Voidworld
| Voidworld | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | High fantasy |
| Established | 4/8/2018 |
| Creator | Ocelot |
| Progress | Incomplete |
| No. of articles | 12 |
The Voidworld, more commonly known as the Multiverse is a self-regulating system made of material worlds of finite volume and energy encased in a dimension of infinite volume and energy known as the void. It is characterized by the ability to consistently create foundations upon which civilized life can thrive, as well as the ability to store infinite information within it's immaterial plane. It's material dimension, which has a tendency to express itself in the form of more or less a thousand distinct worlds, has been the home of countless societies, from empires and massive trade republics to tribal and nomadic groups. It's immaterial dimension is inhabited by voidforms, immortal beings that used to inhabit material worlds but eventually ascended to the void in the form of pure energy and information.
While nobody knows how this system came out to be, it is speculated that its origins are based on an immaterial event or entity, which gave birth to a system of self-generating material planes. Whether this was intentional or not is also unknown. Having existed for countless millennia without any known alterations, it's believed to be stable to the point that only an external event could disrupt it.
Geography
General geography
Because of it's nature it's impossible to draw a map of the Voidworld. The internal machinations that allow it to retain an infinite volume and information create a phenomenon that, from the perspective of a material being, appears as an endless scrambling of it's contents. As such, the material worlds within the void aren't placed in any specific manner but constantly shift from one “location” to another endlessly and instantly. Despite that, the Voidworld allows for the development of technologies that allow for easy and quick travel between the material worlds in a manner that resembles sea traveling in the material world. Scientists and researchers as well as some nations, referencing the age of discovery, depict the multiverse as a set of circles tightly packed together inside a bigger circle.
Geography of the void
Having infinite volume, the void is considered the “primary” foundation upon which everything else exists, both in a scientific and in a practical manner. Voidforms describe it as a place where distance doesn't exist and it's size is completely subjective and based on the psychic power of each individual being. As such, it's geography can be considered a potentially endless uniform psychic pulp which any voidform can manipulate. For this reason, weaken voidforms are known to inhabit and contribute to an area sustained by much more powerful voidforms. In some rare occasions of sudden information decay, such collections of voidforms can unwillingly merge and transform into warp storms, which can end up on the material plane, where they resemble massive and more lethal thunder storms.
Geography of the material world
The material world is made up of roughly a thousand distinct entities. Most of said entities are primary worlds, which are habitable and generally friendly to all forms of sentient life. More than 95% of worlds have mountains and a forest and an island and a desert. About 50% of worlds have at least one giant lake, swamps, frozen wastes or canyons. A little more than 10% of worlds have a tropical or semi-tropical forest or more than a thousand islands or a super-volcano. Finally, less than 5% of all worlds are persistently incapable of hosting sentient life for various reasons and are known as doom worlds. Material worlds have a tendency to be diverse but in some cases one climate tends to dominate the others. As such, some worlds are essentially desert or oceanic worlds, while others are teeming with forests or are almost entirely covered in frozen wastelands. Doom worlds in particular are almost always dominated by a single climate.
Magic and energy systems
Everything in the multiverse is permeated by energy, which can be manipulated to cause phenomena generally referred to as "magic". Magic can be broken down into different forms according to the pyramid law. According to this law, energy originates from the void, where it's pure (Grey). In material worlds, energy can be broken down into different forms, like pyramid levels. Grey magic breaks down into either black or white magic, which are considered pure and basic compared to their lower counterparts. Black and white magic can then be broken into red, green or blue or "RGB".
Each RGB color can either be a pure expression of itself or have it's own aspect, which is correlated to either black or white. Red may have a yellow (white) or orange (black) aspect, green may have a gold (white) or silver (black) aspect and blue may have an azure (white) or a purple (black) aspect. RGB and their aspects shape the material worlds more than any other color since they are the most rough and complex in terms of expressiveness and pervasiveness but they can't exist without black and white energy, which end up defining them. According to the pyramid law, these colors have the power dynamics of a pyramid; none can exist without grey, the highest level of energy, but grey can exist without the other colors. Black and white can exist without RGB, but not the opposite.
People who can cause a wide range of magical phenomena are known as wizards, shamans, artificers, necromancers, druids and many other names, according to their activities and types of energy they utilize. In the long past magic was a privilege of the few but as the understanding of the world improved, even regular professionals began using energy to cast magical spells.
History
Voidworld's timeline is categorized in ages or eras. Important events start with the age darkness and the birth of the Nyx ascendancy and end with the apocalypse era, which contains the most recent events.
Age of Ignorance
Starting from the beginning of recorded history, the age of ignorance refers to an age when civilizations hadn't made any significant scientific or technological progress, had limited knowledge on magic and thus couldn't easily communicate to each other or travel from one world to another. This age is characterized by the existence of many different short-lived factions and nations with limited economic and military influence, the existence of many barren but habitable worlds, as well as a slow but constant rise in scientific discoveries. It's true duration is unknown but it's believed to be the largest one, as the oldest traces of recorded history go back 20.000 years before the age of darkness.
The age of ignorance ended with the birth of the first voidform, which was caused by the slow yet steady expansion of many civilizations, the construction of the first portals and teleporter arrays and the greater understanding of the world that many wizard guilds had attained through the course of time.
Age of Darkness
Essentially beginning with the creation of the first voidform, the age of darkness truly succeeded the age of ignorance when the Nyx ascendancy crossed through the material world and enslaved the majority of civilizations in the name of their creator, Erebus. Lasting 860 years, the Nyx tyranny imposed a misanthropic dogma on humankind while eliminating thousands of other intelligent species. The refugees who avoided slavery fled to Krag, where the Alliance ruled over at that time, leading to it's empowerment and the eventual creation of the Golden Empire. Along with the Golden Empire, the Nations of Fire formed the main opposition against the overpowering Nyx. Unable to control the ever-present greed among the Nyx, their opposition to the Sabled, or the constant opposition of both enslaved societies and other hostile worlds, Erebus had to fight a war on multiple ends. At the zenith of his efforts, Erebus led a massive crusade at the Embers, his former homeworld, achieving a Pyrrhic victory and destroying both the Nations of Fire and several rebellious Nyx commanders who had fled to these worlds. From that point, the Nyx Ascendancy slowly collapsed as the continuous loss of resources, the weakening of Erebus himself and successful expansionary campaigns of the Golden Empire led to it's fragmentation and decline. The age of darkness ended when Erebus, whose physical projection had retreated to his last stronghold to rebuild, was attacked by other voidforms and was forcefully split into three non-sentient voidforms.
Age of Discovery
Also called the Age of Knowledge, the age of discovery begins after the death of Erebus and ends with the destructive civil wars between the major imperial factions, lasting 979 years. It is characterized by a sudden and constant rise in scientific discoveries that was originally fueled by the study of Nyx technology, as well the supremacy of humankind over other species. With the Golden Empire controlling over 260 worlds at that time and imposing order on previously chaotic nations, humanity was able to improve their understanding of magic. This led the creation of techniques and techniques that transformed all aspects of living, from military and resource production to travel and communication as a well as a better understanding on how the world works in general.
During that time period, the Golden Empire united and rebuilt many small towns into the city of Fudamentum, which acted as the de facto capital of the entire multiverse and an important political and economic center. It's creation had both a practical and a symbolic significance, to the point that the emperor recreated the timeline according to the city's founding. The urbanization of an entire area for the first time in history set the foundations for the creation of similarly big cities elsewhere.
At it's zenith, the Golden Empire held over 560 worlds, with many others existing as protectorates. Undoubtedly being the dominant political and military entity, it's government eventually created the concept of Imperial authority in order to increase it's influence even further in their efforts of uniting all worlds under one banner. Because of the pervasiveness of this unorthodox law, the remaining free worlds formed their own defensive coalitions, most notably the Rule of the Seven and the Giknissi dynasty. Other powerful organizations, such as the Sentinels of Truth, the Reavers and the void vultists also opposed the Golden Empire for their own reasons. Due to the imperialist nature of the opposition, the Golden Empire ended up antagonizing and successfully pushing back these newly-formed factions at multiple fronts until a major civil conflict led to it's schism and the beginning of the Imperial era. Despite the increasing number of conflicts, the world as a whole kept improving and evolving as the initial discoveries during that age caused an avalanche of new ones.
Imperial Era
Starting from the Imperial schism between the Golden Empire and the Uldrich Empire and ending with the creation of the Infinita Nox the Imperial era covers the conflicts between several imperial entities. Lasting 56 years, this era is dominated by conflicts between hundreds of factions which were sparked by the constant decay, disorganization and betrayal within the Golden Empire as well as the abundance of energy and resources, which made prolonged war more viable.
The empire of Uldrich Fergnus, a theocratic and militaristic entity born from the dissatisfaction of many worlds formerly controlled by the Golden Empire, sought to fragment humanity into smaller nations and coalitions, believing that humans are not only destined to conquer all facets of existence, but also that humanity possesses a collective energy or spirit that can lead them to endless glory and expansion, provided that humans dedicate themselves to such a cause. While not completely untrue, this human-centered dogma was based on many false beliefs, especially when it came to the importance of other sentient species. As such, the Uldrich Empire was seen as a byproduct of a multiverse owned by humans who had forgotten that other species used to exist prior to the Age of Darkness. This schism of beliefs had lead to a political schism and a continuous conflict between the Uldrich Empire and the Golden Empire.
With the Rule of the Seven suffering near complete annihilation while undergoing a never-ending political crisis, it's leadership allied with void cultists in a desperate attempt to gain an edge against their enemies. The decision to include cultists in the government who enjoyed essentially unlimited funding attracted more malevolent groups, which put their own agenda above everything else. This led to void cultists gaining immense power, which they used to seize an entire world in the name of the Rule of the Seven before splitting apart from their former rulers. Before anyone could find about their end goal, void cultists sacrificed the world to ascend to voidforms while allowing the cosmic energies to permanently seep in the material world and transform it into a more malleable plane of existence. Their plan backfired, leading to the creation of the cosmic rift of Infinita Nox, which allowed for the malevolent entities in the void to invade the material planes.
Apocalypse Era
Starting from the apocalyptic events that occurred on Spes, this era covers the most recent events on the voidworld, from the invasion of malevolent entities on the material world to the constant fragmentation of former empires and the constant struggling of humanity to survive in this new hostile reality. It has lasted 532 years and with no end in sight, it's considered by many the final age and the precursor of the end times.
After the creation of Infinita Nox and the devouring on Spes and the cultists on it, the world radically changed, bridging the material to the immaterial and allowing for untold numbers of entities to seep in. The Rule of the Seven collapsed shortly afterwards, along with any civilization the rift could touch. For roughly a century, the rift remained a constant wound and it's effects accelerated the downfall of the Golden Empire until it's dissolution and reorganization into the Sentinels of Humanity at it's outskirts, the Alliance at Krag and several other now independent worlds. The Uldrich empire suffered a similar fate by losing many worlds but maintained it's leadership during these world-changing years.
The apocalypse era took it's final shape when Morsus Mihi, a group of five enlightened invididuals used the rift's powers to ascend and gain immense power, fulfilling the ultimate goal of the void cultists. Moved by a strong belief that the world should belong to immortal beings like them, they directed the powers of the rift to attack civilizations and expand their influence. Their meddling caused the Infinita Nox to violently expand and break apart, creating another fourteen smaller rifts, turning all of the material plane into an unsafe place and radically changing all of the Morsus Mihi in the process. With the advent of these inescapable threats, the fragmented but still extremely powerful humanity created it's own knight factions, categorized as Crusaders, Sentinels, Champions, Prodigies or Assassins depending on their self-proclaimed goals, identity, fighting styles and appearance. Inspired by the diligent knights who served the Golden Empire, these groups were later known as Magnus Eques and ended up representing the best humanity had to offer against their primordial enemies.
At the zenith of their strength, the Morsus Mihi launched the Black Crusades, a series of chaotic campaigns aimed at crushing any resistance and putting an end to the most stubborn defenders of the human-centric imperial order. Lacking any central leadership, these crusades were launched simultaneously and were crushed in multiple occasions by independent worlds, Magnus Eques counter-campaigns and military coalitions, but were also dreaded by all civilizations as the intensification of an already dire situation. Despite their general failure, the 4th crusade, the biggest and most chaotic of them all, reached and activated minimis, the smaller of the rifts situated inside Erekend, causing a profound shock across the multiverse and allowing for the Morsus Mihi to descend on the material plane as god-like avatars, ushering the world into a new age, akin to that of the Nyx tyranny. This change caused Minimis to close and all other rifts to weaken, while retaining thir ability to cause new eclipse-like apocalypse.
Along with the Magnus Eques, a group of formerly human immortal fighters created during the eclipse ritual and collectively known as the Rainbow knight, set out to eliminate the Morsus Mihi and prevent them from activating other rifts to change the world any further. With magical beings freely traversing in all worlds, already battered nations found themselves in constant conflict and decline. To ensure their victory, Morsus Mihi moved onto translocating rifts in the void into materal worlds to enact more eclipse rituals until all worlds were so radically changed human could not live in them. This process proved to be very volatile and difficult, leaving the world into an intermediary state for many years.
Notable worlds
Notable nations, empires and coalitions
- Alliance
- Golden Empire
- Nations of Fire
- Nyx Ascendancy
- Rule of the Seven
- Giknissi dynasty
- The Free world
- Uldrich Empire
Notable factions and organizations
Notable characters and voidforms
Behind the scenes
The main focus of the story
While all eras are important in their own respect, the main focus of the story is the time period during and after the apocalypse era. As such, most worldbuilding elements focus on that era, which diverges from what Voidworld is supposed to be naturally. Most events before the apocalypse era exist as the foundations for the factions, events and technologies present during that era, as well as to provide a contrast against the grim events of the apocalypse.
The Ignorance Era exists to keep the timeline as open-ended as possible. It's meant to be boring and underwhelming compared to the bombastic events that take place afterwards. The Age of Darkness mostly exists to excuse the immense technological and economic breakthroughs that take place in an otherwise low-tech fantasy universe, as well as to set the starting point of the voidforms, which tend to be the catalyst for most important events. Similarly, the Age of Knowledge explains how civilizations came to be rich, strong and populous enough to resist their primordial enemies after the apocalypse. The Imperial Era gives said civilizations enough time and enough reasons to be very sophisticated on waging war. Finally, the Apocalypse Era is the most chaotic, complicated and bizarre in terms of story, characters, allegiances, events and world-building elements. And while everything before it exists to support it, it isn't necessarily the final age, as everything is still uncertain story-wise.