The Dark is fun. I say that from a relatively safe distance, mind, but they definitely aren’t boring.
Technically, the Dark have an alliance, but in the time it took me to say that, they’ve already disagreed about ten things and started at least one fight. People say that the Dark can’t agree on anything. That isn’t true. Every Dark path agrees that they don’t like the Light or the Gray. The place where the Dark agrees that most often is also the most public: the senate. Whenever the Light or the Gray proposes some legislation that would disadvantage the Dark, the Dark gets together to argue it down — and they usually find a way to get the Neutral to agree with them, and so the new legislation dies.
There are four Dark factions. The followers of Enmity are centered around Malimarl, the capital of Misery’s territory is Gratevon, and the Corruptioners live near Shriselk. There are also Dark generalists, who worship more than one Dark god, and the followers of Destruction. Likewise, there are general Dark worlds, the most famous of which is Aratova. Technically there are laws on Aratova, in the same sense that technically I have a life. Sensible people, including most Dark paths, avoid worlds like Aratova, no matter how good of a bargain you can make there.
The Dark is by far the weakest. They’ve only got three gods, since Death betrayed them and since the Destroyer is sealed away. The gods don’t get along, and so their followers don’t either. The Dark is really good at sowing discord amongst their enemies — that’s the only thing keeping them going. A thousand years ago, the Light and the Gray formed an alliance and nearly wiped out the Dark. That was the last divine war, and something happened among the gods. That’s why the gods have barely been seen since. But whatever happened, it saved the Dark.
I wonder if Dark paths appreciate that.
Don’t think of Dark paths as evil. They can be horrible, don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t necessarily evil. Dark paths love their families and friends, work hard at their jobs, genuinely worship their gods, and are fiercely loyal to their own factions. They just don’t give a shit about anyone else. They will do whatever they must in order to protect their own.
I don’t hate the Dark. But then, the Dark has never hurt me. The Gray has.
