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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 1909803" data-attributes="member: 3400">Actually, the current alignment system is not in the way of such things at all and Patryn of Elvenshae is definitely hooked in to some good ideas here. It's quite possible that lawful and chaotic societies or individuals will come to the same decisions when it comes to any of these questions, in the main. But the motivations behind them will be different and some of the particulars (rules of behavior, checks and balances, etc) will be different.If those elves want to best preserve their individual dignities, then sure they'll form a single, cohesive, fighting force. But it's rules of advancement and discipline will be different from dwarves doing the same thing. A chaotic group may have units electing officers rather than have them come from a dedicated officer class, or they may be more of a meritocracy while dwarves might rely more on lineage or tenure in the force.  When it comes to broader political questions, alignment is no more a straight-jacket on behavior in that arena than it is for individual behavior. Figure that chaotic societies will have more flexible social structures than lawful ones, more focus on smaller collective units like clans and tribes instead of city-states, more interlocking and mutual obligations (social contracts, if you will) between roles in society than expectations of right behavior and deference because of mere tradition and "that's the way it is" justifications. And yet, chaotic societies might still have some trappings of lawful-oriented societies while lawful societies might have some chaotic trappings.As to whether the general populace is true neutral or not, I think that depends. In societies based on examples like Rome and Hellenistic Greece or even feudal Japan and China, I'd say lawful neutral. In societies based on the Celts and Germanic tribes, then we tilt toward more chaotic neutral societies (though perhaps not all the way). I would agree that the typical serf village would tend toward true neutral with slightly lawful tendencies.</blockquote>

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