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<blockquote data-quote="Arvok" data-source="post: 7583445" data-attributes="member: 6990899">Is cannibalism inherently evil? I'm speaking purely in a fantasy RPG setting--not trying in any way to justify it in the real world.In the real world, cannibalism is almost universally taboo. Also, killing a sentient being to eat him is certainly evil. But, eating the flesh of a sentient being--even one's own race--might not be necessarily evil in a FRPG. Take lizardfolk, for instance. It's entirely possible that they might see nothing wrong with eating one of their own that had fallen in battle. It might even be a command from their deity. On the flip side, an elf might refuse to eat a fallen comrade--even in a survival situation--because of social taboos or rules from the gods. This is the point I'm swerving into. If a worshiper fails to follow the commands of his god, that might be considered evil (or at least chaotic). An evil outsider might first try to get a PC to disobey the teachings of his religion with acts that aren't inherently evil, but move the character away from his deity. I believe this would apply to chaotic as well as lawful gods. Chaotic gods expect their followers to follow the rules, they just have fewer of them.An interesting and fairly short read that might give you some ideas along this line is 'The Screwtape Letters' by C. S. Lewis. If you're not familiar with it, the story is a series of letters written by one demon to another about how to tempt a man away from Christianity and into Hell.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Arvok, post: 7583445, member: 6990899"] Is cannibalism inherently evil? I'm speaking purely in a fantasy RPG setting--not trying in any way to justify it in the real world. In the real world, cannibalism is almost universally taboo. Also, killing a sentient being to eat him is certainly evil. But, eating the flesh of a sentient being--even one's own race--might not be necessarily evil in a FRPG. Take lizardfolk, for instance. It's entirely possible that they might see nothing wrong with eating one of their own that had fallen in battle. It might even be a command from their deity. On the flip side, an elf might refuse to eat a fallen comrade--even in a survival situation--because of social taboos or rules from the gods. This is the point I'm swerving into. If a worshiper fails to follow the commands of his god, that might be considered evil (or at least chaotic). An evil outsider might first try to get a PC to disobey the teachings of his religion with acts that aren't inherently evil, but move the character away from his deity. I believe this would apply to chaotic as well as lawful gods. Chaotic gods expect their followers to follow the rules, they just have fewer of them. An interesting and fairly short read that might give you some ideas along this line is 'The Screwtape Letters' by C. S. Lewis. If you're not familiar with it, the story is a series of letters written by one demon to another about how to tempt a man away from Christianity and into Hell. [/QUOTE]

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