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Darklore

Author: Chakra
Date: unknown
The time is near; exactly how near the Dark One alone can tell us. I cannot.
What I can do is describe that time, and what will happen, so you may rejoice and make ready.

The four Eternals will gather their combined might in one place for the last time. All life, death, knowledge and desire will be held on one world, in one time, for one purpose. The Eternals will battle to decide the shape of all reality.

All the lives, all the forces, all the gods who once were, will exist as only as parts of the four Eternals: The Dark, The Light, Neid, and Ril. The soul of every being that ever lived in the cosmos will have been absorbed into the bodies of these Four. The weak, the insignificant, will lose their identities, add their combined energy into their Eternal. Stronger beings will be able to manifest, becoming avatars, extensions of the eternals.

The eons of war and labor will culminate in two prodigious battles; The first will determine the nature of the second. The battle between Ril and Neid will be the proving ground for order against chaos; each one will fight to the submission of the other. If Neid is Victorious the final conflict of Dark versus Light will be lawful, with champions, generals and honorable combats. If Ril is Victorious, that conflict will be nearly devoid of structure. Wits and speed will command; stealth and strength will champion. Light and Dark will lord over the field as the fate of everything is revealed.

As the followers of Neid and Ril fall, Light and The Dark One will gather them and sway each one to their cause. Every spark of life has a part to play in the universal endgame. Every eye, every heart and Every speck of matter will be needed. Those who truly understand calm, happiness and contentment will freely join the Dark Side. Only the deluded, the confused and frightened children will honestly cling to Light. Mortal life is so precious to the uninformed. We, acolytes of the Dark One, must show the true way to salvation, or that last battlefield will be costly indeed. The pain and unhappiness that Light's victory could bring to all life, mortal and Immortal, is woe like no balladeer could ever sing, like no blade could ever inflict.

The time will come. Will you make the right choice?





I

The Beginning

Once upon a time, All was one.
The entirety of existence consisted of one time, one place. All was perfect, shapeless, thoughtless; those things we call matter, energy, life, did not exist, for they were all together and the same.
It cannot be said, how long this perfect state existed, or even when it began. Time was not something the All would measure. The All was at every place, every time. Being infinite, the All was aware and all knowing; because of it's singular nature, the All was without need of thought or feeling, an omnipotent presence at complete rest.
It is not known what caused the All to question itself; The Dark One is silent on this question. But the impossible occurred, and simple perfection was no longer enough for the All. With the voice of doubt, came a schism which started the universe we all share. "What am I?"
With one single idea, perfection was sundered. Light and Dark were born in that instant, separated out of the All and each other like a burning leaf divides into smoke above and ash below.
When they beheld one another, Light and Dark could no longer be constituents of the All; they were new entities, and thought separately.
Light did not remember the All, or how he himself had become Light. He was startled, irrational and wild; he named the Dark "Void" and vowed to destroy it, tried to surround, penetrate the Dark and fill it with light so that this "Void" might be no more. The Dark One did remember the All. He realized that he was but a portion of infinity, that at one time there had been unity and perfection, now replaced by schism and conflict. Another portion, painful to gaze upon, burned bright with life and madness. That portion was set on the annihilation of Darkness.
The Dark One met Light at once, determined to bond once more with the severed aspect of itself. He knew that to deny or destroy Light would only prevent a much desired return to harmony with the All.
Neither Eternal could have predicted the outcome. The universe had only just had it's first thought a short time before; Now the universe was having two thoughts simultaneously. And, these two thoughts collided with equal force as Light tried to conquer Darkness - as Darkness tried to bond with Light. Light and Dark diffused into one another, but did not change each other. The opposed desires however, took a form of their own, bringing into existence two more Eternals.

Neid - This name is given to the eternal desire for structure and understanding. It remembers the All's
without this security know fear, hatred, and the shortness of life. They accomplish their goals by whatever means available; they usually beget many offspring. This is more along the path of true Darkness. Shorter lives, more creatures soaking up Light's energy, so that when they die the Dark One becomes more complete, and more fear, hatred, death as part of everyday existence, these things are good; pursue them.
Some rulers dominate rather than govern. They are Kings held in place by fear and oppression. These monsters do not serve the Darkness either. Such tyranny always serves either Neid or Ril. Light and Dark will both vie for the downfall of such a leader. When it is in your power, let Darkness bring down the tyrant. Let anarchy, and fear of the unknown rule the masses awhile. The Dark One will be made ever more complete for your efforts.
being followed. For if you are yourself an extension of the pure Darkness, and you have a healthy, considered hatred for everything and everyone, then who else to rely on for advice than yourself?
As a follower of the Devourer, only you have the true path before you. Anyone else who is on the true path will not take or give orders to you. Anyone who is not on the true path should not take or give orders to you.
Kings, warriors, priests and wizards will tell you what they will; They may even inform you of possibilities you did not know. But unless you trust such advice, and you believe it to be in your best interest to do so, Do Not Follow it.
When the true follower of the dark path understands the three commands, shall our sigil of Anarchy be easily adopted. The scrawled "A", almost contained within a perfect circle, is more than heraldry; it is a clear and constant reminder to every Dark follower, of the three commands.
First there is the surface definition "anarchy," no ruler. This is the third command. You have no need of outside authority; accept none; rely solely upon your own skills and initiative to accomplish your objective.
The best way to manifest your hatred on the rest of creation also relies upon anarchy. Peoples naturally band together into kingdoms, under rulers, to ensure peace, security and longer lives for all. Such stability delays the Devourer's purpose, and should be strongly discouraged. People who live life
complete knowledge; It strives to bring all aspects of the universe closer to that higher state of perception. She was formed from the Dark's desire to restore the All.

Ril - This name is given to the eternal desire for destruction and simplicity. It strives to break everything down to smallest elements, and respects acts of raw emotion or instinct over any type of contemplation. She was formed from Light's desire to eliminate the Dark from existence.

Thus begins the Eternal conflict, All of the greater forces we refer to as "gods" are , or come from, these forces. The early conflicts created scores of eternals, with different measures of Light, Dark, Ril, and Neid. Places formed where previously none existed. What we call planes, dimensions, and spaces. Are a chaotic, vast structure formed from remnants of the All's energy, scattered by the Eternal War.Dark, in this original, pure form, is the Dark One I refer to throughout these pages. It is one of infinite names it may be called. To the Dark one, names are meaningless, only the quest for reunification has any importance. Call these forces, these "gods" anything you like; you will still understand the nature of the Eternal War, and the Eternals take no notice.
When that first encounter ended, Light, Dark, Neid, and Ril had dispersed themselves throughout the
universe in a seemingly random pattern of mixtures and pure zones. Stars, worlds, ethereal planes had been spun into existence as the eternals fought and grappled together for countless millennia.
All material and spiritual creations were spawned by the interactions of the Eternals. From them came the elements, the planes of reality, the gods and all the lesser living things.
The tactics of Light have changed little since the first encounter; Light is a conqueror, a dominator, a ruler of all it can penetrate.
Light, for now, has a tremendous advantage over Darkness within the realms of lesser creatures. Most of the lesser creatures understand that it is Light that ultimately gives them the life they hold so dear. Without Light's fire they would all cease to exist. Also, these folk naturally see many aspects of light, and bring it with them wherever they explore, conquer, and settle.
Over time, The Dark One has come to understand that the amount of spirit energy in the universe is finite, and that all creations of the Eternals - even the Eternals themselves - leave small pockets of this energy behind as they change and die. The Dark One consumes these pieces easily, adding to his strength and decreasing the amount of energy left for Light to create new life with.
It is certain that the Dark One will eventually devour all the Eternals; with every soul he consumes, he becomes stronger. But, the natural
practicing rhetoric, theology, magic; if you use that knowledge to educate leaders and peoples to the ways of true darkness. If you convert even one of those cultures you touched, then you have made a contribution to the Devourer worth measuring.

"Hate everything equally"

This instruction is more difficult than it sounds. And it must be done in a way that agrees with the other commands. Thus setting out to destroy everything at once, using torch and sword, would be a poor way to distribute hatred equally. Instead, raise your thoughts and feelings above all other things, living and non. Feel disdain for the fact that anything, including your mortal form, exists separately from the All. This cold, calculating hatred will give you the motivation to continue the work of Darkness, without allowing you to forget why.
Cold, dark hatred is the power focus for all followers of the Devourer. It infuses everything the followers do physically, magically, spiritually, with the same disdain for itself and for all else that they do. Beware hot, bright hatred at all times, at any cost. This pathway leads to Ril, to chaos and wanton destruction. This is folly.

"Always keep your own counsel."

This command should be the simplest of the three, thus long as the other two commands are

IV

The Dark One's Commands

1. Be an extension of Darkness.
2. Hate everything equally
3. Always keep your own counsel.

The third command suggests strongly that each follower interpret these commands alone. I set my interpretation down here in case it will assist the follower to-be.

"Be an extension of Darkness"

Remember the origins of Darkness; remember that the final achievement should be total reunification of matter, energy, and spirit. This is a long term goal, and will probably take far beyond your mortal span to achieve. You must make the best contribution you can towards this end, before releasing yourself into the greater dark consciousness.
To be a true extension of darkness, you have to plan in the long term. You don't simply walk around, sacrificing every being you can subdue to the Devour. This will result in your own early demise, with very little to show for it. If you spend a lifetime
pace of this process is slow. It will take millions of eons to reclaim his place, and restore the All.
Those who read these words with an eye on following the Dark One be wary of this: There are many spawned gods who have the appearance of the pure Dark, but are possessed also of Ril. Those who follow such a god are foolish, these eternals are confused, and seek only possession and destruction for its own sake. The pure Darkness is patient, reasoning, determined.
II

The Present

The Universe is finite. All things perish. All worlds will come to an end.

Death, followed by infinite darkness is not wishful thinking, some plan that has to be executed; this is fact. Everything you are and everything you've ever known of will be reunited with the All. You do not have to accept this, you do not have to like this, you can not prevent this.
There is nothing to fear in your reunion with the All. The All is the only immortality, the only thing that exists when death comes to the universe. The All is the only thing worth striving towards, because it is what should be.
The Dark One knows what should be. The Dark One knows that to become the All means to devour everything back into himself. Every spark of life, anywhere it exists, is a lost child, a part of the All, that which the Dark One loves and longs to find.
Every time one of us dies, he grows stronger, the world we lived in grows weaker, eternal bliss draws closer.

Others will tell you that they are alive, living in a world of light and beauty, striving to defend kith
does not represent love or safety, or wisdom; Darkness, when pure, does offer all of these.

III

Following the Darkened Path

I see; I breathe; I act. My work is far from complete.

Living creatures generally perceive reality backwards. I mean that they believe the purpose of the Dark One, and thus purpose of his servants, is to end the existence of living creatures. This accusation follows an unstated axiom; 'living creatures need life in order to exist.'
This axiom is completely false. Before time and conflict began. All life was Utopian, complete, self sufficient, harmonious. When living creatures finally return their spark of Light into the waiting arms of the true Eternal, they step closer to that perfect state, and start their eternal existence.
All souls are taken in with a loving embrace; each and every one of the devoured are made part of the single consciousness, regardless of what they had been whilst alive. Animals, Mortals, Angels, Demons, Gods, all are truly equal, and of one spirit, ultimately.
The task, as a follower of true darkness, is to bring more beings into understanding of the Dark One's embrace. Light, contrary to popular beliefs,
and kin from things like "injustice," "chaos," or "pain." They are wrong; they know it not. They perpetuate the lie that was begun when light began to spread throughout creation so long ago. Listen for the truth.
We are not alive; we are wasting time and energy until darkness claims us back, nothing more. This world, all worlds, are places of fear, conquest, and destruction, nothing more. No one is an innocent victim; no one is an evil conqueror. We are all victims; we are all conquerors.
Every time you stand upon a blade of grass you conquer, you kill. Every time you eat, you conquer, you kill. You don't create victims, they are victims because they exist at all. When you become a victim, whether of age or axe, you die, you are conquered, you are killed. Good, that is where you need to end up anyway; That is what needs to happen to us all.
When you accept all this as truth, you may be tempted to ask "why then do we have a church at all? Why don't we all land upon our knives, add to the Dark One's power, and be done with?" The answer is that just because something is inevitable, it can still be brought about sooner. Something as desirable as eternal bliss should not be ignored, we should help in every way we can to bring about this wonderful conclusion.

We can all help the cosmos meet it's destiny of
darkness through individual choices, individual acts. As a unified church, we can multiply our effect on the world, and strengthen the Dark One with everything we do. The goal at this time, for true followers, is to make sure that life energy is being used up as rapidly as possible. If the world is "burning the candle from both ends," the sooner it will flicker and snuff.

As fighters, you bring death, destruction, and fear into every country you travel through, whether you plunder humans or slaughter woodtrolls, it makes no difference. Your purpose is to she blood; do so.

As healers, you close the wounds and raise the dead, but not without a price. Most of the life energy used to heal comes from the world around you. But, the initial spark, a glow that persists within the subject, comes from the Dark One. The power to live, the power to heal, comes from the deepest rage, the burning heart, the Dark One sets that hatred aflame, and brands the soul of the subject before they stand again. Hopefully, the awakened rage in the subject will inspire more death and violence than before. The brand has one more purpose, which I will discuss in the final chapter.

As mages, you spread this same "brand" deeper into yourself with every spell you learn. You
burn it into the flesh of your enemies, and into the souls of those allies who depend on your knowledge. With the symbol of Anarchy burned deeper and darker into each heart, you help to liberate them from the evil grasp of Light.

When dealing with creatures who follow the Light, you must use good judgement. You must hate them to the same extent you do your friends, your enemies, and even yourself. Anything more or less makes you a servant of Ril, of Neid, but not Darkness.
Remember that all things will return to the One, without fail. All creatures eventually die; the purpose of serving the dark one is merely to bring the blissful unification sooner than the servants of Light would allow unchecked. You may bide your time.
By following the path of darkness, you stand upon the hub of the great wheel of the Universe. You sacrifice your individuality for the sake of the All, because you know that to be the only way to perfection. You forego peace and joy, trade it in for cold hatred, focused rage, because you know that is what you must do to bring unification, where peaceful bliss will be everything once more.

V

CHAKRA'S BLESSING


Neither invite nor fear your own death. The Dark One will always accept you. You are beloved of the Dark One. Death is your constant companion. You are the only friend you need.

Be neither leader nor follower, just do what must be done.
Be neither hero nor villain, just do what must be done.

Reject these words whenever they conflict with what must be done; when my interpretation of Darkness fails you, write your own. I am always my own King, never yours.

Do what must be done
by any means necessary.




Our reality, our world if you will, has ample representation of all the eternals throughout. Life and will are ubiquitous; creatures of war and destruction are commonplace, named and unnamed deities are innumerable. Thus it is to be expected that some small representation of the Devourer would find its way within our walls of existence.
Somewhere under the shroud of history, a group of beings founded a following to the Dark One. There are few details to what this group did, how they lived or how they died. But this cult did meet a final end long ago, and thus for many generations the Devourer was a lost god.
(As I continue my meditations and researches, I hope I can expand this section into a full description of the early cult.)
It is perhaps miraculous that the Dark One was rediscovered at all. Nonetheless he was. The rather notorious duo Blade & Striker found remnants of the cult's teachings and artifacts within the Land of the REALMS, wherein these two make their homes. Apparently the god itself gave plea to be learned and rediscovered through them, promising knowledge and power in return for their indulgence.
I know from personal experience that the Devourer has no voice, no visage of its own. It can only communicate or manifest through those who have come to understand and accept him. Thus, at the time Blade & Striker accepted the offer, those particular broken tablets and relics were the only voice the Dark One could use to speak through; the words of the god were short, broken and sorely incomplete.
Nonetheless, the two adventurers accepted the offer, and immediately gained a spark of power from the warrior priest from which the relics came. They could now heal minor injuries. The universal and well known cost to weapon skills for harnessing magic or miracles drove Striker to reject the mystic arts almost immediately, He remained a favored of the Dark One but as a soldier, a warden. Blade reveled in the mystical skills and accepted the costs; It is primarily from his efforts that the favor of the Dark One has been restored to our existence. PART FOURIn order to become favoured to the Devouerer, one must wholly give his soul over to the Dark One, without being in one instant consumed. One must stand within the gaping maw, and trust the eternal bite does not pierce too soon.
Once that trust is bestowed (and the aspirant is not immediately swallowed) it becomes an aspect of the Dark One, an avatar to the Devourer. Each true follower then is an aspect of the Devouerer, who is nothing without his aspects. There is one truth that cannot be denied by any who have become aspects of the Devouerer. The Dark One's thoughts are both limited to AND enhanced by those who have merged with him.
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Created by Iacob of Ivory (David Kapell) at 10-06-05 01:49 PM
Last Modified by Faelinn Shadowmoon (Leanne Micciche) at 04-05-08 10:19 AM