Alternian tabletop games, similar to human tabletop, often utilize a form of "alignment" for characters. In human D&D, for example, this takes the form of the Lawful/Chaotic and Good/Evil alignments, where lawful and chaotic tend to describe a character's own adherence to personal value, respect for authority, and so on, while good and evil tend to describe a character's moral stance, selfishness or selflessness, or end goals. This results in 9 possible alignments. Alternian D&D (typically written as "D∧D" instead) too has a similar concept, but instead has the concept of HEROIC/JUST and Pacifistic/Bloodthirsty alignments.
![An Alternian tabletop alignment chart table with "pacifisitic, mediatory, incendiary, bloodthirsty" as the columns and "HEROIC, NEUTRAL, JUST" as the rows. From left to right, top to bottom, the following characters are written: [HEROIC] Tavros, Kanaya, Karkat, Vriska. [NEUTRAL] Nepeta, Terezi, Equius, Gamzee. [JUST] Sollux, Feferi, Aradia, Eridan](https://i.imgur.com/S5OhrTq.png "Alternian Alignment Chart")
The first axis is known as the conflictive axis, also known as the pacifistic/bloodthirsty alignment. This alignment determines how easily a troll will conflict with another troll and is strongly tied to the romantic aspects of Alternian society. Note that this does not necessarily describe whether or not a troll will resort to violence, but often is linked with it. Additionally, “conflict” here can describe both platonic and romantic hatred between trolls, but can also describe non-relational forms of hate.
The pacifistic alignment describes a troll who rarely, if ever, gets into conflict. A pacifistic troll is not completely adverse to using violence, and can still get into conflicts with another troll, but typically does not do so intentionally. This alignment is typically associated with trolls only in a matespritship, as the two matespirits avoid blackrom relationships in order to preserve the existing romance. This alignment can manifest itself as conflict avoidance, pure pacifism (in which the troll refuses to use violence), and as peacefulness.
The mediatory alignment describes trolls who frequently attempt to defuse conflicts between other parts. A mediatory troll may help settle disputes and repair relationships. This alignment is heavily associated with auspiticism, as it is common for a mediatory troll to end up mediating both relationship and non-relationship conflict. Most player parties have at least one mediatory aligned troll to avoid romantic conflicts from growing too violent.
The incendiary alignment describes a troll who often causes conflict between other parties. This can be both accidental, such as if a troll’s own romantic vacillations cause conflict with other romantic relationships, and on purpose, such as if a troll deliberately seeks to disrupt the relationship of two trolls. Interestingly, this alignment is associated heavily with moirallegiance. A troll in a blackrom relationship will often have their own moirail who stokes the flames of hatred between the two blackrom trolls. Indeed, this type of multi-troll relationship is so common in real life that some identify it as a separate type of relationship. If the moirail is in moirallegiance with both blackrom trolls, the relationship is often called a “pseudoauspistice”, while if one or both trolls have their own moirail, the relationship is known as a “single fomentation” or “double fomentation”, depending on the number of moirails. The troll who helps further the blackrom relationship is known as the fomentor, while the two blackrom trolls are known as fomentatees. If the relationship is a single fomentation, the unfomented troll is called “unagressed”.
The bloodthirsty alignment describes a troll who frequently gets into conflict. A bloodthirsty troll may not be violent, but is often extremely willing to resort to it if they are. This can take the form as risk taking, enjoyment of violence, or simple hotheadedness. For obvious reasons, this alignment is associated with kismesissitude. A major villain character often is this alignment in many campaigns and may also be in a kismesiss with one or more hero characters.
The second axis is known as the motivational alignment, also known as the HEROIC/JUST alignment. Note that HEROIC and JUST are always capitalized, and when possible, stylized in gold and purple respectively. The HEROIC/JUST alignment determines two things about a troll. First, it determines how and why that troll dies. A HEROIC troll must always die a HEROIC death and a JUST troll must always die a JUST death, assuming the troll does in fact die.
HEROIC trolls are defined by their commitment to an abstract ideal or belief they hold strongly and meet their end in attempting to uphold this ideal. Additionally, the character strives to embody the belief or to spread it to others. Some examples of HEROIC characters might be:
- a legislacerator who desires to bring justice in any form, no matter how dangerous
- a troll who wishes to make their species more peaceful, even if it is heretical
- a person who wishes to learn everything about an alien race
- a person who always keeps their artistic integrity, even at the cost of their own life
Note that this ideal does not necessarily have to be “good” by human standards, just that it is sincerely believed in. A clearly villainous character whose motivation comes from their own ideals would be considered HEROIC. An example of this would be Stain from My Hero Academia, who commits villainous actions but is motivated entirely by their own beliefs and ideas about how one should be. He would likely be placed in the “Evil” or possibly “Neutral” moral alignments. HEROIC characters in human terms often take the form of protagonists, but can also often take the form of sympathetic villains. In contrast, All Might would still be considered HEROIC, but most human alignment systems would place him firmly in the “Good” alignment. In Alternian society, the difference between these two archetypes is often blurry, and sometimes nonexistent.
JUST trolls are defined by their desire for a particular, concrete end goal, and meet their end in attempting achieve it. The troll’s main motivation is almost entirely the achievement of this particular goal, and if achieved, would likely mean the end of that character’s developmental arc (until a new goal is found). Some examples of JUST characters might be:
- a empress who wishes to expand their kingdom, even if it is brutal
- a troll who wants to be the one to win a game, no matter the amount of pain they cause
- a person who just wants to protect their friends, even at the cost of their own life
- a troll who seeks revenge against a specific troll, regardless of the consequences
As with HEROIC, a JUST troll can be good or evil. A “good” JUST human may be Gon, from Hunter X Hunter, whose main goal in life is to meet his father. Were he to achieve this goal, this would likely be the end of Hunter X Hunter. An “evil” JUST human would then be Hisoka, from the same series, as his main goal is to fight and kill Gon when he is a worthy opponent. If he were to achieve this goal, it would likely be the end of him as a major character. JUST characters often taken the form of villains and occasionally heros, but also often include anti-heros. As with most human concepts, Alternian society does not recognize or understand the differences between these types of characters as strongly.
A Neutral troll is a troll who is neither strongly HEROIC nor JUST. A Neutral troll may die in any way and may have less clear goals. Note that most characters have both HEROIC and JUST traits some of the time, and it possible for a character to work towards a particular tangible goal as part of a belief or vice versa. However, at it’s core, this alignment serves to describe what the final end game this character has, whether that goal is abstract or concrete. If that end goal is mixed, or if the character does not really have an end goal, it is likely that they are of the Neutral alignment. A character may change their motivational alignment over the course of a campaign, but their death, if they have any, must always match their alignment.