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OverdrivePrime
2014-04-07, 09:59 AM
A ranger is a special thing. No matter his outlook, his home is the wilderness. He knows Nature personally, and his perspective will always be different from that of a similarly aligned civilized man. Same goes for druids, but even more-so.

Recently, my Neutral Good Ranger was foolish enough to draw from a Deck of Many Things (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/183934581/deck-of-many-things-22-cards) and wound up pulling the card that forces a radically different alignment (2 steps from Neutral Good, by the D&D Alignment Chart (http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_ld3tu51Ijh1qzr2iro1_1280.jpg)). Because I cannot imagine being a slave to Chaos or Evil, I'm submitting to Law.

In my 20+ years of gaming, I've never played a Lawful Neutral character, so I'm trying to find a good model to follow.

It dawned on me that Kipling's The Law for the Wolves (http://www.bartleby.com/246/1131.html) (also known as The Law of the Jungle) might make a good code. What do you think? Does this say Lawful Neutral to you, or am I missing the point? How do you read it? How would you modify it to better fit a traditional fantasy setting?
Now this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky,
And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.

As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back;
For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.

Wash daily from nose tip to tail tip; drink deeply, but never too deep;
And remember the night is for hunting and forget not the day is for sleep.

The jackal may follow the tiger, but, cub, when thy whiskers are grown,
Remember the wolf is a hunter—go forth and get food of thy own.

Keep peace with the lords of the jungle, the tiger, the panther, the bear;
And trouble not Hathi the Silent, and mock not the boar in his lair.

When pack meets with pack in the jungle, and neither will go from the trail,
Lie down till the leaders have spoken; it may be fair words shall prevail.

When ye fight with a wolf of the pack ye must fight him alone and afar,
Lest others take part in the quarrel and the pack is diminished by war.

The lair of the wolf is his refuge, and where he has made him his home,
Not even the head wolf may enter, not even the council may come.

The lair of the wolf is his refuge, but where he has digged it too plain,
The council shall send him a message, and so he shall change it again.

If ye kill before midnight be silent and wake not the woods with your bay,
Lest ye frighten the deer from the crop and thy brothers go empty away.

Ye may kill for yourselves, and your mates, and your cubs as they need and ye can;
But kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill man.

If ye plunder his kill from a weaker, devour not all in thy pride,
Pack-right is the right of the meanest; so leave him the head and the hide.

The kill of the pack is the meat of the pack. Ye must eat where it lies;
And no one may carry away of that meat to his lair, or he dies.

The kill of the wolf is the meat of the wolf. He may do what he will,
But, till he is given permission, the pack may not eat of that kill.

Lair right is the right of the mother. From all of her years she may claim
One haunch of each kill for her litter, and none may deny her the same.

Cub right is the right of the yearling. From all of his pack he may claim
Full gorge when the killer has eaten; and none may refuse him the same.

Cave right is the right of the father, to hunt by himself for his own;
He is freed from all calls to the pack. He is judged by the council alone.

Because of his age and his cunning, because of his gripe and his paw,
In all that the law leaveth open the word of the head wolf is law.

Now these are the laws of the jungle, and many and mighty are they;
But the head and the hoof of the law and the haunch and the hump is—Obey!

erikun
2014-04-07, 10:13 AM
Sounds okay, although this line will cause you issues - mainly because it is assumed to be recited by a wolf against a much more dangerous human with guns and such.

Ye may kill for yourselves, and your mates, and your cubs as they need and ye can;
But kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill man.
Other than that, the big thing for "lawful" is to give up or sacrifice something of your own for a rule of law/code that would improve your life. A good question to ask now would be how will your character, with their new alignment, react to people who do not follow the Law of the Wolves? It's pretty clear that they wouldn't know the law at the moment, so unless the character was driven insane, they shouldn't expect others to automatically be acting by it. However, what happens when others don't act as expected by the Law? Will your character just growl at them? Tell them calmly what they are doing wrong? Fight? Leave?

It might also be fun to ask where this Law came from. Did the character spontaneously know it upon changing alignment? Is it perhaps something that they were familiar with already, but didn't follow with their old NG alignment?

Red Fel
2014-04-07, 12:36 PM
First off, awesome choice, using Kipling as a base for a Law of the Jungle character. I totally dig it. And it does read as Lawful Neutral - the pack described in the code is orderly and hierarchical; in particular, the emphasis on obedience is pretty LN in general.

That said, Lawful alignment does not require you to adhere to an explicit law. A personal code can suffice. And certainly, a personal code need not be as elaborate as the above. What's more, as Erikun points out, this isn't a new character - it's the same character, but with a new perspective. So it's important to be able to express the different perspective in terms of the old character. That is, this is the same character, with the same goals; suddenly, however, he has decided to be less Good (that is, less selfless) and more Lawful (that is, more orderly and traditional); so it's important to be able to express the shift from, in essence, selflessness to obedience.

In terms of modification, little is needed. Basically, refer to the "party" as the "pack." Note that, basically, the law as written describes three things:
The rights of specific pack members (e.g. the individual, the mother, the father, the cub, the head wolf) The rights of individual members versus their obligations to the pack as a whole The role of the wolf in the jungle at large

With regard to the first provision, the rights of specific pack members, the references to the roles of the "mother," "father," and "cub" should likely be modified or omitted - perhaps the designated healer (if there is one) receives the tribute-right of "mother," or the low-level rookie the scavenge-right of the "cub." Note also that the law, as it is written, is being handed down to the cub of the pack; but if your Ranger is the leader, instead of a follower, then he is hardly a cub. You may wish to include a provision on the role of the head wolf with regard to his duties to the pack.

With regard to the second provision, the rights of the individual versus the duties to the pack, those rules work fine. Note, however, that "Don't split the party" is still a thing, and so the provisions concerning things like "the kill of the wolf is the meat of the wolf" and "the lair of the wolf is his refuge" aren't necessarily going to see a lot of play.

With regard to the third, the general rules of wolfly conduct, you'll see some friction. The rules against opportunistic scavenging and overindulgence are fine; the rules against slaying man are obviously problematic. The rules on obedience make perfect sense for an LN character, as do the rules on not picking needless fights or causing harm to the party by in-fighting. The rules on washing are a bit silly for a medieval society, particularly for someone who likely does things like using dirt and animal urine to conceal his scent.

Tl;dr: It's a fantastic basis for an LN nature boy's code of conduct. It could be simplified, and parts of it may require some modification, but on the whole it's a mildly brilliant choice. And Kipling... Freaking Kipling, man.

hamishspence
2014-04-07, 03:15 PM
Another version of "The Law of the Wolves" - from Erik The Viking:

"Each wolf bound to the other by invisible bonds so strong that nothing can separate us. Each of us lives and dies for his comrades. That is the Law of the Wolves."

OverdrivePrime
2014-04-07, 04:45 PM
Another version of "The Law of the Wolves" - from Erik The Viking:

"Each wolf bound to the other by invisible bonds so strong that nothing can separate us. Each of us lives and dies for his comrades. That is the Law of the Wolves." Good call!
+10 cookies for the highly appropriate Erik the Viking quote. :smallsmile:


Sounds okay, although this line will cause you issues - mainly because it is assumed to be recited by a wolf against a much more dangerous human with guns and such.

<snip>... more smart stuff... </snip>

It might also be fun to ask where this Law came from. Did the character spontaneously know it upon changing alignment? Is it perhaps something that they were familiar with already, but didn't follow with their old NG alignment?

You're right on with that line about not killing man, I think. Kipling's wolves' ban on killing Man was not because humans are somehow sacred, it's because humans have numbers, guns, and a nasty vengeful streak. Killing one human will bring the wrath of a whole community down on the wolves and threaten to wipe them out.

Likewise, a ranger following this code would be careful not to provoke the wrath of the great powers of the game universe. If he has to kill a demon or angel, he's going to be darn sure to do it in a way such that it doesn't invite a massive retaliatory strike on my ranger's charges and party. This also works well for my character as he's specialized in diplomacy - acting as a guide and mediating disputes in the wilderness. If a creature from an organized and dangerous culture appears, the ranger is more likely than ever to try to find a just and harmonious solution that leaves all parties feeling like they've 'won.'


First off, awesome choice, using Kipling as a base for a Law of the Jungle character. I totally dig it. And it does read as Lawful Neutral - the pack described in the code is orderly and hierarchical; in particular, the emphasis on obedience is pretty LN in general.

That said, Lawful alignment does not require you to adhere to an explicit law. A personal code can suffice. And certainly, a personal code need not be as elaborate as the above. What's more, as Erikun points out, this isn't a new character - it's the same character, but with a new perspective. So it's important to be able to express the different perspective in terms of the old character. That is, this is the same character, with the same goals; suddenly, however, he has decided to be less Good (that is, less selfless) and more Lawful (that is, more orderly and traditional); so it's important to be able to express the shift from, in essence, selflessness to obedience.

In terms of modification, little is needed. Basically, refer to the "party" as the "pack." Note that, basically, the law as written describes three things:
The rights of specific pack members (e.g. the individual, the mother, the father, the cub, the head wolf) The rights of individual members versus their obligations to the pack as a whole The role of the wolf in the jungle at large

With regard to the first provision, the rights of specific pack members, the references to the roles of the "mother," "father," and "cub" should likely be modified or omitted - perhaps the designated healer (if there is one) receives the tribute-right of "mother," or the low-level rookie the scavenge-right of the "cub." Note also that the law, as it is written, is being handed down to the cub of the pack; but if your Ranger is the leader, instead of a follower, then he is hardly a cub. You may wish to include a provision on the role of the head wolf with regard to his duties to the pack.

With regard to the second provision, the rights of the individual versus the duties to the pack, those rules work fine. Note, however, that "Don't split the party" is still a thing, and so the provisions concerning things like "the kill of the wolf is the meat of the wolf" and "the lair of the wolf is his refuge" aren't necessarily going to see a lot of play.

With regard to the third, the general rules of wolfly conduct, you'll see some friction. The rules against opportunistic scavenging and overindulgence are fine; the rules against slaying man are obviously problematic. The rules on obedience make perfect sense for an LN character, as do the rules on not picking needless fights or causing harm to the party by in-fighting. The rules on washing are a bit silly for a medieval society, particularly for someone who likely does things like using dirt and animal urine to conceal his scent.

Tl;dr: It's a fantastic basis for an LN nature boy's code of conduct. It could be simplified, and parts of it may require some modification, but on the whole it's a mildly brilliant choice. And Kipling... Freaking Kipling, man.

Indeed. Thanks for the excellent insight! My plan is to use the Law for the Wolves as the framework of my ranger's code, perhaps something that crystallized in his mind after his encounter with the Deck of Many Things. He sees a more efficient way forward in the Wolves' Way.

erikun
2014-04-08, 07:39 PM
You're right on with that line about not killing man, I think. Kipling's wolves' ban on killing Man was not because humans are somehow sacred, it's because humans have numbers, guns, and a nasty vengeful streak. Killing one human will bring the wrath of a whole community down on the wolves and threaten to wipe them out.
Rather than "man", it could be a ban on killing city guards, or something similar. Basically, saying not to just kill people belonging to a big organization, because having trouble with the organization is more difficulty than worth dealing with.