Dark Art: The Changing Face of Public Relations

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In Forgotten Realms there are prohibitions from the gods of magic (covering Fantastic Nuke, endangering of the world's magical circuit and a few crimes against the magic-using community) plus whatever local laws and traditions don't approve, typically including the most unpleasant forms of necromancy and/or using wild magic in populated areas. From what is known about the elven kingdom of Cormanthyr, it prohibited some enchantments that allow massive binding of magical items and creatures, some blood magics, using mass-destruction and later also selective spells in modes aimed to harm elves or "allied" beings. A few areas don't approve arcane magic at all, claiming it's " dishonorable", but in fact it's the places when magic may attract a curious spell-grub, and no one wants that anywhere around.

There is without a doubt, a culture and community that surrounds Dark Art, which includes horror imagery, movies, and novels, metal and punk music, tattooing and body modification, and all manner of other ‘dark’ sub-cultural identifiers. However, it must also be clear that none of these elements is a signifier of Dark Art, or an indication of whether an individual can or should be associated with it. Such interests and identity markers relate to individuals, not the work that they create. Although ‘Dark Artist’ may be a useful marketing term, I put forward that Dark Art is not all work created by specific artists, but that works of Dark Art might be created by anyone, regardless of their normal artistic affiliations or interests. So, just who practices the Dark Arts in spite of all these dangers? Lots of people/things! If it's magical, then an Evil Sorcerer, if it's a science, then a Mad Scientist of course, and if it's a martial art, then the Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy is likely to know it. Expect them to learn their craft in the Academy of Evil. If any kind of magic/science is considered to be the Dark Arts, you have Magic Is Evil or Science Is Bad. crawlersout: In this story, "dark" magic is magic that requires a "price" (usually emotional, but spiritual or physical aspects are possibilities as well) to perform. They're considered "dark" because they're much easier to abuse than "light" magic. It's actually perfectly legal to learn dark magic, it's just heavily frowned upon in magical communities that are highly conservative, such as Magical Britain. Some of the more useful and comparatively less objectionable spells, such as the Patronus Charm (which is fueled by happy memories) often return the "toll", and thus many are unaware that they qualify as dark magic. On the other hand, there are some spells whose "tolls" are so terrible that usually only the most evil of people would ever consider using them; the Killing Curse, for example, takes a piece of the user's soul. The three Unforgivable Curses, along with Blood Magic and soul magic, fall under this category. At least, she jokes about it. She could tell soon after meeting Negi that his Martyr Without a Cause complex would cause him to jump at the chance to learn it if that ever arose, and didn't so much teach it to him as slant his regular training towards surviving making that choice. That this suited her sadistic tendencies just fine (it meant she had to break him — just a bit, and carefully — as while you don't quite have to be evil to use Magia Erebea, you can't consider yourself entirely committed to any ideal or virtue) was providentially coincidental.The Dark Souls games have variously treated Pyromancy and Hexes as dark and nefarious. Pyromancy was seen as unrefined and wild in the first game, with practitioners from the Great Swamp being stigmatized for using it. It didn't help that there is a history of practitioners literally burning themselves to death or descending into madness. The corruption of the Witch of Izalith when she used her Soul of Flame to try to create a substitute for the First Flame (and dooming herself and the citizens of the city of Lost Izalith to become demons in the process) may have had something to do with that.

Basically, The Dark Arts are any science, discipline, magic, or martial combat style note (or all of the above, as a Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot of Supernatural Martial Arts and Crafts From Technology) that is deemed by society in general and the establishment in particular as a Bad Idea. ® (For some reason, actual artistic techniques are rarely considered a Dark Art (though the Wax Museum Morgue comes pretty darn close.) On the "misunderstood" side of things, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider emphasizes the fact that the Outsider himself is not inherently evil or good, and the people who made him into what he is, without having direct access to the magic, are much worse. Essentially, the powers of the Void are just tools, and it is up to the caster for how they decide to use them, though direct connection to the Void is akin to a magical variation on radiation poisoning. Compulsion (magical mind-control) and Rending (torturing and directly ripping apart someone's body using the Power) are seen as weaves that can almost only be used for evil purposes. In the beginning of the series, the knowledge of them has been lost for a long time anyway, but most Aes Sedai consider that a good thing. Some people hold a(n extremist) Christian belief that even pretending to use magic in, say, a Video Game or Tabletop RPG is bad, even though such games are usually set in a fictional universe where the fictional magic is known to not actually be from the devil even in-universe.In Werewolf: The Apocalypse, multiple practices can leave Gaia Garou at risk of Wyrm contamination.

In Shadow Ops, the "dark arts" are "prohibited schools" of magic, which are rare but immensely powerful types of magic, or use of a "legal" school in an illegal way. These include Necromancy, Sentient Elemental Conjuration, Gate Magic, and Negramancy, with the illegal uses of legal schools being Whispering (use of terramancy to control animals) and Rending (offensive use of healing magic). If a human manifests powers in any prohibited school, they get a simple choice: death or military service, and in the latter case, if you don't shape up, they lobotomize you to make you more compliant. A trait that seems common amongst the artists interviewed on the Dark Art Society podcast is that they have felt like outsiders. It is clear that in recognising Dark Art as a distinct entity, it creates a psychologically valuable sense of belonging. The value of this can create a desire to include all things held creatively dear to the artists involved, or to ensure that all artists interested in Dark work are included within the category. However, definitions are vital to the discussion and development of a subject, and definitions are created by exclusion. To define what Dark Art is, we must be clear about what it is not. Among the Silent Striders, members of the Eaters of the Dead camp practice the Rite of Dormant Wisdom. Participants ritually devour a dead person's brain to acquire their memories. Not only is the rite a grave violation of the Litany, but participants risk attracting the attention of the Urge Wyrm Foebok. If a Garou takes part in the rite more times than their permanent gnosis score, they become a slave of Foebok.In When Demons Walk, there are all sorts of magic spells that can be fueled by blood, body parts, or torturing people. Using one's own blood is somewhere inbetween, some think it is evil, but the protagonist considers it justifiable. Daedric "Ritual Magic" (the kind used by most mortals to commune with the Daedric Princes and to permanently summon/bind lesser Daedra) is almost universally considered this, though exceptions may be made for those invoking the Daedric Princes considered to be "Good." Necromancy. Although it is not evil or corrupting in itself and some spells can actually be used for good, it almost always involves gruesome rituals or blood sacrifice. And its foremost practitioners (but not the only ones, and not even the first ones) are the Deathlords and Abyssal Exalted, who are evil by most standards. The three Twilight Invocations grant greater power than the Radiant Invocations, but each comes with both risk and moral flaw.