Quote:
Originally Posted by Sorenant
Have you ever played Shin Megami Tensei? It has Law/Neutral/Chaos alignment, each with its own faction and endings.
Law, represented by the Order of Messiah, is nice at first glance. They preach equality, assisting the weak and so on. It doesn't take you long to realize their extremely authoritarian tendencies, forcing anyone to surrender all their rights for the "common good", and anyone who refuses that is an enemy.
Chaos, represented by the Ring of Gaia, opposes the Order. They believe in self-determination and free will, willing to give their life to protect it. On the flip side, they also believe on "might makes right", so they despise the weak as unfit to exist unless its at the mercy of the mighty.
Neutral is just at it sounds. It refuses both Law's control and Chaos' tyranny, choosing the middle path. It's not necessarily "nice", though, as the mean for this is usually not earning the hearts and minds but destroy both Law and Chaos leadership.
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This is a pretty good thumbnail of how to do it - where both sides have their virtues and vices, and even neutrality requires action. It's probably closer to the roots of "that RPG's" old school law vs. chaos than many takes.
Multipolar alignment is also fun - like angels, demons and squid or, for another example Creator/Chaos/Unlife as factions and order and life are two poles: creator is life/order, chaos is life/-order and unlife as -life/order ... -life/-order isn't so much a faction as everything going down the plug. The three sided conflict allows you to pitch some interesting alliances.