Fantastic discussion.
I disagree with the poster who stated nothing about evil characters is heroic. The character from the original post WAS hailed asa hero in much of the land, first, for her actions in the war, (Personally beheading the BBEG who was an out of control, over the top lunatic), and for her crusade to protect the common folk(women mostly) from the rapacious and horrendous system of laws they lived under. She was flawed, I grant you, but she was certainly a hero in my mind.
In Vampire, I tend to go towards good. I generally like to play against type.
in my second group, currently, we have the following: Necromancer(My character), Assassin, and Knight. We are level 11, the necromancer is 5 nec 6 pale master, and she is also very skilled with illusion. She keeps everything looking above board, and pays the assassin a retainer to work as her "Scout". The Knight is LN, and is already almost completely corrupted by the necromancers suggestions. Again, she is LE(I dont like NE or CE, to random and capricious, I dont like evil thats random and capricious) and she masks her true intentions well. What does she intend? To rule the land with her undead minions, with a powerful general and an assassin to help her run the land. The general is not quite ready yet, but he will be. He will be. Muahaha. Oops.
Still, she doesnt believe in evil for its own sake, when she does take over, assuming she does succeed, she'll run a utopian society where undead do all ignominious and demeaning jobs, fight in the armies, and keep the populace safe, in a very hollowfaustian way. She will encourage law, learning, and safety.
I see it as fun. Call me crazy if you will.
in the other group I am in, I play a CG Barb/Fighter who goes where he is told and does what he is told and kills stuff all day every day, by the hundreds. We call him good, but he has killed millions of innocent asaathi for no more reason than they exist, at the behest of good clerics/etc. It bores me to tears, and I dont feel like a hero, I feel like a thug. I think I am supposed to feel like a hero, but I dont.