Alignment is the system which governs the moral and ethical codes of characters and institutions capable of making conscious decisions that affect other living beings and the world around them. It is broadly categorised into three common alignments: Evil, Neutral and Good. Every character is intrinsically tied to one alignment as determined by their birth, and only a great and powerful act of magic or divine intervention is capable of changing this.

Piety is the measure of a character's relationship with the Divine and is intrinsically linked to their thoughts, behaviours and actions throughout their life. A character need not be religious in order to be pious; whereas religion consists of the institution and philosophy of a particular expression or interpretation of its alignment, piety measures how consistently and deliberately a character acts in accordance with, or against the principles of, their intrinsic alignment.

As with many measures in Tak'Rahn, piety is categorised into several levels according to the extent to which the character has complied with or acted against the principles of their alignment. Over time their piety slowly resets back to average, meaning that greater weight is given to more recent actions, while past sins are eventually forgiven and past achievements in time are forgotten.

It is the thought and intention behind an act, rather than the act itself, which determines the spectral alignment of the astral energy imprinted by the act. A creature that kills for food is not intrinsically evil as it is simply following its instincts for survival with no conscious malice behind the act. To slay another being in self-defence when no other option was available would not necessarily be considered an Evil act, unless the act of bloodshed itself brought joy to the slayer. Likewise, even acts of altruism are only Good if performed with genuine altruistic intent; if it were performed merely out of duty or to advance an entity's own interests then this energy would not feed the Light Divine.

The Divine is the name given to the plane of existence inhabited by supernatural entities and magical forces intrinsic to each alignment. This plane is aethereal in nature and represents the accumulation of astral energies created by the thoughts, intentions, beliefs, emotions and experiences of entities capable of consciously acting in accordance with moral and ethical principles.

There are three aspects of the Divine which correspond to the Evil, Neutral and Good alignments; these are the Dark, Twilight and Light Divines respectively. Evil energies feed the Dark Divine, Neutral energies feed the Twilight Divine and Good energies feed the Light Divine.

Those who are skilled in the use of magic may be capable of drawing upon the Divinity of their alignment. Their ability to do so is strongly tied to their piety, such that the impious will have greater difficulty controlling the Divine and may even be harmed by it if they stray too far from their alignment. The pious are likewise rewarded with greater ease in calling forth Divine magic and are also better protected against such magic should it be employed against them for destructive purposes. The closer an entity's relationship to the Divine, the greater the protection from its hostile aspects; likewise the more distant their relationship the more vulnerable they are even to Divine magic of their own alignment.

Evil characters are those who enjoy the suffering and subjugation of others. They view others as resources to be exploited and believe in the idea that power belongs to those who are strong enough to hold it, be that through physical brute force or cunning manipulations.

Evil characters who embody hatred and brutality, manipulation and cruelty will find favour with the Dark Divine, while those who embody weakness and fail to serve their own interests will suffer the disfavour of the Dark Divine.

Violence and destruction are valued principles of the Evil alignment.

Neutral characters are those who live according to a personal code of honour. Their attitude towards others is primarily determined by their personal relationships with those individuals and acts that might otherwise be considered Good or Evil when viewed in isolation are judged according to whether or not such an act could be considered honourable in the context of that situation.

Neutral characters who walk the balanced path between Good and Evil and act in accordance with their personal principles will gain piety with the Twilight Divine, while those who stray too far into extremes and act against their principles will lose touch with the Twilight Divine.

Balance and self-determination are valued principles of the Neutral alignment.

Good characters are those who value the lives and well-being of others above that of their own. They view all life as sacred and idolise the idea of noble self-sacrifice for the constructive benefit of others.

Good characters who dedicate their life to the betterment of others, opposing the malice of evil and the selfishness of the neutral, are the ones who will gain closeness with the Light Divine. Meanwhile, those who commit harm, allow evil to go unchecked and put themselves ahead of others risk becoming shunned by the Light Divine.

Compassion and altruism are valued principles of the Good alignment.

There are 11 categories of piety in total, with the median category showing a relationship with the Divine that is neither favourable nor unfavourable. The levels above this indicate a favourable relationship with the Divine, while the levels below the median reflect an unfavourable relationship with the Divine.

The table below lists all the levels of piety in descending order of closeness to the Divine, with the titles assigned to both the general relationship signified by that level of piety and the alignment-specific titles awarded to those characters whose piety level is above or below the median.