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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8563794" data-attributes="member: 82106">I would say if there's enough verisimilitude in characterization to engage me, then these guys will need to invent a 'myth', an ideology, which makes them the good guys. While others may see them as evil, this kind of group will not see ITSELF as evil. They might go so far as to acknowledge that they "do some evil things" in service to whatever cause they've invented to justify their actions, and leadership might be seen as "brutal but on our side" etc. You can see this sort of thing in action, and it could be modeled by players in an RPG. Of course the main pattern that emerges is that eventually the whole thing devolves into some sort of cult of personality or something similar, and then down some rabbit hole or other. You can GET to basically stark raving evil that way, but none of these people will label THEMSELVES as evil, or if they do it will come as some terrible revelation, usually followed by separating from said group. My bet is that your scenario is basically like the genesis of gangs. A group of people, living in an 'outsider' role in society band together and create some sort of gang. Again, they will take on some level of ideology, symbolism, and construct a gang culture which distinguishes them from society as a whole. In all the cases I know of these gangs are seen as an in-group, sort of like a family, that they owe loyalty to and to which they attribute positive attributes, including the attribute of opposition to the out-group, the rest of society. They may take this to the level of basically labeling everyone else as "not human" or something like that. I can't draw examples from RL here, but you can clearly look around and see how this works. Again, they never see themselves as EVIL.</blockquote>

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