The Void¶
"No known being that has entered the Outer Void has ever returned." — Cosmology (S013)
The Void is what lies outside. In the newest cosmology it is simply "the physical space between worlds" (S001); in the older it is "an infinite expanse of nothingness ... It is from the Void that all creation emerged" (S013, S421). Both agree that it has no layers, that Terrun's planes do not reach into it, and that the few things that cross it are not of Terrun.
Also called: the Void Plane, Outer Space, the Inner Void and Outer Void (its near and far parts), the Astral Sea (the Inner Void in one account), the Yawning Void (the home of the Dread; see below).
Outer space¶
"The physical space between worlds. Although adjacent to the material, it is differentiated from the material in that the material plane has layers (inner planes) and an elemental-powered form/matter. The void has no layers and layers from a material plane (planet) do not extend into the void. You cannot travel from the subplane of one material plane to another; they are not connected. In fact, their subplanar structure may differ significantly. The subplane structure outlined above is specifically relevant to Terrun" (S001). The Rift's folds show the edge of it: beyond a fold "there is no air, no gravity and extreme cold (death to all but Void creatures)", and "no Rift-islands exist in the Void" (S017); see the Rift.
The nothingness before creation¶
The older cosmology makes the Void older than everything. "The Void is an infinite expanse of nothingness. Wandering beings occasionally arrive and others depart into it (for what reason is unknown). It is from the Void that all creation emerged. It is assumed that somewhere within the Void, additional unknown planes exist. The Inner Void (or Astral Sea) is the part of the Void where travelers can still 'see' and make their way to the Transitory Planes or Astral Plane. No known being that has entered the Outer Void has ever returned." "The void touches all the Transitory planes and Astral Plane", and "either Material or Astral forms may visit the Void" (S013, S421). The first life came out of it: "Intelligences separated themselves from the Void and in the process created the Astral Plane", and the Einar later forged planes "so that they could control and make use of the intelligences that would drift in from the Void" (S421, S386); see Creation. The Nature of Magic gives the Void a substance of its own: "Only the Void is made of Nether", the unbound opposite of the Ether that everything else is made of (S208); see Nature of Magic.
The newest magic notes keep the Void outside the law: Astral Law "does not extend to the Ethereal, Shadow or Void Planes; as these were not created by the Creators, and have existed since before creation" (S205). Nethermancy "deals with the forces and energies of the Void. It often takes advantage of entropic disparities between the local environment and points in the Void to create a current of Nether energy from one point to another", and at its height "takes a portion ... of the material plane and merges it with the Void. It acts like a large Anti-Gravity, Void and Anti-Magic Zone. Land, buildings and objects will be torn apart" (S311). The Phase sphere is "the sphere of planar intersections and The Void" (S205), the Nether domain of the Celestial colleges manipulates it (S304), and the oldest rules let Void Magic merge "the fabric of the void with their current plane to create areas of slowed time, extra-dimensional pockets" (S371). Rune lore speaks of exiling a creature "to the void" and summoning "a beast from the Void" (S251). Every demon's thread "bleeds a tiny amount of ethereal energy back into the Void" (S019).
Denizens and travellers¶
"Creatures which make the void their home are extremely rare. They tend to raid the transitory planes for the resources they need for survival. Most feed on matter and energy directly" (S013). The Revision names the masters of the crossing: "Outsiders (Cthul, Tyrax, Abols) - Only a handful of beings have mastered the traversal of the Void. These visit Terrun, set up outposts and harvest Terrun's resources for their own interests" (S001). See Outsiders and The Dread.
Demons may be among them. "Demons are sometimes known as the children of the Void, although that supposition is without direct evidence" (S019); "a Demon is an agent of chaos spawned from the void", says one of the three answers the demons' own introduction gives and declines to choose between (S334). The archive cosmology is certain: "Once wandering souls, the Demons arrived en-masse from the Void" (S421). The scholarly Void Origin Theory rests on "translation of some demonic texts which reference worlds that appear to have no relation to Terrun", and on Jeroxx's Abyssal Compendium (Lesser Texts), which "references several demons claiming that the host of Belphegor arrived from a world known as Oestar after having completely consuming all energy there, and that those that refused or were unable to travel through the Void are undoubtedly now destroyed" (S520, S514). The rival theories are on Origin of Demons. The Uk'Zarai and the Araxians are the other peoples from beyond; the classification of life calls all such beings Outsiders, "creatures with a connection to the Outer Planes or beyond" (S018).
The Yawning Void¶
The Dread come from a place the rune lore names three ways in one document: the Yawning Void, the Yawning Madness and the Yawning Maw (S257). A rune of dread "aligns the area with a subplane of the Yawning Madness, allowing certain types of The Dread to partially cross through." The Cthuls "are an ancient family of organisms whose origins are uncertain. It is known that they inhabit many layers of the Yawning Void and they are one of the most prolific Dread Races." The Umbars, "the most prolific Dread family", are "not often able to escape the Yawning Maw without outside assistance." The Abols "are an ancient race born in the Yawning Madness. They appear as great worms and eels which can swim through water, air and space ... Their oldest members claim to have living memory of the birth of almost every race in the universe" (S257). The source is a rules document; only this lore is taken from it, and whether the Yawning Void is a region of the Void or a plane of its own it does not say.
Other worlds¶
The sources name a handful of worlds across the Void.
- Sukmaran, formerly Mafaeran. The home of the Uk'Zarai and once of the An'Zarai. "In the early days of Mafaeran (the name of the world before it became a 'dead' world)", the god Mafaesial made the An'Zarai; his wife Sukmaril made the Uk'Zarai and the Fel energy that infected them; "after their fall, the world declined quickly into the dead world that it now is (renamed Sukmaran)." The Dwarrow "brought the Uk'Zarai outcasts to Terrun" (S515). The Uk'Zarai also call the world Sharuvas, the planet from which the Divine "traveled to Terrun", and on which "Sharuvas's demons" are said to be imprisoned (S018, S112).
- Efferhien. "A nearly uninhabited world" the Dwarrow found for the An'Zarai when Sukmaril was driving them to extinction; "they did not settle them both on Terrun, nor did either of them know of the fate of the other" (S515).
- Oestar. The world the host of Belphegor is said to have consumed before crossing the Void (S520).
- The Araxian Plane. The home of the Thur'arax and their swarms, reached through Araxian Rifts, "orange glowing rifts on the floors or walls (solid substances only) with blackened edges." There "the sky is black like a starless night with orange wispy clouds that dimly light the landscape. The land is bleak and looks like a volcanic wasteland." Flat circular perforated structures across the wastes are dens, each the far end of a rift, and a Thur'arax of the first estate "spans two planes at a time, the Araxian Plane and this one. It is conscious in both and needs to be killed in both" (S197). Whether this plane is a world in the Void or a plane of another kind the source does not say; it is the demi-plane of an Elder God, Seth'Arax.
The Cosmology of 2022 is content to leave the rest unknown: other planets "are not treated as part of this cosmology because of a lack of information and no known methods of transit between them" (S013); see Material Plane.
Earlier accounts¶
The archive cosmology and the Cosmology of 2022 class the Void as an Outer Plane, with the Abyss "located within the Inner Void" (S421). The Acadian notes list the Void among the connections of "the outer plane crossroads", the Astral Plane (S358). The oldest rules treat the Void, with the Abyss, as an Inner Plane (S371), and a blade-magus draft lists it among the planes a magus may draw on (S275). The Fae realm called Night is said to govern "darkness, sleep, death, void, chaos" (S208).
Gap
No source describes what a traveller in the Void sees, how the Outsiders cross it, or how far the Inner Void extends. The Yawning Void's relation to the Void proper, and the Araxian Plane's, are left open. Nothing locates Sukmaran, Efferhien or Oestar relative to Terrun.