(TFT) Re: Law, Chaos, Devils etc.

["Brett Slocum" <slocum@skypoint.com>]

From: "Cas Liber" <casliber@ozemail.com.au>
> The whole Moorcock thing where "Law" was Good and "Chaos" was evil always
> bugged me a little, this concept which then entered orginal D&D. I liked it
> better when they got the alignment wheel, with Lawful (but evil) devils on
> it and the political hierarchy of the Nine Hells yada yada yada.
> Although having said the above the Chaos of Azathoth and the imagery that
> moorcock wrote in Knight of the Swords I thought was pretty memorable and
> Chaotic.
> I like the AD&D idea of the crux of Chaos and Evil resulting in demons.
> There's no reason for chaos on its own to be malevolent - just ask any
> hippy elf or Olympian deity.
> I always interpreted alignment fairly loosely anyway, if one played it too
> restrictive it ceased being fun, but by the same token i wasn't
> particularly keen on DMing evil parties but they often self destructed
> anyway.

I like the way this all shakes out in Tekumel, where you have Stability and 
Change (essentially Law and Chaos). The ultimate goals of the Stability gods 
(complete and utter stasis - kind of like the entropy death of the universe) 
and the ultimate goals of the Change gods (complete and utter chaos - kind 
of like the Big Bang) are both not something that anyone wants to have 
happen.

These are not deemed to be good and evil. In fact, the concepts of good and 
evil don't really exist. They are replaced by the ideas of noble and ignoble 
actions. Noble actions are those that are in tune with one's place in society, 
one's religion, etc. and ignoble actions are those that go against one's 
nature. So, a worshipper of Vimuhla (Change god of fire and war) who 
sacrifices enemy prisoners or seeks to die in combat is noble. One who 
seeks to have his mind and body live forever as one of the intelligent undead 
is being ignoble. But a worshipper of Sarku (change god of death and 
undeath) would be noble in trying to do the same thing.

As an example there are two war gods on Tekumel. Vimuhla has been 
mentioned. He is the change god of war, patron of war as a means of 
changing society and the world. His Stability counterpart is Karakan, also a 
war god. But Karakan is patron of warfare as the protection and support of 
society. The priesthoods of these gods can cooperate on military matters, 
despite other doctrinal differences.

Anyway, I just thought I'd toss that out into the discussion.

---
Brett Slocum  --  slocum@skypoint.com  --  ICQ #13032903
Home page: http://www.skypoint.com/~slocum/
"Ah'm yer pa, Luke." -- if James Earl Ray was the voice of Darth Vader
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