While tragic, and possibly criminal it lacks intent.

Going out of your way to kill someone with premeditation, for no other reason than personal gain is an evil act.

I go so far as to say a good player who kills an evil mob for its equipment is committing an evil act. It's not the aura of the person killed so much as it is the intent of the killer.

This is why, for me, Nexus fails and it is not a truly neutral cabal.

Neutrality, as it was originally intended by Gary Gygax, and how it came to be adopted in genres which use the LG to CE spectrum, was not meant as a balance between actions. It actually had two facets; An individual or group who did not take sides on issues of politics or morality. Or, a creature or entity that was unthinking and thus incapable of being either good or evil.


Killing one child for the purpose of ranking, or even getting a single copper, in my estimation is purely evil and can't be balanced out by killing an orc. In fact, if you are killing an orc as a way of atonement for killing a kid, then that too is an act rooted in personal gain at the expense of killing another. This would make it shady at best. Granted it is an orc and no one will miss it (Even another orc) but the intent wasn't self-preservation, it was for a different reason all together.

I separate this distinction when it comes to killing non-sentients, undead, or hordes of evil creatures clearly arrayed for war. And I will play it out as if I am on a mission too erradicate a force hell bent of mayhem and destruction. But I refuse to say, “Let's go kill X for his sword!”, simply because I want to wield his sword. I might RP it in this way! Look out for that X! He has a sharp sword! Die X! Hrm, this sword is sharper than mine. I shall keep it and put it to good use.


The new kinship command further solidifies my stance, since now there is next to NO reason for a goody to kill a neutral for his gear now.

Anyway, that's where I stand on it. Some people have tried to make logical arguments for neutrals and to date, I have not been swayed.

Nexus is simply Chaotic Evil cabal in my eyes.