On the Truth of Alignment

[DoS Archive]

From: girvin@aol.com (GIRVIN)
Date: 22 Apr 1998 20:38:18 EDT

((As always, please forgive typos. :D))


And so some basic truths have been placed on what Honor means. These truths are something to consider for the individual. One cannot simply swallow what others say. Honor is an all encompassing facet of an individual's life. An honorable person strives to always be honorable and never believes that there is not a place where they no longer need to work at their honor. Is honor the only word tossed around in the Duel
of Swords with little thought as to the true meaning of the word? It is not. Loyalty is a term that has now been the cause of much dissension. Let us examine (perhaps for my sake alone) the words Loyal and Renegade, as well as an alignment that I believe should exist in the Duel of Swords.

Renegade

First appeared 1583

1 : a deserter from one faith, cause, or allegiance to another

2 : an individual who rejects lawful or conventional behavior

First appeared 1705

1 : having deserted a faith, cause, or religion for a hostile one

2 : having rejected tradition : UNCONVENTIONAL

This is perhaps, I think, a misunderstood position. To some there is a negative connotation to this word. Renegade people usually start revolutions, which for people in power at the time is a bad thing. Usually, however, a renegade person is a visionary. Sometimes a a sensitive soul and other times a most deeply principled person, the Renegade is not afraid to stand in the face of the storm that seeks to destroy them. On rare occasions a
renegade will be all of these. One cannot help but point to examples like William Wallace as what a renegade can be. Wallace was a renegade to the Crown of England because of his deep outrage at the practices of English soldiers in his homeland and because of his deep love for Scotland. For the English, his rejection of the convention of serving a crown he held in contempt was bad. For the Scottish it was not. A renegade is, in essence, a person
that is really beholden to themselves. Choosing to remain true to who they are above the price of being accepted by Society.

Neutral
Noun
First appeared 15th Century

1 : one that is neutral

2 : a neutral color

3 : a position of disengagement (as of gears)
Adjective
First appeared 1549

1 : not engaged on either side; specifically : not aligned with a political or ideological grouping

2 : of or relating to a neutral state or power <~ territory>

3 a : not decided or pronounced as to characteristics : INDIFFERENT

An idea (I promoted) that came up in the last round of discussing the rules. Neutrality, true neutrality, is a powerful and fragile position to take. In order to remain truly neutral, one cannot accept help from any aligned political body or person. To do so alters their Neutrality. As such a neutral political body accepts help from neither side of a political disagreement nor do they lend it. A neutral political body or person stands *totally*
alone or indifferent to political struggling (an alignment for Nova).

Loyal

First appeared 1531

1 : unswerving in allegiance: as

a : faithful in allegiance to one's lawful sovereign or government

b : faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due

c : faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product

2 : showing loyalty

It has been said in heated debates that loyalty may or may not include friendship. To not be loyal to a friend is certainly cause for questions of how much one values that friendship, however the *meaning* of the word loyal is primarily related to political standing. Faithful allegiance as it relates to government. This is the political structure of the Duel of Swords. Again, the feudal lands of England make a fine example to this point. Were I
a Duke of a land I could choose not to swear my allegiance to the crown. There is a social and peer pressure to do so in most cases, some more organized than others, but there is still a choice. In only one possible meaning of three is personal relations used to define the word. Causes, Ideals and Customs are all motivated politically.

In short, Renegade, Neutral, and Loyal all relate to a political standing. To eliminate politics from the Duel of Swords the Renegade and Loyal modifiers must be abolished. To do so would, I believe, hurt, if not kill, the sport. Each of these alignments, including the nonexistent Neutral one, is necessary because it ties emotions to the sport and that tie raises one's wishes to make a change when they see something they consider wrong.

Constant,
~Brian Girvin

[DoS Archive]

From: daemon102@aol.com (Daemon102)
Date: 23 Apr 1998 04:00:08 EDT

::thinks to himself::

Brian Webster???


((Not a post))

[DoS Archive]

From: prlunicorn@aol.com (PrlUnicorn)
Date: 24 Apr 1998 00:33:54 EDT

She reads Brian's descriptions on alignments carefully and sighs. "How appropriate.. Renegade.. " She recollects in silence and slips off.

[DoS Archive]

From: karnafexx@aol.com (Karnafexx)
Date: 25 Apr 1998 11:00:25 EDT

Ahhh...the Romans....

One of, if not the first, people ta' make use of sewage and water piping....truly a most advanced culture.

Of course they used lead which caused lead poisoning, so maybe they were smart in a really stupid way.


::Written in choppy red crayola::

Billy Ray
AKA: Karnafexx
"Simply the Best"