Henners91 wrote:But with the whole Dark Jedi/Light Sith... there are precedents for the former (Kyle Katarn? Jedi Academy?); although one would expect expulsion from the order as that seems to be the fate of most grey Jedi.
Well, the Jedi don't tolerate Darksiders or even Greysiders in their Order at all - Kyle Katarn successfully redeemed himself; if he had not, he would have to face his former friends. This is something that a lot of Darksiders go through, however, it
is possible to come back from the other side, it's not a one way street. Though going from Dark to Light is, of course, way more difficult than vice versa.
Henners91 wrote:I am unsure as to whether one must muster emotion to call upon the dark side, I imagine that is probably the case.
It's less that there is a requirement to muster emotion, it's more that emotion directly affects the way how one interacts with the Force. You have this in real life, too - when you're angry, your body is able to unleash much more force than when being calm; it's a biological thing about adrenaline and narrow focus, anger and hate literally give you strength. With the disadvantage that you lose a measure of control over yourself. And that's exactly how the Dark Side works as well, only that it happens to taint you in a way that such outbursts continue to affect your mind even after your anger subsided.
The Jedi way, on the other hand, is all about control of emotion, about focus without rage, meditation over fervor. In a way, a Sith is to a Jedi like what a professional boxer is to a kung-fu practicioner.
Henners91 wrote:Having never RP'd as a Jedi on SWTOR, I don't know if they're short on manpower and thus more tolerant or what, but Jedi have used the Dark Side to combat the enemy in the past.
The Dark Side always lurks in the background, and everyone can fall. This is the danger in it: Many goodhearted people were simply lured into becoming Darksiders because they gave in to their feelings of attachment and were unable to take a step back, instead becoming so involved that they'd do
anything to "help". This is how the Sith Empire came to be in the first place - it was founded by Jedi who became Darksiders whilst entangled in a war to
protect the Republic.
Henners91 wrote:You're a slave who's forced to learn the force under pain of death [...]
Oh yeah, but you don't just learn - you also kill. The game doesn't show it, but Academy training lasts many months or even years during which you are forced to engage in all kinds of evil and diabolical activities, up to and including betrayal and murder for personal gain. Over time, you simply become tainted by association. At first you hate your teachers, then you hate yourself, and at some point you simply give in and gain strength out of this hate, beginning to notice that it empowers you, that it can "set you free" as the Sith Code promised. Then your transformation is complete and you may ascend.
As I said, it's a matter of interpretation, but personally I cannot fathom at all how anyone could preserve a pure heart when being raised in an environment that works even more insidious than a Taliban training camp. When you don't perform with a ruthlessness that pleases your masters, you get killed or punished until you either do it right or wash out. Compassion is a weakness, and the Sith don't tolerate weaknesses of any kind.
Henners91 wrote:I point again to the Revanites (saying that Revan drew on both light/dark and that's what made him strong; in short, applying the Sith ethos of acquiring strength to not being narrowminded in the sources of your power) and, on Dromund Kaas, the tomb of that Sith Lord you come upon wherein a hologram of him tells you about how he was shunned for realising that the Sith could draw upon the light side just as much as the Dark Side.
Revan isn't exactly a good example, though. What the Revanites simply "got wrong" is that Revan wasn't a Sith who used the Light Side - Revan was an atoning Ex-Sith Jedi affiliate who had experience with the Dark Side due to his past. Just like that hologram sounds much more like a Greysider than a Dark one.
You
can draw upon the "happy medium" between Dark and Light, but neither Jedi nor Sith do it, and both regard it as wrong, not supporting it with their teachings nor their indoctrination. Being a Greysider - like the
Imperial Knights, for example - is simply something completely different and
imho doesn't really have a place in either of the two aforementioned organizations.
Henners91 wrote:I guess the Sith are more liberating for roleplay because at the end of the day, they're not only a more 'liberal' organisation than the Jedi but they also are determined to acquire knowledge; their only motive is the further acquisition of power; why is the light side not a valid route for this? It's just a philosophy.
Both the Jedi as well as the Sith are all about philosophy, it's like a religion to them - which is why, for example, the Inquisitors are so interested in rooting out the heretical Revanites.
Thing is, when you grow up knowing that hate makes you strong, why would you go to the Light Side? It's the same "trap" that has a lot of Jedi-roleplayers think that emotions are perfectly fine and there's nothing wrong with stuff like love as it would have to be a good thing.
Ultimately, I'm not even sure if Sith are really more liberating ... I think both Jedi as well as Sith are really hard to "get right" because few truly understand and stick to the Codes of both organizations. A lot of roleplayers just think they can get away with what they want, reducing the Sith to cackling cliche overlords bullying everyone, or playing their Jedi like some kind of mercenary with a lightsaber. It's a real challenge to replicate the mindset you've seen in the movies or novels, however.
