Ninjabunny wrote:Lenwen wrote:Also ..
As per hades / Dyval dimension books .. Demons have no choice in thier alignments , ergo .. they have no choice in being good .. what so ever ..
Ergo .. they have no choice .. as compared to Humans .. who have the "choice" as to wether or not be good or bad ..
Which makes an evil human .. TWICE .. as evil as a demon .. because of the choice to be so ..
China two and official sources in the rifter refute this, it is a false claim. You said it best if alignment is say all end all their is no variant in their degree of evil. Ergo one can not be more evil then the other.
It's important to remember that the "demons" (actually Oni) in China ARE NOT the same types of demons originating in Hades or Dyval. They share a westernized name, but they are different, vastly different. The western demons are evil incarnate (and I would argue AS evil as an evil human, but no more and no less), the Oni are really just a catch all category for monsters in eastern mythology (specifically Japanese).
A common theme in eastern mythology is the redemption of evil which is NOT a theme in western mythology. Evil is not black and white in the eastern world, it is in the western world. This is why I wish more perspectives were present in Rifts; the world isn't black and white.
The evilness of a person or act is an age-old philosophical debate.
Serial Killer = Evil but a person that kills in self defense = not evil.
Robbery = evil but stealing food because you are starving = not evil.
Being the aggressor in war = evil, being the defender = not evil, but apparently being defender and using demons shifts you back to evil.
One of my favorite philosophical arguments is "is it more good to do an act you want to do or one one you don't want to do?" For instance, if you walk around town looking for good deeds to do, are your actions more or less good than someone that happens to come across a burning building and jumps in to save someone? I vote for the later being more good (there is no right answer, it's philosophy!)
So my vote is that if you think summoning demons is evil, then Tolkeen was evil, but this is not an absolute, it is an opinion. IMO the CS was more evil than Tolkeen because they were the aggressors. Self-defense is not an evil act, whether you had the opportunity to run or not.
If someone breaks into your house, you are allowed to use deadly force to defend yourself and your property, even if the one breaking in does not have a weapon and even if they don't threaten you! (modern law, check out the law in your area. I just did research on this while researching the Zimmerman case). Are you evil for defending yourself legally? Possibly Is the one breaking evil for breaking the law? Possibly
Now, if someone broke into your house and you summoned a demon to deal with the robber, is your act of self-defense more or less evil?
(Before you respond, if you have never taken a philosophy class, this post may seem crazy, stupid, argumentative, etc. However, this is the type of fun questions you get to tackle in a philosophy class! Seriously, if you haven't taken a philosophy class, DO IT!)