After passing through the blue skies and the ethereal domain of the gods, there lies a place beyond what we know and what we love about our fair home Revaliir. It is a place fraught with cold terror that even the mad fear, where beasts of amorphous shadow breed and stalk our borders; a place whose name could not be more fitting. T'is of course the Void I speak of, that realm beyond and betwixt all things: or so the theory goes.
I do not personally know what lies beyond the Void, but there are those who have come from it. They speak of the many different levels associated with this seemingly impossible construct; and they come from worlds where magic follows entirely different rules or simply doesn't exist at all. Some even proclaim that their "magic" is not truly magic, but, for some reason, they cannot say what their people actually called it, as if the word is forbidden in our lands.
That said, what little information we do know about this strange place, where knowledge disappears as fast as ale during a new year celebration, comes from those foreigners; and the souls fortunate enough to stumble into the Void only to survive just long enough to make it back. For their sacrifice, and to ensure a proper warning for generations to come, I shall record the knowledge that has come to me over the years.
First and foremost, consider the Void like the air that surrounds the body of Revaliir. Revaliir herself has many different realms, but these are all connected by some form of tunnel. Abstractly, Revaliir could be thought of as a labyrinth of many different areas smashed together. It's not necessarily easy to navigate between them, but we, as inhabitants, at least know that there are paths to where we want to go.
The Void, on the other hand, is more of an atmosphere that surrounds this physical construct. There are paths into it, but set paths are hard to come by and typically infested with the terrible creatures that lurk within. There are three levels to the place, each a further radius from the realms that we would normally consider Revaliir's body. There is the Structured – or the closest sphere -, the Semi-Structured – or the middle sphere - , and the Unstructured – or the farthest sphere. We'll go over them one by one in the following sections.
The Structured Void is the area of the Void closest to Revaliir. Like its name suggests, it holds the most structure of any part of Revaliir's Void. As such, walking through it is much like walking through any physical area in Revaliir. There are statics paths in this place, and, while they are winding, they have direction.
Unfortunately, the Structured Biome is also home to the most numerous of Void creatures known as Stalkers. They are much like the "goblins" of the Void, from what I hear: numerous but weak individually. Alone, they can be taken out with a well aimed sword strike, but, together, they can easily overwhelm even prepared adventurers.
Luckily, the Stalkers also seem to be afraid of light, so a torch can keep them at bay: provided, of course, you can find enough fuel to keep it running. After all, while there may be numerous, otherwordly ores in this place, there is no wood. Living things, other than the Void stalkers themselves (if you can call them alive), do not naturally exist here. In fact, most who come back from the Structured Void describe it as a maze of cavern tunnels whose cold winter bite chills you to the bone. If the deafening silence at most times doesn't draw you into madness, the chattering of nearby Stalker nests just might.
Note: The one known entrance to the Structured Void is in the Valley of Vada. However, that area also happens to be one of the most infested, so travelers should beware of danger seeking entrance that way.
As one travels further out from Revaliir – provided, of course, they can tell which way is "out" – the Void begins to lose its structure. The maze turns from static to dynamic in nature, allowing tunnels to shift behind and in front of any guests that may be present. In some cases, there is no path at all: only a seemingly impassable abyss that must be bridged or walked around. This area is what is called the Semi-Structured Void, and it is home to nasties far worse than the Stalkers.
The Semi-Structured is the area of the Void that we hear the greatest boogieman stories about. Horrific monstrosities live in this place, too large to fit through the relatively tiny tunnels of the Structured Void without brute force. Admittedly there are some who still make it through, which would explain the presence of Void Behemoths in the Valley, but, in large part, the structure shields us against their presence. Good thing, too, because I hear tales of monsters large enough to cleave the continental airship in two with a single strike should they be allowed in.
There are, of course, other rumors about this place. Supposedly, the Semi-Structured is where deity powers and conventional magic begin to misbehave. So, if you draw your power from the tree, dear reader, best be prepared for potential impairment should you venture this far out. There are differing reports on how bad the effects can be, but, typically, divine magics suffer the most: including those powers drawn from divinity itself.
Even further out than the Semi-Structured Biome lies the largest and most unknown part of the Void: the Unstructured. Very little is known about this place, because people usually forget about it due to the stress associated with travelling through it or because they feel like it should be forgotten by everyone. This is where the largest creatures lurk, they say, but those same people also proclaim that the Unstructured Void is so large that you're more likely to see nothing at all rather than a bone-chilling monstrosity. In fact, you're more in danger of starving to death in the Unstructured because there's nothing to eat. To make matters worse, it's said that traditional, Revaliir magic will not work out here at all and that travelers of all stripes will have to create their own paths through the empty landscape because there is no structure to support their feet. This is also the point at which deities can no longer use any of their divine powers, from what I hear, for they become too far removed from the tree's reach this far out. And if you thought the Structured Void was cold, dear reader, the Unstructured Void has a surprise for you.
I must admit, though, that almost all of this information about the Unstructured Void is based on pure hearsay. No credible native that I know of has successfully ventured out this far in the Void and returned to tell the tale; so everything I hear about it comes from tight-lipped, scared foreigners who prefer silence to information. In fact, some of those people proclaim they're more scared of the Unstructured Void than Porta Inferni and refuse to speak further on the matter.
However, one thing I know for certain is that there are other worlds beyond this abyss. This area is like another ocean. Beyond it lays fantastical worlds we've never even dreamed of, potentially infinite in number. If we could somehow find a way to cross it, I wonder what we could find. Death if you believe the foreigners. Treasure if you believe the natives.
So there you have it: the infamous Void condensed down into a few hundred words. More information may come after this entry has been written, but only time will tell. There are rumors even now that some fool mages have set up homes in the Void, harnessing magics not dependent on the tree to stay alive, but I don't know what type of madness grips them to get such an insane idea in their heads. Perhaps we will learn more thanks to their efforts, but I have my doubts. Anyone crazy enough to settle out there either wants to be left alone or is so deranged that I'd not like to meet them. Ever.
Grand Mage Mora, Ambassador to Valley of Vada from Iria and Void Researcher