Void Garden

Legend

“These huddled-up things, all around The Void, were piled by Boriac, Stoicheian, and Wickeryadi. They became the very carpet that forms the surface of our world.”

“Linked without escape, they were stretched, stitched, and hurled onto the astral.”
Skjald Sigurd

 

Description

Void Gardens were gathered piles or dispersed collections of various things: raw metals, flora, fauna – you name it. Some of these were sites at the end of a Mana Link; others were known or tended only by the Void divines, Stoicheian and Wickeryadii, mortal races, completely untouched, or lairs for indescribable void creatures.

The void gardens as a concept began to evolve when new mortal races sprang from divine interactions, astral tainting simple creatures into sentient beings, and these races intermingling on their own. Individuals, couples or groups, wandering the void and following the mana links, found comfort in the scattered debris and piles.

Soon they began adding finds of their own, shaping what was at hand and crafting new things. Protecting water sources, spreading and tending flora and ensuring fauna could flourish, and building storages and shelters against the void stallions, as the violent winds were called.

When the void gardens were used to enclose the astral, becoming the surface of our world. Stoicheian and Wickeryadii left out some of their secret ones, and some of the unknown was overlooked. Some of these have later been merged with the world, but they seem impossible to fit with the grand scheme, so they don’t fit seamlessly – some float, some have a shimmering retina, some feel astral, etc.

“Homes, sanctuaries, rest stops, and more. Gardens always presented a welcoming shore.”
Skjald Sejrik

 

History

Dark Ages

When Stoicheian and Wickeryadi became thinking beings, they began to tend to and collect what they encountered throughout the void. These were in fact the first void gardens, and when the Boriac returned from the Astral, they began to pile up things as well. It did not take long, though, before they began to link their piles and objects to the Astral with Mana Links.

These mana links were immediately seen by Stoicheian and Wickeryadii for what they were: Astral trying to reclaim its leaks. These links gave the piles and objects energy and enhanced their self-evolution, as well as attracting beings of all kinds due to their flickering glows. Thus, they grew in size, diversity, and population faster than the non-Boriac ones. But the divines of the void didn’t care and worked tirelessly to keep their secrets unlinked and untainted.

As millennia passed and the mana links began to evolve, Stoicheian and Wickeryadii alerted the Boriac about the problem they saw building. Boriacs largely ignored all warnings; some void divines say the Astral had clouded Boriac and Vornir minds. So the void divines began creating Site Gates at every mana link endpoint. Built out of Lewesia Gneiss, a magic-nullifying rock, these saved many void gardens from further pollution but also prevented the links from evolving further.

This taming of energetic flow, nullifying further evolution, destroying whatever sentient link had been built, securing that they did not evolve into gods. Is the reason why the gods literally hate Lewesia Gneiss and have worked to destroy or bury it since. It’s said that this invention by the void divines is why the mand-linked gods sang out of tune in the Hymn of Creation. Thus preventing the secret or unknown void gardens of the void divines from being properly stitched to our world.

“Lewesia Gneiss; why Ljostari had to drown to save the god’s crown.”
Skjald Ulrich

 

First to Fifth Age

Each and every known void garden was used to enclose the astral and become our world’s surface. That is with the exception of some known to Stoicheian and Wickeryadii, deliberately left out to keep them pure. Some of these still exist out there in the void, alongside the unknown ones. During the ages – from Dark to Fourth – attempts have been made to merge these otherworldly realms with our world. Not all have been seamless successes, so some are the oddest of places.

The existence of non-aligned and wrongly sewn-in gardens, as well as the otherworldly ones, is the reason their storyline did not end alongside the Dark Ages; the most known of these is most likely Mt Vula. Not just because of its eruption but because it once was Mt Ljosti, residing on Ljostari, the home of Lewesia Gneiss. Making it one of the hardest gardens to stitch onto the world’s surface.

“Walking, his senses suddenly stirred; something unseen was ahead.”
Skjald Vinotis