Culture and Alignment

Though we often think of alignment as fixed, cultures and societies cycle though the alignments. This is especially true in Kemen. What follows is a description of alignments with attention paid to how alignment relates to groups. In this scheme, the cycle begins with Chaotic Good and progresses in a counter-clockwise rotation around the usual alignment chart. The descriptions below of the individual alignments are listed in a way that facilitates the understanding of their differences rather than the flow between them. This aspect is discussed later.

Chaotic Evil is all about the individual. Rape and pillage, murder and mayhem, for the fun of it. CE has as its central tenets the thrill of doing whatever one wants on impulse, regardless of the 'consequences.' There is no accountability. Street gangs and motorcycle gangs (in the classic sense) are good analogs for CE. There may be a leader, but he (usually) only decides what the group will do, and does not compel membership. When very large groups coalesce, there may be a 'council' of leaders, but this is a short lived confederation rather a permanent alliance. Members are free agents, and follow because they choose to do so. They share this voluntary membership with CG, but without proscription against doing evil.

Lawful Evil is less about the raw emotion involved in evil acts, and more about control, domination, dominion and slavery. This is organized evil. It is insidious, and the true notion of what is usually referred to in the Earth Zero concept of evil. There is a hierarchy whose purpose is to maintain control. It is the focus on control at all costs that characterizes this alignment. In LE, the individual serves the hierarchy (usually a tyranny, even if the leadership is a group). Membership is compulsory. Chaos is seen as desirable only if it is controlled and serves the hierarchy goals. As nations grow, the focus of leaders turns to staying in power and defending the populace from evil and outsiders. Eventually, this leads to merely staying in power. Leaders become Lawful Evil, as the focus is law. While power is centralized, over time population and conquests increase. Parcels of power are issued to maintain control. As time and population increase, even these controls become ineffective and eventually the society disintegrates into chaotic evil. Techno-industrial societies are good examples of LE, as is the movie Brazil.

Neutral Evil is the alignment of the loner. He cares not about group membership and may be found as a part of any evil group, so long as it benefits him. He appears completely self serving, but less open about it as CE, as this could result in things that are undesirable to him. In truth, he is neutral out of fear usually, and sees his own safety, self-preservation and survival as being dependent upon not taking a stand. It is the effect and spread of neutral evil ( in the form of corruption) that tends to be the downfall of LE societies.

Chaotic Good focuses on the rights of the individual and is limited only by the responsibility to avoid doing evil. Control is seen as the first step towards evil. Societies start out as Chaotic Good. Families and 'population centers' are far enough apart to allow people to live in freedom without the interference of others. If life becomes too oppressive, there is room to move away. Altruism originates in the individual's sense of moral duty and 'being a good neighbor.' Law is seen as desirable only when absolutely necessary.

Neutral Good tend to be the unaffected. They are inconsistent followers of law, but are always mindful of what is good. They are often loners. Caine in Kung Fu, is a good example. 

As population increases, more laws become necessary to prevent the spread of evil acts. This restricts individual freedoms, but is deemed necessary to prevent evil. This is generally the start of large nations. This results in the society becoming Lawful Good. Chaos ('freedom') is seen as desirable only if it is limited. In this respect it provides the opportunity for 'wild card' solutions and influences. LG focuses on law as the way to provide limited freedom for the most people, and provide for the common good. Individual rights are considered secondary to the greater good, and may be abridged without recourse or reconciliation. Law is the way to promote good.

Lawful Neutrals are in love with love the law and respect it regardless of whether the result is good or evil. Ever meet a lawyer? 

 

Chaotic Neutral are in a like respect indifferent to good or evil, and respect only freedom.

True Neutrals focus on balance above all else. This philosophy generates only small societies, usually no larger than towns and villages.

	LG	CG	CE	LE
Focus	Law as means to good, common good	Freedom as means to good, individual rights	Individual rights, anarchy, unbridled desire	Control, dominion, mastery, slavery and service
Relation to control	Necessary to achieve good	Hindrance to good	Anathema, directly opposes	Central, primary
Membership	Compulsory	Voluntary	Voluntary	Compulsory
Relation to opposite	Limited chaos acceptable	Limited law acceptable	Limited rules, organization acceptable	Controlled chaos acceptable

Neutral Good, Neutral Evil: Loners, sometimes immersed in society.

Lawful Neutral: Loves law above all, hates vacuum.

Chaotic Neutral: Loves freedom, resists law and control.

True Neutral: balance.

The America Wild West would be an example of the confluence of NE, LN, LG and CN.

“Hang 'Em High” is an example of the hypocrisy of 'law.'

Alignment “Flow and Drift”

Over time, the alignment of a region will usually shift. By “region,” I refer to any DM designated group. It could be a country, a province, a city, town village, tribe, whatever. The important part is that we are referring to some group of people. In Kemen, the flow or drift is generally counter-clockwise.

Note, this is only the usual path! It is very possible that a Chaotic Neutral society may swing to NG on its way to LG, bypassing CG altogether. Some may have a problem with the idea that a society can go from CE to CG. To understand this, recognize that the descent into CE is generally a one way trip because the society disintegrates. The survivors are beginning again, at CG.

This is the way it works in Kemen. Your Mileage May Vary.

You think a lot, don't you? This all seems like a lot of extra work for no productive end.

:) Yes, I do think a lot. For most adventures, this material is pretty much academic. For campaign adventures, where there are events that occur outside the immediate vicinity of the PC's, understanding how things move can help you understand how it got to be the way that it is – whicih provides grist for the mill. Knowing that a current agrarian society (CG) shuns an area of ruins because they are the descendants of the LE citystate that fell into the ruin and anarchy of CE, gives you backstory and direction for the future.