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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5368081" data-attributes="member: 4937">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.</blockquote>

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