[Fixes Made][Lore Clarification] Clash of Light and Dark

[Mephistophelian 972]

The Clash of Light and Dark

"When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow."
Dark and Light have clashed many a time in LotC, and shall clash many more times in the years to come. There has, however, never been a true definition or writing down of how much more power Light holds over Dark. This is a bid to try explain that.

 

 

Light

Defined as any force that originates from a holy patron, light magics are those that choose to combat the ever spreading dark. Every wielder of light knows, however, that the brighter the light becomes, the darker and longer the shadows it casts.

 

Things considered ‘Light Magic’ for the purpose of this lore are:

 

-Xan Paladinism
-Tahariae Clericism & War Clericsm
 

These are the magics that can be affected by the to-be-mentioned ‘Dark’ magics.

 

 

 

Dark

The origin of all evil, or so the light wielders would have you think, dark magics are usually considered as such due to their unnatural nature. The great variety of dark magics means they are usually hard to pin down, and more often than not the people who practice them originate from all walks of life.

 

Things that use ‘Dark Magic’ for the purpose of this lore are:

-Necromancy creations (and thus Wraiths) (not the caster or magic)
-Soul Puppetry magic (not the caster)
-Shades (and thus Parents)

-Undead
-Harbingers
-Mystics (and thus Wights)
 

These are the magics that can be affected by the aforementioned ‘Light’ magic.


When Light and Dark Interact

Instead of Light magic simply destroying Dark in a one-sided battle, what happens instead  is a two sided battle. Light magics are purposed to destroy Dark, whilst the corruption of Dark attempts to take over the very magic that is trying to remove it. Quite simply, Dark 'fights back' against the destructive force of Light; Light and Dark now clash, instead of Dark being washed over by the relentless force of light. The force of Light, however, has been designed to seek out the force of Dark. It is for this reason that, with the exceptions to be mentioned, a Light mage shall usually be able to overcome a Dark mage of similar skill, with a good amount of struggle.

Other than that, the general rule of thumb is:

T(X) Dark is almost a match for T(X) light, but the light will usually defeat the Dark with tough struggle.

 

T(X) light will be able to dispose of T(X-1) Dark faster than the T(X-1) Dark corrupts the T(X) light.

 

T(X) Dark will be able to corrupt of T(X-1) light faster than T(X-1) light disposes of T(X) Dark.

 

This does not mean there cannot be exceptions (like if a T3 light mage is weakened from a recent battle and is attempting to resist a T2 Dark. Then, it could be that the Dark pushes through, but they will require more effort than the T3 light does). Other, more obvious exceptions would be a T3 Dark defeating a T3 light with cunning combat strategies. The same applies (moreso) in vice versa!

 

When both mages are T5, the power of either is now measured in the amount of time the Mage has practiced said magic. If both are equal, the light shall win (in power) as per usual, but if the dark Mage has had their magic for longer, they shall win (in power). Note that this is not a fallback system.

 

NOTE: This takes only into account pure Light vs Dark mages. If voidal magic is thrown into the game, the result may vary greatly. The same applies with throwing non-mage allies in.


Acknowledgements:
Thank you to Triplewing, Charcoal (damn, son, you're helping out a lot with lore creation these days) and Cameron for the discussion and talking of ideas. Thanks also to Tsuyose for giving the lore a one-over before the posting! Thank you also to Jistuma, for helping me realise my initial goal was twisted slightly from what I posted, and that I simply wanted to reduce the utter power light has over dark, not making them equal. This is to make RP less one-sided in fights (as both the Paladins and Clerics agreed).
 

Spoiler

"  This does not mean that any amount of light magic will defeat taint, but that if the skill of the dark and light being are the same, light will win. "

 

[DrakeHaze. 2486]

The brightest of lights cast the darkest of shadows. Tbh Light should not inherently win against Dark if they are the same 'power level'.

[Mephistophelian 972]

1 minute ago, DrakeHaze/Omnyaxle said:

The brightest of lights cast the darkest of shadows. Tbh Light should not inherently win against Dark if they are the same 'power level'.

 

I had the same thought, but the LT begs to differ. This is a correction to my previous thought. More a clarification, so that T4 Light mages cannot claim to be able to beat T5 Dark mages, which they should not.

[Treshure 5581]

Though I agree higher tier dark users should overpower lower tier light users, if they are equal, light must win. Light magic's RP almost exclusively focuses around the eradication of evil, whereas dark magic has many venues of RP that can be taken.

[E__V__O 1984]

I feel that this is all acceptable until the T5 status. Once they reach T5 on both sides it's a equal fight and clash as it's not about how much better you are but the strategy you use to defeat your target.

 

Same skill level, but what makes it with 'who will win' is based on the way you defeat eachother. Not determained by skill.

[ShameJax 1391]

At a T5 point it needs a bit more definition. This also makes it seem like light always wins, but it should be clarified that this only happens in straight light magic vs dark magic conflict, not a dark magic user using arcane. Also Ascended aren't removed quite yet, might want to add them.

[zaezae 1097]

1 hour ago, Treshure said:

Though I agree higher tier dark users should overpower lower tier light users, if they are equal, light must win. Light magic's RP almost exclusively focuses around the eradication of evil, whereas dark magic has many venues of RP that can be taken.

I don't think that's an argument for 'We should always win in a fair fight'. The lore and rules already heavily favors law, order, and light at nearly every turn.

 

Also, winning is not a condition for good RP. It's the struggle that makes the roleplay, not the result. 

[Teaspoon 13]

But, darkness is never extinguished, it only fads till the light runs out,then it returns. So possibly, their are more than one kinds of darkness, the kind that is extinguished by light, and that which simply waits till light has died. Because all light, eventually dies. 

[GodEmperorFlam 3447]

1 hour ago, zaezae said:

I don't think that's an argument for 'We should always win in a fair fight'. The lore and rules already heavily favors law, order, and light at nearly every turn.

 

Also, winning is not a condition for good RP. It's the struggle that makes the roleplay, not the result. 

 

As much as I agree with this mindset, I do believe that "light" should still win due to it literally existing to destroy the "dark".

 

If there was a "dark" magic that existed solely to counter "light" magic (not you Fi scrubs), then I'd change my viewpoint.

[zaezae 1097]

3 minutes ago, The Pink Lion said:

 

As much as I agree with this mindset, I do believe that "light" should still win due to it literally existing to destroy the "dark".

 

If there was a "dark" magic that existed solely to counter "light" magic (not you Fi scrubs), then I'd change my viewpoint.

I understand, but still, I just don't think that's enough justification. However, maybe one-dimensional RP isn't good to have. Perhaps the whole idea of defining lore to rail road character into cookie cutter roles is a bad idea. That's just my opinion. I'm a little biased, but honest a lot of groups purpose at least includes defeating darkness, like all four race's central governments, most guards, most guilds, and pretty much everyone. I think it would better to allow light users to have a little more freedom.

[Mephistophelian 972]

Do you guys believe it would be better to to have an 'age system', where , once T5 is reached, the one who has practiced the magic longer is the more powerful one? Because that makes sense, and it honestly makes no sense to have Rilath, the ORIGINAL Shade, be bested by some 5 month old Paladin. Or a Wraith being on the receiving end of 'By the power of Tah' and actually dying without challenge.

[Teaspoon 13]

Before I described two different kinds of theoretical darkness, but there is a third. That darkness which is caused by the light, or the lights shadow. This side represents the side of magic which adept dark Magic users acquire, merely a twisted and faded version of the original light. but what makes it so different? What makes it different, is it resembles that kind of darkness that waits till the light has died. And so any Dark Magic user that becomes more like that, deeper original darkness, is the one with the most power. And that of course takes time, so ya basically I agree with the aging thingy. :P

[Mephistophelian 972]

1 hour ago, Teaspoon said:

Before I described two different kinds of theoretical darkness, but there is a third. That darkness which is caused by the light, or the lights shadow. This side represents the side of magic which adept dark Magic users acquire, merely a twisted and faded version of the original light. but what makes it so different? What makes it different, is it resembles that kind of darkness that waits till the light has died. And so any Dark Magic user that becomes more like that, deeper original darkness, is the one with the most power. And that of course takes time, so ya basically I agree with the aging thingy. :P

I don't really get what you are on about, man, but it's nice you agree with it!

[E__V__O 1984]

I agree with age and then not. The point you reach T5 should be where not skill level takes in place but the way you use the skill. Such as with necomancy, one zombie can be tougher to take out though summoning multiple could drain the cleric as with the necromancer more so. Having it a fair fight besides making it that "Holy users always win if same level" make it even but don't make it "Since you studied for 6 months and just got T5 but i've studied for three years, I will beat you."

[Teaspoon 13]

How bout this...
Say light magic matures faster than dark, and reaches its near maximum relatively quickly, but then takes a considerably longer time to reach its full and maximum magic capabilities. Dark magic, on the other hand, takes longer to mature, but in its higher tiers is far more powerful than that of light magic user. So a seemingly well experienced light mage could trump a dark mage of the same power, but once a dark mage has grown to full strength, it would take a fully maxed out light mage to have an equal fight.