"If you say that the prisoners were a form of undead, killing them was inherently Good."

"In a different universe, Pharasma's condemnation of undead is irrelevant."

"It sounds like their existence was counter to the system they have there, which doesn't have active guidance from gods, so we look at the gods' apparent intentions in setting up the system, which is endless resurrection."

"Yes, we should treat defiance of other universes' gods as we would want them to treat defiance of Pharasma."

"'Should'?"

"I interpret Axis as offering advice to me on how to judge in Pharasma's interests, not reaching beyond the domain of this court under In re Crouse."

"I don't know what undead are so cannot really comment on the comparison. My intent was to prevent suffering."

And maybe SLIGHTLY to murder someone she found personally repellent, but not to cause him pain and the murder part is practically routine among powerful Dwellin, since you're reading her thoughts have all these anecdotal examples- The annual scheduled war which sees twenty percent casualties and everyone involved going home happy, death-matches for leadership changes in the more dangerous regions, pirates and warbands changing leadership practically daily in jolly good fun until someone who can keep it for a while ends up on top, casual murder attempts turning into negotiated trade deals after the fact-

Anyway, Allikreav was awful and had to be stopped. At least for a while. She ended up going after him a couple more times in future lives, not breaking any deals this time, until he cut it out with the torture enough that she hasn't heard of it happening in the last few hundred years.

"When you said '...my motivation for maintaining the soul wells as I do is for the benefit of all Dwellin, that they may return to live again, and that they do so in friendly, supportive communities.', how did your work affect the prevalence or nature of 'friendly, supportive communities'?"

"The social role of treecarer is religious, a teacher and roaming advisor, as well as practical, the actual care and keeping of the soul trees. My lessons oft focused on Firnu and Dela, whose teachings indicate hard work and discipline and keeping to promises, and kindness and planning ahead and loving children specifically, respectively. When giving guidance I would focus on these aspects- Keep your forestry and animals in order, keep your feuds on the field of honor and not in the household, keep your fear and hate away from your children. Also, I would give services cheaply or freely where they are most needed, and had little need for expansive material possessions- Other than sorcerer-stones- So I gave a lot of the gifts I receive from kings to keep their soul-wells in order to charity."

(In her head, she is running through memory exercises to try and dredge up more details about the oath of non-aggression, about that night full of white hot fury-)

"So yes, that's a lot of Law and Good, but that isn't exactly what I asked. Does maintaining the soul wells itself contribute to 'friendly, supportive communities'?"

"Why does that matter? There's already plenty of Law and Good, as you said."

"I want to focus on the notion that keeping consistent priorities and maintaining structures is Lawful. The decedent originally described her treecarer duties as Good. While I don't doubt her overall Good, for example her social work as part of her role, maintaining the soul wells is not Good as far as I can tell."

"By analogy with the work of psychopomps, it's clearly Neutral."

"As my colleague from the Boneyard says, yes, but I want to bring focus back to the decedent's deliberate purpose and consistency, which, separate from the particulars of the purpose, is Lawful. In re Guardian of 23 Sandstone Boulders establishes that following a personal code is Lawful if the decedent does or is prepared to make sacrifices to follow it. Abadar vs Kofusachi -7025 says that deliberately making oneself easier to trade with is Lawful. Heaven vs Grace -7977 says that one can trade Lawfully with beings of significantly lower intelligence, such as ants, but I argue that the same applies to trade between gods and mortals. Acts by mortals to make it easier for gods to trade with them, such as keeping a consistent personality and preferences, are thus Lawful."

"She doesn't think her gods exist and wasn't trying to trade with them. If she was acting consistently over time it's because she wanted to do that as near-enough a terminal value, so far as I can tell."

"...Permanent settlements are almost always unviable without at least one Soul Well at their center, and a source of clean water and food. Migrant communities too rely on the existence of soul wells not more than a few weeks' travel apart. Soul wells can survive on their own, but not generally proliferate, and are occasionally destroyed, so the work of maintaining them is necessary and contributes to civilization."

Not that their civilization would be allowed to collapse entirely by the fail-safes the gods seem to have built, but there is better and there is worse.

"I accept that lack of knowledge is a mitigating factor, but not that it erases the alignment of the act entirely.

It's Lawful when an artisan advertises fixed prices out of a personal aversion to haggling rather than any grand ideal of fair trade. It's Chaotic when they give a discount to the local lord, even if that's what everyone else does."

"It sounds like her motive was Good after all, Axis."

"And Lawful in its particulars.

Going back to my point, her general consistency is Lawful however she intended it."

"Are you implying that clerics of Chaotic gods are somehow Lawful?"

"Yes! A little bit!"

This is irrelevant. But he can't just cut off argument...

"Then you've made a mistake! I don't know where, but clerics of Chaotic gods aren't Lawful!"

"Not on balance, no, but a cleric of a Chaotic god who renounced Them is some amount more Lawful than a person who was never a cleric at all."

"How does that apply to the decedent?"