Posted by Defender of Law on February 1, 2000 at 11:36:30:

In Reply to: It's amazing... posted by Khiravn on February 1, 2000 at 10:11:29:

Being Lawful means believing in an ordered
society, and putting that over other
considerations, or at least on an equal
footing. You can't be lawful and simply run
around breaking Laws willy-nilly, no matter
what excuses you make up. After a point,
you're just not lawful anymore.

> As we've seen with Imperial law, being lawful means you follow a set of laws, not necessarily the city laws of the Arbiters. In a Maran Paladin's case, the laws he follows are Shokai's laws, for example:

The hallmark of being the good guys is that
the ends don't justify the means. Sorry, but
that's the way it goes. Don't complain that
the other guy is getting away with something,
and try and use it as an excuse for doing
something cheesy yourself.

Besides, so long as someone is actually
enforcing the Empire Laws, they're fairly
restrictive. If they aren't being enforced,
it still isn't a valid excuse for poor
roleplaying on anyone else's part.

> 1. Thou shall not kill good.
> 2. Thou shall destroy evil mercilessly.
> 3. Thou shall not practice dark magiks.
> 4. Thou shall not betray thy comrades.
> 5. etc.

All of these are not "Laws" in the sense of
Order and Society, but Morals. You could obey
them all and yet still be perfectly Chaotic
Good, *not* Lawful Good.

Law and Order is more than simply obeying a
code of conduct. They are derived from the
view of a society, not of an individual.
To take an RL example, if you went around
proclaiming that you now follow your own Laws
instead of those of the US/State/Local
Governments, you would be A) branded a lunatic,
and likely B) thrown into either jail or an
insane asylum when you broke the real law.
Everyone would still consider you a criminal,
despite your own insistence that you were
being perfectly true to "the laws" or "a set
of laws".

Shokai's religion is not Lawful Good, it's
more a fervent Neutral Good (Good above all
else). Playing a Lawful Good follower of
Shokai, or even a Chaotic Good follower of
Shokai, therefore presents some challenges
in its RP aspect. While these can be overcome,
you can't simply run roughshod over them and
just say "Well, I follow Shokai, so I can
ignore my ethos".. which is what you're trying
to argue here.

Follow Ups:

• Laws Khiravn 13:08:50 2/1/2000 (3)
  • So how is that any different from how an NG or CG would act? (n/t) An Observer 13:14:10 2/1/2000 (2)
    • A NG or a CG would not feel the need to protect the town. They would kill Mithadris for an entirely different set of reasons n/t Khiravn 13:17:12 2/1/2000 (1)
      • ie. The actions might be the same, but the reasons behind them are differing, that's called RP n/t Khiravn 13:18:11 2/1/2000 (0)
• Agreed (text) Queen of all Media 11:47:49 2/1/2000 (1)
  • First: Khiravn 18:58:48 2/1/2000 (0)

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