Boffo97 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 9:11 am
Does INTEGRITY, as a game concept, reflect an objective right and wrong in the universe, or does it reflect morality in one's own culture?
As a game concept I'd generally treat low integrity as tending toward villainous character and high integrity as tending toward good character, from our perspective (or that of the Federation ideal). That can get subjective for sure, but ultimately it can help differentiate affiliations and groups in broad strokes and get an idea of who the bad and good guys are in the game.
Thus for example Founders can be given low integrity even if they follow their own moral code because that code tends to adversely affect other civilizations. The Jem'Hadar can be given decent integrity perhaps because they're viewed a little more kindly, or as Sisko noted, "They were good. Tough, professional. It was an honor to serve with them." So they get a pass (and maybe the affiliation needed for them to get a pass).
There's still stuff that maybe doesn't fit all that well.
Norah Satie for example gets a 9 even though Picard indeed basically called her a villain. I guess with such a character it was either going to be very high or very low, and maybe her aim to root out wrongdoing helped with the decision to go high. I'm not sure where
Alidar Jarok ought to fall, but to me it's too low.
Boffo97 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 9:11 am
There's a slave uprising and the First is ordered to show that the Dominion means what they say by killing the hostage children. Does the First obey the order?
The Jem'Hadar do seem to have the ability to have a worldview beyond unquestioningly following orders ("Hippocratic Oath," "To the Death," "By Inferno's Light," "Rocks and Shoals"). Any hopes though are tempered by the feeling that for the Jem'Hadar, abrupt consideration of the poor children might just be too alien a concept to them.
IMO higher integrity for the Jem'Hadar doesn't necessarily translate as more faithful obedience to orders; rather, it's reflected in those who have formulated and been tested on a moral code that we might see as being on the the honorable side. It might be as with
Remata'Klan deciding it meant that his Vorta (his feudal lord essentially) had claim over his life, even knowing he's been betrayed. Or it might be as with
Ikat'ika refusing to let his Vorta dictate how to act over a matter of Jem'Hadar honor, allowing himself to be killed instead.
It's in this space with a higher integrity Jem'Hadar where I think the hostages can at least improve their odds. Marginally TBH because after the First removes himself or gets removed from the equation the numbers keep going--but maybe the children are really persuasive.