fatal

Chapter 4: Disposition
A System of Ethics/Morals
Ethics and morals will be debated forever,
especially between different cultures and races.
Nonetheless, one philosopher has articulated a system
of ethics and morals that is so common among
humanoid races, it is usually recognized as the default
system. The system, outlined below, is derived
from logic and may be used for gaming purposes to
resolve ethical and moral disputes.
Ethical Rationale
1. Ethics refer to behavior, the degree of
behavioral consistency, and beliefs about behavior,
as well as its relation to the self and
a character’s social and physical environment.
2. Ethics and ethical codes provide characters
with reasons to approve or disapprove
of each other.
3. Ethics belong to 1 of 5 categories: Intrapersonal,
Family, Community, State, and
Universe. These categories often differ
sharply between individuals. For instance,
someone may be sharply ethical regarding
their family, but unethical regarding their
community.
4. Ethics are orthogonal to morals. Many
mistakenly assume that those who are ethical
are also likely to be moral, or vice versa,
but it is equally likely that someone is ethical
and immoral, or unethical and moral.
Ethicality
Dimension Ethical Unethical
Intra-personalConformity Individua
lity
PatternedRandomness Family Loyalty Betrayal
Distincti on
Ambiguity
CommunityInterdependenc Independenc
e
LawfulnessCriminality State Bureaucrac y Anarchy
Patriotism Treache
rousness
UniverseNecessity Chance
MeaningfulnessMeaninglessness 110
Intra-personal refers directly to the self and
no others. Characters make self-evaluations by comparing
themselves with objective standards. When
no such standard exists, characters seek comparisons
with similar others; so, this intra-personal construct
cannot be absolutely exclusive from other
selves.
Conformity: The character high in conformity
tends to consider groups more important
than individuals, or at least succumb to their
norms. As such, the character is likely to
avoid dressing or talking differently, deviating
from customs, etc.
Individuality: Individuality means here that the
character values individuals over groups, or
at least what distinguishes themselves from
others. Characters who are high in individuality
tend to dress differently, enjoy customizing
expressions, and see themselves as different
than others.
Patterned: Categorically, patterned suggests that
a character prefers to seek patterns in things
as a means to understanding. Patterned characters
also tend to carefully weigh decisions
instead of utilizing randomness.
Randomness: Randomness suggests a lack of a
definite aim, direction, rule, or method with
no specific goal or purpose. Characters high
in randomness prefer to make decisions by
the flip of a coin or pure chance.
VOS.VESTROS.SERVATE.
MEOS.MIHI.LINQUITE.MORES
You keep to your own ways,
and leave me to mine.