Darkness

Being one of the most difficult realms to understand or have access to, the definition of Darkness is often kept within the clandestine corners of Achaea.

An extract from: Modern Darkness Third Edition

Perhaps the question I am asked most by aspiring students or outsiders with an academic interest is "What is Darkness?"

This is no easy question to answer; there is no single phrase summary that adequately encapsulates the entirety of Darkness. Yet try we must to provide something digestible.

Darkness is both a spiritual ideal and a physical manifestation of concepts. Both of these play a role in the Order of Twilight, though my focus rests primarily upon the spiritual and conceptual.

Physically, Darkness covers the land in the absence of light. In the beginning, when Creation was young and Ayar had not yet willed all the planes and worlds into existence, Darkness reigned as the natural order. It is from this physical Darkness that all else came forth. It is the untapped potential, the unbound spark, the great and vast unknown from which ideas, possibilities, whole worlds and civilisations spring forth without limit.

Darkness is the crucible, and indeed, creation invariably begins in the dark places: the womb, the mind, or, on a higher level, the nascent multiverse prior to Ayar-now-Sarapis's inception of all that came after. Light, in contrast, is an intrusion into this perfect and natural state of possibility. Its presence banishes Darkness, while creating nothing of its own.

Yet potential alone is nothing. Most lives have potential, and possibilities are myriad in all areas of the world. It is what one does with that potential to transform it from a mere possibility into a tangible reality that matters most. Therein lies the spiritual manifestation of Darkness, with which the remainder of this work concerns itself.

Spiritually, Darkness is the idea of forbidden knowledge made manifest. This forbidden knowledge takes many forms, the foremost among which is the concept of free thought and agency. Free thought and independence of mind are the fundamental gifts of the Lord of Mysteries: an existence and mindset where ideas, concepts, and opinions can flourish without the restrictions and rules of either morality or arbitrary divine law. This state of being is known as Awakening.

The great illusion of mortality is the idea of laws, morals, rules, and divine edicts being inviolable. When Life first came to Creation, wrought by the Earthmother's hand, much of the pantheon viewed this gift as an opportunity to cultivate worship of Themselves, orchestrating this deliberate facade in order to convince and beguile mortals into devoted service. Eons later, the principle remains, serving a single purpose: to maintain control in order to ensure that the zealous continue to be zealous, that the blind remain blind in their worship, and to deprive them of agency so that they act as what are essentially shackled slaves to the notions of Good, Light, Evil, Chaos, Nature, or otherwise.

These Gods force false morals upon Their adherents to maintain the act, often demanding binding, restrictive oaths of fealty upon those who enter direct service. That some maintain a loose life of freedom is irrelevant to the larger picture; there is invariably some rule or decree that limits that freedom in some way. Some would argue that entering service like this is itself a choice freely made, yet I would contend that those choosing are denied the Truth required to make an objective choice to begin with.

In contrast, Darkness seeks to awaken the masses to these unnatural intrusions upon their freedom, encouraging them to peel back the veil and see the Truth of reality laid bare, without the tainted perceptions of divine dogma or blurred interpretations built upon millennia of blind faith and worship.

Often wrongly and spitefully named Father of Lies, the God of Darkness denounces these 'other' religions as precisely what they are: falsehoods. Truth exists as the foremost principle of Darkness, and it is this Truth that we aim to expose to the world, enabling others to cast off the shackles that bind them and free their minds from the tyranny of divine control.

Rarely is this Truth comfortable or easily swallowed. Resistance is fierce and often violent. We work to unravel myriad generations of indoctrination, a system so intricate and long-established that dependence on it causes those very same mortals who are chained by it, to fight for its protection. As a consequence, Darkwalkers have been forced to work in secret since the founding of their order, often wearing public faces while carrying out their mission of Truth behind the scenes - a mission known as His Great Work.

Conflict, Strife, Deceit, Identity, and Manipulation are the tools employed by the Dark Lord's chosen few, forced to operate with stealth and guile within a system designed to destroy them. On the surface, these Arts may run counter to the ideal of unvarnished Truth, and yet they are but methods which allow one to work toward a greater purpose. Deceit is the most commonly cited example, yet it is neither a mindset nor a tenet of belief - it is a tool to be used like any other. Understanding the distinction between method and mindset is paramount in understanding Darkness.