On the Absolute Void

Transcript of a lecture from the 13th convention of the Scholars

The most abstract, most absolute and most dangerous and probably also the most difficult to understand Forsaken power is the Absolute Void. Since you, dear colleagues, are all stable in mind and spirit and have a firm belief in the Sacred Elements, we will allow ourselves to speak freely, so that any misunderstandings can be ruled out immediately. In return, let us determine that any reinterpretations regarding heretical intentions of our theses will not happen, since we all agree that we are examining these words with professional knowledge and as non-judgemental facts.

Let’s start right away with the crucial question:

What exactly is the Void?

After long, dangerous deliberations, we have reached a result which might not be very concise, but we consider it outstanding in its explanatory potential.

The Void is the absence of existence itself. A point of non-existence. In this there is no escape, no time, no idea or spirit, no universal law, and no sense whatsoever. In fact, parallels can be drawn here with a hypothetical, timeless primordial state before the beginning of Creation. From our point of view, rooted in our reality, this state of non-existence represents a complete, ultimately incomprehensible paradox.

Any effect which we can observe as “work of the Void” results from the fact that things and beings from our reality approach the Void and are thus partially dissolved, in lack of a better word. This creates structures which are only partially anchored in reality. There is a certain temptation to partially escape the rules of this world, this is true, but the price is always the loss of one’s being for once a person has made use of the Voids powers, it will cling to them and secretly devour them over time.

“Acolytes” are those who follow the Void out of short-sighted or based motives, some perhaps out of desperation or even compulsion. They first sacrifice their immaterial being, their thoughts, feelings, and memories, until later their whole soul and even their body are annihilated in un-reality. A consuming whirlpool of oblivion, obfuscation, blackmail, lies, and betrayal are the means the Void and its followers know how to use best; or rather, that arise on their own accord when beings are slowly perishing in this gruesome fashion. “Negation” is the name given to the complete dissolution of a thing or living being in the Void, which itself seems to proceed with retroactive effect and does not stop even in the mind of others, dissolving all memories about the negated person or thing.

Some great names and events in history are associated with the Void and its creation. At the height of the Ancient Rulers’ culture lived the great mind and inventor “Khor’Zuhl”, who created marvels in admiration of Aeris, most known among them the network of the White Portals. His master student was “Ar’Nathan Gilmfridd the White”, from the elemental people of the “Uhlans”, who intended to prove himself in front of his master with his enthusiasm and ambition, maybe even surpassing him in the process. At the same time his Aeris-pleasing freedom of spirit reached dimensions which, coupled with nihilism and arrogance, could only ever found appreciation within the Ratio. Even if the secret of the exact process of creation was never revealed, the entire Uhlan race was wiped out by Ar’Nathan during the creation of the Void. The empty suits of armour that now rage on the battlefields as “Phobosar” are the horrifying remnants of the few Uhlanen which remained in this world. But their souls are now enslaved, corrupting the portals of Khor’Zuhl and leading the world itself to the brink of negation. It was the fighters of Aeris which managed to ward off the choking grasp of the Void at the very last moment, but with great sacrifice. The Avatar of Aeris was corrupted and henceforth known as “Aniesha Fey”, the first daughter of the Void, founder of the Viinshar, while the creator of the Void and his high servants themselves had transformed into the leviathans of destruction, the “Nophobus”.

In modern times, the beings who make use of the Voids power appear in the form of the almost indestructible Phobosar and the ghostly Viinshar. The latter’s screams spread panic, they steal memories from their enemies and offer tempting pacts to the unsuspecting or mentally weak, the latter often in crafty disguise. Thus, the number of acolytes grows in silence, while the settlers’ society is slowly subverted. The creatures of the Void are in changing alliances with the other Elements of the Second Creation, but only as long as they benefit from these pacts. They do not know about loyalty or honour. The final goal of the Void, or better, the final state that the very nature of the Void strives for (because an actual self-consciousness such as with the Black Ice must be logically excluded concerning the Void), is the total and final negation of the world, i.e., the annihilation of the entire Creation, with all beings, things, matter, powers and ideas.

Recently, some successes in the fight against the Void could be recorded. Thus, the corrupted Aeris’ avatar was purified and restored, defeating Aniesha Fey. It is also said that some people are developing methods with which Viinshar can finally be destroyed; and the art of cleansing White Portals corrupted by the Void and in turn adding them to the network of Khor’Zuhl has been around for a long time. But the Nophobi are still lying in wait in their non-existence, undiscovered and deceptive acolytes are still up to mischief; it is rumoured that the place vacated by Aniesha Fey has already been taken again by another creature of the Void…

Dear colleagues, we would now like to conclude our presentation by raising the big questions that still remain to be asked, without being able to give an answer: In the end it remains open how one is ever to become master of the Void.

How to destroy something that is not existing at all? How are you supposed to survive something that even defeats time itself, and how are you supposed to explain in days to come: “We destroyed something that never existed to begin with” as a result?