If you don't mind, I'd like to join the discussion about darkness, evil and daemons once again. Maybe we should make a separate thread in General Discussion about it.
Anyway, it seems language is a problematic thing, as words sealed on paper, in electronic form, or even transported through sonic waves lose a lot of meaning. When I communicate with other daemons it's more like telepathy, a direct sharing of thoughts, so no meaning is lost. If I communicate with humans... or communicate with daemons through English language on forums
... I have to use the words closest in meaning to what I want to say.
For example I could say that I'm a spirit, a soul, a mazoku, or a samurai. All of these convey some meaning, but not all. On the other hand I could say that I'm a 'creature of the same type as angels and devils, which for convenience's sake I call daemons, and the group that does not work for God, but still are in friendly relationships with him, which could be called jobless angels, but I prefer to call them good daemons'
But I prefer to simply say 'a good daemon' and explain it only if needed. If you simply take it literally, it's very close to the true meaning, as you take a daemon, but a good one. That's all.
And because different daemons like different avatars, I find nothing wrong with a good daemon having an infernal avatar.
Thus I find Bloodshadow's ideas not evil at all. Daemonic ritual? Good daemons also have their rituals and the sacrificing of a creature can mean that it willingly joins it's soul with a daemon to give it's body as an avatar. Stealing souls? Just a name for a process that does not really steal souls, but sounds more intimidating which might be useful in battle. Controlling minds? Well, removing free will from a creature is indeed evil no matter what, but you can always say that good mind controllers actually free the will of opponent creatures which are mind controlled by the evil opponent.
As for the light vs. darkness debate, it is true that most scientists nowadays believe that darkness is a lack of light, but they don't have to be right. In fact all science is just a speculation. It creates a model of the world and as long as the model seems to work it is considered to 'depict the true rules of the world' but then someone invents a better model and proves that the previous one was wrong. It is possible that even in the real world there is more to darkness than scientists believe. Just as it seems that void might be much more than 'nothing'.
In fantasy, or generally any other world than reality, darkness, if it exists there of course, might be a power equal in strength to light, or for example incomparable to light. I personally like stars shining a black light and I created such stars in a few of my worlds. I also like playing with negative light in 3D tools
Anyway, I like a vision of darkness as a force and philosophy. People following the ways of darkness, and using it to do good or bad. It's really nice if darkness is used in conjunction with light, for example in a battle of good vs. evil I could imagine a shadowy angel with a blessed shining sword that drains the power of it's opponent and uses shadows to hit it's target through armor. Or anything else, as long as it's similarly epic ^_^
As for the void, I can't agree with Bloodshadow. For me void is a kind of a great force, opposed to all existence, but passive. Just as existence does not aim to destroy void, void does not aim to destroy existence. They are interlinked, void filling the space between existence, existence filling the space between void. The ways of void are not destruction, but rather voidness, ceasing existence, living without energy, without matter, without time and space. The force of void can be used in a destructive way, but it is against the philosophy of the void, and true void warriors only use it if someone threatens the world with more destruction.
That's about it. If you don't agree, you are welcome
That's what discussions are for
