Karma is Legends of Aria's system for determining how "criminal" any given player is. Karma is measured in points and your total Karma can be seen on the Character Window (default hotkey: "C"). There are three states of Karma: Peaceful, Chaotic, and Unlawful. Karma has a variety of effects and can fall into the negative numbers quickly as players perform actions that are considered Unlawful. Players can change their Karma alignment under the Karma Window located in the very top right of the game window.
Alignment
Peaceful
While under this Karma state, the game will prevent players from performing actions that will cause Karma loss such as attacking other players, healing aggressive monsters, or stealing.
Chaos
They are able to perform any negative action as long as it will not cause them to become an Outcast. Chaotic players can still enter towns and may not be assaulted within them. Karma gains are disabled while Chaotic. Enabling Chaotic will automatically set the player character's name to Chaotic (orange) and their Karma to -1 if it were higher before. Chaotic players must set their state back to Peaceful if they wish to repair your Karma.
Unlawful
Unlawful players are not restricted by the game in any way, even in protected areas. They may perform any action heedless of consequence. Karma gains are disabled while Unlawful. Enabling Unlawful will set your Karma to -1 if it were positive before. An unlawful player's name will be automatically set to Chaotic (orange) until you gain enough negative Karma to become Outcast (red).
Name Colors
Blue (Innocent)
Blue names are given to players who are Innocent. These players have a Karma level of 0 or higher, and have not committed any Unlawful action recently. Attacking or stealing from an Innocent player is always Unlawful. Upon character creation, players are automatically set to Innocent.
Orange (Chaotic)
Orange names indicate a Chaotic character; one who has neither positive nor severely negative Karma. Karma at -1 will automatically trigger Chaotic. Chaotic players won't be attacked by city guards and may not be assaulted while in town. Chaotic players may freely attack each other out of town and may also be freely attacked by Outcasts (see below). If an Innocent player attempts to attack a Chaotic character, the Innocent will be asked if they wish to "fight for order". If the Innocent agrees to "fight for order" will flag them with a Shield and allows to them to attack or be attacked by Chaotic players.
Red (Outcast)
Red-named characters are Outcast characters. They have accrued such an amount of negative Karma that city guards will attack them on sight. Outcast status is automatically assigned when a character reaches -10,000 Karma. Outpost guards (neutral towns) will allow Outcasts inside but will protect any inhabitants within their outpost borders. Outcasts can be attacked by any player anywhere except in Towns (wherein the Outcast is killed on sight) and Outposts. Outcasts cannot use a standard Resurrection Shrine, and must instead find an Outcast Shrine or have a player resurrect them to return to the living world.
Icons
Dagger (Aggressor)
This icon is applied to player who have attacked or stolen loot from you recently. You may freely seek your vengeance anywhere (except towns) you see players with this icon.
Skull (Victim)
This icon is applied next to players who you have attacked or stolen loot from recently. It expires after some time and allows the player carrying the icon to attack you without any repercussions from city guards or Karma loss.
Shield (For Order)
This icon is applied to Innocent (Blue) players who have opted in to "fight for order." Attacking a Chaotic character or attempting to aid a For Order character (Heal, Bandage, Cure, etc) will trigger a prompt asking if they wish to fight for order. Bearing this icon allows Chaotic characters to attack them with no karma loss and vice versa. This does not necessarily mean guards won't attack. Only that attacking will not cause progress towards becoming an Outcast.
Gaining and Repairing Karma
Daily
Each day you log in, if your alignment is not set to Chaos or Unlawful, you gain +50 Karma.
Dispatches
The most common method of gaining Karma is to take on Dispatches. These are missions, often in the Wilderness, given by NPCs in Eldeir Village, Pyros' Landing, Valus, and Helm indicated by a banner icon. The missions send the player to wipe out an infestation of a random monster type. The type and difficulty of the monster varies depending on total skill points in combat-related Skills. Destroying the den completes the dispatch and each monster spawned by the den and killed rewards +20 Karma.
Rare Spawns
In static spawn locations, such as Graveyards and Bandit Camps, a rare enemy may spawn instead of an ordinary enemy. These enemies are identified by their orange-colored names and gold borders around their health bars. Other than superior loot, they also reward +20 Karma. Most Dungeons also contain a number of rare spawn enemies somewhere in their depths.
Repair
Every new character starts with +100 Karma, Innocent and Peaceful. Though this is the default setting, many players choose to walk a more dangerous path as Chaotic or Outcast. However, even the most dangerous of Outcasts need a reprieve in the safety of Town. Unfortunately, their life of lawlessness does not go unnoticed.
Chaotic characters -who can still enter town- may set their Alignment back to Peaceful to enable karma gains once more. This will not refund any lost Karma but allows them to benefit from Karma gains while killing monsters on Dispatch.
Outcasts have very limited options for repairing Karma and may only hunt rare spawn monsters while Peaceful to regain Karma until they are Outcasts no longer and may enter town.