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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aaron L" data-source="post: 7796624" data-attributes="member: 926">I just think they are really cool and flavorful, and add a whole other layer of esoteric/magical culture to the world of D&D, and to Greyhawk specifically.  I get really irked by people who say the Alignment Languages are dumb, especially since their complaints about them usually make it clear that they don't actually understand what the ALs are supposed to be in the first place.  In 1E AD&D and Greyhawk especially, the Alignment are a known fact of life of Oerth, and not just an abstract game mechanic.   Paladins know they are Lawful Good.  Assassins know they are Evil (which is actually more about Might Makes Right rather than "murdering just for fun.")  In 1st Edition and Greyhawk the Alignments were esoteric philosophical/political/religious schools of thought, like Ancient Greek philosophical schools (such as Stoics, Pythagoreans, etc.)  They were schools of thought that the high and mighty, intellectuals, those involved with magic and religion, and adventurers (who were frequently all of the above) would declare for (although not necessarily publicly!)  Alignments weren't something that commoners cared about, being too high-falutin' and esoteric and having no bearing on their daily drudgery of just having to carve a life out of poverty, thus common people were mostly Neutral (Neutral as in "I don't care," not the Active True Neutrality of a Druid.)  They simply didn't have enough time or spare mental bandwidth to learn or worry about such concepts, and to their minds declaring themselves for Neutral Good won't help them get the fields planted on time.  It's all much the same way that many poorer people today don't spend the time they should to know about politics because they think it is too far above their concerns and out of their hands.  "Alignments are the concern of Priests and Wizards and Kings, not dirt farmers like me."  The Gods were simultaneously the arbiters and servants of the Alignments, and the Alignments were in a way actually above the Gods.  The Alignments were the collective of greater cosmic forces, of which the Gods were but one part, including the various energies of Magic and the actual physical forces of Life and Death (IE Positive and Negative Material.)  That was why 1st Edition Paladins weren't specified as being servants of individual Gods the way they became in later Editions, but served the Alignment of Lawful Good itself. While Paladins certainly could serve as the agent of a specific individual God if they so wished, they certainly weren't required to; they were granted their holy powers by the Gods of Law and Goodness collectively.The Alignments were known philosophical schools of thought in the world of Oerth, and the Alignment Languages were their jargon.  A semi-magical jargon that was partly divinely granted.  An adventurer wouldn't be raised with an Alignment taught by his parents when he was growing up (although he would certainly develop his ideas of ethics and morality from them, and those basic ideas would heavily influence his decision on which Alignment he would later swear allegiance to later in life.)  Alignment was much more than just one's personal moral code; it was a sworn allegiance to a certain philosophical school of thought.)  An adventurer would be taught the tenets of his Alignment by his mentor as part of his training to enter the membership of his Class, and it would be most heavily determined by the Alignment of his mentor, who would most likely choose a pupil who already leaned toward thinking that fit with the mentor's Alignment; Lawful Evil Fighters pick pupils who are bullies and jerks who like to learn the rules so they can twist them to their own ends, while a Paladin isn't going to pick a squire to train who is a sadistic bully who loves setting fire to small animals, he's going to pick one who is already pious and altruistic.  Part of a Paladin's training would include heavy instruction in the philosophy of Lawful Good and in the Lawful Good Alignment Tongue, and part of a Ranger's training would be instruction in the tenets and principles and jargon of whichever Good Alignment his mentor belonged to, and the student would swear allegiance to the same Alignment as his mentor once he graduated to Runner status (1st Level Ranger.  Level Titles were also known in-universe titles, not just an abstract game element.)  In other words, a mentor will pick a receptive pupil to train in his Class, one who already basically agrees with his Alignment even thought he isn't an actual member of said Alignment yet, and part of the training to become a 1st level member of his Class is instruction (and indoctrination) in his Alignment.  A person would begin training under their Ranger mentor (perhaps the Lord of the local castle who saw potential and a good heart in the young man) starting out as a 0-Level Neutral Human (with tendencies toward Good) and come out the end of their training a Neutral Good Runner (1st level Ranger.)  (This was why good role-playing adherence to a character's Alignment was a big part of the calculation for how long it took and how much it cost for level training in 1st Edition.)The Alignment Languages weren't normal languages; you couldn't go to the local Lawful Good butcher and use the Lawful Good Alignment Tongue to order a beef tongue. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt="(:" title="Smile    (:"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname="(:" />p)  They were a specialized jargon dedicated to discussing the finer points and details of the Alignment, and would be made up of words for very specific concepts of the philosophical positions espoused by each Alignment.  For example, the Lawful Good Alignment Tongue would most likely have very specific words for different types of of altruistic acts, specific words for different kinds of personal sacrifice for the Greater Good, and unique words for extremely esoteric concepts of Lawful Good philosophical positions, words that would only be useful in philosophical discussions about Lawful Good.  Likewise, Chaotic Good would have very specific words for every kind of Freedom,  for each type of Beauty and Love, words describing situations where one is require to make sacrifices of their personal Freedom for the sake of Good.  Again, very specific terms for discussing the philosophy of Chaotic Good.And since the Alignments are so tied up with the realms and concerns of the Good and magic, the Gods would keep tight control over their Languages and who is able to understand them.  And so if a person dissociates himself from his Alignment and declares loyalty to another the Gods of his former Alignment strips the knowledge of the Alignment Tongue from his mind, both as a punishment and as a matter of security.  Since the Hit Points, Saving Throws, and other abilities gained through achieving higher levels are in large part gained through the grace and power of the Gods and other cosmic entities and beings of magic, if one changes their allegience to another Alignment it is close to a Cleric changing another God.  The person loses part of their divinely granted abilities (loses a level) and has their knowledge of their old Alignment Tongue stripped away, but the powers of the new ALignment the person has sworn themselves to begin to gradually replace it with the new Alignment Language.  But not all at once; at first the person is barely able to communicate at all in the new AL, and full knowledge of the new new AL is only achieved once the person has proven their loyalty to their new Alignment (IE gained enough experience to re-attain the level they had lost.)I just love all the detail, story potential, and layers of meaning that are provided by Alignment Languages!</blockquote>

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