A funny discovery here: are we sure that House Mikkarol’s trait was supposed to be amoral and not immoral?
It is philosophical, but immoral is, well, evil by knowing what is good or bad but still doing it. In this case they are “just” bad.
Amoral is the “absence of, indifference towards, disregard for, or incapacity for morality”. So the House is either a collection of sever psychopaths who do not understand good and evil at worst, or an interesting challange, disregard of moral distincions at best.
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A family that makes a living by being slavers maybe they are made up of psychopaths. Really though immoral is probably a better term. To take your definitions into an example a tiger hunting and killing for food is amoral. A human killing another human is immoral. At least 98% of time diminished capacity and all that. My thoughts are as a noble house with control of an entire world that they think they are superior to the morality that exist for the common man. Sorta like Friedrich Nietzsche’s Will to Power theory. They are above the common man and use them as human chattel. A disclaimer, I am not a proponent of such theories. Just a student of history.
Heh, when I ran my first Dune campaign un the early 2000’s (Last Unicorn System, nice book, but some issues with pyrrhic victories) my players did actually describe their actions as Amoral, not Immoral.
Their view is that they did what was right for the House. So that was their guidestar, not common morality.
From the description above it is probably a misreading of Amoral, but their actions were for the House not themselves.
This is a very philosophical / psychological topic. Actually, what is moral is also a social construct, and considering a the vast space of the Dune Universe, everything possible.
What you described is immoral. They know what is right, but they do it for “whatever”, here for their house, reason. Amoral is when you have no, or you are incapable of making that distinction (an animal for example as @SiridarBaronBrugge wrote). But the words became synonyms in everyday life, so it was just a curios note of mine.
@SiridarBaronBrugge: House Mikarrol is a strange House, I agree!
Since we started discussing them in two different threads, I am interested in using them as a potential antagonist in my next campaign. I can see a war of Kanly with such a house being a truly nasty affair with intrigue and battles to be had. Also, it will allow for some philosophical choices about right and wrong. What does it truly mean to rule and protect a people.
I am writing up the details for House Gauger, but I have to hand my thesis on the 6th, so I won’t have time to finish it in the coming days. If you are not in hurry I can share the final version later.
My interpretation is along the line of “decadent, but playable” with a couple of twists. Still, quite dark House. I made Gaugers more in the shadow type, as Mikarrol is a Major House already.
Mikarrol (the immoral one ) is easier to use as they are prominent. Gauger are on the periphery and less prominent. Of course for a good Gamemaster nothing is impossible.
I would appreciate that. Especially, since that is minor Harkonnen family. I would very interested in your take on them.
I am putting some stuff together for my campaign and I think House Mikarrol will be a primary antagonist in the campaign. Their legal maneuvering over debt and slave taking. Then Reyder’s predation on the players House territory will lead to a ever escalating series of conflict. At least until one side or the other figures out an end game. I will post as I have more concrete details.