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Alignment System
The alignment system in the game is rather unique, being depicted along a 3 axis chart. The three axises are Self, Others and Community and reflect a characters general views on each. As such, each is rated either Up, Mid, or Down, each indicating the following:
Self
- Me Up High Self Value: "I am important. I matter. I can make a difference."
- Me Mid Medium Self Value: "I will do what I need to in order to stay alive, but my own goals are not very important to me."
- Me Down Low Self Value: "I am worthless. My needs are not important. I have no goals of my own."
Others
- You Up High Others Value: There are people that you greatly respect or show loyalty towards
- You Mid Medium Others Value: While there are those you somewhat respect, you won't stick your neck out for them
- You Down Low Others Value: People are idiots. If they can not be ignored, they should be destroyed
Community
- They Up High Community Value: Place a high value on societal harmony
- They Mid Medium Community Value: Relatively indifferent to larger social structures
- They Down Low Community Value: Despises the peaceful life largely led by peasants
Examples
On character sheets the alignment is written with + for up, ~ for mid, and - for down. The symbol for "me" is always first, followed by "you", and then "they". For example: +/+/~ is the same as MeUp/YouUp/TheyMid. The usual archetypes (as written in ELotH: TES Player's Handbook- I don't actually think the authors knew exactly what "archetypes" means) are as follows:
- MeUp/YouUp/TheyUp(+/+/+): A knight in shining armor, chosen one, hero
- MeUp/YouUp/TheyMid (+/+/~): The same knight who gets drunk a little too often with his buddies and is a jerk to the guys who live next door
- MeUp/YouUp/TheyDown (+/+/-): The leader of an evil party of adventurers, likely the guy who kicked your dog and left his corpse on your front door step.
- MeUp/YouMid/TheyUp/ (+/~/+): A social worker who is kind of crappy at their job. Probably steals pens when no one else is looking.
- MeUp/YouMid/TheyMid/ (+/~/~): Jim in accounting. Thinks he's so freaking good. I hate you Jim. I hate you soooo much.
- MeUp/YouMid/TheyDown/ (+/~/-): My wife, the stupid bitch. Probably sleeping with Jim. I'm going to kill both of them in their sleep.
- MeUp/YouDown/TheyUp (+/-/+): Politicians.
- MeUp/YouDown/TheyMid(+/-/~): A local somewhat evil war chief of no great ambition
- MeUp/YouDown/TheyDown(+/-/-): A Battal conquering evil warlord
- MeMid/YouUp/TheyUp/ (~/+/+): A selfless giving person. That's what I thought you were Sheila! WE TOOK A VOW!
- MeMid/YouUp/TheyMid (~/+/~):A faithful servant. Like Fido. I swear Fido, when I find who kicked you, I'll make them drink my urine.
- MeMid/YouUp/TheyDown (~/+/-): A misanthropic guy with only one friend. Possibly named Jack Daniels. A you listening to this, DAD?
- MeMid/YouMid/TheyUp (~/~/+): That annoying woman who wants you to be a part of the neighborhood watch no matter HOW MANY TIMES you tell her to go screw off.
- MeMid/YouMid/TheyMid(~/~/~): Peasants. The standard by which everyone is measured.
- MeMid/YouMid/TheyDown (~/~/-): Hobos. Get a job, you freaking train-hopping hippies!
- MeMid/YouDown/TheyUp (~/-/+): People who join the volunteer Fire Brigade to meet chicks.
- MeMid/YouDown/TheyMid (~/-/~): Hermits and shut ins.
- MeMid/YouDown/TheyDown (~/-/-): Fast food restaurant employees.
- MeDown/YouUp/TheyUp (-/+/+): That guy who cleans up the neighborhood for free and lets you throw rocks at him. Man, that guy sucks.
- MeDown/YouUp/TheyMid(-/+/~): Someone with suicidal tendencies... like me. Help?
- MeDown/YouUp/TheyDown(-/+/-): Goons and flunkies for evil warlords.
- MeDown/YouMid/TheyUp (-/~/+): People who drive Smart Cars.
- MeDown/YouMid/TheyMid (-/~/~): Oh wait, here's my wife again. You two-faced @#*%! SHEEEEEEEEEILA! WHY?
- MeDown/YouMid/TheyDown (-/~/-): Someone who wants to destroy the world but doesn't have enough drive to turn off the TV and do something about it.
- MeDown/YouDown/TheyUp (-/-/+): You know what? Screw this. I don't know who would is like this. Figure it out yourself, you bunch of fat nerds. This job sucks!!
- MeDown/YouDown/TheyMid (-/-/~): I hate myself.
- MeDown/YouDown/TheyDown (-/-/-): Emo kids.
It has been suggested that the alignment system was created by a disgruntled and incredibly drunk employee as a final act before quitting the company. While unproven, most accept this as fact for reasons now obvious.
Comments (2)
Anonymous said
at 9:37 pm on Nov 17, 2006
Sweet lord that took a lot longer then I thought it would. I guess I should check how many permutations there are before jumping in blindly, eh?
Anonymous said
at 10:40 pm on Nov 17, 2006
Yeah, its pretty astounding. I remember they revised the archetypes for the 2nd edition so that they weren't so crazy and made more sense.
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