MTG Color Pie Alignment

This article is a stub. You can help 1d4chan by expanding it

An alternative way to build character or further definition when creating a character without creating unnecessary tension driven by the traditional alignment chart. Incidentally, this is based upon Magic: The Gathering, which just so happens to be owned by Hasbro just like WotC.

Most important of the differences among these two systems is that the color Pie does away with the arbitrary designations of Good and Evil. colors don't dictate if a person is good or evil, as normal people are often defined by a weak connection to what their Alignment represents. You can be a good person of any color, and taking a color to its logical extremes will usually produce destructive and evil people. How a color will manifest will vary greatly depending on the circumstance, a Green allied person from a forest may be pro tree planting while another Green allied person from a region with no prior concept of trees may see that action as spreading an invasive species and upsetting nature.

Like with D&D Alignment, People are not restricted to a single color over their entire life, able to change, lose, or have multiple color affinities over a lifetime.

Some explanations about this are in this video.

Mono colors

The basic building blocks of world views and personalities.

White

Pro civilization, justice, Religion, Militaries, and Order. Advocates of city and empire building with the strong protect the weak, all are equals and there is no conflicts. Good people are traditional heroes wanting to protect civilians while granting them all a better future. The More evil side is the desire that all is for the Greater Good, and those that don't conform to the wise men's vision of utopia are deemed enemies of the state.

White is allied with Green and blue. Sharing Green's desire for community though Green would rather all return to monke. White has a shared interest in progress with Blue but disagreeing if the peasants or knowledge should come first.

White is opposed to Red, as its too free-spirited and destroys what it wishes. Black is also its enemy as they don't respect white's laws or morals and will try to undermine its efforts to accomplish its own goals.

Examples are The Emprah. Judge Dredd, Adeptus Arbites and the Tau. Most Humans are naturally drawn to this.

The Dark Side of White

Don't conflate White with "good". White is Order, and there are plenty of Lawful Evil types in White. White is also frequently the color of hypocrisy, and not the kind born of weakness or ignorance, either.

In other words: More Lawful than Good.

Blue

The color of improvement. Pro-Knowledge, Education, Innovation, and the general pursuit of perfection. They tend to be the Know-it-alls, the question askers, and those obsessed with the journey to continue perfecting their craft. Blue is a color that draws in Scientists, Engineers, Mathematicians, Wizards, Librarians, and Wizards. Blues love tools, using, creating, and improving to continue on their quest for answers. They don't have a preference about working with a group to accomplish something bigger but are completely fine working independently if others are not a help to further their interests. They don't have powerful attachments to tools and are often willing to adopt new and different things. It is not above using people to their ends.

Blue often wishes that the world was as obsessed with the pursuit of understanding and craftsmanship as they are with all trivial distractions gone. At its extreme, Blue would prefer that the world would become a hive mind.

Blue shares White's interests in elevating society, though Blue will do it through logic, while White will do it for compassion. Black is also friendly as they both share elements of ambition, and the lack of morals is a boon to blue research. The neighbour makes Blue's capacity for empathy fluctuate from wanting to share knowledge to its ease it could willingly sacrifice anything to learn answers.

Blue's enemies are Green which despises Blue's belief they can make things better than nature, and Red's Short-sightedness, wanting to act instead of thinking about the problem.

examples included Mordenkainen, the Thousand Sons, and most Magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus .

Black

The color of ambition and a desire for power. Having pride in oneself and the will to accomplish one's personal wishes. Black is a self-centred color, believing that caring for the self first is the key to a good life. Black's desired to accomplish often leads it down the realization of how arbitrary laws, morals, tradition, and nature can be, seeing them being used so others can maintain a status quo (often to keep them safe empower) and stopping others from improving their lot in life. Black can love people but are willing to drop them from their lives if they feel that the relationship is becoming a burden. Often, Black lives without any attachment to others.

Black too easily falls into the trap of extremes and villainy, as ambition has no limits and taboos are only consequences if they had the knowledge or power to stop you. They are willing to use forbidden magic, thinking that the warning label was to stop people from grabbing this easy power or too narcissistic to believe that they would suffer any backlash from a potentially disastrous action. Black aligned people are wonderful at taking recklessly shortcuts (being too self-confident, they won't think they will get screwed over, too many cultists fall for this) or have no concern for the life of others and are willing to sacrifice the world as short-lived faceless ants are nothing compared to godhood.

When not in its extreme form or in situations where static morality will get you nowhere, Black is more of a realist.

Black's evilness often comes from its ideal opposition to White and Green, with White strictly adhering to rules and believing they are working towards the betterment of others, even if those ideas are actually shallow and have been only used to justify cruel oppression, whereas Black is openly about the advancement of the individual, usually at the expense of other people. Green believes that one must accept the fate they were born with and how things have always been, with black believing that fate and the natural order is created by creatures trying to get by and not something set in stone.

Blue shares Black's desire for improvement, being very complimentary when getting the most out of tools to accomplish long-term goals. Black, like Red's ability to be honest with oneself, often the counterbalance to black's narcissism, keeps black at least partly connected with other emotional beings.

The Majority of Liches follows black as they often require many taboo actions to achieve and maintain their immortality. Criminals and nobles climbing the power ladder are often black, given their use of shady methods.

Non-Evil Black

One frequent argument is whether Black is "Evil" by definition; usually, the answer is taken to be "No, but only barely". For example, according to Mark Rosewater, Black is explicitly the color of the Constitution of the United States, creating an unusual situation where America is Black (Individual) Red (Freedom) and Blue (pursuit of perfection through knowledge).

The way this circle is usually squared is to note that Black is also a color of Realism and Pragmatism, of Trades, and of Individualism. It is the color of the rational check on White's more... let us say Lawful Evil tendencies.

Red

A Straight forward color of emotion and freedom. They follow their emotions and do whatever they feel like. They embraced their emotional spectrum from Rage, sorrow, to love. This connection makes Red about close-knit friendships rather than Green and White's caring for a general populace.

Red gets along with Black's self-authenticity but can find it getting too wrapped up in power and scheming rather than just enjoying life. Green can get very restrictive when keeping to the status quo, but they both have a bit in common, since what is the real difference between following your instincts vs your impulses?

Red is opposed to White and Blue as they place great restrictions on individuals, with their obsession with control, with Blue's disregard for other people, and White's need to enforce their order on others.

Green

The color of nature, Green is generally tied to instinct. Like White, it has aspects focusing on community, but this is focused more on wildlife and tribal traditions than other people. Green see long standing ecosystems and traditions should always and will endure by right that things must work out for them this long. Though not as clearly expressed as in Blue as they actively scry the future, Green the color of fate or specify being content and gladly accept the role you are born into. Paradoxically, Green can also be considered a color of individualism, as most people living among nature tend to do so to get away from the decadent trappings of civilization. This color also has some overlaps with Red, as the line between instinct and emotion tends to be very thin. One final thing to consider is that at its worst, Green can easily fall into the mindset of social Darwinism, specifically of the "might makes right" mentality: Green might see someone get brutally murdered by someone else and blame the victim for not being strong enough to fight off their attacker. on the other side may see sentient Deers trying to buck the system and kill all their natural predator rather than running as a sin against nature.

Of all the colors, Green is least likely to get along with Blue and Black. Blue's desire for knowledge tends to benefit a transhumanist mindset, while Green is simply best-suited for anarcho-primitivism. Black, with its necromancy and ambitions, tends to disrupt the balance of nature, making them more often than not a nuisance for Green-aligned individuals that live in the wilderness.

Should be also noted that Green is also muddled by traditions, so often may preach nature is perfect, the best, and has never changed. rarely acknowledging its wild scope of animal with Cuels hunting methods, Evolution, Evasive species, extinctions, and its unfairly Random.

Dual colors

When you want more nuance in your personality, you start drawing on more colors. Often named after Ravnica Guilds which prominently used them.

Allied Pairs

Dual colors that emphasize their common ground.

White-Blue

Mixing blue's desire for control and perfection with white's need for law and order creates a very orthodox individual dedicated to bringing order to all things by any means necessary. Interestingly, this combination doesn't necessarily result in a morally good person - a White-Blue character can often be a complete dictator or totalitarian in nature, imposing THE LAW wherever they go with a "For the Greater Good" mentality.

Noteworthy factions within the Multiverse include the Azorius Senate from Ravnica, Ojutai's brood from Tarkir, and are represented by Ephara, God of the Polis on Theros.

White-Green

The more unambiguously-good color pair associated with White, White-Green characters emphasise order through communion with nature - often through orderly cultivation and peaceful society. These people are more likely to be pacifist in nature but conversely can express their might through raw faith and power through community.

Noteworthy factions within the Multiverse include the Selesnya Conclave from Ravnica, Dromoka's brood from Tarkir, and worshippers of Kalametra, God of the Harvest on Theros.

Blue-Black

Manipulative, ruthless, secretive - these are the defining traits of those associated with the Blue-Black color pair. They are masters of espionage and subversion, using every trick in the bag to achieve their aims. The flexibility and control of Blue combined with the ambition and ruthlessness of Black create individuals who are coldly calculating, devoid of concern for their methods, and prize secrecy above all else.

Noteworthy factions within the Multiverse include House Dimir from Ravnica, Silumgar's brood on Tarkir, and are represented by Phenax, God of Deception on Theros.

Black-Red

Taking in Red's desire for expressive freedom with black's focus on self creates a very hedonistic person with a complete lack of morals. In Magic itself, it's often demonstrated by slaaneshy cultists backed up by horrors, demons, and devils. They are often driven by whims and pleasure at any cost, but can also manifest into a bloodthirsty fury and desire for violence.

Noteworthy factions within the Multiverse include the Cult of Rakdos from Ravnica, Vampire bloodlines from Innistrad, Kolaghan's brood from Tarkir, and are represented on Theros by Mogis, God of Slaughter.

Red-Green

Taking Red's emphasis on passion and combining it with Green's might of nature creates individuals of particular abandon and savagery that wish for nothing but to be free of civilization and PARTY ALL THE TIME. Red-Green characters aren't necessarily savages but may resent civilization for encroaching upon nature and because of their personal natures may take more direct action against the civilised (also known as smashing their faces in).

Noteworthy factions within the Multiverse include the Gruul Clans from Ravnica, Atarka's brood from Tarkir, and were represented by Xenagos, God of Revels until he was stabbed to death in God-land on Theros. He was later replaced by Klothys, God of Destiny.

Opposing Pairs

Dual colors that are normally conflicting so they present a middle ground between the two ideas.

Black-White

Also referred to as Orzhov. It comes from the conflict of Black's needs of the self and White's needs of others. This conflict can manifest as tribalism, where instead of only elevating just self, the individual will associate himself with an in-group and derive satisfaction with its elevation. They wish for prosperity of the group (and themselves) with black's ability to do things unsavoury with whites order placing a few safety values on their power lust (assuming this is wise empathetic white and not corrupt absolute domination white).

the is often a color many Background nobles and Berocrates in fiction are, trying to play the power game while adhering to a strict set of social norms.

The namesake Orzhov was a Church that turned into Banker a side of Mafia activity. Defiantly an eviller side using rules and faith to extort money for the oligarch members.

SilverQuile from Strixhaven is a more positive MTG example with them learning to be bards. Learning to raise the audience and belittle enemies with words, while taking center stage.

many Anti-Superheroes like the punisher fall under here with wanting to better society but are willing to cross the other capes no-killing policy to achieve it.

Blue-Green

The colors of the Simic Combine, Blue-Green takes Blue's desire for knowledge and Green's desire for physical improvement, and uses one to achieve the other, usually through fleshcrafting.

Red-Blue

The color-combo of the Izzet League, it represents both Blue's pursuit of knowledge and Red's desire for passion resulting in leaps of creativity, making it perfect for representing mad scientists everywhere.

The Izzet League creates by applying their knowledge to whatever they whim to invent that day, Red's impulsiveness and Blue's lack of empathy often resulting in zero regard for safety or property damage.

A more controlled example is the Prismari, who understand that doing paperwork after blowing up a city block is not fun, so they'd rather put creativity into creating displays of art and performances, refining and enjoying their craft.

Black-Green

Most famously known from the Golgari Swarm, this color combination takes Green and Black and applies them both to create an understanding of the cycle of life and death (and sometimes undeath). To loosely paraphrase from Mufasa, when we die, we become food for decomposers, like worms and fungi. As they break our bodies down into soil, life can spring anew from us in the form of plants, which get eaten by animals and blah blah blah you know the rest. To put a long story short, Black-Green philosophy believes that death is a vital component of the life-cycle, without it, new life would struggle to grow.

Tricolors

Now getting into the more advanced version of Tricolors. Now dealing with three philosophies intercrossing, it's often easiest to start by defining what colors they are not to understand how they work together.

Shards

Named after shards of Alara, the main set that demonstrated what a world that's dominated by this combination is like. They are a combination of three colors, the main bridge, and its two neighbours.

JUND

... One final thing to consider is that at its worst, Green can easily fall into the mindset of social darwinism, specifically of the "might makes right" mentality: Green might see someone get brutally murdered by someone else and blame the victim for not being strong enough to fight off their attacker.

BANT

White, Blue, Green. are Missing the independent colors of Red and Black. They are about working together in an interconnected community.

Wedge

in a pentagon, you make a triangle by combining aside and the angle across. This creates a Duel pair of allies colors but tempered with a shared opposing color, often creating a more nuanced world view. they are named after clans from the Tarkir set as they were the first prominent users.