You're missing the fact that OL has diverged from Zoat in extensive ways. Things OL views as acceptable may not be things that Zoat views as acceptable.
Except the SI, especially the Paragon, has
not once ever been shown to actually change his moral beliefs.
The Renegade path (Grayven) started the day before he woke up in space with the ring. It was a really, really shitty day for him, which combined with ring mental shenanigans, influenced him to take basically the 'Renegade' path.
That's a ridiculous and retarded idea, if true. If Zoat's
'had a bad day at work' isn't understating things.
@Mr Zoat Did you really take your idea for renegade's start-of-psuedo-darkness from the idiotic cesspool that is the Joker's
'one bad day'?
Because such changes are not, have never, and will never be because of a bad day - they can be caused by trauma or epiphanies or what-have-you, but you get over bad days at work, especially when you get a huge fucking change in circumstances like being transported to a new world and given cosmic power.
That would in no way cause such a blindingly huge and long-lasting difference, unless the ROB slipped in some mindstate-calcification so that each SI could not change their views on such things.
Let me explain as I currently understand.
Originally, when the Renegade encountered the Forever People they thought he was Grayven because apparently the Orange Light feels Apokoliptian. So he decided to go with it for shits and giggles.
Then he stole Desaad's Father Box, which he used to build himself a soul. Unfortunately that required keeping up the facade of being Grayven so the Father Box would listen to him.
You make it sound like he used the Father Box just for the lols, rather than desperately needing a soul to counter the shitload of horrible things that can and did happen to him without it.
Yeah, he fucked with the
VillageForever People, because they were nothing - not a threat or problem in any way. Then Desaad appeared, and even
he thought the Renegade was Grayven. So the Renegade used that to help with the fight, and to prevent Apokalypse from harming Earth.
And then he ends up with a Father Box on his hands, and he realizes that everyone connected to the Newgods mistake him for Grayven without prompting, and he has something that can not just give him a soul, but an
incredibly powerful soul, in a process that has been used flawlessly hundreds of times over.
And Grayven apparently never got the Hellblazer knowledge (that was
in every detail correct, including
future events, even though the fact that the SI not having such knowledge is
the central principle of this story) given that even a more selfish or angry person would have seen early-on the usefulness of a tried-and-tested solution like the soul-tattoo.
