Editing Alignment (section)

===Lawful Neutral===
====Obstructive bureaucrat====
{{Topquote|Justice is not blind, for I am her eyes.|Vhailor ''Planescape Torment''}}

Think Paladins without the morality. Lawful Neutral characters are essentially the law-made-manifest. They uncompromisingly enforce the law down to the letter and do not give any unofficial leeway regardless of the circumstances. Stole some food to feed your starving family? One year, isocubes. Stole a car to save the lives of hundreds? '''Five years.''' Robbed the bank to buy a cure for your dying sister? '''TWENTY YEARS!''' And code thirty six thirteen, the first degree murder of a street judge... Death. Court's adjourned.

If they aren't actively enforcing the law, they are instead following it to the letter and will insist that other people must do the same. The reasoning varies, but it usually boils down to them respecting and upholding order, which the law represents. Upholding order isn't always simple or easy, sometimes you have to make the hard call and have morality take a back seat a few times for the bigger picture (what the "bigger picture" actually is will vary from character from character, of course).

At best, they're obstructive bureaucrats who will get through almost anything by ruthlessly exploiting every legal avenue and loophole they can find (they probably legally ruined a few lives along the way, but the law's the law, not their problem). At worst, they're insufferable [[Rules Lawyer]]s given the license of roleplay, and will bitch even more about the rules than the lawful goods. They're going to turn on you the second you jaywalk across the street to stop a mugger, so as soon as you get out of town, leave them in a shallow grave. Beware even harder of [[Lawful Stupid]].

That being said, there are settings where they're justified. Judge Dredd, the Adeptus Arbites,... Chicago or California on a weekend... Whatever it may say about human nature, it's pretty easy to worldbuild a scenario where hard-nosed lawgivers are the last bastion of morality and justice. On non-[[grimdark]] settings, though, they could end up being the actual villains of the story in the absence of an outright [[BBEG]].

One risk over with this alignment is how easily it can quickly seep over into Lawful Evil and a lot of this seems to come from the (likely accidental) enabling of evil deeds. At times, it makes them come off over as a sort of of passive Lawful Evil rather than actually Lawful Neutral. Then again, this may speak more to the nature of morality on a systemic level vs individual level. 

====Unfeeling machine====
{{Topquote|Once i understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me.|[[Adeptus Mechanicus]]}}
Another, also somewhat common, archetype are literal machines or inhuman aliens who are instead ruled by cold logic and numbers, and are downright unable to think in terms of morality and emotions, or even comprehend them, because it is just not part of their nature, and are only ever able to make decisions based on what's a more efficient use of available resources. In some cases, they have sapience, but not sentience. You'll rarely be able to reason with these, so might as well whack 'em and toss their metal bodies into a rubbish pile... unless cooperating with them is required (e.g. unfeeling [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] members are the only people capable of preventing Imperial tech from becoming possessed or broken). Or if their programming just so happens to be beneficial to you and detrimental to the [[BBEG]], and/or you can control/reprogram/manipulate them (perhaps, ''you'' are the one who programmed them), in which case they'll be your most trusted allies/tools.

:;''Example(s)'': An uncompromising judge who dispenses justice as their codex demands, for better or worse. The [[Modron|Modrons]] from Planescape for the "unfeeling machines" archetype.

:;''Iconic Character(s)'': Good old [[Judge Dredd]]. Or Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory when he isn't scheming (Lawful Evil) or being Lawful Good to his friends. 

:;''Expected Personality'': A driven yet impartial arbiter of order and stability at best. The first half of the neutral jerkass duo, who wants to stop people from having fun at worst.