Rob
asked
Sebastien de Castell:
Hello Sebastien! My question is, if you're familiar, under the old Dungeon and Dragons alignment system, do you consider the Greatcoats to be Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral? The lawful part is obvious, but I'm not sure if they are more Good or Neutral. If they are LG, then I like how this provides a much more nuanced vision of the alignment than the goody-goody or near-fanatical portrayals that I've encountered!
Sebastien de Castell
Hi There!
I have a passing familiarity with the old D&D alignment stuff. The problem is that in a role playing context, alignment is really a way of putting rails on what the player does (or at least, how the player justifies their actions.) In the context of a novel, notions of good vs evil and law vs chaos exist more as ideals that the characters wrestle with. In the case of the Greatcoats, Falcio is constantly struggling with whether to follow the law – which he sees as the greater long-term good – or whether to do what needs to be done in the moment, which almost always means undermining that long-term good. Furthermore, when he's acting out of personal vendetta (which he tries to avoid but loses it sometimes), he's no longer even neutral good, but rather, true neutral.
If I was forced to fit the characters into the D&D mold . . .
Falcio would be bouncing around between Lawful Good (we have to believe that following the law will make things better), Neutral Good (screw the law, I'm just going to help this person and deal with the consequences later), and True Neutral (I'm going to kill this bastard and I don't care what happens after that.)
Kest would slide between Lawful Neutral (if we're supposed to be lawmen, then we can't make decisions based on the outcome) and Neutral Good (the law clearly can't help us solve this problem, so I'll do what's necessary for the greater good even if it means going back on my oath).
Brasti contends with Neutral Good (screw the law, we're supposed to help people) and Chaotic Neutral (I started as a poacher, and I'm perfectly happy watching the world go to hell and getting myself a nice drink while it happens.)
Hope some of that helps!
I have a passing familiarity with the old D&D alignment stuff. The problem is that in a role playing context, alignment is really a way of putting rails on what the player does (or at least, how the player justifies their actions.) In the context of a novel, notions of good vs evil and law vs chaos exist more as ideals that the characters wrestle with. In the case of the Greatcoats, Falcio is constantly struggling with whether to follow the law – which he sees as the greater long-term good – or whether to do what needs to be done in the moment, which almost always means undermining that long-term good. Furthermore, when he's acting out of personal vendetta (which he tries to avoid but loses it sometimes), he's no longer even neutral good, but rather, true neutral.
If I was forced to fit the characters into the D&D mold . . .
Falcio would be bouncing around between Lawful Good (we have to believe that following the law will make things better), Neutral Good (screw the law, I'm just going to help this person and deal with the consequences later), and True Neutral (I'm going to kill this bastard and I don't care what happens after that.)
Kest would slide between Lawful Neutral (if we're supposed to be lawmen, then we can't make decisions based on the outcome) and Neutral Good (the law clearly can't help us solve this problem, so I'll do what's necessary for the greater good even if it means going back on my oath).
Brasti contends with Neutral Good (screw the law, we're supposed to help people) and Chaotic Neutral (I started as a poacher, and I'm perfectly happy watching the world go to hell and getting myself a nice drink while it happens.)
Hope some of that helps!
More Answered Questions
Abdul Malik
asked
Sebastien de Castell:
Hey!! So I just want to say I loved the Greatcoats series, it has so much heart in it, I just don't know how you're able to elicit such emotions from words. You sir are a genius. Now as to my question, do you ever intend to return to the Greatcoats series or specifically to Falcio, Brasti and Kest?
Patricio Danos
asked
Sebastien de Castell:
I've just finished your last Greatcoats book. I gotta say, I feel like I miss those guys already, and I can wait for your next book about them. Do you have a draft or something already planned for them? And if so, will it continue where this book left off, or would it be a story as a spin-off or prequel?
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