This, combined with the KSW thread, has given me a tropical island's worth of facepalms.
Altruism is one of their highest virtues...except when it comes to killing people for dissent, homosexuality, or adultery, or when conscripting women for breeding purposes. (Yes, I know RW religions have exhibited such dissonant dichotomies- I'm a practicing member of one...)
Related side-question: how is their "conscription" morally different from that of the KSW?
Given a choice between these two "Knightly" orders, I'd choose neither. Heck, I may just seek to found my own Knightly order, dedicated to eradicating both of these.
In all honesty, this doesn't sound like a D&D campaign to me. I mean, usually, campaigns give you contrasts in light and dark, not dark and darker. Even the darkest D&D campaigns usually have SOMEONE who is a true beacon of virtue, even if they are doomed to fail. And even so, D&D bucked trends of sexism (less so in the earliest editions) to make female characters every bit as playable and viable and interesting as the more traditional fantasy heroes of manlier than manly men. In this world of yours, there is no beacon of virtue...and women seemingly have no value beyond being breeders or sex puppets. Again, this doesn't sound like D&D at all.
F.A.T.A.L., OTOH, seems like it would be a natural fit.
Altruism is one of their highest virtues...except when it comes to killing people for dissent, homosexuality, or adultery, or when conscripting women for breeding purposes. (Yes, I know RW religions have exhibited such dissonant dichotomies- I'm a practicing member of one...)
Related side-question: how is their "conscription" morally different from that of the KSW?
Given a choice between these two "Knightly" orders, I'd choose neither. Heck, I may just seek to found my own Knightly order, dedicated to eradicating both of these.
In all honesty, this doesn't sound like a D&D campaign to me. I mean, usually, campaigns give you contrasts in light and dark, not dark and darker. Even the darkest D&D campaigns usually have SOMEONE who is a true beacon of virtue, even if they are doomed to fail. And even so, D&D bucked trends of sexism (less so in the earliest editions) to make female characters every bit as playable and viable and interesting as the more traditional fantasy heroes of manlier than manly men. In this world of yours, there is no beacon of virtue...and women seemingly have no value beyond being breeders or sex puppets. Again, this doesn't sound like D&D at all.
F.A.T.A.L., OTOH, seems like it would be a natural fit.