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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shades of Green" data-source="post: 5223536" data-attributes="member: 3297">Notes on AlignmentThere are three alignments in Wounded Gaia - Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic. Good and Evil might exist in this setting, but they are more subjective and relative and are very rarely absolute.Lawful beings are civilized. They value order, organization and technological progress. They believe that science and magic, when wielded in a rational manner, can make the world a better place when compared to the anarchy of untamed nature. Lawful beings seek to tame the world, civilize it and improve it; they see the wild, natural world as primitive, squalid and horrifying. At its best, Law can bring prosperity and security. At its worst, it can bring tyranny and sterility.Chaotic beings are wild. They revel in the freedom of untamed nature and feel disdain towards the artifacts and laws of civilization. They believe that, unhindered by the shackles of artificial order, nature grants vigor, liberty and joy. Chaotic beings follow their primal instincts to their fullest, and seek to liberate the world from civilization; they see the latter as cold and constricting. At its best, Chaos can bring freedom and joy. At its worst, it can lead to savage bestiality.Neutral beings do not, inherently, favor civilization over nature or nature over civilization; others simply do not concern themselves with such far-reaching philosophical matters. Some balance a moderate desire for order and civilization with a moderate desire for freedom and nature; but most live a simple life, using what is available without giving it a second thought. At its best, Neutrality can be comfortably moderate and level-headed. At its worst, it can become complacency and apathy.The Mother Goddess was Neutral during the Age of Blossom, a modest deity of agriculture and prosperity. Now she is cold and squarely Chaotic, a force of avenging nature and the anathema of civilization. The Clockwork God is the epitome of Lawfulness, a machine which thinks like a machine and seeks to turn the world into a vast rational mechanism devoid of the discords of nature. Therefore, Clerics are never Neutral. They are either Chaotic, and follow the Mother Goddess, or, alternatively, Lawful, and follow the Clockwork God.Spirits may be of any alignment. Some, such as the spirits of great scientists, rulers and heroes of civilization, are lawful; others, such as nature spirits, are Chaotic; yet others, such as most ancestor spirits, are Neutral. Therefore, Shamans may be of any alignment as well, though they are usually Neutral and thus deal with all spirits on the same level.Most mortals are Neutral, though sometimes they do tend toward either Law or Chaos without being fully Lawful or Chaotic. Dwarves and Dark Elves tend towards Law; Humans, normal Orcs and Halflings tend towards neutrality; and Wood Elves and Snow Orcs tend towards Chaos. But even if they have these partial tendencies, they rarely commit themselves to any cause and remain, in game terms, within the Neutral range.---As a side note, I'm thinking about giving Chaotic and Lawful Clerics different spell lists, with Chaotic clerics getting some Druid-style spells and Lawful clerics getting some Magic-User spells. I might also replace Turn Undead with a special power for each type of Cleric, with Chaotic Clerics being able to shapeshift and Lawful Clerics being able to craft clockwork mechanisms.</blockquote>

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