Void-touched Characters - General Community Consensus?

[Saikhantuyaa]

So I've gone as deep as I possibly can into the backlogs of the RPC for information on the subject, and while I am aware the whole "void-touched/void-tainted" thing is primarily based in fanon with some few, small instances in-game that could potentially support it... I admit I'm at a loss as to what exactly the general consensus is on what makes a character void-touched. The traits, the lore (canon or otherwise), the methods of it happening, etc.

 

I've found plenty of speculation on how it could be possible or what could cause it, and there are numerous posts about voidsent and the Void in general, but quite little on the discussion of actual void-touched characters and how people tend to RP them. I suppose I'm just looking for a general consensus on what they are, what makes a character void-touched, and the possibility of keeping such a thing within the boundaries of lore as we have so far? 

 

( My question is kind of all over the place, apologies for that. Also apologies if this better belongs in the RP discussion forum - if a mod needs to move it, please feel free. ; u; )

[Verad]

There isn't one. 

 

Everybody generally makes it up as they go along, and reactions to how they should be played or accepted depend on the individual.

 

Some of them are like vampires, and that is fine with me. Others are not, and that is also fine.

[Warren Castille]

Verad's correct, there isn't a player consensus.

 

Lore-wise, Eorzea knows The Void is bad. If words gets out to the public someone's corrupted by Voidsent, that means calling whatever authority is nearby and letting them handle it. At best, the Ossuary cleanses you. At worst, you get buried real deep in the ground.

[Lydia Lightfoot]

You'll run the gamut between players who don't care, players who don't know enough about the lore of the setting to care, and players who will froth at the mouth over the issue. You'll encounter some whose characters will, likewise, either not care, actively pursue the character for research purposes, avoid the character, or, unload a full salvo the moment the identify the void presence (and there'd be no legal repercussion in the setting for them doing so). Sadly, these kinds of wildly mixed reactions both IC and OOC are the stuff of nightmares for event planners who will have to run the risk that the entire occasion could be derailed by the sudden discovery of such a character and the myriad responses people will have to it.

 

My advice is, if you have a solid group of regular pals you could play the character with and have fun doing it within that circle of willing participants, the sky's the limit! But as a "let's seek out random RP and try to make new friends" character, it's... well, you're probably going to have some good days and some days where you or those around you will become very frustrated.

[Kieron Lohengrin]

12 hours ago, Saikhantuyaa said:

So I've gone as deep as I possibly can into the backlogs of the RPC for information on the subject, and while I am aware the whole "void-touched/void-tainted" thing is primarily based in fanon with some few, small instances in-game that could potentially support it... I admit I'm at a loss as to what exactly the general consensus is on what makes a character void-touched. The traits, the lore (canon or otherwise), the methods of it happening, etc.

 

I've found plenty of speculation on how it could be possible or what could cause it, and there are numerous posts about voidsent and the Void in general, but quite little on the discussion of actual void-touched characters and how people tend to RP them. I suppose I'm just looking for a general consensus on what they are, what makes a character void-touched, and the possibility of keeping such a thing within the boundaries of lore as we have so far? 

 

( My question is kind of all over the place, apologies for that. Also apologies if this better belongs in the RP discussion forum - if a mod needs to move it, please feel free. ; u; )

 

The sky pirate raid and the Warring Triad raid storylines from Heavensward explain exactly what the Void is and who the Voidsent are, so play through both of those. The Voidsent that come from there to Eorzea are often seen having corrupting effects and influence on people, such as Lady Amandine from Haukke Manor or Edda Blackbosom from Tam-Tara HM. The precise manner of corruption and how it manifests on your PC is entirely up to you.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Kieron Lohengrin

[Faye]

I've always thought of "void-tainted" and "void-touched" to essentially be any non-Voidsent being with Voidsent like qualities, or some relation to the Void. The Void, and by proxy Voidsent, are seen to have a corrupting influence on those who come into extended contact with them. Therefore, the idea isn't so much made up or purely fanon, but vague since we haven't been given a clear canon definition of these things. That being said--and since XIV hasn't portrayed these beings in any one specific way--it's open to interpretation and there's no real "consensus" in the community (heck, a good portion of the community snub their nose OOC at the idea of anyone playing anything Void related). Along with the examples in the post above, the RDM storyline also has some examples of how the Void can influence beings from Eorzea.

[Nebbs]

Not sure this is an answer but...

• My mum was voidsent
• I had a cursed rattle as a child
• I am possessed
• I went to some dark bar and drank a Sex-in-the-void cocktail
• I went to a strange dimension and had to make pact to escape 
• Void-touched cooties.. stay away from the Quicksand!
• I sent of for a "Ultimate Power in 20 issues" the first issue came with a free stick on tattoo, which wont come off!
• I got bit by voidsent
• Over use of the teleport crystals (transporter accidents - the source for all problems)
• I met a strange lady, who made me nervous, she took me in and gave me breakfast
• There was this seance and it didn't go well
• I used to be a frog and some witch cursed me into this!
• I got this from the moogle shop, it was on sale

I don't judge

 

 

I suppose I am saying, people justify it in many ways. What matters is how it flavours your RP and not become your RP.

 

Edited May 2, 2018 by Nebbs

[Valence]

Define void-touched?

 

You can be possessed by a voidsent, which is a "common" occurence (cf the Coco brothers THM questline). Generally, as said above, the Ossuary or any other void hunting organization will put you down because it is widely believed to be incurable. Which it isn't if you know how to draw a voidsent out of someone's body and fight their true form outside once they get enough aether to do so. 

 

You can be tainted/cursed by a voidsent, which means that a living physical voidsent or the void itself entered in contact with your body and started corrupting it. This is a mortal disease that can also transform you into a voidsent yourself, but it can be cleansed in the case the source of the taint is killed (cf CNJ questline, fighting an arhiman corrupting the forest, or as seen in the SCH questline and the Wanderer's Palace, with old nymian inhabitants (lalafells) being turned into Tonberries, for which no cure exists currently). Either way, if you can recover from being tainted by the Void or not is unclear. With that in mind there doesn't seem to be a clear limit to what kind of curse a voidsent can bring. In the case of the Tonberries cursed by the invisible Bitoso, it seems to be already a very powerful plague with little hope of return.

 

You can be cursed by a voidsent specific power, which doesn't seem to be a common occurence (as seen in the RDM questline). In said questline the afflicted character has potent magical powers and soon discovers that they aren't hers, but the voidsent's through his bloodline scheme, who ultimately planned to possess her permanently. 

 

While there doesn't seem to be any clear limit or rule to what void afflictions can be, there are a few constants that you can't break:

 

- The more powerful a voidsent is (meaning, a rank 1 voidsent like Cloud of Darkness versus a rank 4 or 5 like an arhiman), the more difficult it will be for them to seep through the fabric of Hydaelyn's reflections and make the trip from the 13rd Shard (The Void) and our world (The Source). They require tears, or artificial voidgates.

 

- It is way easier for a voidsent to integrate our world in ethereal form. They are harder to catch and harm in that form, but their powers and abilities are also greatly limited. In any case, it asks for a lot less aether/energy and a way smaller portal/tear. Once there, they usually possess what's closest, like objects, or beings. In any case, their true goal is to possess a lifeform to get access to a source of aether in order to grow. They can hop from life form to other life forms at will if they think the new host has a greater amount of aether. Once they reach a host sufficiently powerful depending on their class, they remanifest their true physical form and can unleash their whole power. 

 

- In the case of Arya in the RDM quests, so when a curse is left on specific individuals for a voidsent to reintegrate a body, a voidsent is always involved and alive somewhere in one way or another. More generally, unless we're speaking about a void contamination/taint, all the other cases require a voidsent being the source of it, and being left alive and looking to achieve its schemes. It's like a pact against your will. If you are about to RP a character that has links with the void, you have to take into account that your character is accountable to a voidsent somewhere looking to do harm and possibly consume them (and a lot of other people). And if it's just a void disease, well, it's probably trying to kill you or corrupt you enough that you might stop being human anymore. Your choice.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Valence

[Saikhantuyaa]

I don't have any new questions to add, just wanted to stop and thank everyone for their input ( especially to Lydia, Faye, and Valence! ). Kieron, I have already done the Sky Pirate storyline and the RDM quests, though the latter of which it's been years since. I probably need to go back and watch some of the cutscenes for both of those, though! And definitely sounds like I need to level BLM.

 

I'm somewhat relieved and confused at the same time of there being no general "consensus" on typical void-touched traits, but I appreciate being informed of that as well all the same. Everyone's given me some extra things to think about in addition to what I've been reading from backlogs with the mentions of it. Also, @Valence, by "void-touched" I.. mostly meant whatever it is most people mean when they say their character is "void-touched". Which, is exactly what I was having trouble understanding/defining. So! x'D But I really appreciate all of the info given about the various forms of voidsent possession and going further into voidsent curses such as what happened in the RDM questline. 

 

Any further musings or information (about the Void, about voidsent, about RPers and their void-touched characters, w/e) is welcome! I'm mostly going to be reading through things and trying to gather as much information as I can about the Void/voidsent lore itself so I can better understand void-touched characters and how they may/may not work.

[Garrison]

I think the majority of what's to be said has been said, but I do have one thing I like to point out a lot of times when the Void is being discussed. I've seen a whole lot of players treat the Void like a Judeo-Christian demon/devil theme. Its easy to relate Voidsent to what many think demons to be in our world, and while there's some similarities there, when you look at the whole picture they are vastly different. The Void is just another dimension where shit went down. The creatures we face were once like us. The Void plays by the same rules as our realm, they're just trying to abandon ship from their own. So really anything to do with the Void itself just boils down to "lack of aether." We go to the Void to fight the Cloud of Darkness at the end of the Crystal Tower arc, and its just like "Yeah, it sucks here. Let's gtfo shall we?" From what we've seen even Nero doesn't have any lasting effects from the trip there, and he was getting aether deprived enough to start looking... funky.

 

Point being, if you say "Void" three times into a mirror, its not going to pop up and rustle your jimmies. Its just a place. The effects we see from "Voidsent" are because of individuals using the same magic that's available to us. In that way I disagree that anyone can turn into a Voidsent (short of actually being possessed) because really they'd just change into something else like we've seen countless times in our own realm. Changing into monsters or having dark techniques is not unique to them. So while the term "void touched" is going to keep being used, and there's no real problem in it being used, its literal definition seems anti-climactic. The Void is just a bad neighborhood full of angry people with a higher capita of people willing to use pretty nasty magical effects to get what they want.

[Tregarde]

5 hours ago, Nebbs said:

• I met a strange lady, who made me nervous, she took me in and gave me breakfast 

 

♪And she said
♪Do you come from a realm down under?
♪Where voidsent glow and aether plunder?

[Sounsyy]

2 hours ago, Saikhantuyaa said:

Any further musings or information (about the Void, about voidsent, about RPers and their void-touched characters, w/e) is welcome! I'm mostly going to be reading through things and trying to gather as much information as I can about the Void/voidsent lore itself so I can better understand void-touched characters and how they may/may not work.

 

I don't have too much to add that wasn't already covered by folks, so I'll just throw a couple links to some voidsent lore that might be helpful:

 

- Voidsent Summoning Lore

- some more Void lore links

[Nebbs]

8 hours ago, Tregarde said:

 

♪And she said
♪Do you come from a realm down under?
♪Where voidsent glow and aether plunder?

 

You soooo get me

[LiadansWhisper]

10 hours ago, Rooker said:

I think the majority of what's to be said has been said, but I do have one thing I like to point out a lot of times when the Void is being discussed. I've seen a whole lot of players treat the Void like a Judeo-Christian demon/devil theme. Its easy to relate Voidsent to what many think demons to be in our world, and while there's some similarities there, when you look at the whole picture they are vastly different. The Void is just another dimension where shit went down. The creatures we face were once like us. The Void plays by the same rules as our realm, they're just trying to abandon ship from their own. So really anything to do with the Void itself just boils down to "lack of aether." We go to the Void to fight the Cloud of Darkness at the end of the Crystal Tower arc, and its just like "Yeah, it sucks here. Let's gtfo shall we?" From what we've seen even Nero doesn't have any lasting effects from the trip there, and he was getting aether deprived enough to start looking... funky.

 

Point being, if you say "Void" three times into a mirror, its not going to pop up and rustle your jimmies. Its just a place. The effects we see from "Voidsent" are because of individuals using the same magic that's available to us. In that way I disagree that anyone can turn into a Voidsent (short of actually being possessed) because really they'd just change into something else like we've seen countless times in our own realm. Changing into monsters or having dark techniques is not unique to them. So while the term "void touched" is going to keep being used, and there's no real problem in it being used, its literal definition seems anti-climactic. The Void is just a bad neighborhood full of angry people with a higher capita of people willing to use pretty nasty magical effects to get what they want.

 

There's a difference between what we, as players, know and what our characters know.  I know OOC that voidsent were once people who weren't that dissimilar to my character. My character, on the other hand, believes them to be demons that corrupt all they come into contact with.  And this is a fairly widespread belief.

[Garrison]

Really I'm talking from the OOC side of things only. IC beliefs and perceptions are both a whole other bag of worms. The original question, from what it sounds like, is more from a player standpoint. The ultimate answer is there is no consensus, but I think understanding what we can as creators helps bring everyone into the same playing field.

[Kieron Lohengrin]

Personally I'm looking forward to the tidal wave of Voidsent and angelic Amdapori toons wearing the new cash shop costumes ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[Lydia Lightfoot]

I'm waiting for my first encounter with a character who claims to be a "flying xaela".

[Nebbs]

1 hour ago, Lydia Lightfoot said:

I'm waiting for my first encounter with a character who claims to be a "flying xaela".

 

Lizards with bird/feather wings... heresy I say! 

 

But Aztec dragons you say... stop ruining my faux-outrage!