The Multiverse

History of the Voidsphere

  For thousands of years, the people of Baennor have been well aware they are not alone in the multiverse. As a race, both the daonni and the dwearh were created as slaves to the elemental lords of the inner planes. They have seen the evidence of the eon-long battles between the aos si fey and the goblinoids of Nihor, the Plane of Chaos.
  So too were they to come to understand the ways of the cosmos and that there were more horrors to pass through their world in the future. They were, however, powerless to stop it or even study it under the yoke of their cruel elemental masters. Until, that is, they set themselves free through rebellion.
  The dwearh and daonni have inhabited much of the world of Baennor for thousands of years since gaining their freedom, but only recently in the long history of this world have they truly come to power. In that time, the two species have tirelessly worked together to forge a lasting peace among the other peoples of Baennor in an effort to turn their attention to the multiverse and the true terrors they might face next.
  Less than 100 years ago, as the Commonwealth was only a dream in the eyes of House Wryn. The scholars of magic had become scientists of magical origins. New technologies seemed to make their way into the hands of the people on almost a daily basis. As the minds of science drifted to the heavens once more, the inexorable reality eventually struck home. They were not alone in the universe. Far, far from it.
  Ironically, the final toll of the bell came not from without, but from within. As new discoveries were being made, more and more of the nature of the multiverse revealed itself. Scientists came to realize the following:
 

• The multiverse is akin to a vast ocean the likes of which aetherists today call astralspace. A mesmeric sea of flowing waves of energy
• Through astralspace flows the ethereal river most commonly referred to as Eisleron. This white and gold river carves a current through astralspace upon which floats nearly all of known existence
• The Inner Planes, as aetherists refer to them, consist of eight different planes of existence and exist as something of an island on the Eisleron; never moving with the ethereal flow washing past it. The eight planes are the Radiant, the Shadow, the Nadir, the Prime, and the four Elemental Planes: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water
• The Outer Planes, as they have been coined, are like flotsam along the Eisleron. They slowly drift along the ethereal current. When they pass through the inner planes - being "resident" in the inner planes - the touch points between the inner and outer planes is razor thin at best, but wide open in many places
• It is during these times, like The Dreaming and Nihor before it, that the peoples of these outer planes pass through, often seeking to capitalize on the spoils of the inner planes
• The plane of opposition, Baegherix, had already entered the Inner Planes and was on a path to next enter the Prime

 
  With these basic tenets in mind, the scientific community of the Commonwealth began seeking ways to protect themselves from certain destruction when Baegherix indeed crashes into the Prime. There were years worth of debates and discussions on the subject. At some point, however, a discovery in the capital city of Rynmark was made that would change the course of history on all on Baennor.
  Essentially what was revealed was there was a way to create a void or a gap in the multiverse. While not impenetrable, the "nothingness" slowed down to the point of stopping nearly everything attempting to enter or leave. Better still, larger objects would simply take the path of least resistance and move around the void. Magic cast within the sphere of nothingness stayed within it, magic without could not penetrate it.
  Once this secret was discovered, people from all over the Commonwealth came to observe and study the void in the multiverse created in Rynmark. It was during this period of study that a team of (now considered) brilliant scientists discovered a way to exponentially expand the sphere, theoretically encompassing all of Baennor.
  Encompassing the whole of the planet, they said, would protect Baennor from the onslaught that would doubtless occur up the entry of Baegherix into the Prime. The decision was made in the heart of Commonwealth without the consultation of any of the other governments around the world, nor the with spiritual guidance of the religious scholars, or even the opinion of the people.
  Overnight, the Voidsphere expanded over the whole of Baennor, enveloping her and creating an instantaneous barrier between the planet and the rest of the multiverse. Clerics and religious leaders were cut off from their deities, the fey of Mirasandorhal were severed from the High Seelie Court of The Dreaming, the Fa'moire were torn from their deep connections with the Old Gods, along with far more unforeseen if equally tragic consequences.
  Perhaps most remarkable in Rynmark was the collapse of the Spire of Helmund the Forgiven, the God of Redemption and Light. The beautiful edifice to the deity was several hundred feet tall and suspended in mid-air by the power of the god and their worshipers. When the connection was severed, the tower fell to Baennor in a near-cataclysmic explosion that killed hundreds of people.
  The aftermath of the creation of the Voidsphere was horrific and nearly tore the Commonwealth apart between both a civil war and near-war with the aos si of Mirasandorhal.
 

The Next Steps

  What was almost immediately realized was there was more to the void of Void than could have been observed when the sphere was small-sized in a lab. The most obvious repercussion was the severing of ties with outer planar beings. However, it was also observed that the tendrils of magic cast on the Prime were visible to those with them means to also see the spells in the void. Not only seen, but also traced as the spell left a distinct trail across Void after cast. Similarly, it was noted that events of all types that occurred on the Prime were also mysteriously captured in Void.
  A large gathering of people for a party, for example, would emit a brilliant glow in Void and then slowly fade over days or even weeks after the party was over. Lesser events like the washing of ones hair, or picking vegetables were also imprinted within Void, but lasted for only hours or perhaps even minutes.
  Even more astounding, over time the aetherists who studied the void came to realize they could influence the information imprinted within Void. While one could manipulate an existing impression, what was more significant was that the scientists could also create information and store seemingly indefinite impressions as well.
  It was through this process in which the true nature of magic and an unimagined method for manipulating it emerged. With this new found knowledge the Commonwealth leapt forward with advancements in science, engineering, technology, and wealth.
 

Anatomy of the Voidsphere

  The Voidsphere is the whole of the demi-plane that surrounds the planet Baennor. Everything internal to the Voidsphere is called Void - a void of mostly nothingness against a backdrop of swirling purples and greens marking the barrier of the Voidsphere.
  The impressions left in Void by events on the Prime are called wefts which are very much like the parts of a woven cloth for which they are named. The interlocking pieces that connect the wefts together are called warps. These are the incidental actions that connect the wefts together creating the weave of a larger event. Lastly, the ways throughout Void connect weaves together creating what most refer to as The Tapestry.
 

Common Terms

  Tapestry, The - The Tapestry is the term used for the combined whole of the Void. Early on scholars who could view the Void saw it as a great landscape of interwoven realities and occurrences. The visual reminded one young aetherist in particular of a painting or tapestry. The phrase caught on and has become part of common vernacular.
  Warps and Wefts - Keeping in theme with the idea of the Void being one large tapestry, many who study the demi-plane have also associated other weaving terminology to describe it. A warp is an artifact in the Void that signifies a person, a place, or a thing that has radiated some sort of significant energy on the Prime. This could be a place where a battle took place, or a person who experienced a major change or surprise in their life. These impressions are similar to the after-images in ones eyes when exposed to a bright light; the brightest persist in the void for a long time, but those everyday events quickly fade from view.
  Wefts are the elements of a weave that connect the warps together. The scream of a victim, the firing of a weapon, the cry of a newborn, the kiss of lovers might all be examples of wefts connecting warps together. It is the distinction between warps and wefts that allow aetherists, and others who can view the Void, to investigate crimes, create new aethertech, store information, and has been the primary driving force behind the world as it stands today.
  Weave - In the Tapestry that is voidspace, the collective of energy trapped there are called weaves. Weaves are made up of wefts and warps. They can be studied, viewed, dissected, and created and destroyed by those that possess the means. Examples of something which might create a weave might be the birth of a newborn, a betrothal, or a murder.
  Weft - (see Warps and Wefts)
  Ways - The last common element of the Void are the ways or the paths between weaves. If a weave is a specific event, the ways are the pathways that could be followed from one event to another. Sometimes there are no ways between the weaves, but other times they make up a complex lattice in the Void, replete with information to observe, study, or investigate.