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<blockquote data-quote="evileeyore" data-source="post: 6338419" data-attributes="member: 1768">I was kinda hoping for a more real worldy quote.&nbsp; Also, not all &quot;fantasy wars&quot; have an Evil side.&nbsp; The ones in games I run specifically rarely have an Evil side.Okay.... I've always put it to &quot;Alignment is what people Do not what they THINK&quot;, but I can see where you're aiming.&nbsp; The error in my post was using &quot;statement&quot; instead of &quot;act&quot;.I disagree, but then I've also always felt that &quot;The meek shall inherit the earth&quot; was a false sentiment as well.&quot;The Strong (Should) Prevail&quot; says nothing about the manner of prevailing or over whom they are prevailing nor what they do once they prevail. It could very easily sit before either of the following sentences, and not alter the flavor of their Alignments.The Strong (Should) Prevail and Defend The Weak, is a Good statement.The Strong (Should) Prevail and Crush the Weak, is an Evil statement.This goes hand in glove witn my observation about Sun Tzu's Art of War being &quot;clinical&quot;.&nbsp; I don't count his treatise as being Evil, even though it is all about how to make your forces stronger on the battelfield (and largely when and where to avoid fighting).&nbsp; Whereas Machiavelli's The Prince is very much about crushing your foes and the peasantry under an Iron Hand and offers many &quot;Evil&quot; ways to do so (I'd argue 'pragmatic' but in a D&amp;D Alignment frame many are basically from the Evil playbook).So, Sun Tzu goes about War in a Neutral fashion, his means and ways or not objectively aligned (we can't speak to his motivations or means of rulership as he limits himself solely to the Making of War), whereas Machiavelli's trends more strongly to Evil (he very often counsels 'Crushing the Weak').</blockquote>

[QUOTE="evileeyore, post: 6338419, member: 1768"] I was kinda hoping for a more real worldy quote. Also, not all "fantasy wars" have an Evil side. The ones in games I run specifically rarely have an Evil side. Okay.... I've always put it to "Alignment is what people Do not what they THINK", but I can see where you're aiming. The error in my post was using "statement" instead of "act". I disagree, but then I've also always felt that "The meek shall inherit the earth" was a false sentiment as well. "The Strong (Should) Prevail" says nothing about the manner of prevailing or over whom they are prevailing nor what they do once they prevail. It could very easily sit before either of the following sentences, and not alter the flavor of their Alignments. The Strong (Should) Prevail and Defend The Weak, is a Good statement. The Strong (Should) Prevail and Crush the Weak, is an Evil statement. This goes hand in glove witn my observation about Sun Tzu's Art of War being "clinical". I don't count his treatise as being Evil, even though it is all about how to make your forces stronger on the battelfield (and largely when and where to avoid fighting). Whereas Machiavelli's The Prince is very much about crushing your foes and the peasantry under an Iron Hand and offers many "Evil" ways to do so (I'd argue 'pragmatic' but in a D&D Alignment frame many are basically from the Evil playbook). So, Sun Tzu goes about War in a Neutral fashion, his means and ways or not objectively aligned (we can't speak to his motivations or means of rulership as he limits himself solely to the Making of War), whereas Machiavelli's trends more strongly to Evil (he very often counsels 'Crushing the Weak'). [/QUOTE]

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