How much is too much Voidsent?

[Parth Makeo]

So...An idea came to my mind that also made me smile internally but in reality the idea of itself MAY make some people either uneasy or take that i am breaking lore too much already (Considering what i am already playing is sort of bending lore as is)

 

This of course is going to probably bite me in the ass but because it is not fully implemented or mentioned yet in my RP...

 

I was thinking of having a helper for Quint in the form of a young girl that has some voidsent like trait about her internally (nothing too externally) but it's weak enough to manage and prevent from growing. The amount i speak of range from "Really? Doesn't look like it to me." to maybe tiny bat wings on her backside but only noticeable from behind rather than the front. So she's more or less like a child.

 

The young girl in question already had an idea for it's backstory in which Quint stopped her from doing something stupid. (details only if it takes off of course)

 

I ask of this from the community to help me with this because if this idea is indeed too much to affect others for her to bring up in a casual meeting or group of friends then I will not do it. Also please be civil as there is not even a chip on the tablet towards setting it in stone. I leave it open to discuss and talk about.

 

Reason why I don't want to do a normal Huyr girl: Quint is 100% not capable of raising a child on her own. Best for a mortal would be from a third party's family on that one.

[Jana]

In my opinion, any voidsent is already too much. Remember, the goal of any life from there is to consume as much aether as possible, as soon as possible. Keeping one around as a "helper" doesn't seem like something that could work, and void summoners (in the vein of Amdapor Keep's cultists) don't tend to be alive for very long, even without player characters killing them off.

 

Edit: Also keep in mind that anything involving the void is going to be seen as highly illegal. Going all the way back to Tam-Tara, another Lambs of Dalamud dungeon, the head of the God's Quiver hires adventurers based on the possibility that they might be messing with the void. Anyone who had visibly void-like traits would likely be kill-on-sight for law enforcement types.

[PhantasticPanda]

Remember, when you look at the nature of Voidsents, its not just an outwardly, physical change or appearance that would be affected. It has a physiological and mental effect as well. As Jana said, Voidsents in nature must be consuming aether to live, and the most abundant source is life itself, and every experiment that involved Voidsents have been catastrophic failures in some form or an other. And most things that have touched by the Void have either been twisted or just simply crazy. And because of this, people are rather quick to draw their weapons when someone cries out "VOID!" and any sort of magic involving the Void is illegal or forbidden.

 

All of this is my opinion, there is definitely too much Voidsent going around. Its so common in Eorzea, its easy to involve it into plots or backstories. There are a lot more aetherial anomalies out there you can attempt to work with. Don't choose Voidsent because its easily accessible.

[Flynn Bladebreaker]

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should."

 

It's not my cup of tea, I know others have fun with it, but I always see it as that 'edgy darkness' thing because reasons. It's illegal, but I've seen RPers openly talk about tampering with it in the Quicksand, going as far as to say they *are* a voidsent, or have a voidsent pet (I'm not even sure how that works even, there's very little I know about it because the answers people give me are different to what I google search).

 

By all means, if you want to do it, do it, just be aware it's not something that the public might accept in the open.

[Teadrinker]

The role of a 'helper' could be accomplished with a mammet or something else and not result in 'kill on sight' for the majority of the population.

 

One of my biggest issues with voidsent rp is people choose to forget their actual motives for existing and personify them in ways that really make no sense with their nature then act offended personally when people tben want to kill their girlfriend/child/pet.

 

In the end its your rp and you are free to do as you will.

[Caspar]

Since Voidsent are inimical to all that has physical shape, invading from a realm with either no aether or little aether and wanting to feast upon it, it will be difficult to explain why that isn't necessary for one. If you want to go with ahead with this story line, the matter Jana mentioned should factor into the storytelling; ie. this child would have a constant hunger for others' aether and probably be inherently evil by nature. The child would be hunted by the authorities and anyone familiar with the nature of Voidsent. You could do it, I think, within a group receptive to the idea. The trick is giving a convincing reason for the Voidsent to not act like all other Voidsent we've seen. It's just my style personally, but my general approach to things that don't exist in the lore is to try and tie it to things that have precedent, aren't too difficult to explain with stuff that exists in universe, or failing either of those things, avoid directly contradicting anything that is objectively established within the lore, not subjectively established by interpretation. That is by no means how you need to do things, but it might be a worthy approach if you're willing to try it.

 

Now if the aesthetic of Voidsent appeals to you and not the narrative element, or you wanted to have her raise a child in a sense, something that might be more consistent thematically would actually be using a seemingly intelligent Mammet, a self-assembled doll resembling a child in the manner of your character using a Mammet heart, or one that can glamour itself. We've seen a smart Mammet and a lot of things are possible with Allagan technology, plus the synthetic child wouldn't be inherently a threat to others, just unnatural and probably mistrusted or feared. The idea of a doll raising a doll seems strange to us, but it would be possibly make sense to a synthetic life-form as her ward's needs are easier to intuitively understand. It seems more cohesive since there's a correlation between the characters, and anyone who would be okay with playing with one would *probably* be okay with playing with the other.

[Parth Makeo]

thanks for more info. I always hate doing things without asking the 'populace' in the event SOMEONE came over. So don't worry I already tossed the idea away :3

[Coda]

It's one of those themes that end up badly done waaaay more than its done well.

 

But go for it, if you have faith in the idea. Good RP will attract good RPers, no matter what themes you use. No one can tell you how to RP, but you literally can't go wrong if you stick to the lore.

[John Spiegel]

This falls under the category of "No one ever does it good" for me. I've said in a few other topics that the details and working with the lore should be paramount to doing something "because I want to". Really, though, if your niche group is fine with it, go for it, but expect the public to react as they want (mob! pitchforks!). Playing voidsent, garlean etc automatically paints a target on you, and being unwilling to accept death or fights, makes RPing a negative entity boring and no one wants to RP with you.

[Aaron]

This falls under the category of "No one ever does it good" for me. I've said in a few other topics that the details and working with the lore should be paramount to doing something "because I want to". Really, though, if your niche group is fine with it, go for it,  but expect the public to react as they want (mob! pitchforks!). Playing voidsent, garlean etc automatically paints a target on you, and being unwilling to accept death or fights, makes RPing a negative entity boring and no one wants to RP with you.

With the unwilling to accept death part I think that also ties into the fact that all the hero characters will want to be the one to kill said character to boost their badass level

[John Spiegel]

This falls under the category of "No one ever does it good" for me. I've said in a few other topics that the details and working with the lore should be paramount to doing something "because I want to". Really, though, if your niche group is fine with it, go for it,  but expect the public to react as they want (mob! pitchforks!). Playing voidsent, garlean etc automatically paints a target on you, and being unwilling to accept death or fights, makes RPing a negative entity boring and no one wants to RP with you.

With the unwilling to accept death part I think that also ties into the fact that all the hero characters will want to be the one to kill said character to boost their badass level

 

Obviously. When you're in a position (good or bad) where death is the end result, there's far few RPers out there to accept that, which is fine. But to be RAWR antagonist is more of a target than RAWR good guy!

[Higura]

As someone who has actively tried RPing with people who have voidsent characters; I've noticed a reoccurring theme with such. Most people only RP voidsent to be edgy and 'dark'; wherein that is completely not the reason you should be playing a voidsent, someone who is void-tainted, etc etc. Many people fail to see the repercussions that their choice could cause, and whine about how no one likes them.

 

On the other hand; I've played a voidsent character before; and I've been told I've done it well. Why? Because I don't tell anyone. My character doesn't need to go around going "Mm that's some fine ass aether, you feel me?" And exposing themselves in public, summoning spooky void magic, turning into spiders, etc etc.

 

The best thing you can do for playing a voidsent or having your helper be a voidsent? Don't let anyone know. Simply have a small child. If she's got wings, cover them up. People will find you, and they will kill you for your association with such.

 

As other people have stated, you're more than welcome to have like, a mammet or something. It's just; I've seen an overabundance of people playing voidsent, without understanding the lore, and just doing it because its 'the hip thing to do'.

[Kellach Woods]

I'd be hypocritical to tell someone "don't do that" when I've interacted with peeps that have done that enough that it has a bearing on Kell's backstory sort of. (Someone played an incubus-like miqo without understanding the FFXIV versions of succubi. There were sexy interactions. I treated it as though the Void had tainted his personal aether, when it would be more accurately explained by a portion of his personal Aether had been devoured.) However, the problem with the Void is that most people take it to mean Hell, whereas it is more akin to stuff like negative space, Lovecraft mythos, etc. The Void's purpose in our plane is to devour Aether. It may do so via several manners depending on the intelligence of the Void creature.

 

E.G.: The Cloud of Darkness entered a pact with Emperor Xande, granting him power in exchange for entry onto Hydaelyn. Where she'd essentially eat all the things.

 

Most Voidsent would rather satiate their urges immediately rather than do so, but the Cloud of Darkness is essentially the Void itself. She can play the long game, so to speak.

[Chompie]

I'm gonna be the Voidsent Activist here.

 

OOC, people are more likely to accept Voidsent Nonsense than anything else highly unusual. Let's look at your choice of disapprovals:

 

1. Disapprovers go "ugh, voidsent again? really?" and either deal with it or go on their merry way.

2. Disapprovers go "The lore doesn't WORK like that! Excuse me while I ridicule you to all of my friends or derail everything with a long OOC argument"

 

If you want to do something weird, calling it voidsent just plain makes your life easier. You get labeled as someone who just doesn't get it, who isn't worth the effort to correct.

 

And the people who were already going to accept the concept and have good RP with you? They will keep their eye-rolls to themselves and probably still do it.

 

 

 

So I guess it's a question of how wide circles you RP in are! Small set of friends, or FC where everyone's on the same page? Doesn't matter what the Source of Weirdness is.

Wider companies/linkshells, or public RP? Call it voidsent, save yourself some hassle. It is BECAUSE people are sick of it that it's a good choice.

 

(Okay I got a bit off the original topic and onto 'why Voidsent is a more popular source of strange things than anything else in lore')

[Parth Makeo]

 

As other people have stated, you're more than welcome to have like, a mammet or something. It's just; I've seen an overabundance of people playing voidsent, without understanding the lore, and just doing it because its 'the hip thing to do'.

I know the lore. I had a whole more detailed backstory but it's not a big deal anymore. I already got rid of it as unlike most RPers where i just go with it and people assume i am a horrible RPer because they found out of said thing...I want people's opinions on a topic that is generally oversaturated in this realm.

 

Hell, Quint is a freaking DOLL! A Giant Mammet of Flesh held together by a modified sprite Core for a brain and Aether flowering and circulating through her artifical veins like blood just to keep her body moving and what not.

That alone should of raised flags but as it turned out, the more i RPed with her, the more people started to actually enjoy and love her RP, even those not of my close circle.

 

So i know how to play the hiding game until it's more public but the idea was indeed to keep her safe purely because Quint didn't want to let anyone kill her or in the original idea, her kill herself because of such reasons.

 

But yet again, seeing the feedback and reaction has painted the picture clear for me and I will not even touch the idea ever again (Having done Voidsent RPs in the past and what not myself with other characters but they too going too edgy)

 

TL : DR:

I wanted to have an INNOCENT Voidsent-tainted person that felt guilty about absorbing aether and nearly killed herself had Quint not tried to find alternate means. And reactions speak louder, So i have since trashed it for good and will find the alternatives in suggestions. Thank you for feedback everyone.

[ZoktaiKhor]

Bombs are more items then actual thing maybe make her a bomb expert might help. Hell she oculd even study kobold bomb handling habits or something if you want.

[Shofie]

I'm with the majority in this thread; any Voidsent is usually too much, and I've never really heard or seen someone do it in a way that didn't just seem "edgy" or forced, to be truthful.

 

I'm sure it CAN be done well, I've just never witnessed it. It always comes off as a super bad anime trope more than a real honest-to-goodness interesting character development.

[S'imba]

I'm going Devils advocate here. But I think there's a lot to consider other than you can't do it because it's illegal. For one unless you're running around shouting about it, a good majority of void related things probably aren't going to be identifiable by your everyday adventurer. Some of the lesser voidsent are used in celebration. Such as those floating bombs. This is only made more complex by the amount of creatures that have an identical appearance to creatures in Eorzea.  (This could be attributed to game play re-skins and character rigging, but unless the developers actually state that they would look radically different from their Eorzean counterparts then we don't have any evidence they can be easily differentiated.) 

 

Next there is the fact that mages tend to be power-hungry and arrogant. That's why the black mages turned to voidsent right? They'd reached as far as they could go, so they turned to the void. That arrogance would make it really easy to believe that they could control that kind of power. 

 

Back to having knowledge of voidsent if a character has the ability to identify anything that is a voidsent to accuse another character of messing with the void, I'd say there's going to be some raised eyebrows of how that person has so much knowledge on voidsent. If something is so evil and illegal to the point even talking about it can get someone arrested. They'd have to immerse themselves in a lot of voidsent knowledge. Once again the thirst for knowledge would be an extremely tempting prospect. 

 

So I personally think that it is possible to do right. Which is honestly subject to personal opinion. I won't say don't do something cause I've never seen it done good, that's really not a good enough reason for me to say don't do it. Since it would essentially be me judging your rp capabilities without ever even seeing your rp.

 

Like a lot of others here though I do feel the whole theme is over done, along with all the other welders of the power of darkness. I rp as a drk so I'm just cliché as the rest of them. But I still get tired of hanging out with other drks. I've probably been unlucky but it seems every drk I encounter has to bring that fact to attention. But despite this I'm not going to tell people no, the same way as I'm not going to tell someone no to rping any other cliché concept, like the orphaned street smart, master knife fighter, thief. If you have people who find your concept interesting and wanna rp with it go for it. Balmung has a rep of if we don't like a concept then we're going to Lynch someone until they have to name change. I'd rather not contribute to that stereotype further so I say if its what makes rp fun for you go for it.

[Tyndles]

Voidsent:  Not even once.

[Parth Makeo]

After seeing how more are stepping on the hate of Voidsent RP...I'll leave the rough idea in full here for people to see what i had in store.

---

Her name is [Placeholder: Koa] and she is a young Hyur teenage girl with blonde hair and dark blue eyes, near bordering purple. An accident occurred with [insert possible lore abiding way] and slowly overtime, she was changing. Yet unlike most who would brush it off, she already saw telltale signs of her change and tried to kill herself via hopping off the side of the goblet.

 

Quint on the other hand was just passing by when she saw this Hyur trying to commit suicide and promptly saved her...not realizing at the moment she was infected. When the girl flat out told her and asked Quint to kill her (explained more detail about love for parents), Quint refused and instead took her into her home where she started to do some research with her tomes.

 

A week would pass and the young girl was already changing more. Wings were forming and her eyes turned a dark purple shade. Yet at that moment, Quint would find a method to suppress her growth [Explanation in detail] and with the device, her growth and alteration into a voidsent is halted...however she still seeks a need for Aether but not in the large quantities...yet.

 

Quint would name the girl Koa and gave her a new task. To be her aid in research and organization while also being a test subject to see if it's possible to revert someone back from turning into a Voidsent [spoiler: It never can happen]

----

As you see, it's a Really rough idea i put on a notepad and of course i was working on it for a bit. The idea is that there would be some way to slow the process of changing down enough to do some tests but eventually she would convert and be a worse threat. This would of possibly brought upon some questionable accusations towards quint

Like how she is acting like her master in some regard or just being secretly a voidsent despite the truth.

 

As some notes were very early, I was working on what some of the details would be on how she suppressed her growth into a daemon and her method of eating 'aether' without really destroying much of the environment (Ala: Quint refining Elemental Clusters)

[LiadansWhisper]

After seeing how more are stepping on the hate of Voidsent RP...I'll leave the rough idea in full here for people to see what i had in store.

---

Her name is [Placeholder: Koa] and she is a young Hyur teenage girl with blonde hair and dark blue eyes, near bordering purple. An accident occurred with [insert possible lore abiding way] and slowly overtime, she was changing. Yet unlike most who would brush it off, she already saw telltale signs of her change and tried to kill herself via hopping off the side of the goblet.

 

Quint on the other hand was just passing by when she saw this Hyur trying to commit suicide and promptly saved her...not realizing at the moment she was infected. When the girl flat out told her and asked Quint to kill her (explained more detail about love for parents), Quint refused and instead took her into her home where she started to do some research with her tomes.

 

A week would pass and the young girl was already changing more. Wings were forming and her eyes turned a dark purple shade. Yet at that moment, Quint would find a method to suppress her growth [Explanation in detail] and with the device, her growth and alteration into a voidsent is halted...however she still seeks a need for Aether but not in the large quantities...yet.

 

Quint would name the girl Koa and gave her a new task. To be her aid in research and organization while also being a test subject to see if it's possible to revert someone back from turning into a Voidsent [spoiler: It never can happen]

----

As you see, it's a Really rough idea i put on a notepad and of course i was working on it for a bit. The idea is that there would be some way to slow the process of changing down enough to do some tests but eventually she would convert and be a worse threat. This would of possibly brought upon some questionable accusations towards quint

Like how she is acting like her master in some regard or just being secretly a voidsent despite the truth.

 

As some notes were very early, I was working on what some of the details would be on how she suppressed her growth into a daemon and her method of eating 'aether' without really destroying much of the environment (Ala: Quint refining Elemental Clusters)

 

Is there any reason why you could not accomplish what you're after with this relationship without bringing voidsent to the table?

 

Because I don't understand why you wouldn't do that instead.

[Grott]

The real issue, for me at least, is that by making voidsent commonplace for RP characters, you kind of devalue its place in the lore, even if you're not necessarily directly lore-breaking. The Void, and things sent from it (to an extent), are supposed to be very mysterious and very dangerous. A lot of players interpret that in different ways (I prefer the Lovecraftian cosmic horror/forbidden knowledge approach, but some don't) but no matter which way you interpret it, your vision of it can get kind of skewed by someone claiming they've got a voidsent BFF hanging out in their kitchen. Your intentions are harmless I'm sure, and you're just trying to make an interesting story arc. I get that, but it's best to kind of leave well enough alone and look for a new route to making your RP goal a reality. On a personal note, a lot of my character's story is focused on the supernatural. There's a lot of ghosts and gods and voidsent going on with his field of study. He, like many others, has been researching it diligently for years, and it'd irk me a bit if I ran into an RPer claiming to be voidsent or have a voidsent friend just hanging around. It's just not the right outlet for that kind of thing, and it can affect the RP of others in a pretty jarring or annoying way.

 

Sorry. I hate to kill your buzz, but from the looks of it, I'm not the first one to dislike it in this thread.

[Parth Makeo]

 

Is there any reason why you could not accomplish what you're after with this relationship without bringing voidsent to the table?

 

Because I don't understand why you wouldn't do that instead.

Again i already said i was not going to do it. I'm working on the new idea for the time. I can do it without but i merely wanted to share with you what the idea was before i decided to just toss it away. that's the only reason for sharing.

[Grott]

Again i already said i was not going to do it. I'm working on the new idea for the time. I can do it without but i merely wanted to share with you what the idea was before i decided to just toss it away. that's the only reason for sharing.

 

Well, now I feel like I'm beating a dead horse.

 

Apologies.

[Parth Makeo]

 

Well, now I feel like I'm beating a dead horse.

 

Apologies.

no need to apologize. If i didn't want to hear people's open opinion on voidsent RP in general (And honestly I wanted to knowing how bland and bad or just irksome it is) i would not of asked the community at all about the idea. You are perfectly okay to put your opinion and i welcome any and all viewpoints people have even if majority say no.

 

That's the power of a good community IMHO is to collaborate with each other and ask for help. :3