Voidart & Magic

Voidartistry is the art of moving, channeling and manipulating Void, a form of energy that permeates the world itself and is present in all things. One could say it is the energy that fuels existence. It is, therefore, a much more generalized form of energy than, for example, the Od energy that fuels Odaturgy. It is also present in far greater quantities, which can be both a benefit and a flaw to the dancer.

In its default form, Void itself is invisible to the naked eye. However, when examined by an energy sensor or forced to become visible, it appears as a white light. This light permeates all things - a stronger glow inhabits living things, but the light of the Void is present even in inanimate and inorganic matter.

This is the engine behind void-dancing -- and magic.

There are three general "spheres" of colored energy (Red, Green and Blue), each of which roughly correlates to a wider swathe of effects (Destroy or Remove, Create or Add to, and Transform or Change, respectively). As always, white is the color of all colors combined. To create effects using void, one must learn to pull those colors apart and manipulate individual "shades" by amplifying, diminishing, altering or combining them in various degrees and patterns.

Once this begins, the energy being used becomes visible with a hue reflecting the specifics of the manipulation in process. For example, using a transformative voidic ability would create a blue glow as the dancer separates the blue energy out and shapes it.

As another example, an effect that combines destruction with transformation will have a purpleish hue. When all three work in tandem, the effect appears visibly white - this is All-Sphere, used to fuel reality-bending or rule-breaking effects.

Alternately, when spheres are actively suppressed or drained, the resulting effect appears similar to shadows - Null-Sphere - which has logic-breaking and negation effects.

Finally, when Void is processed through a magic system (more on that later) rather than manipulated directly, it is referred to as "magic." This is most commonly associated with mortals.

Unlike Odaturgy, and unless some ability or object is specifically used to dampen it, voidic abilities will always have a visual effect; brighter effects generally indicate a greater amount of energy being utilized and thus a stronger effect.

Void Spheres are defined by color and by the final effect, not by the means through which the effect is reached - that is to say, whether you use a bolt of energy or a fireball to blow something up, you are using Destroy or Remove, and so the light will run red. Different void-dancers may specialize in different spheres, yes, but often in different effects within the spheres as well, e.g. perhaps someone is better at generating fire effects than direct energy bolts. Both destructive, but one can be better or worse at either one.

The Void Energy Spectrum and General Associated Effects

The spheres are, at times, somewhat abstract - e.g. "Extirpation," the name for inherently destructive effects.

It's worth noting that the personality and nature of the person using Void can have a strong impact on what sorts of effects come most naturally to them - a violent person may struggle with voidic effects like healing while a pacifist would find destructive effects difficult. A slight conflict between a dancer's nature and their desired effects can be overcome with will, time and practice, but there is a point beyond which the connection is essentially severed.

What follows is a list of the spheres along with examples of effects one might create with that sphere, and what sorts of people might thrive with or fail at the sphere.

The Hidden Spheres

Unlike Odaturgy, aetherweave or physiurgy, there is theoretically no limit to the amount of Void energy one can use in creating their choice effect. This is because the energy used is external to the body and permeates the world itself, creating a hypothetically near bottomless well of power on which to draw. This does mean that even a low ranked Debil could, in theory, use world-shaping Voidart. Again, in theory.

One of the all-time masters of All-Sphere, Laelea Kanete

Practically, however, limits are imposed by the physical and mental endurance of the wielder. For more on this see Effect on the User.

The strength of a void-user is ranked by the typical Palen through Vis scale. Rank is determined by a mix of competence/skill level and physical/mental limits. More information on these scales can be found at Class & Hierarchy.

Voidart is the most visually spectacular of the various ability spheres. Once Void energy is "touched" or changed in any way, the invisibility of the "light" is shattered, and the power being used announces itself to anyone within range of sight. The visual effects of Void make subtle use difficult, as the color advertises the sphere in use, and the brightness hints at how much Void is being pushed.

There are positives and negatives to this - obviously it's somewhat difficult to manage a sneak attack when powering up causes one's hands to glow red. On the other hand, this can be easily leveraged toward intimidation and, most importantly, it helps those who are highly knowledgeable in Void to assess the relative ability of potential foes or rivals. This especially comes in handy for the primary users, Demons in their challenge and violence-heavy culture.

Void is also the most complicated of the spheres - unwieldy and sometimes difficult to control. In order to truly excel at its use, one must understand how certain effects are achieved, and it is all too easy to trigger incorrect effects by tweaking the energy in a slightly incorrect way.

It is also a rather bombastic form of power, marked by bright lights, multicolored displays and endless visual effects.

In theory, anyone who can access and manipulate Void energy can do so in any area along the spectrum of spheres. There is, strictly speaking, no such thing as a person who can use the Creation sphere but not the Destruction sphere (assuming that one is not using a limiting system!).

However, in practice, users are often limited by their own personalities and tendencies: a person who does not value life will struggle with healing voidartistry, for example, and a person who is loath to violate the agency and free will of others will find it difficult to comprehend Incursion, and even harder to use it effectively. Because of this, people will most often have a specific (bespoke, perhaps?) suite of spheres that are most natural to them.

This would include specific uses within the spheres as well - the ability to use the energy itself does not imply knowing any specific use for it. A user of alteration Voidart may be able to shapechange themselves but struggle with turning water into wine, for example. These capabilities are largely formed by one's interests, practice, personality, way of seeing the world and, at times, their desires (whether conscious or unconscious).

In other words, a person's general ability set is a reflection of themselves.

This squirrel may or may not have previously been a rat.

The visual "loudness" of Void use can be somewhat manipulated - including some slight changes to the intensity of the light as well as the shaping of the light itself... but that isn't the only way one can alter the presentation of void and voidlight! Some of the more dramatic users are able to develop a specific visual signature to their abilities - specific patterns of light, for example - or even sounds, smells, temperature shifts, etc.

Aside from being useful for people who want to make a splash, this is very common among Mortals associated with specific magic systems - for example use of void through the runic system often results in the voidlight appearing as the symbols power the user's magic. On the other hand, signatures can also be an unconsciously applied "special effect" of sorts; in that case, the presentation will usually be a reflection of the user, much like their sphere access in itself.

It's worth noting that the presentation is keyed to the user and generated at the time of initial use. So, if someone whose voidart tends to leave the scent of brimstone were to use Void to empower a sword, the sword itself would not smell of brimstone - rather the initial use would conjure the scent, which would then fade.

Though undetectable in its basic form, once "touched" Void (and thus magic) immediately begins to flood into the dancer. It becomes like a wild current in the ocean and the dancer must try to stay steady and remain under control. The constant surge of energy running through the body of the dancer also tends to slightly destabilize their emotional regulation. This has resulted in Demons being perceived, correctly, as on the chaotic/erratic side. Under normal circumstances, this is more of a personality effect than a serious concern for them or others.

Limits, however, are more serious.

Due to the bottomlessness of Void energy, all limitations are imposed by the physical, mental and emotional landscape of the dancer or mage. Any given user will have soft, hard and catastrophic limits across both their physical and mental spheres, as well as a basic capacity that they can use without pushing those limits.

Imagine it as tubes of different sizes: a wide tube can contain more without the seams breaking than a thinner tube can, but they will both split at some point.

The space between reading basic capacity and a soft limit, a soft and a hard limit, or the hard and catastrophic limit is proportionate to the basic capacity - so someone with a greater capacity will also have more leeway between limits. But, again, everyone reaches their cap eventually.

When one hits their soft limit there is an obvious and undeniable effect on the person; this is a warning to them to back down.

If they do not cease pushing their limits, they will eventually reach their hard limit, which will result in permanent damage to their body or their minds.

Should they persist even beyond this point and reach their catastrophic limit, they will suffer extreme and irreversible damage from which they will likely never return.

While it is case-by-case, a good rule of thumb is that demons will reach their mental limit before their physical limit, while celestials will reach their physical limit first. Mortals are very nearly a coin toss; they may even encounter both simultaneously.

The most straightforword limit, this is largely dependent on the physical sturdiness, strength, durability, etc. of the user's physical body. Demons, who as a whole have extremely strong bodies and more vulnerable emotional and mental states, will often emerge physically unscathed from even an extreme mental limit incident.

Physical limit effects are:

Mental and Emotional limits are tied to a person's emotional strength, willpower, and ability to cognitively map the use of the energy in ways that they can control vs. losing the thread and spiraling into uncontrolled places or madness. An accounting of mental limits follows.

Peydin Kalil was the first Mortal to achieve parity with the immortals in void-dancing.

Since limits are per-user, and physical vs emotional limits can be quite different based on the body and personality of the person, practical limits are often much shorter than true limits. For example, Nefilor are extremely physically powerful and often capable of channeling immense amounts of energy, but they are not any more mentally resilient than the average Demon, and so they are generally not as "powerful" as their physical power might otherwise imply.

Once the line is crossed, the effects can spiral out of control - for example, a person who surpasses their mental limits becomes less capable of judging their own limits and thus is in greater danger of pushing even farther, causing serious and permanent injury to themselves. Worse, if the person has access to other ability spheres, their ability to regulate or judge their own ability in other fields is also affected. Thus, a person might overreach their mental limits, lose the ability to judge their use of both Void and Odaturgy and end up surpassing their safe odic usage limits causing themselves physical damage even while further unbalancing their own psyche.

Of course, many void-dancers would wish to expand their capacity. The only way to do this directly (without special actions or events) is strengthen one's mind and body - this naturally expands capacity in line with their increased durability/resilience, etc. It is also possible to refine one's Dance, which uses less energy and thus has a similar effect.

It is possible to expand capacity through external means, as well - and significantly more than one would otherwise be able to manage.

For demons the primary means is through Exedis, while for celestials this is done by Ascension.

For mortals, the primary path is through organization and refinement, generally through a system of magic.

Generally speaking, Demons and Celestials who can access Void do so directly. In the case of Demons, it is largely instinctual - for Celestials it may take some work, but they are usually able to directly manipulate the energies without filters or tricks - only by ordering their thoughts in the right way. In most cases, however, mortals who have learned void-dancing have done so through the use of a magical system, also called a magical model.

What is a System of magic?

A system of magic is a specific way of looking at Void and its use. Systems can encompass a number of theories, worldviews and/or beliefs about how magic works and how it should be used. It may include methods of access (rituals, focuses, etc), but this is not necessarily the case. The key is that they provide a framework for looking at Void energy. In this sense, consider it as analogous to a school of literary interpretation: if one looks at text through a specific perspective, they will see different things than someone using a different framework or no framework at all. This can both cause certain subtext and implications to "pop" and cause other potential readings to quiet and fall into the background. This doesn't make any of the approaches "wrong" - it is simply a way of reading that helps the read to focus on the elements that sing for them.

Similarly, a magic system makes certain aspects of magic easier or more difficult to see or make use of.

Some of the more famous systems of magic are listed on the side insert, but there are infinite ways to look at and approach it - including some invented in private and used by only one or two people - and many variations on the different systems, as well. That said, different systems do adhere to different rules - these rules are not inherent to the use of Void energy, but are part of the architecture that specific system has put into place. If someone has learned magic through an external focus, they will find it difficult - or even impossible - to use magic without a focus - while others who use a different model or no model at all will not have that limitation.

Using a particular system of magic or magical model imposes requirements, barriers and limitations, but it also has advantages - advantages that are more meaningful to mortals than to Celestials or Demons, thus the disparity in usage between Realms. Specifically, by ordering the way they think and narrowing the lens through which they look at voidic energy, models are able to substantially speed the process of learning and mastery, allowing mortals to achieve high levels of ability much more quickly than they otherwise could have. This is why some exceptionally talented mortal "mages" can find themselves using magic on par with many Demons and Celestials despite being almost certainly far younger.

While mortals are the ones most likely to use systems, Demons and Celestials are also able to enhance their rate of learning through the same means. That said, they rarely do so -- and Demons in particular almost never do - for two primary reasons:

First, both are immortal and thus do not need to rush their mastery. But, more importantly...

This doesn't mean that one cannot unlearn... but, given their infinite lifespans it is generally not considered worthwhile to accept those barriers in exchange for quicker advancement. Patience allows them a more complete and boundless understanding of the energy and how to make it sing.

Even so, there are still some who choose to take that path, most famously Grigorius Bieloskytes, a Celestial who mastered magic through systems for personality reasons.

There are several different systems, as well as a number of smaller niches put together by specific families or villages that are specific to them. Some of the larger systems are explored below.

Mixing and Matching Systems

With some exceptions, it is generally not advised to mix and match systems, as the competing theories can create internal logic conflicts and make learning more difficult rather than less so. However, some systems are more compatible with others, e.g. Expansive Magic is compatible with nearly any system, and there's nothing to stop someone from using a focus to aid in their use of elementalist magic.