Dark Rage

[Rhysand Sekker]

Dark Rage

By Yayha/Naile and the Guild Team

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Dark Rage is a twisted and heavily corrupting dark-sided force power characterized by bouts of unrestrained, feral fury and an uncontrolled rampage brought about through crushing all the safety inhibitions of the body and pushing and augmenting their user’s body to their absolute maximum capacity, regardless of potential consequent self-harm - for some time.

How It Works
Within every Force User’s body is a hidden potential and reserves of power that are purposefully repressed and regulated by the brain to prevent harm to the user’s body. Strength that if not otherwise repressed would break you down, for example, the maximum force that you can bite and clench with. It is subconsciously repressed to prevent you from crushing your teeth and jaw altogether—safety inhibitions.

Dark Rage is the burst of malicious energy channelled towards all the appropriate centres of the brain to switch off all these safety inhibitions while also stimulating and augmenting other centres all to push the body to its absolute maximum possible capacity despite the harm and burden this puts on the user.

Pain centres are repressed, and endocrine glands are augmented and infused by the Dark Side - thus enveloping the body in a malignant cloak of vengeful power. Strength, speed and endurance are amplified folds beyond their normal values at the cost of extreme exhaustion and damage once the original ball of dark-sided energy sent to the brain runs out alongside the depletion of the body’s reserves. (5 emote rounds).

Who Can Learn It
While Dark Rage is a teachable ability, certain prerequisites must first be met:

• To feel is to understand. The Force User will never be able to know precisely what and where in their brain they must target to successfully bring about Dark Rage. Not unless they have already been pushed to their absolute limit before. Force Users must, through roleplay, reach a traumatic mental break.
  
• There are many ways for one to reach a traumatic mental break, examples include extreme physical violence against them that threatens their life (deadly events) or through the loss of a loved one in hostile territory, or it can even be induced by the user’s teacher if they are so adamant about teaching them. Although this would put quite the risk on the teacher themselves, for now, the student will have to learn to loathe and absolutely detest their tutor - perhaps even triggering the Dark Rage against themselves. However, an interesting question that can be asked is. Who would want to share a curse like Dark Rage with another?
  

Personality Changes
In this section, we review the training process of Dark Rage, regarding the practice methods themselves and what one can expect from the increased expertise. Increased mastery does not only equal an increased power burst, it also means an increased level of control over yourself during the berserker state - up to a certain extent. Once a Sith has reached complete mastery of Dark Rage, they lose further control.

The philosophy behind this is that control is inversely proportional to power, the more you try to restrain and guide yourself, the less powerful you become. The Master has learnt this truth and has stopped trying to control a power that is all about the loss of control - thus tapping into much greater potentials of power and strength. When Dark Raging, a 6d6 apprentice will not be as powerful as a 12d6 Sith Lord, as both of them have vastly different maximum capacities.

Now there is more than one manner a practitioner can train and practice their Dark Rage, but it will almost certainly always revolve around confronting the demons that lie within. Whether it is actually triggering the Berserker state or simple meditation, the user must enter a state of introspection and come face-to-face with all the anger and bloodlust bubbling within them and practice control over it. Rage is a strong tool, but the Sith must learn how to wield it lest it wields them. The two faces must learn to co-exist.

When it comes to Dark Rage meditation, it would be advised for the practitioner to be accompanied by an ally. For much like a beginner to Ansi Niti meditation, it is safer for there to be one who can pull them out of the trance if it goes wrong - if all the sinister urges and malicious whispers seize control. This comes with its own risks.

Expertise	Description
1 (N/A)	The practitioner would find themselves in a constant state of tension and distress, as they are still coming to terms with the changes taking place within. They would be quite mentally unstable, hostile and paranoid. Here, they are the most prone to snaps and outbursts from the simplest triggers - at any time.
2 (N/A)	The practitioner begins to have better control over themselves, at least when they are not under stress. Stress here is the keyword, and any sudden surprises or threats may be just enough for the user to relinquish control and for Dark Rage to take over like an opportunistic parasitic infection.
3 (Beginner)	At this stage, the practitioner has more or less grasped the fundamentals of living and co-existing with Dark Rage. While the depraved desires and urges never go away, they have learned when to listen and when to tighten the leash. They can summon the Rage at will but are still very vulnerable to major triggers that may include reminders of lingering trauma or heated situations in general.
3 (Adept)-3 (Expert)	Moving beyond this, the practitioner gradually gains better control and power. Not only over the triggers but within the Berserker state itself. They would be more able to distinguish between ally and foe for example, effectively becoming less of a rabid beast and more of a directed killing machine.
3 (Master)	At the peak of Dark Rage, the Sith who have completely devoted themselves to this ability and those who have been thoroughly corrupted by it, have learned to co-exist with their urges and have stopped attempting to stand in its way. This is the peak of power, at the cost of control.

Side-Effects
The most significant side effect of Dark Rage is the almost complete loss of critical thinking and self-preservation that the practitioner suffers during the Berserker state. While their physical prowess is multiplied many folds, their mental functions suffer greatly. Their concentration is impaired and they completely lose all restraints: social, physical and psychological. They may find it difficult to cast certain spells and abilities, they find it hard to discern allies from foes, they fail to think strategically and so on.

It is also important to note that once the practitioner has ended the Dark Rage, they suffer incredible and overwhelming exhaustion where they practically become useless. All the pain and injuries they suffered ram back in full power - all at once. Worst of all, they may not even remember what happened - like Moon Knight's personality switches. And remember, pain immunity does not mean immunity from the effects. A broken leg is a broken leg, even if you cannot feel it, you would not be able to use it.

Ability Tree	Effects
Barrier Powers	Normal background barriers like Protection and Mental Barriers may function normally, but more advanced barriers that require concentration as Bubble/Warshield will suffer. The Berserker has little concern for self-preservation. He must only ravage his enemies.
Lightning Powers	The dark-sided surge of hatred may increase in power, but it will also now begin to eat and damage the user themselves due to the loss of restraint.
Mind Powers	The mental capacity of the Berserker is heavily impaired, they would find themselves unable to conjure their thoughts into anything more useful than possibly telepathy - although the recipient would find it quite painful.
Sith Sorcery	Abilities requiring concentration and channelling will likely be impaired, this would include abilities like Force Blast as the lack of restraint is likely to end up in catastrophe.
Telekinetic Powers	Telekinetic prowess might be amplified due to the lack of restraint but again, the user might suffer damage themselves if they go overboard. Advanced telekinetics like Force Whirlwind and above become unusable
Sense	These abilities often require a calmer mind, to listen to the whispers of the Force. This is heavily impaired during the Berserker state, abilities like Battle Precognition would be unusable.
Animal Bond	The bonded animal would be able to feel the extreme distress radiating from their master, thus driving them into a berserker state themselves - possibly even attacking their master.

Conclusion
To conclude, Dark Rage is a double-edged weapon and a very risky one at that. It is heavily corrupting, forcing the user to face and confront their most twisted desires and if they can come out on top, they will be awarded extreme power - but to be used wisely. Retreat is not often a concept that enters a Berserker’s mind and that can be deadly, and similarly, you would not want to be caught off-guard at the end of the Rage when you are completely depleted. Strength, speed and endurance are greatly amplified at the cost of strategic thinking and impairment of other abilities.

Dark Rage is not an ability anyone can learn, it requires colossal reservoirs of pain and hatred. An experienced fighter of many battlefields who has been driven to the brink of despair and anguish - finding an answer in the wretched depths of their mind. Yet they must be cautious to be in control - to not be a victim of their psyche's relentless and merciless abuse. This ability requires Officer approval before being allowed to learn it.