Quote Originally Posted by Carry2 View Post
So I'm not basing my argument on C=E, but on the idea that deliberate endangerment and coercion of others is, all else equal, a rather bad thing. And I think you need a pretty heavy counterweight to balance that out alignment-wise.
I think it is fair to assume that Shojo was trying his best to serve his people as well as he can. The assassination of the monarch of a state probably wouldn't be too helpful in preventing infighting between that state's feudal lords, so Shojo may quite reasonably have seen protecting his own life as a way of protecting many other innocent lives. It certainly seems a stretch to say that all was hunky-dory between the lords until Shojo stirred things up.


As for details on this point being beyond the pale of relevance: Given that Durokan's tryst with Lirian, a random encounter between Right-Eye and Eugene, or even Haley's bubble-bath made the cut in other prequel books, I don't think it's unfair to suggest the public policy of a man who directly or indirectly affected millions of in-setting lives and vast stretches of the storyline- basically anything after strip 200 and/or involving any of the Azurites- might merit being more than just an informed attribute.
That he is trying to do Good things with Chaotic means is pretty much the opposite of an informed attribute. Trying to save the world by going behind the backs of Paladins, faking senility to free himself from fear of assassination and with it any obligation to pander to the nobles, these are very very clearly Chaotic Good acts.

It's another matter when two characters can have one-hundred-percent opposite alignments despite, going by in-comic evidence, eerily similar approaches and motives.
Tarquin's motives are entirely selfish: he wants to live like a king (by only technically not actually being one) and look really awesome in the process. Shojo's motives are not (exclusively) selfish: he wants to protect his people from the end of the world. Yes, it is selfish for him to want to protect his own life as well, but self-preservation doesn't really register on the Evilometer. I really see very little similarity between their motives.

In terms of approaches, the key difference is their respective general tendencies. Tarquin achieves his goals by using, upholding, and even strengthening the legal system and the rigidness of its enforcement. Shojo simply ignores the law whenever he sees fit, but it is always because he thinks it serves the greater good. Sure, Shojo turned out to be wrong that some of those actions were the best ones, but we don't penalize people for ineffectiveness.