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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 4703715" data-attributes="member: 4937">The problem with this sort of subjective understanding is that in fantasy, good and evil, and presumably law and chaos, are objective things.  It no more matters what you think of them than it matters what you think of a brick wall.  Your perception of the universe doesn't define it, and your beliefs about it don't change it.Adolph Hitler probably believed that he was lawful good.  (Godwin's Law!)  So perhaps does Robert Mugabe.  Indeed, we should probably expect that the vast majority of people believe that they are 'nuetral good', because they define what ever ethos they believe in as the one that is 'right' and 'good'.  They believe what they do, whatever it is, is the thing that ought to be done.  It's very rare that someone has an objective enough view of themselves in the mirror that they can see themselves for what they are. One of the reasons that alignment discussions provoke so much argument is that different people have very different views of what 'Good' means, and so we different groups 'rotate' the alignment wheel so that there particular beliefs get rotated to the top.  The staunch believer in honor and justice is just as likely to define 'Neutral Good' in lawful terms, as he is to see 'Lawful Good' as the highest and most righteous belief system, because for him any definition of good that falls away from legalism, honor, and justice won't feel like a proper definition of 'Good'.  Likewise, the staunch libertarian is just as likely or even more likely to define 'Neutral Good' primarily in terms like 'Harm no one, do as you wish', or 'Individual Liberty', because any definition of good that falls away from those ideologies will strike them as wrong - as 'evil'.  Objectively seeing ourselves is very hard.  That's why I always try to get across when I explain alignment, that the player should take care to remember that most likely his character - whatever the alignment - sees his beliefs as the correct ones and the ones a person ought to be believe and live their life by.  The villain doesn't see 'villany' as shameful.  A 'neutral evil' character almost certainly believes that life is pain, that 'good' is mere deciet and hypocricy - the illusions of the weak - and that the way he acts is the only truly correct and rational response of the brave-hearted to the universe.  In a universe where 'Good' is tangible, he probably doesn't believe himself to be 'Good', but he probably emphaticly believes 'Evil is good'.  It's even possible that he defines that tangible thing others call 'Evil' as 'Good' and the tangible thing others call 'Good' as 'Evil', and would argue with a Paladin, "I'm not evil, you are!"</blockquote>

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