Quote Originally Posted by Selene Sparks View Post
Sorry for butting in here, but I think I should that this is incorrect.

Not only are the Hivemind rules in BoVD explicitly referred to as variant rules, they are also always called "Hivemind," whereas the Dark Speech effect in EE(The most recent one as I recall) creates a "hive mind," which is specifically called out in core's entry on the swarm subtype. So Karl's objections are strictly correct as far as I can tell, and the Dark Speech/Hivemind thing is good and dead.
You are wrong.

All new rules are introduced as variant rules. Prestige classes are variant rules. Everything in that chapter of bovd being titled "variant rules" doesn't change the fact that it's normal RAW of the game.

Darrin and Piggy Knowles have done a more than thorough job of explaining his mistakes.