It would be silly to believe Ishgard is the only place dark knights happen. Sure, yeah. Calling them dark KNIGHTS is a thing in Ishgard because they cast away laws and order and whatnot. But to believe in the entirety of the history of the world that in other lands or individuals didn't drink deep the darkness to protect others. They just weren't called dark knights. Anyways! If you call JJ a knight, he will say he was never no knight. Dark Knight is just a common realm term because of the history Ishgard has with such.. that's what I'm going with anyways...
ANYWHO, HERE'S YOUR QUESTIONS!
1. In what sort of ways does a dark knight become one? Is communing a method to advance their learning of their art?
One becomes a dark knight by 'scratching that itch' of a whisper in their heart, the soul gem amplified one's inherent abilities as is lore for soul gems. I equate Communion as something similar to the way the Greybeards taught the Dragonborn shouts, through sharing one's knowledge/aetheric imprint of an ability as a means to "light a torch along one's Dark Path"... kind of lets one's mentor or whatever give the student a flavor ability or whatever.
2. Is Darkside one common impulse of violence, or does it manifest in differently in different people like a Jungian shadow? Would Kallera's Darkside be different than another Dark Knight's?
The Darkside is merely your internal self-preservation speaking up. It can and should manifest in people differently. The way my group goes about it is that the person's strongest emotion, positive or negative, is the root of the Darkside. Say deep down you are really an angry person, anger always having been the emotion you used to hide how hurt you were. That is amplified by the Darkside and would be a pretty good standard emotion of your Darkside when in your headspace. Say your deepest emotion was sadness, the visual representation of your Darkside could be the standard red-glowey-eyed form PLUS a trail of red from both eyes like tears.
3. iirc, "Frey" was seen as a rare occurance by Sidurgu, how is control over the Darkside usually attained? Is it again a matter of psychology between the user and their impulses?
I like to think of it as remembering why you became a dark knight as being what helps you gain control (or lose it). Those that travel the path for others safety have that matter of grit to remember to not drink deep the abyss. Those that did it for pure power and selfish reasons might find themselves slipping deeper and deeper out of control..
4. I take it a habit of using Darkside for the effects would be a nono, right?
With great power also comes great crux. Having no adverse effects to some power, whether it be having to take time to recharge that photon laser beam or having to eat cookies to recharge magic juice for spellcasting, a good RPer will have some sort of built-in system for this... someone that uses the Darkside constantly is probably getting drunk off power so they'll lose control and whatnot.
All that being said, everyone does things differently. These are just a short summary of how -I- go about the Dark Knighting.
ANYWHO, HERE'S YOUR QUESTIONS!
1. In what sort of ways does a dark knight become one? Is communing a method to advance their learning of their art?
One becomes a dark knight by 'scratching that itch' of a whisper in their heart, the soul gem amplified one's inherent abilities as is lore for soul gems. I equate Communion as something similar to the way the Greybeards taught the Dragonborn shouts, through sharing one's knowledge/aetheric imprint of an ability as a means to "light a torch along one's Dark Path"... kind of lets one's mentor or whatever give the student a flavor ability or whatever.
2. Is Darkside one common impulse of violence, or does it manifest in differently in different people like a Jungian shadow? Would Kallera's Darkside be different than another Dark Knight's?
The Darkside is merely your internal self-preservation speaking up. It can and should manifest in people differently. The way my group goes about it is that the person's strongest emotion, positive or negative, is the root of the Darkside. Say deep down you are really an angry person, anger always having been the emotion you used to hide how hurt you were. That is amplified by the Darkside and would be a pretty good standard emotion of your Darkside when in your headspace. Say your deepest emotion was sadness, the visual representation of your Darkside could be the standard red-glowey-eyed form PLUS a trail of red from both eyes like tears.
3. iirc, "Frey" was seen as a rare occurance by Sidurgu, how is control over the Darkside usually attained? Is it again a matter of psychology between the user and their impulses?
I like to think of it as remembering why you became a dark knight as being what helps you gain control (or lose it). Those that travel the path for others safety have that matter of grit to remember to not drink deep the abyss. Those that did it for pure power and selfish reasons might find themselves slipping deeper and deeper out of control..
4. I take it a habit of using Darkside for the effects would be a nono, right?
With great power also comes great crux. Having no adverse effects to some power, whether it be having to take time to recharge that photon laser beam or having to eat cookies to recharge magic juice for spellcasting, a good RPer will have some sort of built-in system for this... someone that uses the Darkside constantly is probably getting drunk off power so they'll lose control and whatnot.
All that being said, everyone does things differently. These are just a short summary of how -I- go about the Dark Knighting.