I mean, in CF there is a very distinct thing that is evil and good. It isn't like real life where morality is a matter of perspective and up for debate. So I get the red aura vs gold aura thing. I just hate when that ends the argument.

My thought was that a person could be evil, without believing that they are. Basically, someone that rejects that a red aura is somehow worse than a gold aura. That's what I was going for. Basically, Ezakyr started off purely self-serving, then bought into all of the Empire's propaganda and was completely brainwashed by it. So he started believing that the Empire would make Thera a better place (better in his mind, at least). Now granted, he still pushed the Empire due to his own selfish reasons (regaining the social stature and power he thought he deserved), but he truly believed a Thera that was fully under the control of the Empire would be better for everyone. Less chaos, everyone in their role, no crime, no war, etc.

Unfortunately, too many people just wanted to blow it off as "But you're evil, slavery slavery, blah blah, the end". The few in-depth conversations I had about it were pretty entertaining though.