Dark Way - bad, neutral, or what?

[Merjer]

Aight, I'm a somewhat new player - been on PS for 1 month - and I've been reading around the forums for a few hours, looking for answers about the Dark Way.
The problem is..What I read and what I see are completely opposite. What I learned from jumping around the main site, forums, and wiki, generally was that this way was something taboo - something bad, something you didn't talk about freely. However, when I started playing and observing other people in the game, i saw that Dark Way was completely acceptable in public, and not viewed badly at all --saw some klyroses using dark way for pranks and playing IC.  and no, i don't hang around evil masterminds all day (i don't think so.. ). Unless hydlaa's become their home base =P

I'd really appreciate help on this, as I've already been playing my character out and have been working on his backstory which obviously involves dark way.
If there's already some post/topic thingie about this, a link would be nice.

   please be nice to this poor noob 

[Xanthan]

You´re not alone trying to figure this out, nor is it only an issue if you are new.  I´ve been on for six years and am still trying to figure this, as witness this recent discussion:

http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=39660.0

No official answer in that thread either, but the consensus seemed to be that the ways are neutral and it´s how you use them that matters.  There seem to be some ties between Laanx and the Dark Way in settings and in the custom character creation.  Some of the NPCs in their quest storylines and general discussion seem to think of the Dark Way as evil, but this is more about general perception than anything else.  The Dark Way is associated with death, but in this setting death is mostly another plane of existence-- one that we all visit quite often and then return from.

The conclusion I have come to is that if you choose to follow Talad closely, maybe Dark Way shouldn´t be a focus for you and you should adopt a roleplaying bias against it.  If you follow Laanx or Dakkru you should probably study this way, amongst others.  Otherwise, it´s neutral with a "caution" sign on it :-)

This is just my take on it - I´m quite interested to hear what others think.

[Merjer]

it´s neutral with a "caution" sign on it :-)

haha, that sounds about right. i'll remember that one ^   
that link is one of the topics i've read, so now i know.   =]

[Sarras Volcae]

i propose we start a petition against the abuse of fellow citizens by means of dark way!  

oh, and from what i've seen, i think dark way is like... "bad"... but not really that bad. it's like playing with guns. some people freak out at the word "gun"; some people take pride in shooting for sport. it's all subjective. and the use of dark way. thing is, it's generally used for killing or maiming or... pranks. not many "good" spells like with crystal way. dark way is made for killing stuff. but it really all depends on the user. you know, like... "guns don't kill people. i kill people." same with dark way.

what the hell did i just say?  

[Xanthan]

Well I don't know what it's like in recent times, as I've just gotten back after a hiatus, but it used to be that crystal way and brown way were the ones that were used most for attacking.  It's just a matter of what is available.  All the ways have offensive spells, and people will use whatever they can cast fastest to do the most damage, regardless of the way.  If Dark Way is supposed to be offensive and Crystal for healing, presumably we will see the balance changed to reflect that as the magic system is developed.  I'm certainly excited to see how much great work is taking place on it recently.  Good job, those involved!

[Everybody]

I think the best way to answer this question is ask, "What does the game make me do to advance in said magic way?" For example, consider the quests involved in earning various glyphs. Whether or not ways are good, evil or other is always a good philosophical discussion, but whether the specific tasks required to earn a dark way glyph vs a crystal way glyph are equally ambiguous isn't - it's pretty cut and dry. If you want to complete the dark way, you're going to have to do some pretty evil things to do it. Strictly referring to NPC means of acquiring said glyphs. GM events likely open the doors to characters of all types taking up magic ways of their liking without doing deeds too good or two evil for their personalities.

[Xanthan]

Perhaps.  I haven't done all those quests recently, but the worst action I had to take in a quest was for a brown way glyph.  I've also been asked to do some very helpful good things in exchange for dark way glyphs.  I suspect that overall this will be relatively balanced between the Ways.

[Earowo]

No magic is Evil bad good o heavanly.
It is how you use the magic.
You can use dark way to protect people.
Just like you can use crystal way to hurt people.
Its all in the actions of the caster.