Hallifax does certainly have elements of the 'everyone is equal but some are more equal than others' thing going on (see the Cririk doll's quote to that effect, replacing "some" with "artists and scientists," for example), but I don't think that really sums everything up. Gaudi does definitely have the 'everyone is equal' thing, along with elements of 'but you aren't really equal unless you're in the know.'

^^ this

I don't want to bring up a shades of grey arguement, but thats what we have in Lusternia. I tend to enjoy trying to keep my characters to an ADND alignment. Shaddus is Chaotic Good, Pesukaru is Lawful Neutral.

Yes, but in Socialist Hallifax, RP doesn't define you, you define RP. Gaudiguch certainly does have the "in the know" crowd, but that's more of how it turned out, and less of "Freedom says I can do this!"

I believe Hallifax could've been very rigid to the caste system if that's how RP turned out, and I'm glad to see they haven't stepped over the line. People will probably one day come along and whine, "We want more cityfavours for defending" and I hope that Hallifax will have the ruthlessness (in the RP) to give them a big, bureaucratic, "DENIED."

I certainly agree that Lusternia is far more grey than black and white.

Take snowvalley for example. The igasho want you to summon a spirit cat to come and eat all the taurian cause they are killing off the "sacred beast" the igasho worship.

The taurian want you to help kill all the igasho's sacred beasts in order to save the daugher of the lead Taurian in Snowvalley.

Neither of the quests fall into "black or white" and both sit in the grey area of "doing 'bad things' for 'good reasons'"

This is unless you consider the bastard types non-desirables that orgs tend to deal with and are dragged down by.

Serenwilde in fact has a bloody and dark past. Civil revolts, centaurs killing everyone, druids hanging from the trees by their entrails. Just cause an org seems "good" doesn't mean it doesn't have its dark side to it.

I've been saying this.

This would be Hallifax.

No no no, Celest goes in the other direction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1avWJELB9Ek

I (and by that I mean Ameryth) would -love- to hear about this. Seriously. Want to know.

What makes roleplaying evil easy is the whole 'we do bad/reprehensible act x because we're evil' while it's harder to justify doing bad/reprehensible act x from the good side. If that doesn't make sense, I usually try pointing to 'bashing rules'.

But really, pretty much what Gregori said.

P.S. Shades of gray

P.P.S. And I assure you, evil orgs can also be full of crippling drama, but we have the convenient RP to of being able to kill/shun them. Good orgs should do that too.

This.

There are a few people in Serenwilde that know. Don't ask anyone in the Serenguard, with the exception of Iraen, none of them paid attention in class, but the Hartstone and Moondancers and most likely Lendren and Nejii could tell you about it all.

edit:: Oh Eamon is in Serenguard and he probably could tell you too. He wasn't in Serenguard at the time.

Just look up Grutina.

I think the problems stem from people being unable to distinguish OOC good and evil from IC good and evil. As was said earlier, this presents as evil types coming across as bastards and good types coming across as pacifists/snugglers.

I think this cripples good orgs more than bad ones as when a good org goes too far down the pacifistic "OMG I HAVE RIGHTS" end, established characters get pissed off and leave (see: Celest). When bad orgs go too far in the wrong direction, it tends to be new characters who suffer (see: Mag newbie thread from a while back).

There's nothing inheirtant in Good that says that you can't be tough. Just take a look at holy texts of several religions. If anything, Good encourages you to be tough, and to have far higher expectations than the norm. The thing is, most people believe that good = nice, and while it certainly does to one point, it does not mean that you should accept people being overly affectionate. Because if you accept that, then you are allowing others to way overstep the personal boundaries of others.

The problem is that to be good, to be really capital G Good, requires a lot of self-insight, endurance and empathy. Everyone can be nice, but it's knowing when to be nice and when to be harsh that makes you good.

Personally, I have always found it easiest for Arix to fall into the grey area. The shade might get a little lighter or darker sometimes, but he's always been pretty grey morality-wise

My two cents - I don't know if it is my perception of things but I really don't see "good" and "evil" being played out in Lusternia. What I do see is people's agendas being played out while smoke screening it with "good" and "evil". And as many of you pointed out, all of us IC truly believe that our actions are "good". Xarcy believes that the whole Basin should be Tainted because that will help it change and evolve to a greater form. The resistance to this change is what he considers "bad". Why stop yourself from growing?

Personally, at a distance I strive to play a (ADND) Lawful evil archtype. Follow the rules to the teeth while causing as much pain as possible to my enemies with no moral consequences. Not following a moral path is probably where the "evil" comes in. However, to my close IC family members and very few friends I'm very snuggly...

I enjoy hearing about the different dramas that get played out in the Cities/Communes. Because if there wasn't any, the game would be uninteresting. What I despise is when people can't separate IC and OOC drama.