In January, this year, I published an alternate alignment option I called Color Devotion. The intent behind this option was to provide an option that would allow PCs and NPCs that occupy a spectrum of possible allegiances and philosophies between good and evil. As some sort of reflection of player complexity, characters might possess any combination of one or more color devotions.
The next devotion I will explore is Red Devotion. Red Devotion is characterized by its wild and reactive nature For further exploration of Red as a character philosophy, I can heartily endorse the Dice Try YouTube Channel and Mark Rosewater's essay "Seeing Red" both of which I leaned heavily into trying to figure out how this would look in my game.
Red Devotion
Red Devotion represents the power of emotion and the desire for freedom
Allied Devotions Black and Green
Rival Devotions White and Blue
Red Magic When spellcasters manifest White aligned spells, they may feel a sense of Faithful resolution and fraternity. Sometimes they feel a deep sense of sympathy for the weak and downtrodden and a longing for equality.
Adapted From Seeing Red
Red devotion represents a desire for freedom.
Red's greatest strength is its ability to know what it wants. Red has purpose and clarity. In addition, red is committed to taking action to get the things it wants. Others might pine for things; red actively takes the steps to acquire them. This drive grants red a passion and speed that can often overwhelm its adversaries. Red's enthusiasm creates an energy that allows it to do amazing things.
Red's greatest weakness is an unwillingness to think long-term. Red is very short-sighted, trying to accomplish what it wants right now and seldom thinking of the ramifications of its actions. Red often puts all its eggs in one basket, and if that plan doesn't work out, red can easily get itself in trouble. In addition to all that, red is very bad at taking advice from others, choosing to follow its own path even when everyone around it is saying that disaster awaits.
What does Red Want?
Everyone seems preoccupied with the meaning of life. Red's not, because red already knows the answer. You see, your heart tells you what it needs to be fulfilled. All you have to do is listen to it and act accordingly. It's not a mystery. You are bombarded with constant feelings guiding you down the correct path. The problem is all the other colors ignore the message.
Life's an adventure, and it's up to each individual to experience it. The key is to embrace your emotions and let them guide you. If you're happy, laugh. If you're sad, cry. If you're angry, hit something. If you're scared, run away. Listen to your inner voice and you will have the opportunity to experience all that life has to offer.
Too many individuals live their life questioning the choices they've made. Not red. Red lives in the moment; red is spontaneous; red embraces every adventure put before it. Red knows that it will reflect on a fulfilled life with no regrets on its deathbed. That's all red wants—the ability to live life doing what it needs to.
This doesn't mean Red is alone. Quite the opposite, actually. Part of living life is embracing relationships. Red knows passion and loyalty and camaraderie and lust. When red bonds with another, it bonds strongly and fiercely. Whether a lover or a friend, red is someone who will always be there when you need them. Well, unless life has taken them somewhere else for some length of time—but when they get back, they will definitely be there for you.
To outsiders, red might seem a bit chaotic, only because others can't see what's in Red's heart. They cannot feel Red's emotions guiding them. Living life to its fullest takes a lot of dedication and perseverance, but Red is always up to the task.
How Does Red Devotion Get There
Red is a color of action. If you want something, you must constantly take steps toward your goal. You can't cross the finish line if you're not in the race. Red achieves its goals because it prioritizes making things happen and takes steps to ensure that they will.
A big part of this is red being very attuned to its feelings. Red always knows the next action it has to take because it listens to what its heart is instructing it to do. Red is never without direction or guidance. Now, that direction can change—sometimes quickly—because the heart is fickle, but red is always ready to act.
Red has a few different tools at its disposal. First, it has the resources to be destructive when it needs to be. If something is causing red problems, red can blow it up. Or burn it down. Or destroy it through a variety of different means. Red's not afraid to get its hands dirty, and it never backs down from a challenge.
Red also has speed on its side. Red's impulsiveness allows it to act instantaneously, and it doesn't ever need time to think through its actions. Red can hit fast and strong before others can even prepare for what's coming.
Red is good at manipulating emotions. Just as red feels every impulse strongly, it can fan the flames of emotions within others—often to powerful effect.
Red can be very tricky. It has an impish nature that it can tap into, which allows it to interfere with the plans of others.
Red is relentless. As long as Red cares about something, it will keep trying until it gets what it needs.
Red's focus and energy make it the most driven color. It knows what it wants and it acts on those feelings without the slightest hesitation. Getting between red and what it wants can be very, very dangerous.
What Does Red Devotion Reject
Red doesn't like being frustrated or bored. The first happens when someone tries to inform red that it cannot do what it wants to do. Red's default reaction is to just do it anyway, but if something tries to stop red, red will figure out how to remove the obstacle in its way. Red likes to see itself as an unstoppable force that will just keep taking action until it gets what it wants.
Red's other pet peeve is when nothing is happening. Red is a color of action, so anything leading to inaction drives red crazy. Red has no patience nor a long-term plan, so the last thing it wants to do is not do anything. Red would much rather fail miserably than sit back and never try.
How Does Red Devotion Interact with Other Devotions
Red looks at black and sees a color guided by an internal voice, not external ones. Black also values the ability to do what it wants, and it understands the importance of destruction. Black plans and plots a little more than red likes, and is a bit more selfish than even red is comfortable with, but overall black is a color that red can identify with.
Green embraces its instinct and, like red, can act without needing to think about it first. Green has a wild side that red appreciates. Green is also big on "might making right," a concept that red can get behind. Green is a little more orderly than red would prefer and, at times, a bit more serene than red can handle; but it's definitely a color that red feels at home with.
Red looks at white and sees a color that seems to exist solely to complicate things unnecessarily. White's obsession with rules and laws creates system after system designed to prevent red from doing what it wants to do. Even worse, it has the tools to enforce its structure. Scariest of all, white has the means to imprison red, along with the infrastructure to falsely justify such an action. This leads to the worst possible outcome for red: a complete loss of freedom.
Red sees blue as a danger because blue lives to undercut the value of feelings. If blue had its way, individuals would be emotionless automatons never knowing what it was to experience raw emotions. In addition, blue's mission seems to be to make nothing happen. Blue wants to destroy red's way of life, and bore red to death in the process.
What Represents Red Devotion
Here are some things essential to red:
Emotion—If you're going to follow your heart, that means being in touch with your emotions. And not just some of your emotions, but all of them. Magic is a combat-oriented game, so we obviously focus more on anger and aggressive emotions that make sense in combat. But red is just as swayed by every emotion. Red also doesn't bottle up its emotions, it lets them out. Red loves action, and emotions are great motivators.
Mood Swings—Not only is red focused on emotions, it's always focused on many emotions all at once. This means that red is more prone than any other color to have emotional swings. Red can laugh one moment and be in tears the next. Others might see this as being unfocused and easily distracted, but red feels it's important to always stay in touch with your feelings—and if that means some emotional swings, then that is just what was meant to be.
Impulse—Red doesn't have time for thinking. Thinking takes way too long. Red's competitive advantage is its speed and the ability to make big decisions instantaneously. Red can accomplish this by relying on its impulses to make the right call. Your gut is just so much faster than your brain.
Might (Solving problems through brawn)—If red has to choose between letting its mind solve a problem and letting its body solve it, red heavily leans towards the latter. Red has a lot of practice using action to get things done.
Violence—Red prefers blunt answers. One blunt answer is physical violence. Someone gets in your way, hit them until they fall down. That usually solves it . . . for now. But that's good enough.
Brutality—Some other colors draw a line between what is acceptable and what is not. Red blurs that line. Red prefers amicable resolutions—but if it finds other, more direct solutions, red has no problem using them.
Destruction—Red likes easy-to-remember plans of action. If a thing is a problem, there's a simple universal answer: Destroy the thing. To red, destruction is an art unto itself, and those who master the art have a lot fewer things bugging them.
Chaos—This is white's word, not red's. Red just wants things to run the way they want to run, and as we're dealing with humans, it's messy. But that mess contains the beauty red sees in the world. Each individual is living the life determined for them, and as different people's lives crash into one another, we start to understand the impact individuals have on the group. It seems disjointed from afar, but as you dig in deep you find that the inconsistencies, the variance, the flaws all add that extra layer of humanity.
Randomness—Life isn't orderly, so why should people act as if it is? Part of finding happiness is recognizing that things don't always happen for a reason; red has embraced randomness as an inevitable component of life.
Spontaneity—Red recognizes that one of the great joys of life is the ability to do what you want to do in the instant you want to do it. In order to allow this to happen as much as possible, red embraces the idea that things don't have to be planned ahead but rather can be created in the moment.
Humor—Red loves to laugh, and as such is the color that most actively creates and appreciates humor. The other four colors all have their own form of humor, but none are as blunt, as broad, or as entertaining as red's.
Mischievousness—Red enjoys doing things to entertain itself. One of those things is messing with other individuals. It's really funny when things don't go as others have planned.
The Elements of Fire and Earth—Red values the volatile side of these natural elements (lightning, fire, earthquakes, mudslides, etc.), and quite often uses them as the source of its direct damage.
Fighting (Brawling)—Red does not back down from a fight but note that these fights are much more unstructured brawling than any formalized combat.
Romance—Red's a lover and a fighter. Just as red won't back down from a fight, red is also not afraid of letting others know how it feels. Red isn't scared of relationships. It knows that through close bonds with others, some of life's happiest moments happen.
Hedonism—Red embraces following your feelings. Most of the time, that means doing things you want to do because they're things you'd enjoy. Red sees no shame in delivering on this basic need.
Barbarism—The offshoot of valuing action over thought is that many times you act in a more primitive manner.
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