Vigilantism and the Lawful Alignment in OotS

[Carry2]

This makes your initial question, "Why doesn't your story reinforce my simplistic reductionist view of a system that I don't like?" And the answer is, because I am writing partly to specifically refute those views. Characters like Shojo and Tarquin are designed partly to make the story more complex, more nuanced, and more applicable to the moral complexity of the real world. If they can't be simplistically pegged, then I've succeeded.

Well, yes. And that is a large part of why I find those characters, and others like them (Miko, Redcloak, possibly Haley)- to be interesting. But they are interesting in large part because they do not unambiguously belong under their alignment labels. Everything you've done to make them interesting also makes their lawness, goodness, evilness or chaoticness less distinct. I don't consider that a problem with the characters or the story, but my point is that- given the degree to which lengthy and acrimonious debates on this topic apparently distress you- it might be better to either (A) forego the labels or (B) colour within the lines.

Because whether you intend them as examples of their alignment or not, or consider it your job, is beside the point. They are in the story, shoehorned into these ill-fitting boxes, with big fat labels on their heads, and possibly propagating yet-more confusing notions about the alignment system. Whether or not that is your goal, it is a potential side-effect of your actions.

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