(A) The Alignment Talk Again
This is archival material from previous blog
I know I may be talking over and over the alignment again but my mind still steer this way from time to time. And I read some materials on Dolmenwood lately, the alignment thought came back to me, so enjoy.
Maybe instead of the âside in cosmic warâ alignment describes the side you and your abilities came from. By virtue of example let me start with fairy-induced Dolmenwood-like setting. So letâs look what Law and Chaos could encompass here. First the Law could be renamed to Holy alignment and would be domain of Clerics and Friars. They are bringing their faith to the woods and with it civilisational power of humans and their towns and infrastructure. Then the Chaos side could be Fairy/Fey/Wild. This would be alignment of Druids, Witches, Elves and other fey-like creatures. Each âsideâ would encompass the knowledge, languages and secrets specific to this side, but as an adventurers both could collaborate in greater Good (or Evil). Youâd have also Neutrals, the Fighters, Thieves and Rangers, not aligned with any side from the start.
On the other hand in gloomy-undead setting, like Ravenloft or Innistrad, youâd have similar yet different sides of alignment. First could be of course Holy, with monster hunter-Clerics and Paladins. On the other side you could have arcane-infernal powers of demons and monsters and Sorcerers, Wizards and Witches. They would know arcane secrets and infernal languages, maybe even being marked by contact with hellish forces but not necessarily working towards infernal goals. On the third side you could have Undeath, the power behind Necromancers, Alchemists and other Reanimators. The secrets of life and death, ability to commune with ghosts and wrights, maybe knowledge of necrotic tongue. Adding the Infernal to the Holy-Undead mix adds flavour to spellcasters as well as makes it less one dimentional. I guess I just like the non-dualist view, Iâm tired of tropes revolving around dualism and simple Holy-Unholy. Here you get the Infernal power which is âbadâ but itâs also antagonistic against the Undeath âbadâ. Still your priests are the good guys but you donât need them specifically to destroy undead forces. Though in true view of Ravenloft you would have only the duality.
On the other side with pre-medieval Sword and Sorcery type of deal youâd have more regular Order and Chaos. Order should be power of civilisation, of humanityâs growth. Chaos would be force of anarchy, of independence and survival of the fittest. May be less connected with classes, as you could have protectors, explorers and wizards of Order and bandits, assassins and sorcerers working towards Chaos. But in the end these are just two sides of one coin, the ways people view society and work towards future of society. The third alignment could be Evil â the cosmic, eldritch evil of unspoken beings and unknowable forces, not interested in societal workings of humanity but rather in its annihilation, in enslavement of people in order to rule with alien goals and ideas from outer space. There could be even the trap of magic â maybe spellcasters come from neither Order nor Chaos â their powers are innately Evil. Every priest (both cleric and cultist) and mage (wizard and warlock alike) would be linked to the Evil. Not necessarily working for it but certainly connected.
And lastly letâs take a look at something I really liked â Ixalan. The Plane Shift material released for 5e, dense and creative, bringing you almost ready to run setting with interesting conflicts and ideas. Instead of typical Magic: the Gathering colours of magic we do it differently. Our alignment is connected with established faction. First is the Sun â the âholyâ power of Fire, Life, Light and War. And you donât necessarily need to come form the Sun Empire to wield power of Sun alignment, just as with anything else. Next would be River â force of Life and Nature, way more gentle than the Sun yet still able to bring the Tempest. Third alignment would be Dusk â the classical Undeath, shadows, wrights, vampires and necromancers, eternal order of undying things. The next one, represented largely by Brazen Coalition, could be called Sea or Wild or Wind. It is another force but less strict and established, more fleeting and superficial. Wind would be the domain of all-rounders, dabblers in various enterprises. If youâre willing to learn some basic necromancy without getting deep, and then try some other magic or power of nature or something else you would be able under fickle and changing Wind alignment.
Thatâs how I see it. I donât think it brings anything to the table in general but I wanted to write it and get it out of my head. Ahoy!
Edit: I was going through my notes and found another concept. World where there is only Evil alignment. And Neutral. A world where people fight against Melkor/Morgoth but without help of the Elves. Or like Midnight setting but less fatalistic. It may even have had the Good one in history but not anymore. So you must fight overwhelming evil only with your human might. Thatâs cool, kinda tragic-heroic, Turin Turambar vibes.