Posted by Oft-Arbiter on May 5, 2000 at 11:52:12:
I told Graham below that I think the "lawful" ethos should be changed to "orderly" because that's how I see it. You often hear people saying that chaos isn't the opposite of law like evil is the opposite of good, and for the most part that's something I believe as well. ORDER is the opposite of chaos, not law.
So, just what then is being orderly/"lawful" and why does an Arbiter put more weight into the testimony of a "lawful" person than a chaotic one? (Hereafter I'll refer to being lawful as being orderly).
Being orderly means you adhere to at least one(usually at least two) of the major laws of Thera. The major laws being Arbiter Law, Imperial Law, and City Law. Most people screw up on equating orderliness to obeying City Law, mainly because City Law is not enforced nearly as often as the other two. Can an orderly person only follow one of those sets of laws? Yes, but it's a difficult sell.
For the most part an orderly person shouldn't be killing or stealing from any mob that's inside a city, ESPECIALLY city guards of any kind. This includes the prophets in New Thalos, the drunks, the panhandlers, and so on. Think of the mobs in the city as actual people(a nice first step towards better rp). If you kill those people you're likely breaking City Law(which we assume outlaws murder, theft, and so on), unless it's the paladin in Udgaard. An orderly person would not want to do this because it lends itself to the chaos that is caused when people do not believe that they are safe when inside the city walls. Orderly people don't steal from shopkeepers either, which is probably the most often broken "law" by Imperial thieves.
Orderly people choose one or more of those sets of Laws(usually all of them for Imperial Citizens, and City/Arbiter Law for the rest) and adhere closely to them. These people are predictable, because you know they won't stray far, if at all, from those sets of Laws. This is why Arbiters trust orderly people more. Not because Arbiters think of orderly people as part of the family, but because for the most part they're more trustworthy and predictable. This is not saying that an Imperial is always predictable, that he'll never stab you in the back and take your shit, just that an Arbiter understands that this person is an orderly citizen that when deviant is usually deviant in a certain direction(towards greed or lust for power). Chaotic people almost feel obligated to deviate at all times, changing course when they feel like it, doing things because it's what strikes their fancy at the time, not because they adhere to some set of ideals.
If you don't want to follow the City Laws, Arbiter Law, or Imperial Law, you should be neutral, plain and simple.
At least that's my opinion.