D&D General Hive Mind Evil?

[Crimson Longinus]

These ones are sentient at least the Queens and advanced ones.

What does matter whether they're 'evil'? An 'evil' according to whom? Themselves, the PCs?

 

[akr71]

Like @Oofta I immediately thought of the Borg, but also their war with Species 8472. Is either species 'evil?'

Also, instead of food, maybe the hive mind insects need humanoids to implant with eggs and grow their larvae. To add a little twist to this, maybe they specifically need mammalian creatures so some PC may be able to move about the insect territory more freely. I'm thinking lizardfolk, dragonborn (depending on your own campaign lore), aquatic and avian character types.

 

[MarkB]

Hadn't thought to much about it.
Leaning more towards a shared over mind vs a single will.

So, a couple of potentially interesting questions arise if it's a group mind composed of sentient individuals.

First, can members of other species be inducted into the group mind, either forcibly or voluntarily?

Second, could a member of the group mind be 'detached' to join another society and gain insight into the way they function as individuals, perhaps with the goal of later being re-assimilated in order to pass those experiences back to the group mind?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wirrn

 

[Zardnaar]

So, a couple of potentially interesting questions arise if it's a group mind composed of sentient individuals.

First, can members of other species be inducted into the group mind, either forcibly or voluntarily?

Second, could a member of the group mind be 'detached' to join another society and gain insight into the way they function as individuals, perhaps with the goal of later being re-assimilated in order to pass those experiences back to the group mind?

I was thinking they might be biosculpters or have some sort of pheromones that they could use to add others to the hive.

Wasn't thinking to much about that just humans or whatever are self propelled big Macs.

 

[Flamestrike]

These ones are sentient at least the Queens and advanced ones.

Does the Queen have any say in her behaviour? Can she choose to avoid murder, eating people and so forth?

Compare Devils (who are evil) or Angels (good) on account of not just being made up of the stuff of the Nine Hells or Celestia, but also down to them choosing to go along with that evil or good (as hard as the choice may be for them to change alignment, and do good or evil in opposition to their inherent nature, it is possible).

Zombies or mindless undead would ordinarily be unaligned (for example the Walkers in TWD), however in DnD they are possessed by an evil hateful spirit which makes them evil. Even if the Zombie is mindless, the Spirit chooses to do evil deeds channelled through the actions of the Zombie.

Contrast with an unaligned Golem (a robot). It can be ordered to commit all sorts of atrocities, but that makes the free willed Master evil, not the Golem.

The question comes down to a question of free will and sentient choice. If a creature cannot choose to do anything differently, it is generally unaligned (although exceptions exist).

An example of the difficulties with Hive minds or created entities is the Xenomorph from Aliens. Is it unaligned or NE? On one hand it's a created biological weapon that has no say in its actions, and is incapable of mercy, compassion or kindness. On the flip side It is more than just a mindless drone; it doesn't just kill for food and reproduction, it also kills indiscriminately and deliberately creates terror.

For mine, I classify the Xenomorph as unaligned, like any other animal. I dont see them going to the Fuge plane on death and being judged by Kelemvor and send to Hades for example. They're unaligned biological constructs, built for genocide.

 

[Zardnaar]

Does the Queen have any say in her behaviour? Can she choose to avoid murder, eating people and so forth?

Compare Devils (who are evil) or Angels (good) on account of not just being made up of the stuff of the Nine Hells or Celestia, but also down to them choosing to go along with that evil or good (as hard as the choice may be for them to change alignment, and do good or evil in opposition to their inherent nature, it is possible).

Zombies or mindless undead would ordinarily be unaligned (for example the Walkers in TWD), however in DnD they are possessed by an evil hateful spirit which makes them evil. Even if the Zombie is mindless, the Spirit chooses to do evil deeds channelled through the actions of the Zombie.

Contrast with an unaligned Golem (a robot). It can be ordered to commit all sorts of atrocities, but that makes the free willed Master evil, not the Golem.

The question comes down to a question of free will and sentient choice. If a creature cannot choose to do anything differently, it is generally unaligned (although exceptions exist).

An example of the difficulties with Hive minds or created entities is the Xenomorph from Aliens. Is it unaligned or NE? On one hand it's a created biological weapon that has no say in its actions, and is incapable of mercy, compassion or kindness. On the flip side It is more than just a mindless drone; it doesn't just kill for food and reproduction, it also kills indiscriminately and deliberately creates terror.

For mine, I classify the Xenomorph as unaligned, like any other animal. I dont see them going to the Fuge plane on death and being judged by Kelemvor and send to Hades for example. They're unaligned biological constructs, built for genocide.

The Queens theoretically have free will yes.

They just see every other life form and even their dead as food.

They would likely see humans as some sort of plague that over consumed the local areas resources.

Wiping out humans locally would provide more food and hunting grounds for them.

They normally don't create so many soldiers.

 

[Flamestrike]

The Queens theoretically have free will yes.

They just see every other life form and even their dead as good.

Their subjective beliefs don't matter. What they think is good or evil is irrelevant.

If the Queens have free will, and exercise that free will to rationalise that it is 'good' to treat all other sentients as worthy of nothing more than death and food, then those Queens are evil.

It's no different to a Human who comes to the same rationalisation, and directs the population of his city to butcher the nearby town, and take the victims back to his city for food and slaves for his own people.

He would be evil, just as the Queen would be.

If the Queen did not have a choice in the matter, it's much more likely she's unaligned.

 

[Zardnaar]

Their subjective beliefs don't matter. What they think is good or evil is irrelevant.

If the Queens have free will, and exercise that free will to rationalise that it is 'good' to treat all other sentients as worthy of nothing more than death and food, then those Queens are evil.

It's no different to a Human who comes to the same rationalisation, and directs the population of his city to butcher the nearby town, and take the victims back to his city for food and slaves for his own people.

He would be evil, just as the Queen would be.

If the Queen did not have a choice in the matter, it's much more likely she's unaligned.

What if they farmed the humans?

Young ones can be a delicacy. Like lamb or veal.

 

[Flamestrike]

What if they farmed the humans?

Young ones can be a delicacy. Like lamb or veal.

If a human society was farming other humans for food, you'd call them evil, so the same applies to the Insects.

Unless the insects lacked free will (i.e. they were mindless beasts) in which case they would be unaligned.