This tribute is the fourth in a series of nine where I'll try to give a good example of one of the alignments in D&D. I'm obviously not trying to define the given alignment, just to capture one of its many possible aspects - the human character is too colourful and shifting to be narrowed down easily.
To those who are either unfamiliar with the D&D alignment system, or simply wish to read more about them, here is a link I found very helpful in gaining insight to each of the nine: easydamus.com/alignment.html
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I'll be honest with you: before playing Darksiders, I had a very bleak understanding of Lawful Neutral characters. They always came across as dry, boring, and emotionless, though there was Judge Dredd for a cool example.
What Darksiders (and some experiences in life) made me realise is that at their core, Lawful Neutral characters hate it when someone doesn't let them do their job by the book, and they're quite fond of efficiency. They have a strong sense of honour, which is their guideline when making laws.
And thus we've come to the beating heart of this alignment: laws. Or rather, order established by laws - rather than by brute force. To them, civilisation is the end, not the means of building an efficient order that is fair and honourable. They stick to the rules not because they lack a sense of indepence, but because they've realised that the more people are stuck together in one place the more you need to guide their actions, or they will revert back to small tribal societies. They look at the big picture most of the time, which sometimes results in overlooking seemingly minor but in reality very important issues.
Lawful Neutral has an interesting relationship with its Lawful Good and Evil cousins. On one hand, they all have clearly different ideas about honourable and fair conduct, but on the other hand they are all disciplined and can be expected to do decent business - keeping in mind that the Good and Evil folks will pursue their own agenda, because they just can't help themselves.
Gaming-wise Lawful Neutral characters can be a challenge, especially when you want to play a real, human person and not one of the angels of a lawful god. They might be by-the-book types at first glance but they're also no-nonsense types, so being inventive isn't out of character for this alignment. Being strict and disciplined as they are, they can be cold but they're far from heartless - it is entirely possible that their pursuit of orderlyness (is that even a word?) is emotionally-based, rather than the outcome of a logical thought process.
The story of this video is very straight-forward, in accordance with the Lawful Neutral alignment, so there isn't much to say about it. The moral of the story is that keeping the law isn't a question of having enough power, its the question of having the guts and willpower to keep it even in the face of extinction, in every second of your life.
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Song used:
Darksiders - Main Theme
Pictures used:
Found on 4chan and /tg/ booru mainly or some other website I can't recall.
I do not own the music or the pictures used in this video, they are all the properties of their respective owners, who should all feel awesome because they are all awesome.