When it came to naming the first Light Eater a few we're picked, Soledormir had chosen the name 'Malice' for he was made with malice intent for the Dreamer kind. Shoji wanted to name him 'Malanin' a spin off of melanin because of how she designed the cursed to effect a Dreamer the corruption would turn the pigment of their blood,hair, and markings black. ( Also given Malice the nickname the black Nightmare) Judas is a crafty guy when he in the right mind, he suggested 'Mal' as it fits both 'Mal'ice and 'Mal'anin so no matter what he could be called Mal.
Fun facts:
Mal go by Malice and he hates the name Malanin as he thinks it sounds girly and stupid. He doesn't mind been called Mal but only by certain people

[gross Goo ]

Back when Shoji was making the curse of the Nightmare, it was nothing but black goo, it had no Gender, no awareness, it was a blank slate, this is the curse raw form. The dark Dragoness used her powers and mix it with other forms of dark magic to shape the curse.

She began to write the first instincts it would have, the craving for Light Magic, and it's hunger, but she also made it so it would learn and adapt as it feed, but only certain aspects of the Dreamer is needed and digest as the rest is 'discarded'...

[ How the curse works]

Malice is the core of the curse, all Light Eaters come from him and in a way a copy of him, of the curse, a copy of the contract written in Malice. It's why all Light Eaters have the same instincts, and why when they gain a frame they have black black blood, (the next is mostly in alternate forms ) black hair and if they had marking they would be black or dark color. However the copy are not the main source of the curse and that give Mal an advantage over other Light Eater and the ability to control them.

-

When the curse first settles in a Dreamer they are 'blank' and only have the written contract, most of this however is locked until they gain awareness. The first thing the curse dose is copy the Gender of there host, this is why a female Light Eater will always be in a female Dreamer and the same goes for Male's. As they start gaining awareness their instincts become unlocked and they devour there host Hearts reflection they start to develop /their own personality/, a light Eater will pick up and adopt some of the habits and traits of their host, but they Incorporated within their own personality.

Examples: Mal will often run his fingers through his hair, when he frustrated. He also take interest in females will long Raven hair. He will also visit a bar or Tavern when he really not in a good mood, all of these are habits that Faolan had.

-

It is natural for a Nightmare to hate and despise their former self, and it's in their instincts to erase the loved ones of there former self

[ there just so stinkin adorable you could die]

When it can time to give the curse a true form a lot of thought when in it, Shoji like the rest of her family has a very dark sense of humor, instead of having a hideous monster eating away at the Dreamers heart it was something that looked cute, and with the concoction she come up with the adorable little light Eater bug was made,
And it didn't Shoji help she like her father has a fascination with insects

[ Do you hear something?...]

there is another thing all Light Eaters have in common, they all are highly sensitive to sound...they have big ears for a reason and certain sounds affect them differently.

Crystals song can reach the ears of /any light Eater/ even Within a frame.

And Dark Catch fascination with the sound of bells is do to his Nightmare side...

[ what was planned out]

Mal Gender was also thought out, once the curse infected the Dreamer species not only could Nightmares infect others with corruption but they were intended to reproduce.

-

Dreamers can breed with any intelligent species as long as they share a compatible form. Soledormir had intended to use Malice as a main breeding stock, with him been the source of the curse is offering would be unique and powerful and not only that but Malice's range of control would be expanded with each offspring.

Malice web that connects him to every other Nightmare only holds about
five hundred thousand, the Nightmare population can not increase Beyond this limit, but with each Offspring of the Nightmare king this number doubles, the Offspring is used like an amplifier for the signal.

-

One of the many females Sol pick for Mal was Lamia the first Frost (*insert horrified Mal and Lamia face here*)
a mix between a Pyro and Frost would have created an offspring of incredible power and even more so with it being the first of both varieties.

It was intended that Eventually one of Mal children would over power him and take the mental of king and make the cycle start all over again, but with a New Breed of Nightmares, more devastating than the last.

-

However~ this did not happen, Shoji ended up getting a chance of heart..kinda ( more on this will be revealed later ) before the curse was place on the Dreamers kind, she wrote in a new instinct for the light Eater, they would fear and loathes anything to do with Romance. ( It was also entertaining for her to watch a big bad Nightmare freak out over it )

It isn't so much that a Nightmare can't reproduce as it is they will 'not' Shoji had written this in Mal contract, and it is an ingrained instinct in all Nightmares.

Soledormir knew this and even made a deal with Mal host himself, that as long as 'Malice lives', he would not Force the Nightmares to breed, Sol agreed to this only because he already had found a loophole...
The contract and deals we're made and place on Mal and his frame, eliminating Malice and appointing a new king or queen would reset the species and Soledormir could rewrite them however he wishes.

As the Nightmare king Mal is in charge of maintaining the light Eater species. Out of all the Nightmare he diving by the core of the contract and is the one who enforces it. This is why Mal go's psycho with Lamia having a child, as it is a breach of contract and he must erase Judas (Lamia son) and the one who had him.
Not only do Nightmares get grossed out at the thought of reproducing but any would be stupid to try, they would unleash a savageness in Malice that only brings destruction.

Lamia and her son are only still alive because she the second strongest ancient Nightmare, otherwise they both would have been dead

 [ survival of the fittest]

Malice is the core of the curse, and if he were to die the curse dies with him, but because all Light Eaters are a copy of the curse, if Malice were to die near them they would absorb the Mal essence, they wouldn't gain any of his personality but his powers and abilities as king, and with that a new king or queen would be made. to ensure the survival of her creation species, Shoji made it an instinct that a Nightmare would desire to be the ruler of Nightmares, this would greater increase the odds of the species survival as it would likely be another Nightmare who would Kill Malice and thought Mal is special to Shoji as he is her first child ( as she would say) if Mal was defeated by other Nightmare then he would be seen as weak and not fit to hold the title of king.

Fun facts: Mal know all of this and it's an easy topic to make him blow his top of. 
Challenging Mal rink as King never ends well.
-

[Absorbing essence]

All Nightmares can absorb another Nightmare essence, this is done for a few reasons.

, 
A quickway for a Nightmare to climbing the ranks, is /if/ they can kill a higher rank Nightmare and absorb their essence, the individual will not gain their abilities but it will bump them up significantly in ranking, especially if the Nightmare they absorb is much greater, but taking on a much powerful Nightmare is risky and usually ends with the lower one being defeated.

A Nightmare can climb the ranks by absorbing other lower Nightmares essence but it would take a lot, a lot, lot, it's much easier to gain power by feeding on other things fear and flesh.

[Healing pools]

Malice has always suffered from echoes and this is Something all Light Eaters inherited from Malice, echoes memories of their former self that the Nightmare experiences when they sleep mainly hibernation but it doesn't affect lower ranked Nightmare as much as higher one.

Alphas and ancients have learned by killing other Nightmares and letting there essence drain into a pool and by sleeping in it, the echoes are silence ( unless if Shoji song reaches the individuals ears, then that a whole different story )

Sleeping in the pool also quicken's the healing process to any injuries the Nightmare may have suffered and rejuvenate their energy.

( this is all I'm going to cover in this part, as more needs to be revealed in Skey before I can explain more)

(I love it!

The bits about Mal and Lamia made me snicker

She trolls everyone ahahah)

"*insert horrified Mal and Lamia faces here* that made me snicker X"D
RIP MAL & LAM. ... ... mal and lam... i just realized the shortened versions of their names are the same, just backwards from eachother lol

also, *seconds what blood said*