Re: IEN Fascists?

On Tue, 3 Feb 1998 Magistar2@???.com wrote:

> An evil person killing anything is an evil act,

I'll agree with this statement.  An evil individual who kills is most
likely motivated by evil, so his actions are still evil.  Doing a
seemingly good act (such as killing a fiend) for evil reasons is still
evil.

> a nuetral person killing from either side of the scale is an evil act.

I don't agree.  It depends on the motivations.  A true neutral individual
(such as a druid) who kills will probably be doing it to maintain the
balance of good and evil (if he believes in that sort of thing), or in
self-defense.  His motives are unlikely to be good or evil, but they could
be (in which case the killing becomes either a good or an evil act).

> Good killing evil is not an evil act.

Again, this depends on the person's motives.  A Paladin who kills a goblin
in self defense (or to protect others) has performed a good act.  A
Paladin who kills a goblin just because he can (or because he wants
experience points, or the goblin's treasure, or something else) has just
committed an evil act.

> Look at the war system with the world.  Good is alied with all nonevil,
> in a sense.  Nuetral is aligned with good, and evil has no friendship, they
> bite their tails.

In reverse order:

Evil tends not to have friendships.  You're right there.  They do have
alliances, mutual defense pacts, etc.  There is no real long-term trust,
though.  Evil, posessing a "social darwinist" mentality, will tend to turn
on it's allies eventually.  But not until the cost of maintaining that
alliance becomes greater thatn the cost of not having that alliance.

Neutral isn't really aligned with either side, being perceived as
untrustworthy.  Balancers (individuals who believe in the balance between
good and evil) are a prime example of this.  When evil has the upper hand,
the balancer will work with good to restore the balance.  Once the balance
swings toward good, the balancer will then work with evil to restore the
balance.

Of course, balancer is only one type of neutral.  The other type is
selfish neutrality.  Selfish neutrals care nothing for good or evil, only
for themselves.  These types are considered just as untrustworthy.

Good-aligned individuals are ultimatly only allied with other good-aligned
individuals.  They will accept help from anyone who wishes to give it, but
will try to convert them to the cause of goodness.  If the non-good
individual refuses to change, they will ultimatly be punished for their
non-good behavior.

Rich Gant