Alignment Guidelines and Expectations
Alignment in CoM is one way to determine a character’s identity and shape roleplay. The following is an overview of the various archetypes we use to classify characters’ alignment and the expectations staff has for alignment roleplay. These are guidelines that apply to all characters in CoM regardless of race and origin. However, there is a great deal of variety within each alignment. Not all characters are alike and even those of the same alignment may respond to situations in different ways.
Alignment vs. Ethos
Alignment (good/neutral/evil) is the general moral path a character follows. It governs the goals a character has and the intrinsic values a character cares about in life.
Ethos (lawful/neutral/chaotic) is the set of ethics a character follows. It governs how a character acts while attempting to achieve his goals and uphold the values that are determined by his alignment.
Alignment is NOT the same as ethos. A lawful character may be evil and a good character may be chaotic.
The Three Alignments
Good: A good-aligned character is one who values life and freedom and practices an altruistic lifestyle. Good characters are willing to make sacrifices for others and try to protect other sentient beings; unnecessary death is seen as abhorrent. It should be noted that this applies only to sentient creatures; animals and other non-sentients may be hunted by a good-aligned character if he so chooses. Good characters can have a variety of personalities ranging from kind and compassionate to rude and unfriendly, but their chief goal is to do good and serve others.
Neutral: A neutral-aligned character has qualms about murder and oppression but follows a more selfish way of life. Neutral characters are often lacking in commitment and will choose to protect and serve themselves above others, but will still have regrets about harming others. They tend to surround themselves more often with good aligned companions than evil aligned as they wish to be treated well by their friends.
Evil: An evil-aligned character has no compunctions about killing and oppressing others. Taking advantage of another or acting in a selfish manner is commonplace for an evil character and he will not regret such malicious actions. An evil character does not have to constantly hurt others; some evil characters pretend to be helpful in order to gain trust and stronger allies while others openly pursue wickedness by slaughtering for sport or enslaving others. Just like good characters, evil characters can have a variety of personalities ranging from affable and polite to violent and impulsive.
The Three Ethos
Lawful: A lawful character will follow the rules, have a code of discipline to which he adheres, and in most cases will tell the truth. He respects authority and tradition and is reluctant to stray from his duties. Lawful characters will frequently be strong leaders and use their authority based on their alignment.
Neutral: A neutral character will not always follow the rules but does not go out of his way to break them, either. He is less extreme in his judgments and generally more flexible in his way of life.
Chaotic: A chaotic character will care for freedom above all else and will often either not follow laws or only follow them long enough to suit his own purpose. He wants to be able to do whatever he wants, whether it be to help others or help himself. He favors change and is more willing to embrace new ideas. Chaotic characters will frequently be disdainful of authority, whether it is their own or that of another.
The Nine Ethos-Alignment Pairs
Lawful-Good: A Lawful-Good character is honorable, tells the truth, and tries to do what is best for others. He believes that codes of conduct, laws, social mores, and traditions exist and obligate him to do good in the world. This does not mean that an LG character is forced to always obey those rules, however; an LG character may choose to break or change a law in order to do good. Ultimately, an LG character will not stand for wrong-doing; he would rather sacrifice himself than allow an innocent to be harmed and will accept the consequences of any rebellious actions this requires.
Neutral-Good: A Neutral-Good character is devoted to protecting and helping others no matter what it takes. If following the rules means he will do the most good, he will follow the rules. If the rules must be broken to do the most good, he will break the rules.
Chaotic-Good: A Chaotic-Good character is personally motivated to help others rather than obligated by others’ expectations or laws. He will not constantly break rules, but does not see much value in them for helping him to do good in the world and values his own freedom to do what is necessary to promote good. Like all good-aligned characters, he is devoted to helping others and will not stoop to any actions that cause innocents harm.
Lawful-Neutral: A Lawful-Neutral character is solely committed to upholding rules, whether they are personal codes or the laws of a city. He is likely to judge the validity of a rule based on his personal code of conduct as he does not have good or evil morals to call upon. Like all Neutral characters, the LN character is self-interested, but does not harm others without just cause.
Neutral-Neutral: A Neutral-Neutral character will generally have a lack of conviction and be viewed as unreliable. Some are apathetic towards general issues or lack the conviction to change them if they disagree. Others advocate neutrality and balance, urging avoidance of extremes. A True-Neutral character may fall into the camp of “Leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone.” Characters that are incapable of having moral judgments, such as animals or very stupid sentients, will fall into this alignment. True Neutral characters are content to live their lives, concerned with only their own well-being and possibly that of a family or organization.
Chaotic-Neutral: A Chaotic-Neutral character is self-interested and primarily values his ability to do as he chooses, but he won’t intentionally harm innocents. Like all neutral characters, the CN character may be interested in protecting those close to him, but does not feel a commitment to saving every stranger out there.
Lawful-Evil: A Lawful-Evil character believes in strict, codified rules as a tool for furthering his own selfish desires, such as maintaining power. Like Lawful Good characters, an LE character may choose to break or change a law that prevents him from furthering his own goals. While an LE character is not necessarily less evil than the other evil alignments and won’t have any qualms about stepping on others, he favors ideas such as duty, honor, and loyalty.
Neutral-Evil: A Neutral-Evil character is primarily out for himself and has no qualms about murder, slavery, and all the other things we view as evil. He will follow rules as long as they further his own interests, but will just as easily break them when he sees a greater benefit.
Chaotic-Evil: A Chaotic-Evil character has a great love for destruction and anarchy. He’ll ruthlessly break laws and promises if it gets him what he wants, and he won’t care who he hurts to do it. A CE character hates to be controlled; he values his own freedom and may be a competent leader who sets his own rules, but will generally be a poor follower since he doesn’t like being told what to do. CE characters are not necessarily raving, insane, random, stupid, or bloodthirsty, as they can also be clever, manipulative schemers or lowly minions resentful of their master’s authority.
Staff Expectations for Alignment Roleplay
Following alignment is more than just having goals to protect people or feeling bad if someone dies. In general, good characters should not be friends with evil characters. A NG character should not be playing friendly, helpful tour guide or happily going on a hunting trip with an evil dagahasi rather than his own clan members. An evil character should not be reciting poetry and preaching about compassion. If you play a good aligned character, you shouldn’t be out killing neutral or good aligned sentient mobs for their nice equipment. To facilitate this, the alignment of all mobs can be told using the consider command.
We are aware that quite a few good-only pieces of equipment were placed on good or neutral aligned mobs and for the past year, we have been making an effort to correct that. However, that does not mean that a good-aligned character should be making an exception and murdering inappropriate mobs for nice equipment or asking others to kill the mobs for them. For neutral characters, that might mean that an LN thief tends to target only evil or neutral players since the good aligned players are protecting the safety of his city, even if that good aligned character has the nicest piece of equipment in the game. OOC metagaming and mechanics should never trump a character’s alignment.
This does not mean that characters of different alignments cannot interact, and with the coming move to one-city, we are expecting them to intermingle. It is possible for characters to coexist together without all being friends. What we expect is that players stick to their alignments while interacting. Characters can remain civil for a variety of necessary reasons while not liking the person with whom they are speaking. Cooperation born from necessity is not the same as friendship. Players should show this in their roleplay. The think command is an excellent tool for this purpose.
Staff follows looser restrictions for worn equipment since there is not a reliable way for all characters to determine whether or not an item has the evil (red aura) or good (gold aura) flag on it. We will settle for characters who have no way to see these flags not using items that are obviously unfit for their alignment (e.g. a good-aligned character not using a weapon such as the barbed tongue of a demon). Good-aligned characters as well as most neutral characters should view such items as tainted and too corrupting to touch.
To sum up, we expect players to follow the alignment they choose at creation. Doing so is not optional. We allow requests for a gradual alignment change, but we won’t give one just because a player decides that his character’s current alignment is too difficult or annoying to play. We expect players to follow their chosen alignment even and especially when doing so is inconvenient.
