Not strictly true. Outside of the dimensions(or clusters there of) of conceptual alignment the third edition DM guide flat out says that its lawful according to the rules of that society. So outlooks of different societies can flat out see each other as chaotic in their own world view. Its just too in depth for casual play and often subjective. Mostly its relevant for certain spells. Good and Evil can be different depending on the motivations. I've heard of a CE party leader of a LG party. The basic motivation behind an act is important. That party had most of its conflicts over loot resolved by the party law of the CE leader, "If you can't work it out civilly the item is mine now." A greed selfish 'law' that worked as its stupid hard not to look like a moron if you the party leader gets all the loot because you can't control yourselves. Also, hillarious for the party leader to bring that metaphorical hammer down.

However alignment is not a two axis grid. Its three dimensional. The social axis of Law versus Chaos. The ethical axis of Good vs Evil. The third is the axis that RP handles. People can play the exact same character completely different. What I like to call the 'Real person' vs '@&%$#' axis. Its why affable evil is mostly accepted and the stereotypical paladin is a pox upon fun. Also why Neutral Good are called martyrs and are a sever hazard to the party of many levels.

On the mystical level there are absolutes of alignment in those universes mortals aren't that bound by them unless the let themselves be. Also mortals can change alignment and those can mess you up as a character, even without being bound to a philosophy. Even using the static alignments a good DM will inform you your risking alignment change. Unless your moving on the third axis and then your just that kind of character.
That third axis is probably the one that MOST 12 years old can't handle or even recognize.
 
Alien Women from Beyond the Source Wall
You know someone should really sit Alchemist down and talk to him about this at some point because it's starting to become a habit.
"Why do you keep bringing back women from other worlds?"

Batman shuffled a handful of papers together as he waited for Alchemist to show up.

The Justice League was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with a pattern they'd noticed... And functionally pressganged him to have a talk with the wizard.

They couldn't directly field their complaints for a rather simple reason.

Alchemist did not work for the Justice League. He worked for Batman and had, so far, been willing to support the League on his behalf.

Alchemist opened the door to the conference room in Mount Justice and looked around the room in a rather paranoid fashion before seating himself across from the Dark Knight.

The two were silent for a long moment. Batman honestly appreciated that the man didn't feel it necessary to fill the air with pointless chatter.

"...I've been asked to have a talk with you." Batman finally started after several long moments.

"Okay." And the wizard waited patiently for his employer to tell him whatever needed to be said.

"There have been some concerns raised in regards to your... Proclivity in bringing women back from your excursions to other realities." Batman spread a handful of papers out in front of him. Each with a photograph on top.

A green-haired, red-eyed succubus. A photo of the skeletal remains of a werewolf. A grainy picture of Yuffie taken while she'd been infiltrating the Watchtower and, finally, a picture of a Marilith. Kar'Yashlan had actually posed, throwing out six peace signs all at once and smiling broadly.

"Only one of those was voluntary." Alchemist commented as he looked over the photos... "And I think Yuffie and I will need to work on her infiltration skills a bit."

"I understand that, Alchemist, but the concerns that have been raised are in regards to the fact that all of them were women."

"...I mean, I can change all of them to men? I have a spell for that?" He... What?!

"...We'll come back to that later." Or never. "The League would like to ask that you not keep bringing back women."

"...Tried to take my head off." Alchemist poked the picture of the succubus.

"Took off my arm and left me in a short term coma." Alchemist poked the werewolf.

"Would be turning my hair grey if, you know, it could change colors without magic." Alchemist grabbed the picture of Yuffie and inventoried it.

"And tried to give me the Amazonian Kiss of Marriage under a pool of lava." Alchemist finally poked the picture of the six-armed demoness. "Or maybe it was their Kiss of Death? Not sure, might not have been any difference."

"Look." Alchemist raised his tired, tired eyes to meet Batman's own. "If I had any say in things? Yuffie would be the only one that came back with me. I'm really not big on bringing back people that try to kill me. Male or female."

"I... Suppose that's fair." And this is why Bruce didn't want to have this conversation. "All I'm asking is that you try to be more discreet in the future... What is this 'Kiss of Marriage' and what does it have to do with the Amazons?"

"I'm pretty sure I've already said too much. Outsiders like us aren't supposed to know, y'know?" Alchemist stood up and headed for the door. "I've got to finish some paperwork and get back to my kid. Good talk, yeah?"

"...Yeah." Batman stared at the man's back. "Good talk."

-----

Batman had returned to the Watchtower shortly after his 'meeting' with Alchemist so he could return to his own work.

They were -still- going through the paperwork for Star Labs. The number of inconsistencies just kept growing larger and larger!

"Diana." Batman called when he saw the woman pass by the terminal room. The woman came back in, a curious look on her face.

"Did you need something, Batman?"

"Yes. I heard something about a... Kiss of Marriage?" The woman stared at him for a long second. Whatever was going through her mind forced her face through a handful of different expressions.

"...Alchemist?" She finally asked after several long moments of thought, finally just bringing a hand up to massage her forehead under her tiara.

"Yes."

"That's supposed to be a secret. How did he even- I'm just going to pretend we didn't have this conversation, Batman." The woman turned to leave-

"And the Kiss of Death?" But Batman had to confirm one final thing before she did.

Diana's shoulders dropped. The woman inhaled audibly before exhaling explosively. "Batman?"

"..." He answered her eloquently.

"Pretend you never heard of either of those."
 
Okay, I wasn't sure if it was a DC thing or a Ranma 1/2 thing since I don't recall any other mention of that series so far. I know Ranma though. Thanks for confirming!
 
D&D alignments are oversimplified so that 12-year-olds can understand them. They are not an accurate moral/ethical measuring device/framework. It'd be like using TableSpoon measurements when doing organic chemistry labs: that's not what they're for.

Honestly imo that's one of the best changes in 5e, where they have specifically made the delineation between Alignment and Morality. It's not like that delineation hasn't always existed, it just was contradicted at times. Chromatic Dragons are Good but definitely not good, there are "good" devils but no Good devils. etc.

Honestly imo there's a strong argument to be had that Alchemist is Lawful Evil, if he ever came up against spells that care about that. He has very specific rules and doesn't step outside of them to help others. Sure, he's happy to help if people ask and it's not too much an imposition, but that's more Neutral than Good, and he definitely doesn't volunteer: You ask, or he probably isn't gonna offer.
 
You really think "not constantly offering to help everyone with everything" is evil, and not, say, neutral?

Oof.

In fairness, that is kind of how D&D rates alignment. Though, perhaps, not quite that harsh? Their definition of good is something a little more actively altruistic. Even if... It can be a little internally inconsistent in that regard, though that itself might be an alignment/morality issue there.
 
Evil isn't "looking out for number one." That's neutral. "Looking out for number one while grinding number two into the dirt, often when you don't even need to" is evil.

Al expects his teammates to know enough of their own limits to realize when they should ask for help, and he respects their autonomy enough that he's not going to constantly pester them about things they should know enough to ask for help with.

That, and he's easily distracted and often doesn't notice.

He's not evil, as that would imply a malevolence that's just not there. Neutral, though? Closer to that than to good, although there's plenty of good there, too, else he wouldn't have gone out of his way to fix things in the worlds he's visited as thoroughly as he did. Do recall that he's helped lots of people without being asked and without expecting any rewards or even recognition. It's not like he needed to do 90% of what he's done in order to accomplish his main goals in those worlds, after all.
 
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Alignment, simplified.

Good: Helps others when they don't need to.
Neutral: Doesn't.
Evil: Harms others when they don't need to.
Neutral: Doesn't.
Lawful: Likes rules.
Neutral: Doesn't.
Chaotic: Dislikes rules.
Neutral: Doesn't.
 
why go for chump change, and not go for Tiamat herself?
Tiamat would, presumably, be admin, and there seems to be some (albeit imperfect, as seen in Final Fantasy...) separation between staff and clientele. It may also make Terra-tan jealous, which could be a Bad Thing...

While I expect that a Dungeons and Dragons marilith could do the whole "legs and remote tail" thing if it really wanted to, such traits seem distinct enough that I believe them to indicate that the marilith in question is not entirely sourced from Dungeons and Dragons, and thus would not be bound to Dungeons and Dragons alignment rules. The succubus definitely shouldn't, though I have no idea what, if any, ethical impositions it may possess from its own source...

Unless there is some other effect in play. If D.C. works largely upon D.&D. rules, then it may be that the local elemental makeup is filtering into what are, in some senses, elementals, that may be literally composed of elemental Evil or similar... . I mean, if you are literally composed of Evil, and go to a place with different Evil, then you are probably going to ingest some of the local flavour and become, to a steadily accruing extent, what you eat...
 
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Isn't Tiamat mother of dragons... i think.

@Mister Ficser
So did Alchemist put Dianna up to this to prank Bruce or Ranma and DC have a scary coincedance

Also I wonder of Gaia gonna add in social link aspect in this or joke around about dating sim to spite Alchemist
 
Scary coincidences.

Go digging around rural China, you might even find a murderous Phoenix clan with a demigod leader ;)

Or not.

In D&D Tiamat is indeed the Mother of Dragons.
Outside of that cosmology? She's a primordial chaos goddess whose body makes up the mud from which creation was formed.
In YJ DC, she has an avatar on Earth sealed by the dead sea scrolls and her awakening would be performed by Vandal Savage and Klarion for the sake of retrieving her seal.

At least I think it's the dead sea scrolls. I don't have the wiki page for that episode up right at this moment.
 
@Mister Ficser
Hey funny thought if this end up getting a male dimensional imigrant after this talk will they think thats a win, moan in frustration or interogate them if they have either homicidal, romantic, or both feelings to Alchemist?
 
Tiamat would, presumably, be admin, and there seems to be some (albeit imperfect, as seen in Final Fantasy...) separation between staff and clientele. It may also make Terra-tan jealous, which could be a Bad Thing...

While I expect that a Dungeons and Dragons marilith could do the whole "legs and remote tail" thing if it really wanted to, such traits seem distinct enough that I believe them to indicate that the marilith in question is not entirely sourced from Dungeons and Dragons, and thus would not be bound to Dungeons and Dragons alignment rules. The succubus definitely shouldn't, though I have no idea what, if any, ethical impositions it may possess from its own source...

Unless there is some other effect in play. If D.C. works largely upon D.&D. rules, then it may be that the local elemental makeup is filtering into what are, in some senses, elementals, that may be literally composed of elemental Evil or similar... . I mean, if you are literally composed of Evil, and go to a place with different Evil, then you are probably going to ingest some of the local flavour and become, to a steadily accruing extent, what you eat...

Very good observations! I'll be expanding her backstory a fair bit since she'll feature prominently across the next handful of chapters. It will even come with a bit of worldbuilding and we'll get to see a few fairly funny scenes, and a few somewhat heavy ones too.

Including one oddly on-brand use for the Lasso of Truth.

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@Arbitbit39 Yes.
 
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I have this strange, sneaking sensation that Alchemist is the closest thing to a friend that Batman has. Everyone else is either just a coworker, a family member, or a perp.
 
Player One and Alchemist had treated them like fodder.
On the one hand, Alchemist is holding back massively here. Which Player One knows (but has no idea by how much) and Wonder Woman does not yet.
On the other hand, WW still assessed that P1 tore through reasonably powerful monsters "like fodder".
"...I mean, I can change all of them to men? I have a spell for that?" He... What?!
There are a great many people who would pay for this service or the reverse. My sister among them.
Though Alchemist's time is stretched thin as it is, and he's trying to stay under the radar.
 
The right of Dibs is sacred.
Go back to hell Sexy Demon Lady.
She's from the Abyss, not hell. Hell is a different plane from the one mariliths come from.
Huh. Is Yuffie inhuman enough that things that infect her from humans can go to aliens like Kryptonians and Martians? That could make her a dangerous infection vector if the opposite is also true.
Superboy/Con-el/Conner Kent is half human, so it might be a result of how he was made.
Miss Martian is able to be close enough to human to donate blood for a transfusion with a human boy in order to save the life of the son of actress from the "Hello Megan" show she based her human form on.
I've got nothing on Power Girl/Karen.
Honestly imo that's one of the best changes in 5e, where they have specifically made the delineation between Alignment and Morality. It's not like that delineation hasn't always existed, it just was contradicted at times. Chromatic Dragons are Good but definitely not good, there are "good" devils but no Good devils. etc.

Honestly imo there's a strong argument to be had that Alchemist is Lawful Evil, if he ever came up against spells that care about that. He has very specific rules and doesn't step outside of them to help others. Sure, he's happy to help if people ask and it's not too much an imposition, but that's more Neutral than Good, and he definitely doesn't volunteer: You ask, or he probably isn't gonna offer.
I was pegging him at true neutral or lawful neutral.
He has a penchant for some chaotic acts, which is why I pegged him at True Neutral.
Then again, I recall an argument with my DM about a character I had declared as "neutral good" because he had some similarities with Alchemist (this was nearly 30 years ago) in that he had a strict code like Alchemist, but also tended to do some chaotic stuff.
The DM argued that I was flip-flopping between Lawful Good and Chaotic Good and wanted me to pick one or the other or he threatened to start imposing alignment penalties.
I pointed out that that was why I picked neutral on the law/chaos axis because he had elements of both and that I'd portrayed him consistently. I had his personality worked out, it just didn't fit well into the alignment system, and I also pointed out that it explicitly says in the PHB that "Alignment is not meant to be a straight jacket."

I imagine that Brian would have the same issues with Alchemist who acts both lawful and chaotic.
Now I'm wondering what ever happened to him, we split in '97 and I don't even know his e-mail address. He didn't have one in the summer of '98 when we met again to try to reform the group, but it didn't pan out.
 
I'm just waiting for one of them to invoke the international dibs protocol
 
Alchemist definitely isn't Lawful of any type. He's proven that he will gladly break the law if he believes it's important enough. Yuffie is the most recent example because a Lawful character would have returned her to her father. Lawful Good probably would have tried to find someone to help improve her home situation but still would have returned her home because that's the law. A Lawful Evil character would have returned her and probably demanded some reward or maybe punished her father for allowing Yuffie to run around alone.

HAve to admit it's hard to decide if he's more Chaotic or Neutral at this point. I kinda want to say he tries to act True Neutral but the fact that he can't stop himself from doing good once it's in his face makes me think Neutral Good.
 
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