The Vikings
The Vikings, for all who don't know, were a civilization that colonized from Scandinavia through the UK and Greenland to the east coast of America, roughly 1500 years ago.
One type of warrior Viking were the berserkers. The berserkers in battle went into a fit of rage and became incredibly strong. Strong to the extent they had no fear, they needed no armor, and everyone was a foe. This post is intended to discuss certain positive behavior patterns which can be borrowed from the berserkers and utilized in a dark concept.
The verb describing the becoming of a berserker, to gain the pure aggression, is berzerkergang. Historically, it was thought that you were almost becoming the bear or the wolf, and it involved drinking the blood of such creatures. Another common way was hallucinogenic mushrooms. I know little of taking hallucinogenics at this stage of my training, and even though animal blood may be packed with certain hormones or appeal to a certain area of the mind, I know little of this. Nor do I think it is needed. I have personally unlocked a certain distance during a fencing match and clawed back the points, whilst screaming, running, and attacking like a crazed bandicoot on speed.
To simply put what I unlocked, I unlocked more power, strength, speed, and such. I unlocked a heightened awareness. You also unlock a determination, a desire to do something, which can allow you to go through tasks at great speeds. All you have, however, are fundamental instincts. For example, in a fight, you know to kill. If doing a job, you know the job and what to do.
Tapping into this power, a lot of people would find difficult. How many people openly admit to their emotions anyway? I doubt the majority of people reading this would quite happily shout out their emotion in public. Most people will snap if too much dams up, or have a particularly violent reaction to what has happened. Yet on the whole there is a wall preventing outflow. This dam needs to be broken to reach the berserker state. Screaming, reminiscing, the simple act of getting another comrade to give you a good beating. Everyone has their own unique trigger points they need to monitor and discover. And with practice, like anything, you can master your dam.
Unfortunately, like anything, there are disadvantages. Allowing so much excess energy to be used leaves the berserker in a much weakened state when they snap out of it, much weaker than the average man. Energy has been spent. Drug-induced ones probably to a greater degree as the body will naturally fight the drug as well as whatever else you choose.
The powerful individual, when learning to control his dam, will be required to learn how to rebuild the dam at will as well. Another task which requires great practice. Sleep is the means most people resort to in real life, but that is not instantaneous.
I do not think berzerkergang should be relied on to complete tasks though. It is a powerful fuel, but the body will still work better with the underlying protocols. If a martial artist practices his katas, a Napoleonic soldier reloads his musket, a bricklayer lays his bricks, to the extent they don’t think, they can just do it blindfolded, then the fuel of berzerkergang will create a very efficient path.