Summary
The multiverse had an uncountable quantity of dimensions in it. Every dimension was the result of creationary power constantly radiating off the legendary base dimension. While it seems simple at first, the laws that govern the coexistence of all these dimensions were more complex than one would think. To separate each of the dimensions in a matter that allows logical traversal between them, and to maintain some of their functions, the Void was created.
The Void was a kind of higher dimensional space that held all other dimensions in its grasp. The Void was not empty as its name suggests. For most of its existence, it was very full. It was only ever empty in the beginning, when it was created. Once Death entered the world, everything changed. The death of a dimension breathed a chaos of matter and life into the depths of the Void. Because of this nature, the Void became very volatile and unpredictable. For the live matter it births, it was a breeding ground for strange strings of evolution and natural selection. It was of paramount importance to the workings of the universe, but there wasn’t a person alive that wanted what was in the Void to ever leave it. The Void was a thing to be feared.
Suggested reading: Creation
Space-time Structures
The term “dimension” referred to any cluster of space and time, wrapped in a ‘null-film’ to keep the contents together and separate them from the raging Void outside. Though its moniker was derived from a measure of spatial extents like width and height, it was more similar to the concept of an ‘alternate’ universe. However since the way reality and existence work within the dimension was entirely determined inside of it, many different dimensions could vary drastically with their laws, and they are far from copies of each other with a few changes, that would still be a very misleading comparison. For example, in one dimension there might exist a universe much like our own where a mysterious force called magic abounds, and in another, there might just be a large blue box that makes up all of existence in a place completely devoid of the concept of gravity and time itself. That was an extreme example but one that showcases the variety on display.
A null-film was the container for everything inside the dimension. It was a ‘wrapper’ for it, sometimes referred to as a ‘null box’. It prevented the refuse of dead dimensions floating in the Void from crossing over into a live dimension.
Dimensional Hierarchy
The Base & Transcendent Dimensions
There were a nearly infinite number of dimensions—with new ones being created all the time— yet only a handful of them were far stronger than others, so a dimensional hierarchy formed. Since Heaven and Hell[^2] existed outside of the Void’s scope, that left only one dimension to sit at the top of this chain: the legendary Base Dimension. This dimension was so powerful that nothing outside could even look into it, much less enter, and nothing ever came out. It was also very important to the entire multiverse. The energy radiating off this dimension gave birth to entirely new ones.
Higher Dimensions
Below the Base Dimension were the Higher Dimensions. These were a set of finite dimensions, some of which had origins dating back to the very Beginning. They completely overshadow any lower dimensions by dozens of times in terms of power. If a higher dimension were to be connected with a lower one, the higher one would end up obliterating it unless special care was used. Legere was an example of a higher dimension and was the second most powerful dimension below Core.
Lower Dimensions
Below higher dimensions were, quite fittingly, Lower Dimensions. This was where things got wobbly. While all lower dimensions were dwarfed by higher ones, they also had the potential to overpower each other by any magnitude of times. Some lower dimensions were strong, some were weak. Any dimension could grow in power over time but the exact rules behind this development largely remained a mystery. If a lower dimension accumulated enough power it had a chance of joining the ranks of the higher dimensions. This was how some of the original higher dimensions came to be, but due to the state of the Void throughout most of the multiverse’s history, this was not likely to happen again.
Interdimensional Travel
Any natural being could choose to try to travel into the Void itself, but it was a truly harrowing task. The effects of its spawn and its environment could yield drastically different yet commonly deadly consequences. No one who dips even a part of themselves into the Void comes out unscathed. If one was lucky they may spend extended periods of time in the void with little more than a couple scars. If one was not, the very fabric of reality that makes up their being might be unwound.
Each dimension has a sort of safety mechanism, however. Void beings that are too powerful cannot pass through their null-film. The entrance was kind of like a crawl hole. If you’re too big, you can’t fit. Since the powers of the Voidborn are tied to the Voidpool, they could just cut themselves off from it to get in, but a voidspawn can’t. If a voidspawn grows too powerful, it may find that it could no longer enter any dimensions.
Void entities could enter any lower dimension, but outside of supernatural intervention or internal consequence, it was exceedingly difficult for any to enter a higher dimension. For example: in Legere’s case, it was invulnerable to invasion by the Void for most of its history until a certain scientist failed in an experiment and ripped open holes in the dimension’s null-film. The Base dimension, on the other hand, was completely impervious.
That being said, beings from dimensions could travel in-between them. In that case, the null-film of the source dimension was extended and twisted into a kind of tube that connects with a destination dimension, then the user travels through it to arrive in the other world. This was usually referred to as ‘null-travel’. Each dimension carries its own unique ‘rules’ to manipulate its null-film and accomplish this, so the methods used to do so could vary drastically. Some rules could be hidden deep within some magical or scientific theory, so much so that many dimensions never had anyone figure it out throughout their lifetime.
Residents
Voidborn
Voidborn
In The Beginning, Voidborn were created by the Creator in waves of generations. Their purpose before the Fall and the introduction of dimensional decay was simply to serve Him by helping to guide Angels as they paraded through Creation and between worlds, and by bringing the knowledge of interdimensional travel to the denizens of worthy dimensions. This didn’t last long, however. When evil was brought into the world, their purpose shifted to maintaining the refuse and creatures left in the Void after a dimension died. Since it brought disruption to the nature of Voidspawn, the Voidborns’ shoulders were burdened with the new responsibility of keeping them from invading the dimensions. Despite the Void’s new and terrifyingly chaotic nature, the Voidborn put in hard work to bring it to a fragile state of balance.
Power
Voidborn drew upon the raw power invested into the empty Void back when it was created. This power was referred to as the Voidpool. Each Voidborn shared a portion of its power and could feel each other’s presence through it. This was the power the Creator gave them to carry out their duty.
This power made Voidborn powerful beings within the Void. It would take an army of Voidspawn to fell them. If they were destroyed, their soul returned to the Voidpool and restored itself to fullness there after an unpredictable period of time. Outside of divine influence, Voidborn were functionally immortal. Even after Death entered the world, they could not be stopped from serving their purpose until the End.
Dimensional Incarnation
Voidborn held the ability to incarnate themselves within most dimensions. They would shed as much of their power as they needed to fit through a dimension’s null film. The power would return to the Voidpool for them to pick up again once they returned to the Void. They would then incarnate as a physical form native to the dimension they were entering, though they had no control over what they became.
This physical form packaged their metaphysical being within it. Their metaphysical soul and mind was not bound to the rules of the dimension they incarnated into, but their physical form was. Any brain function their physical form required to function was merely replicated from the Voidborn’s real, metaphysical mind, and even then most thoughts present in the physical brain were shallow. This had a variety of interesting consequences including an immunity to many of the mind altering effects a dimension’s reality could impose.
Incarnated Voidborn gained the power and abilities that their physical form could naturally use. Often this meant the first steps of an incarnated Voidborn would be to learn how to use their new features. Depending on the relative power level of the dimension, Voidborn could also make use of Void energy pulled from the Voidpool to fuel effects not native to it.
If a Voidborn’s incarnation was destroyed, they did not regenerate like Voidspawn. Instead, they regenerated the same as they do in the Void, crawling out of the Voidpool with a new body after some time. They could then travel back to the dimension they died in and incarnate there once again, bringing their physical form inside it to its original state. For reasons unknown, sometimes they gained a completely different physical form upon reincarnation after destruction.
If a Voidspawn destroyed an incarnation of a Voidborn, they could consume information from its essence about that Voidborn’s incarnation. The Voidspawn could then use the information gathered from digesting it to create a seal in that dimension’s null-film which would prevent the consumed Voidborn from incarnating inside it ever again. If this happened, a different Voidborn had to take up the case.
Voidborn could not incarnate themselves into a higher dimension naturally unless something from inside opened it up to the possibility.
History
Banishment
An incident in the history of the Void led to all of its Voidborn being locked away indefinitely, save for one, who masterminded this event and seized control of the Void unopposed.
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Voidspawn
Voidspawn
Voidspawn are spawned from the death of dimensions as their remains fester in the Void. As such, no two are the same. Each time one was created, at least one undecillion different variables are rolled in the random design process. Sometimes common traits bubble to the surface, but most are wildly different in appearance and nature. Voidspawn know nothing but the instinct to amass power and evolve through any means necessary. They do this by hunting each other and feasting on the left over energy of other dimensions that was discharged into the Void.
Growth
Voidspawn grew by consuming the energy of dimensions. They took the information gathered from them and adapted to their environments at an alarming rate. Most Voidspawn accomplished this by joining the free-for-all for the leftover energy of dimensions that had ‘voided’, or perished and been discharged into the Void. This survival of the fittest was a chaotic and dangerous mess.
Some Voidspawn were much smarter however. If a Voidspawn infiltrated a live dimension it could feast on its energies from the inside. Since there were requirements to do so, there was less competition for those that did. As they ate, they thinned the dimension’s null film in the process. If they were left alone to consume as much as they wanted, a Voidspawn would eventually completely destroy the null film and the entire dimension would be voided.
Regeneration
Voidspawn only died when their essence was destroyed with the power of the Void. The Void continuously regenerated their bodies upon destruction. For a Voidborn or Voidspawn this was not an issue, but this made them fearsome opponents to dimension dwellers. Unless one could destroy them with the aid of supernatural power or twist their dimension’s null film, there was no way to get rid of them.
While a Voidspawn was regenerating it could not continue to sap a dimension of its strength, however. This meant that the natives of dimensions with Voidspawn could indefinitely hold them at bay by repeatedly destroying them as they rose again. Since the regeneration process took a significant amount of time to complete this event needed only to occur periodically. That would require a consistently coordinated effort, however, which was difficult to keep up forever. A Voidspawn need do nothing but wait for kingdoms to rise and fall… and for knowledge to be lost.
Power
A Voidspawn’s ceaseless adaptation to the contents of other dimensions meant they could display any variation of abilities. They typically gained abilities that used to be native to the dimensional energy they feasted on, but they could also use the energy to adapt to harmful effects in their environment. Some even then gained abilities that could replicate effects from phenomena within the void that they had witnessed, meaning Voidspawn could inadvertently teach each other their adaptations.
Voidspawn were natural fonts of Void energy. If the laws of a dimension they visited failed to provide them with the resources to use their adaptations, they could still fuel them with the power they generated themselves.
Death
These creatures of chaos though fearsome and powerful they had been, could not escape the throes of death. Over the course of its life, a Voidspawn inexplicably lost its ability to contain its power within its form. Once it grew too old, its body would melt back into the energies it had consumed over its lifetime, returning to the Void from whence it came. This was known as “succumbing”.
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