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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Snapdragyn" data-source="post: 1471274" data-attributes="member: 12432">Moorcock is definitely on the list.As far as 'ultimate order means no life' & the same for chaos, I never intended Law to represent ultimate order anyway. Rather, Law represents the belief that 'social contract' (in the form of cosmic mandate) justifies coercion of those unwilling to voluntarily conform to said contract. Chaos represents the belief that free will is the paramount cosmic mandate, & that the forces of Law must therefore be opposed for the tyrrany they bring -- even if it's a tyrrany of simplicity & (relative) peace, & even if individual liberty sometimes leads to disastrous consequences.Dogbrain's posts #18 & 19 particularly capture the essence of what's percolating in my thoughts (though post #10 doesn't really fit, since it gets into the 'order' bit).I see the mortals' relationship to these forces as being largely shaped by the ease of existing in a structured society vs. an unstructured one. I also expect that there will be a confusion of good with law, & of evil with chaos, at the ground level; after all, I see this even in alignment debates among players. The 'reward' for following law (which they would conceive as 'good') is an orderly self-sustaining society where most people have peaceful lives most of the time. Sucks to be the underdog or occasional victim, but oh well, that's just the role to which some are fated. The 'reward' for following chaos (which they would conceive as 'evil') is the freedom to do as you please; every powermad mage would fit right in, since they couldn't very well grab for power beyond their station in a highly structured society without violating said structure.The CG mortals are probably the ones most likely to be fighting for the 'wrong' team; unwittingly advocating the forces of the lawful plane while thinking it's All Things Good & True for which they fight. Since their gods are not too likely to be involved in the conflict anyway (remember, I'm setting gods & outsiders as having separate structures & conflicts), I don't see their confusion as too unrealistic; their gods may feel that getting their followers involved in that conflict would simply detract from the work they can do as independant agents & figure a little confusion is better than the alternative of creating a bunch of zealots who'd meddle in affairs beyond the mortal realm. The LG clerics may be cued in... but then again, if their deities have joined this battle on the side of law, they subscribe to the theory of coercing mortals for their own ends anyway, so who's to say they wouldn't just be duping their own clergy, or have convinced the clergy to dupe the laity?</blockquote>

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