suzy from conception (hurr) was always written as an idealistic character, even during darker times
sam's inspiration was actually partly by this really cool ass post on /tg/ i saw, wish i screencapped it
basically it was about people who, as they grew up, would see more and more of the world's suffering, starting from people they talked to, to everybody around them, to the whole planet, to the whole universe, along with every sentient and non-sentient creature, at all times, every time
one part of it was a man who was utterly broken by this, and became some insane crusader who wanted to genocide everyone to end suffering
another part had annother guy saved from being killed in an accident by another guy, who wound up getting killed in the accident, but the savior had no "suffering" to him, as he died knowing he saved another
so the survivor went on to become the best he could be and took up paladinship
obviously sam's a bit less extreme than that but she's seen a lot of suffering in her life from proxy of her ability

suzie is probably the best partymember in terms of morals i think
samantha and steph have similar Reasons, tho steph is far more self-interested in it
UN JOUR JE SERAI DE RETOUR PRÈS DE TOI