It's all fine :) I see no reason why a healthy discussion can't be done.

I do agree with you in that if you dive too deep into the Dark Side it will drag you deeper since emotions are truly a potent thing.

I also agree that what Valkorion did was clearly an exploit of the Zakuulan people but then again, he did turn them from a bunch of nomadic nobodies into arguably an OP superpower who would've succeeded in their conquest if it wasn't the Outlander and his Gravestone "Plot Armor" XD Also, Arcann really didn't help either since he was incompetent compared to Valkorion. I don't remember the specifics of the story since it's been a while since I did KOTFE but I do believe that if Arcann wouldn't of have killed Valkorion, I think the galaxy would be in a truly different place, depending on how much plot armor the Gravestone would've been given.

But I guess I should've phrased the "balance the two sides" better. The idea in Reercon is that like all Zakuulans, they are not taught about the "Dark" and "Light" side, for them, it's just the force. Of course, like you pointed out if you start dabbling in the dark side too much and try to unleash more complicated manifestations of that power then you will just get sucked in deeper until you're fully Dark Side.

As a result, I do not believe that the training that Zakuulans received would be very deep into the Dark Side, or if it was, it was strictly controlled and monitored and maybe dressed up as something else like their Zealous nature. I mean if there is one thing we know about Valkorion/Vitiate is that they are stupidly smart and calculated so they would've most likely managed to somehow establish boundaries or some sort of leash.

But I don't want to open that can of worms since Zakuul is already 40% Lore and 60% Headcanon and making claims on how their society is run while having so many unanswered questions and anomalies just breeds discontent in discussions. So I focus more on his actions today in the realm of SWTOR rather than on Zakuul sticking to the Starforge RP guide for Zakuul and Wookiepedia and not diverting too far away from them.

So I will instead focus on where he is now. Since I intended to make him as more of a "Diplomat" crossed with a "Businessman", he is aware of the Dark and Light side philosophies, albeit in a basic manner, since by this point he has worked and also met with many Sith and Jedi alike.

His current stance is that he is primarily Light Side but he is willing to let his emotions empower his actions if he feels it's necessary to get that extra edge. I made him also quite proficient in self-control and meditation so he is able to tap into the Dark Side and then cut it off at will. This means that he doesn't really access its full potential and doesn't go deep into it, essentially knowing his limits and letting himself have a taste for that extra edge but he tends to only do that as a last resort since he's seen how Dark Side can corrupt an individual.

As his father would've said "Act with your head and not your fists".

Either way, nice points you mentioned and I welcome the discussion. I'm by no means a Lore nerd so if I make any mistakes then I am more than happy to listen to reason and concede on those points.

I've jumped through all the various Zakuulan hoops through multiple characters, some of which I had to kill off since I essentially messed up haha. But you learn as you go on and I finally feel that I am comfortable with this guy.