A is for Alignment

Despite being originally marketed as a system-neutral world, the Kingdoms of Kalamar were definitely built around the tropes of AD&D, including its nine-point alignment system.

Now, in B/X D&D, there are only three alignments, or rather two alignments and a middle ground: "Law (or Lawful) is the belief that everything should follow an order, and that obeying rules is the natural way of life. . . Chaos (or Chaotic) is the opposite of Law. It is the belief that life is random, that chance and luck rule the world. . . Neutrality (or Neutral) is the belief that there is a balance between Law and Chaos." (B11)

The problem is that, as described at least, these are specifically called "ways of life" (B11), but as described seem more like philosophies than sides to be aligned with. There is no sense of cosmic importance attached, and therefore no reason (other than tradition) that these "ways of life" should come with their own special languages.

Curious, I pulled my old Holmes' edit of D&D. He doesn't describe what alignment means at all, but merely tells you what the five alignments in his edition are (LG, CG, N, LE, and CE), that each has an alignment tongue, and some rough examples of what playing an alignment might mean in play (chiefly that torturing opponents for information isn't exactly compatible with the concept of "good."

OD&D's Men & Magic was even less helpful, simply calling alignment a "stance" and giving no guidelines at all beyond a listing of the various monsters in each of the three original alignments. My understanding is that this was because OD&D's predecessor, the fantasy supplement for Chainmail, used alignment mostly as a guide as to what kind of creatures each of the players could select for their wargame scenarios. OD&D simply assumes a passing familiarity on the subject.

Not getting much guidance from any of the sources that led up to B/X, I actually consulted the dictionary. The definition that best fits the D&D scenario is "a state of agreement or cooperation among persons, groups,nations, etc., with a common cause or viewpoint." In other words, it's an alliance or a side.

My biggest problem with the 3x3 alignment system is that it loses all sense of being about different sides that a character is aligned with and instead becomes a personal moral preference. In my experience, most PCs gravitate towards the Neutral Good to Chaotic Neutral range, since it lets them pretty much do whatever they want and call it "playing my alignment." Chaotic Good becomes, by default, the "true" good alignment, with Lawful Good relegated to Lawful Stupid.While the Kingdoms of Kalamar don't entirely fall into this trap, there are hints of it, with most of the best gods for adventurers falling into that Good-to-Chaotic corner.

So then, do I simply adopt a 3x3 alignment system for my particular B/X game, or do I stick with the rules as written? Or, perhaps, should I adopt the five-point system of Dr. Holmes?

It was while reading over the Delving Deeper booklets (originally put out by Brave Halfling, but they seem to be dropping the line, sadly) that I had a bit of an epiphany. In the Monster and Treasure Reference, I found the following chart which, rather than treating Neutrality as simply the middle ground between Law and Chaos, treated it as its own distinct side. While I found some of their choices on where exactly to put some of the creatures questionable (orcs are less Chaotic than hobgoblins?), the concept of having Neutrality mean something different than unaligned really clicked with me.

This led to me rethinking alignment in Kalamar, first in regards to its deities, and then extending to its more mortal inhabitants.

The alignment of Law encompasses LG, NG, and LN, and is the side of civilization, order, and banality. Most civilized nations in Tellene would be formally aligned with Law, since its in both the best interest of the rulers and the ruled. Law being Law, there is a tight and well-organized order known as the Church of the Law which encompasses all of the faiths in that spectrum. That's not to say that there's a complete unity, however. The Lawful Neutral religions tend more towards disciplines than a belief in true gods, much like Buddhism in our world (there's a reason that the plane associated with Lawful Neutral in the Great Wheel Cosmology of AD&D is Nirvana). The Neutral Good religions, while formally aligned with the Church of the Law, are viewed as schismatics and potential heretics by those of "pure" Lawful Good.

Chaos, Law's mortal enemy, encompasses the Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Evil, and has some overlap with Neutral Evil. It is the alignment of pure chaos and the demonic, inimical to civilization and possibly to all reality, but nevertheless constantly tempting mortals into its ranks with the promise of pure, unadulterated power. Many otherwise good folk have become minions of Chaos in a moment of weakness. While the powers of Chaos are very powerful individually, their very nature prevents them from coalescing into a form that would utterly destroy Law.

Neutrality is the alignment of nature and Faerie, and encompasses Chaotic Good and True Neutral, with some overlap into Neutral Good. I base this on the fact that B/X elves are listed as Neutral. Though less lethal to mortals than pure Chaos, Neutrality is by no means a safe alignment for the common man, for the Fey powers have their own agendas and their own whims, and many treat mortals as playthings to be enjoyed. Even so, many of the Dejy and Fhokki tribes are firmly aligned with Neutrality, caring not a bit for the stringency of Law but knowing the corrosive effect of Chaos.

In addition to these, there is at least one other alignment. After all, if alignments represent sides in a cosmic struggle rather than merely a spectrum of philosophies, there's no need to limit ourselves to three, or four, or any number at all. While the "Big Three" are the sides most known to the world, there may certainly be others.

Chief among these is the New Order, encompassing Lawful Evil and much of Neutral Evil, and which is not wholly hostile to some of the disciplines of Law(ful Neutral). The New Order, formerly called the Elder Fane, was driven underground and thought destroyed millennia ago, but in recent centuries the Overlord and his entourage were released from their prisons (as those familiar with Kalamar's setting already know). The New Order has aggressively both inserted itself into the institutions of Law so as to subvert them to its own purposes and built kingdoms surrounding the worship of its own dark gods (such as the hobgoblin kingdom of Norga-Krangel or the Theocracy of Slen). Only a few know of its existence as yet, and they have not yet been able to mount an effective resistance.

With three players on the cosmic battlefield, and a fourth on the rise, it should be interesting to see which the PC's align themselves with. After all, Law may not appreciate the activities of lovable rogues--but it may well need them if civilization as the peoples of Tellene know it are to survive.