athenian200
Circumspect
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2010
http://easydamus.com/alignmenttest.html
Curious what people would score on this. My result was Lawful Neutral. I'm going to post a description of it from TVTropes here. Partly because it's a better description, and partly because I'm unsure of what license the actual test result text is offered under.
It comes from this website:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LawfulNeutral
And is offered under this license:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode
I have made no modification to the material, and believe that I have a right under the license to share this material here as my use of it is not commercial.
Curious what people would score on this. My result was Lawful Neutral. I'm going to post a description of it from TVTropes here. Partly because it's a better description, and partly because I'm unsure of what license the actual test result text is offered under.
It comes from this website:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LawfulNeutral
And is offered under this license:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode
I have made no modification to the material, and believe that I have a right under the license to share this material here as my use of it is not commercial.
Lawful Neutral
TVTropes said:One of the nine alignments from the best-known Character Alignment system. Lawful Neutral characters believe in order — personal, systemic, both or either — above all else. They will always seek to obey and preserve order, even to the inconvenience of themselves and others, and even if they themselves admit the law in question is an annoying one. While a Lawful Good character may justify breaking his code of conduct by appealing to the greater good that transcends all things, a Lawful Neutral character will not, since the greater good does not enter into it.
An important thing to note is that Lawful Neutral characters follow their own personal vision of order and law. This order may be defined by the laws of their current location, or it might not: Lawful Neutral characters will not obey every law they ever encounter, only those that are part of or do not conflict with the code they themselves obey. They may perfectly rebel against authority if they disagree with this authority's laws, and still be Lawful.
Lawful Neutral comes in a number of different forms:
- Authority First and Foremost: Someone with this mindset believes that the context matters more than the content; the rules matter because they give order to society more than they matter themselves. They might go so far as to believe (possibly correctly) that their superiors have the right to interpret or define the rules as they see fit. Such characters believe in My Country / My Master, Right or Wrong, though the average example is someone who obeys any figure of authority (say, a policeman) without question, possibly even with admiration. In more extreme cases, this can lead to Just Following Orders, and whether or not they slip into Knight Templar or Lawful Evil territory is a question of whether said authority is evil and is getting them to commit atrocities — however, they still have moral lines they won't cross, and if their ethics are pushed too far, they will disobey, and are not above holding their superiors to account if they are found to be corrupt or incompetent. This is what separates them from Lawful Stupid.
- Equality Under the Law: The Law applies to everybody, friend or foe, superior or subordinate. At worst they run the risk of being bigots towards other cultures and codes of law. Essentially, they do not justify the Law with arguments about there not being anything better, but those that argue that these Laws are the better, and may resist even legal attempts to change them. They are also the most likely to hold their superiors to account for failing to follow the rules, whether for heroic reasons or villainous ones. May or not may be Lawful Stupid.
- Internal Moral Compass: This character follows a personal code, including those that have been organised by another — for example, a warrior code or a religious creed — or one they have constructed for themselves. They will obey this code rigidly and to the letter, and it will usually supersede (but make allowances for) any of the other types, but it (or their devotion to it) is too rigid for them to be considered Chaotic, even if it puts them at odds with the established system of law and order, while they lack the moral or immoral conviction to be considered Good or Evil. At their best, they will obey the spirit as well as the letter of their codes, or at least try to or recognise that they must, but at their worst, they can become a Principles Zealot or a Tautological Templar who puts their own code — and their own interpretation of said code — above all else.
- The Lawmaker: This character arises in a vacuum — they find themselves in a situation where neither Authority nor the Rules apply, such as an After the End scenario where law and order have broken down, and seek to establish order (or follow another who does). Typically, they will appeal to a pre-established system as the basis — murder is wrong because it used to be wrong, or because civilised societies are expected to have outlawed such acts. It can also occur where there is a sense of order, just not one that the character recognises as valid, such as a Wretched Hive where the "order" comes from corruption and Might Makes Right, or more dubiously, a working society they deem to be chaotic or inferior. In these cases, they will probably appeal to their own rules or the rules of their own society or culture. At their best, they will bring a sense of structure and justice to a volatile situation, but at their worst, this type can slide into bigotry and tyranny, worsened by the fact that they are basically making the rules from scratch.
Any of these types can fall into Lawful Stupid if they are not careful, and not thinking critically enough. However, none of them automatically equate to it, and each has as good a chance of being a Reasonable Authority Figure or equivalent as the next.
A Lawful Neutral alignment is easy to play because it involves adherence to defined codes first and foremost — all personal moral issues come second. On the other hand, it can become rather restrictive and predictable. Those adhering to personal codes rather than the law may find it tough to uphold, as the only one to make sure they keep to their code is them. Furthermore, inexperienced roleplayers who play as Lawful Neutral 'cop' types may find themselves slipping into Lawful Stupid territory.
The key here is the desire to preserve or create order, at any personal cost. The character will be unquestioningly devoted to the written code, either because they don't have the intelligence to apply critical thinking to it, or because while they are intelligent and capable of independent thought when needs be, preservation of the society is the ultimate goal, and it is believed that the Law and the society itself are inescapably the same thing. If the Law is compromised, the society will go with it. Altruism and egoism are generally regarded as irrelevant, with each being considered as potentially dangerous as the other.
