Good evening, all you merry travelers! For those of you I haven't met, please allow me to introduce myself: I am Priestess Moxiette Poplucia of The Lord's clergy. Be welcome in this holy place.

I admit, when I took to penning this sermon, I wondered if I might start off with a fable, a children's story, to accentuate my point. I do so favor a good fairytale, after all.

But as due respect to your ability to comprehend broad notions without the need for fluff, and in the spirit of the Dahkoarhim's time-honored tradition of speaking plainly....

I'll give this sermon's thesis statement to you, straightforward. Followers of Darkness may very well exercise kindness, and even love.

Whether or not devotees of Dahkoar are permitted to show one another compassion, hold kindly feelings of fellowship, or partake in wholesome relationships, besides the debaucherous and leather-laden sorts, represent some of the most frequent questions we're faced with. 

The answer is, well, of course we are. No, love and kindness aren't necessarily in opposition of our Lord's doctrine. And, just in case you were wondering, the philosophy that I'm passing onto you, this night, is hardly considered radical within the Temple of Dahkoar, as it exists in Darmahk and elsewhere. This is a common, inner Temple understanding that has somehow slipped into social obscurity.

The reasons that love, kindness, and shadow may be reconciled are two-fold, and simple enough.

For one, The Lord's scripture is dynamic, despite being simple in its written form. It represents ancient paragons which have influenced countless traditions and inspired generations of people, of all races and personalities. It isn't so flat and bland as to necessitate ONE, cartoonish brand of worship, involving the condemnation of all that might be remotely affable. Consider that there's room for a cheery, pink-topped Gnome, after all.

When other groups chalk the Dahkoarhim up as being blood-thirsty, spooky skull axe-toting savages who snarl in the face of decency, they are willfully denying the complex culture that the religion has created over centuries. They are guilty, too of a "straw man" argument -- of attacking a caricature of Darkness rather than its actual dogma. A straw man, after all, is easier to slay than a real one. 

The truth of the matter, is that devotion to Dahkoar entails a commitment to a certain lifestyle, of ceaseless Devotion, of exercising Dominance over one's personal weakness and the fragilities of their surroundings, of tireless Determination, and so on, of which there are countless manifestations that love and kindness may coexist with.

Love and kindness are therefore practiced, in these cases, within the scope of His tenets, and as an extension of His tenets. This brings me to my second point.

In everyday practice, a devoted member of the temple of Dahkoar may choose to exercise politeness or conventionally good-will because they wish it, or because it bodes well with their casual social atmosphere, like anyone else. If a fellow tavern patron spills their pouch, you might help them collect its contents, for example. But when it comes to the philosophical definitions of love and kindness, the terms are more nuanced. They tend to differ from the interpretations of other religions. When the Dahkoarhim love, it is not for fear. It is not the result of obligation. It is not the reciprocal of sweet promises and benefits. Rather, it is with the intimately fond acknowledgment that a fellow person or institution serves The Lord. The practice of loving another, or showing them kindness, then entails fostering their Determination, Devotion and Dominance, and thus, their path with Dahkoar.  Mind you, the Dahkoarhim acknowledge that, sometimes, once's spiritual growth demands pain and gruesome accountability.  If one of the faithful must be slain, if one must suffer profoundly to ultimately develop in The Lord's Shadow, then they will die by their fellows' hands and it will be an act of love, and faith that any means are worth the grace of Darkness.  In this way, the Dahkoarhim do not love for the sake of it, but as a vehicle of worship as we fan the flame of Darkness in one another's heart. It is willed that we uphold a certain standard of behavior, and surely there is virtue in restraint, but it is not written that those who pledge themselves to Darkness must be unfeeling, wall-like individuals. It isn't that we reject love and kindness, simply because we do not subscribe to a hollow, compulsory felicitousness. We simply reject what we deem a misappropriation of the terms.