Treshure 5581 Share Posted June 19, 2018 (edited) Preface If you’ve been role playing for a little while, there is a good chance you’ve stumbled upon the character types sheet. It displays different types of characters with their assigned morality: Chaotic good, Lawful Evil, Lawful Good, et cetera. The list goes on. But how have these things come to be? Why do they matter? How can this guide help your role play? Let me explain. Largely, our behaviors both in the real world and in virtual Minecraft come from a mix of order and chaos. The Taoist yin-yang represents the equal representation of order and chaos in our lives. If you’ve read 12 Rules for Life, you know what I’m getting at here. It’s a large inspiration for this post. The order in our real lives may be your alarm clock, ringing at the same time every morning. It’s the bank opening precisely at 10AM, regardless of circumstance. It’s the due process of law for all criminals. It is your car functioning as expected, the government running as it should be and the construction of a lawful society as we know it. It is the regulated, orderly and expected conduct of the world around you. On the contrary, chaos is quite the opposite. Its your girlfriend suddenly breaking up with you. It is your car shutting down on the way to work, or suddenly finding yourself out of work! It is the fear and uncertainty of the unknown and the challenges it might bring. You don’t like it, but we have to deal with it. Order and chaos cannot come without the other. In the beginning of Genesis, God created the world (order) out of the faceless deep (chaos). Christian or not, this is a well crafted story that explains the existence of order and chaos from the start of everything. Applying in Lord of the Craft Now that we have a basic understanding of order and chaos, how does it apply to LotC? The virtual landscape that we frisk in is very unique in contrast to real life. It is a place virtually (heh) free of actual consequence. Our real identities are hidden by a screen. Social punishments and ridicule thus are equally hidden. This lets us be pretty ******* weird. The norms we adhere to in the real world melt away. We take off our Chik-Fil-A work aprons and don our wizard robes. And since nobody can see who you are, nobody can really judge you. Nobody really wants to read, listen, or entertain your ten page lore proposal on Druidism during Calculus, but in this medium your creativity is not only entertained but appreciated! Unfortunately, this leads to darker results. Some players feel entitled to harass others, spewing vitriol and hatred in ways they could never do face to face. This freedom gives us as a community incredible power to act out our deepest, unconscious desires for better or worse. This freedom, consequently, gives a dazzling diversity to the “Order” and “Chaos” aforementioned. People swing wildly in either direction in ways they just wouldn't in real life. Because we live in a structured world with real social consequences, our actual lives walk the line between order and chaos much more strictly than our role play counterparts do. Your edgy, racist joke might garner you real criticism from your peers. We cannot be erratic and prone to action, because its harder to do and the consequences of failure are much higher. This might make us seem boring in contrast to our role play characters. While I might play a dictatorial emperor on the server, I might also lead a perfectly normal 9-5 on the weekdays and do charity work on the weekends. This divergence from expected behavior allows us to create wildly varied, differentiated characters with archetypal personalities and unique action. That’s a beautiful thing! But while we might enjoy the thrill of leading a very specific fantasy or direction for a character, it is easy to lose vision of how that archetype comes to be and how to properly role play it. Instead of describing each small division of character (Lawful Good, Chaotic Neutral, etc) I’m going to explain each major group and the motivations behind them. Please excuse this very long introductory. Let’s dive into the meat of it!EXPLORING CHAOS Spoiler Chaos (n): Complete disorder and confusion. It is necessary that I explain chaos first, because it is chaos that originates before order. It is the uncertain, cloudy broth of amino acids that which life emerged from. It is dark, and yet full of potential. Many, when asked, associate chaos with evil and morally depraved characters. It is the tyrant, psychopath, murderer and plotter. We commonly say that when we are role playing a good villain, their motives to them are justified and seen as good. Why is that? Well, its due to human nature. We are born with benevolent intention and malevolent nature. We (initially) mean to do well, but we are also inherently selfish animals with a capacity for cruelty. Characters roleplayed as Orderly just hide these inner demons with greater restraint. The reason why villains act out their goals in a chaotic fashion is because chaos itself is a double sided coin. Order was birthed from chaos. When a mage crafts an orderly spell, he does it from the maelstrom of the void. There is as much potential of good as there is evil. Villains then see themselves as a means to an end. They know their intention, and it very may well be seen as the greater good unto them, but the means clearly separates them from the heroes. Stalin’s vision of a communist Russia (the greater good) clearly superseded the countless millions who perished under his regime. Ibleesian cultists know that their fallen God’s vision for the world is worth a thousand tormented sacrifices. Those who follow Chaos ultimately believe that a radical, unorthodox approach to their problem is the best case scenario. Murdering for revenge is more just than allowing the law to take care of it, says the villain. Wanton destruction and death may be warranted in the short term for the long term glorious society, says the villain. Social disunity, betrayal, chaos and upheaval is a means to an end, says the villain. So is chaos bad? Well, not always. Its up to the eye of the beholder. Chaos is unformed clay and raw potential in the simplest format - that is why Chaotic Good characters are given justification for their actions. Diving Deeper Finally, we’re going to take a closer look at the more traditional, doomsday evil villain: Chaotic evil. As you can guess, these guys don’t really have a means to an end. Their purpose is left ambiguous, but their destruction made absolutely clear. Their benevolent intention has been laid to ruin, and all that is left is malevolent nature. The reason why I’m explaining Chaotic evil separately from the rest of the villains is because Chaotic evil characters are victims of circumstance. They are not innate like the rest of their evil cousins. Disease (psychopathy, bipolarism, etc), misfortune, or tragedy are the most common results of these villains. No truly normal person is born chaotic evil, nor should it ever be role played as such. Its lazy to access such an endgame behavior right from the jump. An example of such a character is the disgraced man. His benevolent intention may have been ruined by his peers or society. For whatever reason he has been cast out socially, ostracized and beaten down so that his spirit could not lift up. His positive view of the world has been destroyed. Where he once saw kindness, it is now revenge and malevolence to his perceived enemies. When the ultimate goal is destruction simply for the sake of destruction, then you have reached Chaotic evil. But it is something to reach. It is a much more fascinating transition to watch a character slip into the throes of evil rather than starting from it all to begin with. It is much more compelling to see a disease catch hold of a healthy, beloved man: sending him down dark and wretched paths while his loved ones watch, rather than starting at the end all to begin with. EXPLORING ORDER Spoiler Order (n): A state in which everything is in its correct or appropriate place. Whereas chaos might be the storm of raw, unformed potential, order is the structure that emerges from it. Order is the numerous nations found on Lord of the Craft. Each are configured with their various dominance hierarchies, from average citizen to supreme Nation Leader. If the world were to reset today, order would soon follow the chaos. If all lore, items, characters, and ideas were tossed out the window, pandemonium would ensue in the new world. But, slowly but surely, groups would begin to form again. Nations would coalesce and leaders with set agendas would rise from the previous chaos. An orderly character is one who has come into a situation with preset views and a degree of determination to see those views and values through. In the real life, the US political parties (Democrat and Republican) are mere covers for far more ancient ideals: liberalism and conservatism. Trying new things with uncertain results (liberalism) and sticking to what is tried and true (conservatism). An orderly character is classically more conservative than his chaotic counterpart.Once again, it is always crucial to assign purpose as to why your character is orderly. Is it because of his upbringing? It is because he once saw into the maws of chaos, forever terrified of it’s depths? Assigning reason to why your character acts is essential storytelling. One of the most classic examples of order are King Arthur, Merlin, and his knights of the Round Table. They stood for truth, unity, and law above all else. What you might not know, however, is their awareness of chaos. When in search of the Holy Grail (the chalice from which Jesus last drank), each knight was set in the task of looking for the cup. In the woods surrounding them, they each looked into the darkest part of the forest relative to the Knight. They look towards the most troubling area, where coincidentally the greatest reward lies. The Knights acknowledge that growth may only occur when they confront the darkness that is within themselves, represented externally by the darkness in the forest. Orderly characters seek to preserve order, and in doing so they regularly confront the chaos and potential disorder it might bring. Conclusion One of the overlooked aspects to the Yin & Yang is the tiny bit of corresponding colors. In the black lies a little white. In the white, a small dot of black. This shows the potential for contrast. In order, there is potential for chaos. In chaos, potential for order. How does this relate to roleplay? It stresses not to lean things overly one sided. Every character has the potential to change, to go one way or the other than what is expected of them. It prevents horribly boring and predictable characters. It spices things up. And while the interaction between chaotic and orderly characters drives a lot of roleplay, much of the more intrinsic is defined between the clash of chaos and order within a character. That drives a story much farther, in my opinion. So stay loose, have fun, and I hope this guide gave you a little to think about. Thanks for reading. Edited June 19, 2018 by Treshure Added a section to Order. 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unwillingly 11141 Share Posted June 19, 2018 It fascinates me that you had the motivation to write this while banned. Impressive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WuHanXianShi14 0 Share Posted June 19, 2018 I think this is a good breakdown of what makes a good RP environment, and its important to have a balance of chaos and order. Too much order, and things get stale, boring, and stagnant. Too much chaos, and things get overwhelming, there's too much to keep track of, and conflict that should have weight becomes mundane and annoying. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaotikal 2236 Share Posted June 19, 2018 The man can write and has good points. +1 heres some music by master Eric Clapton, Layla by the Derek & Dominoes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elennanore 2741 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Thoroughly surprised. +1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jondead 260 Share Posted June 19, 2018 This.... this is beautiful man.+1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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