A Users Guide to the Void

Overview – The Void is one of the three primal sources of power in the universe. All four of you (Arden, Vlaslavi, Mohr and Glenarrion) have become masters of it. Entering the Void equates to mastery but your two millennia spent with Charan Solik have added polish to your already great skills. (I will deal with your individual abilities in a later email, which will deal with exactly what he has taught you). This document is a guideline to the mechanics of what the Void is in context of gameplay. It doesn’t mean that your abilities are limited; the whole notion of primal power is that it is unfettered and ever-changing - this guide will just set out the rules as they stand presently (later, as your mastery grows, you may be able to break, bend or side-step the rules as you see fit). There is a lot of confusion about what can and cannot be done in the Void and how this primal power relates to Grayhawk and your own unique powers. Hopefully this will clarify things.

Travelling using the Void – At the end of the last game you will recall the news that Demarak is using ships from the Darklands and you discovered their location was somewhere in the Gorat Sea. Arden decided to “go there on the Void” (his words). I believe Richard thinks that you can step into the Void and out again at any location thus using it as a no-error teleport…you cannot. The only no-error teleportation system on Grayhawk is travelling via the temples from altar to altar.

So how does travelling in the Void work? The mechanics are thus: the primal sorcerer enters the Void and thinks about the location he wants to get to. He will get a vision of that location (the better he knows the location the stronger the vision) – he then wills himself to that vision/portal and steps out. In the Void this is instant but on Grayhawk time elapses…this is the crux. So back to the situation Richard finds himself in…finding the ships is the difficult bit, the travelling (in Grayhawk time) will take time so when he steps out a period of time has elapsed. This period of time depends on certain factors but as a general rule of thumb you can probably traverse Grayhawk in about a day, cross the largest ocean in a couple of days etc… I’m sure you get the point.

Using the Void to target and reach an individual is even harder (though not impossible). The nature of Arden’s sword means that he can search out souls so this will give him a slight advantage – it’s still incredibly difficult to target someone using this method…by the time you reach someone a couple of hundred leagues away he or she will probably have moved!

Heightened senses and awareness – When you eventually returned to Grayhawk you were all aware that your senses were sharper, more focussed. Sight, smell, touch, taste have all been improved and your abilities in this field far exceed those of a haragei adept. At times this will seem like prescience, you will almost be able to read events and actions before they occur (in a similar way that Arden can defend missile weapons). Focussing the Void slows down your environment and thus improves your thinking and reacting time.

As the game progresses you will see the mechanics unfold as the environment around you becomes an open book – in some cases you will see the minutiae and be able to react to things that are going to occur later.

The Void and Combat – This ties in with your heightened awareness (see above) and your prolonged exposure to the training of Charan Solik. He was the original Black Hand Assassin and his combat techniques pre-date the later Darklanders and Darim (considered to be amongst the greatest warriors), he has taught you to integrate the Void and your martial techniques without thinking.

The mechanics of this will mean some alterations to your abilities (parries, disarm etc – I’ll deal with those in a subsequent email) but the main difference in the way you fight is that you will (unknowingly) phase in and out during combat thus increase your speed, defensive capabilities and indeed your effectiveness when you do hit an enemy. All this is now part of the way you fight and will evolve as you do. You are all masters of the Void and your skills are unique…they will grow differently in each of you.

The Void and Magic – The most recent example of this is Glenarrion’s Magic Missiles that unmake anything they hit (frightening!). Any ability will be enhanced using the Void and magic is no exception. Glenarrion has learnt to focus his sorcery through Fangor Kinslayer but now this repertoire is rooted in the tenth layer of magic so even the most innocuous spell with have more potential than a ninth level magic user spell.

These effects are not just as devastating as the magic missile; the Void is an incredibly subtle primal power whose effects go way beyond just unmaking things. As you know there are ten layers of magic – the first layer roughly equates to first level spells, the second to second etc…The primal Void-using sorcerer delves directly into the most powerful layer and can therefore exert powerful forces (some through spells, some through sheer force of will) on his enemies and his surroundings. You are all Void-using sorcerers although Glenarrion has the disciplines of actual spell casting, which gives him a greater understanding of the mechanics of spells.

Sneaking around – One of the greatest skills of the Void user is the ability to sneak around unseen. The Black Hand Assassins reputation for never been seen or heard until it was too late was well earned and you should appreciate by now how they were able to achieve these seemingly impossible feats. The mechanics are simple: You are able to slip in and out of the Void at any time thereby leaving no tracks and when on the Void anchoring yourself on Grayhawk so that you are able to view what’s going on through a small portal you create in the eternal blackness. Solid objects are no obstacles – opponents were so scared by this skill because these assassin could get in (and out) of any defensive structure without leaving a trace.

Silk (a famous Black Hand assassin friend of Kiruk – trained by Charan Solik) summed it up with saying that became his catch phrase. “There is no security,” he said simply. He was right!

On the Void you are more than invisible - you simply don’t exist. Only when you emerge is there any chance of tracking (!!) but as was the case with the Black Hand assassins of old – if you saw one it was too late…you were already dead. From a gameplay point of view if you tell me you are sneaking around it will involve elements of phasing in and out of the Void (especially if you want to walk through a wall) and generally being unseen. Only another Void user has a chance (even then a slim one) of detecting you…Charan Solik has taught you well.

Combat on the Void – It is possible to fight another Void user whilst enveloped in the eternal blackness, though this is a dangerous thing to attempt. If you take a fatal wound whilst on the Void you are effectively unmade – destroyed forever…everything you possess will be lost utterly. The Void is the great leveller and since the laws of nature have no place there any advantages you have on Grayhawk will not exist – (on Grayhawk you have enhanced senses, greater repertoire of spells…these will not exist on the Void).

Throughout history the Void has become a place of stand off for enemies who met to vent their frustrations at their enemies whilst knowing that it would be suicidal to attempt anything dangerous for the price of failure was absolute. Historically Void users have lost everything because they ignored these facts – it can be a safe (!!!) place to taunt your enemies whilst safe in the knowledge that no-one is going to try any funny business.

Time and the Void – The Void is the Eternal Blackness. Time means nothing within it and because of this it is possible to communicate with any creature that has ever existed within it (however briefly) – the universe is powerless to stop this because no creature (not even the Unmaker) has dominion over it. These meetings will not affect history, the future or the present, as those three words mean nothing within it. Any traffic you encounter within the Void will tend to be from your own time scale on Grayhawk (I discussed anchoring yourself to Grayhawk when you moved from point A to point B) – any creature that wanders off aimlessly will be lost forever. You have to stay focussed on the Void.

If you focus well enough you can spend a great deal of time on the Void without the lumbering tedium of Nature’s laws of time. Training, study, research can therefore be accelerated (but beware; time will flash by on Grayhawk if you’re not careful and you may find yourself watching your children dying of old age!).

Reproduction – Don’t want to dwell too much on this subject. Your offspring will be naturally talented Void users because of your transformation. Any such children will have increased capacity when it comes to learning…they will be truly profound and gifted and will be revered and reviled in equal measures. There are few primal sorcerers on Grayhawk so any such births will attract much interest.

In Conclusion – You are all truly unfettered primal sorcerers with the ability to take your personal development in whichever direction you see fit. Every one of you will develop uniquely – what works for one of you might not work for another – this is important…you are all different.