not, you will use them.
• You will create courageous & defiant characters.
• You will create fun & serious characters.
• Hesitating & Domineering.
• You will create Humans.

• Alignments offer to your characters a sense of belonging.
• An identity.
• A tag.

• The freedom of choice of a character is only limited to the determinism she is subjected to.
• You will use alignment.
• So, if you think the traditional system is flawed, the best way out is to create a new one.

Alignment may not be as diversified as Class systems.
The solution?
Create a more complex Alignment system.

Redefined Alignments

• Create a system that show a progressive evolution.
• Create a system that shows people can change.
• Evil or Chaos sound stigmatizing.
• It may be more interesting to show how Good characters turn Evil (frustration).
• Or how Lawful characters may get away from the Law or even oppose it frontally (again, frustration).

• Here are 3 new axes that may replace the traditional ones:
• Self/Others
• Inner/Outer
• Relatable/Alien

• 3 Axes allows more complexe & progressive characterization.

• From Order to Chaos
• If a characters begins as Dogmatic she won’t become Obedient to others principles only to her own.
• Progressively, she may realize Principles & Rules dominates us if we do not try to Understand them.
• In the end, she may accept or reject the Principles, only after having questioned them.
• The Chaos to Order Progression is the most permeable and allows a great permeability.
• You can draw it as a Cycle:
• Imperious, Dogmatic, Obedient, Principled, Decent, Selfless, Righteous, Independent, Ambitious, Universalist, Focused, Stimulated, Hedonistic, Achieving, Strong, Stable, Conform.

• From Evil to Good
• A Cruel individual can become Benevolent.
• However, the amount of pain this character will have to go through is so intense it could as well develop her Cruelty even further.
• Benevolence/Cruelty is the hardest progression to develop.

• Another way to adapt the 2 axes would be to mix them.
• There we add layers.
• We adapt each layer to the next one.
• We create Permeability, which allows characters to move.
• It gives us 5 layers:
  • Law, Order & Peace
  • Pondering, Knowledge & Understanding
  • Satisfaction, Exploit & Dominance
  • Instinct, Impulse & Freedom
  • Synergy, Evolution & the World

Alignments, Context & Settings

Good Cities, Bad Cities – Clarity & Dullness

• Create places for Courageous, Hard-working champions?
• Create places for Cowardly, Lazy chumps?
• Is that really possible?
• Good people congregate to certain places.
• Bad people are created by certain places, certain eras.
• If your world is at war, characters have more chances to become Capricious or Utilitarian.

• Creating shelters for Good characters & for Evil characters will divide your world.
• It creates Clarity, the world is easily readable.
• It creates Dullness, the world becomes less believable.

Order Settlement

• Pure Order settlements may feel like autocracies.
• When in reality all that is wanted is order.
• But again, Order does not mean good.
• You may find yourself sleeping into the arms of a dictatorship.

• Order Settlements would be less interesting to explore than Chaos settlement, because they are more typical.
• They are real world settlements in most cases.
• They are well known & easy to integrate into your worlds.

Chaos Settlements?

• Would they work?
• Is society possible if there are no rules?
• Because if everybody is free to enact their will without repercussion that’s a rule…
• Classic.
• Pure Chaos settlement would probably not work at all.
• Because if it is purely chaotic then there is no boundaries to the Organization, to the Territory, or to the Members.
• Who’s part of the Settlement?
  • People come & go as they please…
• Where is the Settlement?
  • Where does it begin?
  • Where does it end?

• What’s the core value of the Settlement?
• It would be no duress & no limits, but that’s not a real rule.
• “No rules” can never be a true rule, because it’s not compulsory.

• Moderate Chaos Settlements would be the most interesting Environments to explore, both in Game-play & Narrative.
• They may seem unreal, they may seem impossible.
• They are the theater of constant Crisis & Dissension while maintaining a fraction of Order.
• They offer the Tension & Diversity that most stories need.

Neutrality would win

• Neutral Settlements will probably be the largest in a world that is regarded as realistic.
• Neutral prevails mostly because humans love to have more choices available.
• Choosing between a selfless act, a selfish act, a legal act, an illegal act allows you to adapt your decision to the context.
• Is your character confronted to a difficult choice?
  • Neutral Cities allow more lenience
  • If you’re not caught, you’re not done

• Neutral Administrations are preoccupied by the numbers.
• Contentment of the majority.
• So, it would need core rules.
• Few rules.
• They understand how Freedom is important for the citizen.

• How Neutral Cities are born?
• Good cities thrive.
• In Good cities everyone is productive & self-sufficient.
• Evil cities struggle.
• In Evil cities everyone is productive, when it comes to Exploit others.
• Good cities are Stable.
• Evil cities are Unstable.
• Good cities attract & welcomes all.
• Evil cities repulse, until…
• Evil people come to Good cities.
• Evil people won’t become Good people.
• And Good cities won’t become Evil cities.

• It is the rise of Neutrality.