#why are dark mages so solitary? well first of all dark magic exacerbates asshole personality traits

[kradogsrats]

anyway completely unsubstantiated (except that in both the TTRPG and the video game, dark mage characters can straight-up instakill themselves by doing too much dark magic too quickly) headcanon that somewhere between 1 in 8 and 1 in 10 dark mage hopefuls die before completing apprenticeship, but the most dangerous time is actually immediately after that, where 75% survive the first year on their own and only 50% the first five years... without someone to rein them in, they overextend and spiral into corruption burnout

some mages try to beat this grim numbers game by training two apprentices at once, but it actually still evens out because it's about 50-50 on whether they both die, given that nothing feeds both arrogance and desperation like competition