Writing Blue and Orange Morality

Woohoo! Finally figured it out!

Hello fellow tropers. I am trying to write a non-heroic character who is half faerie.

As much as I don't like classifying people he doesn't fit neatly into Lawful Evil or Chaotic Evil and doesn't even classify for Neutral Evil.

As he currently stands he has the whole Even Evil Has Standards thing going on but is pretty much entirely self serving with some serious Bad Boss tendencies. However, he has a few legitimately nice characteristics and actually has the capacity to feel guilt but only over things like Attempted Rape. Murder he doesn't give two figs about.

Any way, my question is: how do you write a person who works on a different moral compass to us?

edited 19th Jan '11 12:43:09 AM by StolenByFaeries

"You've got your transmission and your live wire, but your circuit's dead." - Media

Most people are motivated by things like self-preservation, pride/glory, or love. I think a morality system based around something that is not one of those things, or based around an unconventional interpretation of those things, might work.

So, it's "when good people do evil things," eh? There are several ways to handle bad actors.

One is humor. If your readers are busy laughing, they're not appalled. In this case the evil has to be inconsequential, or obligatory (like a job), or constant. With murder involved, the victims have to be at least as evil as the protagonist.

Another is accidental good. Your protagonist tries to be evil, he really does, but he winds up doing more good than harm.

Another is to make him an antihero. He does bad things, yes, but for whatever reason, he accomplishes great things.

Under World. It rocks!

The one time I considered writing something involving Blue-and-Orange Morality (fairies and such) I considered the need to have two groups to demonstrate the sort of opposition one might find in such a world. Each group had its own moral cornerstone, different from how most humans act, but not so different as to be completely incomprehensible.  ^*

Probably would need a better writer than me to pull something like that off though.

edited 19th Jan '11 8:05:39 AM by aishkiz

I have devised a most marvelous signature, which this signature line is too narrow to contain.

I shall consider the wisdom of the above tropers.

And the wisdom of the below troper.

edited 19th Jan '11 10:48:15 PM by StolenByFaeries

"You've got your transmission and your live wire, but your circuit's dead." - Media

Consider motivations; in a morals-neutral environment, what would said character do?

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~

Emphasize a real life ethic that is either held or at least recognized by most people Beyond the Impossible. The Godfather is a weird example of family loyalty.

Place the alien being in a context which would make a moral issue different. Suppose there was a race that had males, females, and "storers". When you murdered a male or female the consciousness was telepathically uploaded into a storer, and then downloaded into the next child born. As a result only killing a storer would really be murder. When this alien gets among humans he kills unthinkingly because he doesn't think he is harming them.

I think by definition it's impossible to write Blue-and-Orange Morality with a perspective character. You can, and I have, give them very alien moral systems, but genuine Blue-and-Orange Morality is supposed to be incomprehensible. You can only really see it from the outside - if you can understand the character even a little bit, I'm not sure if that's really Blue-and-Orange Morality.

I'm also not certain as to whether it can exist at all - we know some aspects of human behavior come from how we evolved, and in a very broad sense, I think theoretical aliens are likely to have at least some overlap with those behaviors. Of course, that may not be an issue with fairies.

As far as giving characters "alien" moral systems, though, I like melloncollie's way of doing it. At the very least, it tends to produce moral systems that are fairly alien in general, not just strange to people from Western civilization (a pet peeve of mine).

{Please see the post on the Forum Rules in the Pinned section for the site policy on necros. —Madrugada}

edited 27th Aug '11 7:36:21 PM by Madrugada

I suggest reading up on the Fae.

I am a nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore, I am perfect.

The most alien of all moralities is one which not only dismisses empathy but treats it as a disgusting, vile thing outright.

A willingness or outright desire to harm something for some nebulous goal is pretty much the most Blue and Orange you could possibly get.

On a less extreme note, an ethic entirely built upon personal aesthetic can be incredibly alien and alienating, given the right mind. Or, in the near-opposite direction (or far enough in the same), the unfettered pursuit of objective truth: An entity that considers lies and misinformation paramount among moral offenses, with honest mistakes treated with the gravity of manslaughter.

edited 30th Aug '11 7:20:01 AM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.