The beast type and associated keywords

As I mentioned in my post on fantasy taxonomy, I kept my taxonomy deliberately as simple and clear-cut as possible from the outset so that it would be easy to build on later, rather than trying force square pegs into round holes. In this post I introduce the keywords mechanic, using the beast type as an example.

Keywords are applied to types to further detail a given creature. Keywords are relevant for the purposes of other rules which specifically reference them. I am not relying on a specific set of rules, so for my purposes keywords will be relevant mainly for in-character rather than out-of-character purposes. This makes it easier to distinguish player and character knowledge rather than making a monster knowledge check because a monster's type is unintuitive.

The beast type refers to creatures of any level of intelligence which have little or no capacity for even the most basic civilization (the minimum threshold is pre-industrial indigenous cultures). Apes are considered beasts because while they have opposable thumbs, use simple tools and live in family groups, they do not have language or build shelters. Dolphins are considered beasts because they lack opposable thumbs, even though they are otherwise highly intelligent. Ravens are considered beasts because while they may be taught to speak, they lack all but the most basic kinds of tool use. Likewise for fantastical beasts, since I'm not arbitrarily distinguishing magic from nature.

From there, there are several keywords which may be used to further distinguish beasts. These keywords are based primarily on OSR.

• Animals are beasts of subhuman intelligence, usually vertebrates. This includes both animals that existed in the real world and the fantastic animals of myth and legend (which are normal parts of the fantasy ecology). Animals may be taken as animal companions and familiar rather than cohorts or henchmen where applicable. [Optional: Restricted animals are animals with abilities that may be considered game-breaking if they are allowed to be taken as animal companions, such as griffons, owlbears, cockatrices, etc.]
• Vermin are beasts of such low intelligence that they are essentially meat robots. This includes most invertebrates (cephalopods are considered animals due to their higher intelligence). In some cases they may be tamed, such as by mite fey or vermin druids.
• Blobs are beasts of vermin intelligence with amorphous bodies. This includes jellies, oozes, slimes, puddings, jellyfish, gelatinous polyhedrons, etc. Blobs may also fall under the vermin keyword.

Truskin

Of all the planes, the one that is at once the most familiar and the most inscrutable is the Material plane. Home to the natural world, and to the human race, the Material plane is host to a great many secrets, perhaps the most wondrous of which is the fact that it is not one plane, but simply one of many. Known to the majority of its inhabitants as a single localized place, the Material plane stretches vast across innumerable multitudes of worlds, each largely ignorant of the others’ existences. These worlds often share many similarities, from the overall climate and weather patterns to the many varieties of flora and fauna. But there’s something else that’s common to all these material worlds.

Alignment revised

Alignment has been treated fairly inconsistently across editions. My planar revision project takes a different approach, inspired by Stormbringer, Hellraiser, Warhammer and Exalted.

• There are only three alignments: Law/Order, Chaos and Balance/Harmony.
• Alignments are cosmological constants, not personality types or measurements of morality.
• Each alignment has its anthropomorphic personifications who seek to dominate the cosmos.
• Law is represented by the archons (not the SRD archons), who hail from the Halls of Order. The word "archon" references the rulers of the material world in Gnosticism. They include (but are not limited to) entities like the Cenobites from Hellraiser.
• Chaos is represented by the demons (and not just the SRD demons), who hail from Tarassein. They include (but are not limited to) entities like Chaos from Warhammer and Fair Folk from Exalted.
• Balance is represented by the aeons (from the PRD), who hail from the Firmament. The word "aeon" references the emanations of God in Gnosticism.
• The archons and the demons are locked in a constant struggle for dominion of the cosmos, with the aeons caught in the middle. Law and chaos at their extremes are inimical to life, hence the need for balance.
• The lower planes are a key battleground between the forces of law and chaos. The archons created the devils to compete with the demons on their own turf, and the angels to hold both in check.
• The devils are nominally servants of law, but they serve more out of fear of reprisal than loyalty to law itself. They do not always get along with the other forces of law.
• The angels are nominally servants of law, but in practice their actions serve the balance. 

Fiend-touched

Not all mortal races hail from the various Material planes. Deep in the bowels of the Hells and the Abyss, deities of evil have created their own forms of sentience, races who are born into a life of predetermined damnation. Most labor for entire lifetimes, suffering at the whim of demons and devils, but a select few escape to other worlds, or obtain sufficient power and skill to make themselves a force to be reckoned with even amidst such primal evil. Some sages believe that these beings have true souls, as much as any human or halfling born on the Material plane. Others maintain that no soul can journey to the Lower Planes (or any of the Outer Planes, for that matter) until death, and that these beings have no more of a true soul than any outsider. That they are as alive as any human or elf on any other world, however, cannot be in doubt. They are the fiend-touched, and they are perhaps the most racially unlucky people in all creation.

Leonork

Unlike many of the other planetouched races, the Leonork tribes are not originally from the Material Plane. They first came into existence eons ago when a rogue Orc deity, whose name has been lost to the mists of history and time, was outcast from the Orc pantheon for being “too softhearted”. She was created from the calls of fallen Orc warriors, who wished for a quick, merciful death on the battlefield but the head of the Orc pantheon banished her shortly after her creation. Upon leaving, she wandered into the celestial realms of the Leonals and was welcomed by the celestials and given a realm to call her own. There, with the blessing of the Leonals, she created a race in the image of the Orc but with the spirit of a Leonal and named them “Leonorks”. The Leonorks came to live much like their Orcish relatives but with benevolence and celestial ideals. Eons have passed since their creation and the tribes of the Leonorks have found their way to many planes. Here, in the Material Plane, they have joined together with the goodly races in a war upon the Orc and Goblinoid races, an endless crusade to destroy all evil from the world.

Magic versus mundane: why the distinction?

A while ago I read an essay titled "Breaking out of Scientific Magic Systems" which discussed, among other things, the tendency for tabletop role playing games to segregate magic from mundane physics and offered alternatives to doing so.

On Alignment

Alignment simply does not work as a measurement of morality, at least not in any world that does not adhere to Saturday morning cartoon logic. Alignments, when you get right down to it, are glorified political parties. No sane individual nor society in all of history has ever considered themselves evil and tried to advance the cause of evil. Yet in the typical D&D campaign setting, religions of evil are commonplace. Some settings have turned this on its head, such as Scarred Lands making the evil alignments another faction of the "good guys." Nonetheless, it is too controversial for this blog to adopt.

So I am going back to the source: ancient religions and Michael Moorcock.

In most ancient religions, no distinction was made between good and order. The gods were the enforcers of cosmic order and goodness. There were never really evil gods, at least not in the sense that they were actively worshiped. Evil forces like Apep and Angra Mainyu were never seen as objects of worship. The judge-gods of the the underworld, such as Osiris and Yen-Lo, were seen as good for serving the cosmic order.

Star of Chaos: "freedom"

Medieval Christianity and its allegations that its opponents worshiped Satan is probably the origin of the modern concept of the religion of evil, regardless of how nonsensical it is. All of the evilest people in our history sincerely believed they were doing good, or simply didn't care about the consequences to others. In no event did any of history's monsters aspire to be evil.

Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer series of novels utilizing a similar conflict between the cosmic forces of Law and Chaos. Unlike in our ancient religions, here the two do not map to good and evil but to political right and left. At their extremes they become evil, while harmony between the two is good. This scheme is what shall inform my subsequent depictions of my fantasy universe.

How is alignment relevant to the characters?

Arrow of Law: "control"

Alignment is a useful shorthand for describing a character's general values and attitude towards themselves and society. For the purposes of this blog we will use neutrality as the common reference point. Most people are neutral, having no strong bias towards one value system and willing to pick and choose those values on a situational basis. This avoids logical problems like people in real life generally falling into Lawful Good and Neutral Good based on how D&D defines alignments.

There are several ways to divide values among alignments. Under the two axis model one may divvy values at the ends of each spectrum and allow for varying levels of adherence. One might use a ring model that divides values more equitably. In any case it is best to avoid any binary labels of good or evil and instead allow any value system to become evil when taken to extremes or hypocrisy.

How is alignment relevant to the game's cosmology?

Taijitu: "harmony"

This blog will be adopting the original Moorcock model of law, chaos and neutrality. While generally appearing to follow the mythological view of law and good being united chaos and evil, as explained before law is not necessarily good.

There are two (technically three) cosmic forces in the fantasy universe. The White Lords of Order seek to impose the rigid hierarchy of law upon the universe, while the Black Lords of Chaos reject it and seek to restore the universe to its natural state of chaos. Both sides are too hostile to allow life as we know it to exist, so it falls to the Grey Lords of Balance and the Beast Lords to maintain the harmony that allows life to exist.

Sources

http://www.easydamus.com/alignmentreal.html
wordofthenerdonline.com/2013/08/the-beard-speaks-revising-good-and-evil
https://alzrius.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/removing-alignment-from-pathfinder-part-one-classes/

http://knowdirectionpodcast.com/2014/10/aligning-alignment/
http://www.tangledwilderness.org/lawful-aint-good/
http://theangrygm.com/alignment-in-dd-5e-s-or-get-off-the-pot/

https://alexandraerin.dreamwidth.org/553757.html
http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/the-hell-of-evil-in-dnd/
http://www.tor.com/2012/11/27/if-i-ruled-the-multiverse/