In the world of Aedeva, Alignment is not a vague philosophical concept. Instead, it is defined by the various deities and other extraplanar powers of the Obsidian Void. Think of it as the gods' way of determining whose side you are on.
While mortals tend to care little for alignment, to the immortals it is of the utmost importance. So much so that many deities have created their own planes (the fact that classifies them as deities according to Gilbertethian Standard Model of the Multiverse) to act as a home for that particular alignment.
Below you will find descriptions of each alignment as well as its affect on a player character.
Law
Law is said to be the second oldest of all alignments, having spawned from the raw entropy of primal chaos in a time long forgotten. There is some debate over whether it spawned as a natural result of the randomness of chaos, or whether some unknown deity shaped it to their liking.
Law is generally considered to be equal in power to Chaos, and the two loathe each other.
Known Lawful Entities of Great Power
The Titans
Language
Lawful creatures innately understand, speak, read, and write the language of Primal Law. It is a rigid language with strict gramatical structure and complex linguistical rules. While creatures of other alignments can recognize the language as the language of Law, they cannot understand it without magical assiastance. However, using magic to forcibly read or comprehend an alignment language tends to change the reader, slowly changing them to its own alignment.
Chaotic creatures who read or speak Law suffer 1
Corrupted Hit Die for each Action they spend doing so.
Many of the Words of Power are in this language. Chaotic creatures who speak a Lawful Word of Power permanently lose any Hit Dice they expended in the process. Those Hit Dice cannot be recovered by any means short of a Wish.
Player Characters
Characters who are Lawful tend to prefer following rules where possible. They have an innate respect for rules and regulations and a distaste for skullduggery and deceit. They tend to be resolute and trustworthy, sometimes to a fault, and always adhere to their word.
In short, you can trust a Lawful character to honor their word and try to obey the rules.
Chaos
Said to be the first alignment, from which all else was spawned. What exactly Chaos entails is a matter of hot debate among scholars throughout Aedeva. Most agree that Chaos is a primarily destructive power that seeks only to increase the entropy in the universe, ending all structure and order. Others, however, point out that Law itself may have sprung from Chaos in a time long forgotten, and Chaos's end goal is probably the reduction of all things to a point of equillibrium. What could be more Lawful than a world devoid of change?
Regardless of its true purpose, there is no doubt that where Chaos goes in Aedeva, bad things happen. Regardless of its ultimate end, primal Chaos is ultimately anathema to life. This does not mean its power is unharnessable for good use, but doing so is flirting with disaster.
Known Chaotic Entities of Great Power
Yggdrxilknigaknignxi (Yggy) and Mygnoga'mishgopoog (Mygnog), the World Parents
Language
Chaotic creatures innately understand, speak, read, and write the language of Primal Chaos. It is a strange language, always changing. While creatures of other alignments can recognize the language as the language of Chaos, they cannot understand it without magical assiastance. However, using magic to forcibly read or comprehend an alignment Language tends to change the reader, slowly changing them to its own alignment.
Lawful creatures who read or speak Chaos suffer 1
Corrupted Hit Die for each Action they spend doing so.
Many of the Words of Power are in this language. Lawful creatures who speak a Chaos Word of Power permanently lose any Hit Dice they expended in the process. Those Hit Dice cannot be recovered by any means short of a Wish.
Player Characters
Chaotic player characters tend to have an aloof or even disdainful view of rules and regulations. They are often deceitful and untrustworthy, and often selfish. While it is possible to be Chaotic without being completely selfish, the two frequently go hand in hand. Doubly so when the entities aligned with Chaos get involved.
In short, never trust a Chaotic character fully. They are likely to doublecross you when given a good chance.
Good
The second youngest of all alignments, Good was created by the god Ava'tr, the First Constellation at the conclusion of the Devil Wars. Having won the final war, Ava'tr created a plane for himself and those who were loyal to him. He issued an ultimatum to the others to surrender to his will or be destroyed and brought his allies with him to Stellaria and the Celestial Peaks.
Ava'tr defines good as follows. Note that these are more guidelines than actual rules, and he views each situation in its own context. However, sticking to these guidelines is likely to more closely align you to the Good energies of the world.
Good creatures prioritize the needs of others before themselves.
Good creatures are willing to show mercy even if it is undeserved.
Good creatures defend those who are unable to defend themselves.
Good creatures put kindness and mercy above pragmatism and practicality.
Known Good Entities of Great Power
Ava'tr
Language
As Good is not one of the Primal alignments, good creatures do not have an Alignment language.
Player Characters
Player Characters who are Good are distinguished by kindness and generosity. They tend to act selflessly, putting others' needs ahead of themselves, and protecting those who cannot protect themselves. Many of the other alignments see Good as a vulnerability to be exploited, but a Good character continues to act with mercy and kindness even when repeatedly taken advantage of.
This does not mean Good characters are helpless or stupid. Being Good does not mean not fighting against Evil, Chaos, or even Law. Good also does not mean devoid of mistakes. But ultimately, a Good character puts others before themselves. This is what sets them truly apart from the other alignments.
Evil
The youngest of all alignments, Evil was created by the Avatons who fled Ava'tr's ultimatum to join him or be destroyed. Fleeing to the darkest places of the multiverse, their joint vileness lead to the semi-spontaneous formation of Maluuvac, a plane of pure Evil.
Ironically, despite their attempts to escape Ava'tr's influence, Evil is still defined by Ava'tr himself as it is the antithesis of Good. Evil creatures tend to do the following things.
Put yourself above all others. You are better than them anyway.
Take from the helpless since they can't resist.
Ruin all that is good, corrupting it into something horrid.
Never show mercy, that is for weaklings.
The ends always justify the means.
Known Evil Entities of Great Power
Oddly, there are no evil deities, at least according to the Gilbertethian Standard Model. There are a number of demon lords and the like who function similarly, but being a deity requires building a plane to represent an alignment and the Evil planes were constructed as a side effect of Ava'tr's ultimatum.
Language
As Evil is not one of the Primal alignments, Evil creatures do not have an alignment language.
Player Characters
Evil player characters are rare and hard to find. This is mostly because Evil characters can rarely keep a group of allies for long. They are always vying to find an upper hand over their "comrades" and take advantage of them. Usually, this alignment is reserved for monsters, humanoid and otherwise.
Neutral
This odd alignment is rare and hard to find, but its adherents
To be Neutral is to seek balance in all things. As such, many Neutral entities are great negotiators, ruthless in compromise. Neutral creatures view balance as the true good.
Known Neutral Entities of Great Power
They, the Many
Language
Neutral creatures innately speak, read, and write Druidic. Unlike the other Alignment languages, Druidic can be learned and spoken by creatures of other alignments due to its Neutrality. As such, it is a closely guarded secret among the Neutral creatures of the world, and it is not uncommon for the Neutral powers to assassinate those who learn Druidic when they should not.
As its name implies, Druidic is primarily spoken by Druids, as they are the primary mortal emissaries of Neutrality.
While speaking Druidic, animals, plants, and other natural creatures can understand your intent.
Player Characters
Neutral Player Characters believe that true good is achieved by balancing Law and Chaos. While this tends to make them natural negotiators and rutheless compromisers, it also gives Neutral characters a bit of a strange, aloof persona.
Note that Neutral characters seek balance between Order and Chaos, not Good and Evil. They might be profoundly Good or Evil and still be considered Neutral.
Unaligned
Unaligned creatures are oddities, unnatural to Aedeva, incomprehensible to mortal kind. They do what they do for reasons no mortal can understand, completely unpredictable in their madness.
Though technically not aligned to any morality, these creatures are generally considered to be evil as their very existence tends to be anathema to life as it is known on Aedeva. Even in the best case scenario, these creatures are certainly not Good. Nearly all of these creatures hail from the regions known only as the Darkness Between the Stars. A place that even the gods avoid.
Known Unaligned Entities of Great Power
The Old Gods
Language
Unaligned creatures speak the disturbing language known as Deep Speech. Unlike other Alignment languages, you do not need to be Unaligned to speak Deep Speech. However, speaking in that aweful tongue is nearly impossible with a human throat, and repeatedly using that language slowly Unaligns the speaker. Eventually, those who speak too much in that horrid language go mad, becoming Unaligned.
Player Characters
Being truly Unaligned is anathema to all that exists and always leads to madness. Player characters cannot be Unaligned. If they ever become Unaligned, they become an NPC or monster under the GM's control.
There are a few rare cases where someone can become Unaligned temporarily before reverting to their usual alignment, but such events usually come with
Lasting Trauma.
