Alignment (a new perspective)
The classic D&D alignments are interpreted somewhat different in this setting.
Alignment is somewhat fluent and is described with a position on three dimensions; religious position, society position and individual position.
Through the experiences a person goes through in their life they often encounter circumstances that challenge their belief structures and therefore their alignment. This can cause them to strengthen their belief the values they hold true - strengthening the positions that constitutes their alignment. Or it can cause them to question their belief in those values and potentially shift their set of values - adjusting their positions on the dimensions that constitutes their alignment.
Religious position
Agnostic - Believer - Fanatic
This dimension deals with the the strength of the person’s religious belief.
This dimension is a spectrum, ranging from no belief in the existence of any gods at all to a fanatic belief in the righteousness of a certain god.
This dimension isn’t present in the traditional Lawful-Neutral-Chaotic and Good-Neutral-Evil dimensions of the traditional alignment in D&D.
Neither the society position nor the individual position (see below) has anything to do with religion or religious belief. Also a gods personal alignment on these positions does not mean that their follows have to be from the same positions. In other words even a devout follower can easily have a different position on these belief structures that the god they follow.
Society position
Lawful - Neutral - Chaotic
This dimension deals with the belief in a society’s social structures and rulesets.
A person with a lawful position are law abiding in nature and would believe that a given society has the right to chose its own social structures, laws and norms. And that it is the duty of the people of the society to follow those structures, laws and norms - both the citizens and its visitors. This does not imply a certain belief in the ways in which those structures are decided - so a strongly lawful person would support the structures and laws regardless if they were instigated by a dictator or through democratic means.
A chaotic person in the other hand are anarchistic in nature and believes in the right of the individual and that the purpose of the structures and laws of society is to empower the individual. With that belief it is therefore perfectly fine to sidestep or outright break the laws or norms of society if they are in the way of the pursuit of the individuals goals and aspirations.
This dimension is of course also a spectrum where the outer points can even be further clarified with the prefix of strongly of lightly lawful/chaotic.
This dimension matches (more or less) the normal Lawful vs Chaotic dimension in D&D.
Individual position
Collectivistic - Neutral - Individualistic
This dimension deals with the belief in the priority of the group over the individual or vice versa.
A person with a strong collectivistic value set would favour the choice that benefits society over the individual, even if the individual was itself. The value is founded in a belief that the world becomes a better place for all, if we all help each other. The collectivist often views the individualist as egoistic, ruthless and as a person who haven’t yet raised the enlighten state necessary to see the true value of the collectivistic norm.
A person with a strong individualistic value set on the other hand would favour the personal gain and believe it correct to do so. The individualist often views the collectivistic mindset as naive, childish or even slightly delusional. The value of the individualist is founded in a belief that no one in this world is better suited to know what is best for the individual than the individual itself and therefore the individual should be empowered to make choices for itself.
This dimension is just like the other two a spectrum with people spread across a wide range on this spectrum.
In other to translate from alignments expressed in normal D&D alignment terms, the D&D alignment dimension of Good, Neutral and Evil should be translated to this dimension in such a way that Good is converted to Collectivistic, and Evil is converted to Individualistic, and of course Neutral sits in between. This is in no way meant to indicate that Collectivism is Good and Individualism is Evil, but only meant as a means to translate information for deities, characters or creatures described in the normal D&D alignment terms.
The concepts good and evil doesn’t as such have a connection with a persons alignment, value sets or belief structures, but is rather expressed through the persons actions and in particular other peoples perception of these values. The concepts Good and Evil are in other words highly subjective and isn’t objective labels that can be attached to neither persons, creatures or even actions.
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