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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clavis" data-source="post: 4942472" data-attributes="member: 31898">In my opinion, much of the problem with understanding Alignment seems to be the fact that Alignment as articulated in 1st edition AD&D posited a fundamentally unfair multiverse. A person isn't Lawful Good because he does lawful and good things. He is Lawful Good because his spiritual essence is aligned with that of the Seven Heavens. On that account he will tend to do lawful and good things, but he might do some evil and chaotic things and still end up in the Seven Heavens when he dies. Going to the Seven Heavens isn't a reward; it's simply a matter of his soul going home.  On the other hand, being Chaotic Evil doesn't mean that a character always does evil and chaotic things, just that his spiritual essence compels him towards those kinds of actions. He might choose to do kind, loving things for people all the time, but such actions are against his nature. Either way he is still going to end up in the Abyss. The demons won't torture him as a punishment for being evil, but rather because they simply enjoy torturing those weaker than themselves. In a multiverse like that, apparent redemptions and falls are really just a character revealing or obscuring their true nature. Nothing an essentially Evil person can do will get them in the Seven Heavens. This provides a motivation for the kind of vile, epic evil common in swords & sorcery stories. After all, if a character figures out that they are spiritually Evil and going to Hell anyway, then the most reasonable course of action is to be so evil that the Devils will take notice and decide to induct him into their numbers. Conversely, even Good people might tend to be corrupt in their actions, because they are going to the Upper Planes either way. A world-view like the one articulated above is fundamentally opposed to modern concepts of progress, equality, and free will. You can't be anything you want to be - the choice has already been made for you. Evil people and things are fundamentally and irredeemably evil, so trying to make them good is a waste of time. Orc tribes have to be wiped out to the last member, because by definition no Orc can be innocent. Conversely, the good actions of Evil people are more purely good, because those people cannot hope for any kind of reward for their goodness. A view of Alignment like that was never going to sit well with modern Americans, so Alignment was changed into a mere  description of beliefs and actions. Once that happens, the whole point of Alignment is lost, and it might as well be disposed with altogether.</blockquote>

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