Both sides are the good guys, and as a matter of fact, there is more to suggest that the guardians are in fact the better faction. To those that are zealous religion haters, might I remind you that in the lore of rift, the gods exist. They are smarter then us, more powerful then us, but are really nice, maybe a bit passive aggressive. I am an Atheist but if I existed in rift, I'd be a guardian. I mean seriously if the gods exist AND they are nice people? Sure, totally! At the same time you still get the bad with the fanatics who want to kill just because they don't worship the vigil. At the same time this can be said about the defiant, as THEY are more then willing to kill guardians just because they are guardians. So that is somewhat of a mute point. On the flip side of the coin you got the defiant. Technologists who value truth(the gods exist, that is a fact, in rift), knowledge, and the pursuit of more knowledge. Which is not unlike our own society, again it is hard to know the bad from good. Though what tips the scales in favor of the guardians is this; The Defiant have no rules or checks on their science. There are no rights for animals, rift creatures, or other humanoids against abuse. They also have no limits on what should, or shouldn't be researched, what experiments shouldn't be done. When a guardian seeks knowledge he/she asks the vigil, who would know if they can know it too. The vigil being smarter, wiser, and more experienced, also knows whether or not this knowledge would be dangerous. They act as a check for ourselves and not only protect the guardians from the dragons but also themselves. Personally weighing the 2 I would rather be a guardian, in the end I'd rather be happy and content. Not to mention there is an afterlife, I am unsure of defiant have created one yet.
