[Alignment+] So, what would THIS alignment do for ME?

[steeldragons]

"Everyone's Friends...the Neutrals" cont'd...(since True Neutral took so long

LAWFUL NEUTRAL (LN): "The Judge" A Lawful Neutral character has all of the strict sense of ethics and discipline for the furthering of "Order" without any of the moral compulsions to promote "good" over "evil." "Justice is blind" after all.

The LN will seek out the truth and uphold the law above all else. If the law of the land says slavery is ok and freeing a slave is a crime, that is a part of the current ordered society, then the LN (while maybe feeling some remorse or sympathy for the slaves) will rule that the persons freeing the slaves are guilty...as well as the slave him/herself probably for seeking to undo the "lawful order" of the realm by attempting to flee.

The character who is LN is upholds the concepts of law and order above those of good and evil, for the stability of their society. They are probably an idealist, seeing the "order" of their society as the way to combat/remain above/better than the forces of chaos (often automatically "evil" in their eyes). She may often feel her "hands are tied" no matter how much she may sympathize with case or defendant. These characters are "lawmen", lawyers and judges. In my campaign world, LNs are almost exclusively found in the larger metropolitan settings within the city's legal system. Their unwavering reverence for "truth" also makes LNs a common alignment among diviner clerics and/or mages. LN is also the perfect alignment for soldiers...unquestioningly following orders.

CHAOTIC NEUTRAL (CN): "The Free Spirit" A character choosing to be chaotic neutral is, by no means, insane (though certainly could be as disturbed as any other alignment . Unpredictable, perhaps, but not insane. They are the ultimate examples of "freedom." They hold no ethical qualms or chains to upholding "order" or respect for the "law" of authority. Morally, they are freed of the constraints of "good" or "evil" feeling no obligation to the bettering of society or its downfall.

They simply wish to "be." To be allowed to pursue their interests and desires without judgments, without contempt, without (as above) obligation to anyone but themselves. They are not necessarily interested in seeking to harm anyone and they are definitely against anyone seeking to harm them/interfere with their pursuits. So if harming someone becomes necessary to further their goals (including, say, self preservation), so be it.

A CN character is not about to constrain/submit themselves to someone else's arbitrary rules. Nor will he accept the judgement of anyone by themselves. "Good" or "evil" only matter in so far as they promote or interfere with their personal freedom to pursue their life. I think many, many rogues of all walks of life would choose to be CN: Bards, swashbucklers, thieves (probably not in a guild, but could be)...also rangers, barbarians, revolutionaries of all kinds and others who value freedom above order.

EXAMPLES:
(T)N: Treebeard
LN: ummmm...in literature?...maybe Sherlock Holmes? Well, you get it. Judges, bureaucrats, politicians...and Stormtroopers
CN: Tarzan...King Kong?

Huh, thinking up examples for champions of Neutrality is hard!

 

[steeldragons]

Easydamus does a lot of character listing, and goes with NE for the Emperor and LE for Vader:

The Alignment System - Lawful Evil
The Alignment System - Neutral Evil

Maybe the Emperor's scheming (and putting the whole galaxy into a massive chaotic war, purely to further his schemes) might fit closer to NE than LE.

NE might want power for it's own sake.
LE might want power so as to create and maintain order.

And if you don't like Easydamus, there is TVTropes:

Character Alignment - Television Tropes & Idioms

which is entertaining if a little addictive- and has the same answer- NE page has Emperor, LE page has Vader.

Um. Ok...Who am I to argue with TvTropes or some website I've never heard of?

I'm just listing my views/definitions of alignment as I see them and the OP asked for.

If you want to think of Vader as LE and the Emperor as NE then great. Enjoy. I look forward to seeing your list.

--Steel Dragons

 

[hamishspence]

Your list of alignment descriptions is pretty good- I can't see anything obviously wrong with any of them.

But as written, your CE description, and even NE description, don't sound especially Vaderish.

Apart from that though- the descriptions themselves, I like quite a lot.

 

[lamia]

Well, I don't have an in depth analysis for you. But I'm reading the Nightwatch series right now, and it's really seeming to make a case for chaos! The two organizations appear to be LE and LG, if you haven't read the series they are basically upholding a treaty which says that balance must be maintained. For every good act, an equal act of evil and vice versa. The most endearing characters for me are those who give fealty to neither side. The chaotic folks who just do what they think is right, regardless of rules. Maybe I'm just biased, all the little online alignment tests can't seem to agree if I'm good or neutral, but they all say chaotic!
It's a lovely little series by the way, if you haven't read it yet.

 

[Celebrim]

This is from an older essay by me, but I think it might still be interesting. The focus is not so much on what alignments are, but how rebellion is likely to be manifested within a particular society.

Dissidents in a Lawful Good society will be Anarchists. Anarchists tend to be loosely organized and are violent and destructive for the sake of violence and destruction. Riots and vandalism are common signs of Anarchist rebellion. They will center their movement on the idea that an oppressive and hypocritical culture has robbed the individual of the natural power and freedom it should possess. They tend to be attracted to evil cults and deities for the power offered by them and for the sake of simply shocking and frightening the larger society.

Dissidents in Lawful Neutral societies will Bohemians. Bohemians tend to mix equal parts passive and violent revolution, randomly without any plan or forethought. While they are likely to attempt to destroy, they are equally likely to ignore society and abandon it. Bohemian rebellion is typified by wild revelry and debauchery and the flaunting of customs and social standards. No organization is likely to be present, and each small group or individual is likely to do what he feels most like doing at the moment. The philosophy of their movement will likely be one of eliminating social standards in order to experience freedom, particularly hedonistic freedoms.

Dissidents in a Lawful Evil society will be Vigilantes. Vigilantes tend to act in small groups and attack social institutions both directly and indirectly. They are more likely as a group to support boycotts, strikes, thefts, sabotage and other relatively nonviolent means of attacking the economic basis of a society’s power, but individual acts of violent heroism will be regarded with admiration if they are seen as protecting the weak from the strong. They are likely to focus on protecting the powerless and the rights of the individual in their speeches.

Dissidents in a Neutral Evil society will be Martyrs. Martyrs tend to use (at least at first) passive resistance to call attention to the deficiencies of their society and to weaken support for it and gain support for their own cause. They will form boycotts, make speeches, and in general try to impede the government in any nonviolent way possible.

Dissidents in a Chaotic Evil society will be Revolutionaries. Revolutionaries will not be opposed to violence if it becomes necessary, but will always seek foremost to win the hearts and minds of the people using impassioned speeches and promises of a better world. A quick and bloodless revolution and a change to a new order is the goal, but they are willing to use force when the time comes, and the soldier that dies for the cause is always honored. Revolutionaries tend to focus on utopian philosophies, and are strongly attracted to resolute figures and the idea of justice. Revolutionary groups are likely to be well organized, with a strong military element, and be led by a single charismatic figure.

Dissidents in a Chaotic Neutral society will be Patriots. Patriots are almost always organized along military lines, and are the most likely of all dissident organizations to engage in open warfare. Patriot organizations always seek to act in such a way that they are recognized, or at least perceive themselves to be, a ‘legitimate’ revolution. The will tend to focus on directly attacking the military elements of the existing government. The are likely to spend a great deal of time outlining their desires for a new and better government in which justice will be served. Their speeches will concentrate on how the current corrupt government has abdicated its right to rule and how the new government would better serve the good of the people, and they will try to appeal to the national sense and character of the people.

Dissidents in a Chaotic Good society will be Terrorists. Terrorist organizations believe that any action they take is justified if it accomplishes their goals of a stronger less corrupt government. Terrorist organizations will target the military and bureaucratic elements of their opponents if they feel they have the strength, but are more likely to attack the civilian supporters of the government and to attempt to crush popular support for the government. Terrorists are likely to employ a network of informers and spies to determine who their enemies are and how best to hurt them. They are usually extremely well organized with layers of secrecy to hide their leaders. In their indoctrination, they are likely to discuss the lack of justice in the current government, the corruption and lack of ethics in the society, and the weakness of the government and its inability to protect its citizens. In order to gain support for their cause they will likely try to exploit and enlarge any existing rift in the society such as religious, racial, or ethnic divisions.

Dissidents in a Neutral Good society will be Sociopaths. Sociopaths see themselves as surgeons who are cutting away the dead flesh in order that the whole body may be stronger, or as hunters who are culling the herd of the weak and diseased in order that the herd will be made better. They resent the weakness of their leaders, and will focus in their propaganda on a utopian dream of a strong and powerful nation. Racial hatred is a hallmark of a sociopathic platform, as is dreams of conquest and talk of the manifest destiny of the nation. Sociopaths will use any means available to them to reach their ends, including inciting citizenry to riot, acts of terrorism and assassination, and open war.

Dissidents in a Neutral society will be Pariahs. Lacking any particular ideology to rebel against, the dissidents of true Neutral societies tend to be true nonconformists. They generally try to ignore and avoid the larger society, and form communities of their own outside the normal province of society. They are most likely to find their inspiration in an extremists philosophy from a foreign source, however, their philosophy will shift wildly as they maneuver to avoid being accommodated in the larger society. Tolerance is to them an anathema. They hope to unbalance their society, which they see as devoid of meaning and purpose. Once they gain sufficient strength, they tend to adopt a violent separationist philosophy and virtually any philosophy may rise to dominance. As such Pariahs are unpredictable and dangerous in the extreme.

 

[I'm A Banana]

• Lawful Good: If you are Lawful Good, you will have so many friends, of my goodness. You're the kind of person everyone wants to be around, because you're helpful and you value others, and you want everyone to succeed and show their best sides, to work together to make the world a greater place. You even want to help those who cannot help themselves -- you see the good that people working together can do, and you want everyone to want that, and to acknowledge it as the best way to be. Sure, you can go off and do good on your own, too, but when everyone's working for the common good of everyone, it can be even better! You will make a more perfect world, with everyone helping!
• Good (neutral good): People will really like you! If you are Good, your primary interest is in helping others. You're not philosophical about it, though. Each situation needs its own solutions, after all! The only way you'd really change the world is by example, since you're not that into revolutions or organizations on the whole, but you do think that everyone needs to be able to live their lives as happily as possible.
• Chaotic Good: You are probably an amazing badass. You help others on your own terms, when you feel like the situation warrants it, without adhering to what other people want. People hope you come around, but you determine what use your abilities are put to. You don't want everyone to help everyone -- in fact, you think that's kind of little-kid idealistic. You want everyone to be free to help everyone else. You believe that all people, deep down, want to do good, and it's only the problems of our desperate desire to control others that makes us do evil. You're going to liberate people, to decide their own fates, to decide how they want to pursue happiness themselves, which will naturally lead to a greater world, instead of forcing one on from the top down.
• Lawful (lawful neutral): You are great at controlling others. You're not too concerned about helping everyone, or making everyone happy. Sometimes, what needs to be done, for survival, is going to make some people unhappy, or trample on some rights, or otherwise make the weak members of society cry. You are concerned about there being a system in place, a civilization that can be used. You civilize the wilderness, tame the oceans, dam the rivers, carve out the mountains. This is the only way that one can progress, after all, and progress is how you escape the ever-chomping black hole of entropy sucking at your back. Individuals are only as valuable as their skills are to others. Without other people, there's no value, and you would gladly sacrifice yourself to see the ideals you struggle for implemented. You think others should, too. Those who try to go outside of the system are destructive and dangerous. The system is safe. The system will keep civilization safe. The most people safe. Liberty is a selfish, idealistic, cancerous idea.
• Unaligned[/I] (true neutral): You don't have a horse in the cosmic race of ideals. You're here to live your life, help the people you care about, kill the people who threaten you, and generally do what makes you happy as long as other folks don't mind. You like other people, but you do enjoy your time alone. You help out people on occasion, but you're not a charitable soul. Sometimes, you are downright mean, but you're not out for blood. You are you, not an ideal.
  [*] Chaotic (chaotic neutral): You look out for #1. You're only really concerned with yourself, making sure you're happy, and you're safe, and you're secure, and you don't want to be told what to do. You're not going to exactly chase down others and hurt them -- that'd be effort, and besides, they're free to keep themselves safe, too (with force, if they need to). But you're definitely going to defend yourself, and you're definitely going to do whatever you want, and you're certainly not going to depend on anyone else for your safety, security, or desires. You could be the last person on earth, and you might even prefer it that way -- less annoying people to get in your way.
  [*] Lawful Evil: You're going to have all the power. You delight in making as many other souls as possible honor you above all, and suffer for their honor. You want to be loved, and you are, and it will last through the generations, because you know how to instill a dogma. You're concerned with making sure others suffer for their love, too. It's not enough to be worshipped -- they need to be miserable without you, and dependent on you, and without you, they will wither and fail and die. With you, they will at least have a cause to die for, as you use them for your own ends. You're the cause they die for. It brings you such joy to see their love mixed with their fear.
  [*] Evil (neutral evil): You're a mean little cus, but certainly, no one's gonna mess with you. You're mostly concerned with making others hurt. Kick a puppy, steal candy from a baby, steal a baby from the neighbors...really, it just brings you pleasure to see others suffer. You take what you want, you kill who you want, and you get what you want. Which is pain. You're pretty simple that way. You're not really philosophical about it, and maybe you'll never go on some grand campaign of terror or tyranny, but every person you meet is going to be a little less happy after meeting you, and that's really enough.
  [*] Chaotic Evil: You get to be feared and hated by all. The best way to make the most people suffer is to make them loose confidence in each other, in everything, and in every one. You're destructive. It's not just enough to take candy from a baby, you need to poison the candy with a horrible plague, and maybe frame the town guard, so that not only is everyone afraid of giving all of their children candy, they're also about to riot, giving those whom the guards protect that space in which to suffer all the more. You believe in simple human cruelty. Given enough space, it will spread and destroy everyone, and that's what would make you happy.
  

(all IMO, of course).