Void Mirror

Void Mirrors are a Transcended technology, made to create a doppelganger with abilities in opposition to the original.

## Description

A Void Mirror appears as a small capsule when inactive, and as a faint cloud of dark, reflective gas in use.

## History

The creation of the Void Mirror was a relatively recent invention, only being conceived in the days after the arrival of the Ulemedi. During a raid on a Weave remnant settlement, the Ulemedi lord Shein captured the Transcended Exalt Cephri. Cephri was a bearer of the Mantle of Unburdened Escape, an Exaltation derived from his wish to break his people out of slavery aeons ago. When Cephri exalted during his Transcendence, he had freed his people from being enslaved as cognition engines for a Bound species using the exaltation he had gained.

In the preparation for one of their raiding expedition, Shein had subverted numerous people within one of the Weave remnant's fringe settlements via attaching Arish to them. Under interrogation, one of their converted slaves revealed the existence of Cephri to Shein, who decided on the Exalt as a worthy crowning prize for their new expedition. Shein made a beeline for the universe that Cephri was living in after making sure it had been seeded with Arish and cut off with a Linecutter.

After Shein arrived at the universe that Cephri was supposed to be present in, however, the Transcended Exalt was nowhere in sight. He had fled the universe at the sighting of the first Arish host, using his Exaltation to break both him and most of the universe's inhabitants out of the Linecutter block. All that were left was a skeleton crew of a few Transcends, Old Brethren and Elixir Immortals and their AI assistants manning the universe's central Reality Engine. Enraged at the sudden escape of their prize, Shein ordered their fleet to engage in combat with the Reality Engine, losing a fraction of their raiding armada in the process. Shein enslaved the remaining crew with their Arish, before interrogating his newly converted slaves on Cephri's whereabouts. Their interrogation yielded precious little, as those subverted were not privy to Cephri's location after volunteering to delay their pursuers.

Shein decided to use a group of Shifts they had enslaved earlier, and sent them to adjacent realities with swarms of Arish. They quickly received a ping from one of their scouts, who had located the Exalt in the midst of universe-hopping. The warlord rushed their fleet after Cephri, eager to run down their prey while their servant trapped the Exalt in the midst of escape by ambushing him with their Arish. Now fused into one of the slave creatures, Cephri was unable to escape the Ulemedi slaver. The warlord made all haste to subvert his prize's will, ensuring little chance of escape.

As Shein contemplated the ways they could make the Exalt suffer on their journey back to their base, he came upon an idea he had come across several million years ago that was written by one of his enslaved metaphysicists. Shein called the enslaved Transcend to him, and ordered them to apply their findings in a way to make their captured Exalt suffer. The slave, Uslaad, suggested the creation of the Void Mirror, a device that could create an inverse doppelganger of the Exalt; instead of of an Exaltation that would be used to free others, the new being would bear one that trapped and imprisoned them virtually inescapably instead. Shein found merit in the idea, and set their Uslaad to work.

Uslaad was assigned a great deal of resources and personnel to their task, allowing them to finish their device in a matter of weeks. The Ulemedi slaver wasted no time in using the device on his prize, creating a doppelganger under the control of the enslaved Exalt. With their doppelganger in tow, Shein proceeded on a raiding spree across the fringes of the Weave remnants, amassing a great many prizes using the doppelganger of their captured Exalt. Returning to Ulemedi territory with their trophies, word spread far and wide amongst Shein's kind. This recognition lead to a young slaver attaching herself to Shein's company, in hopes of acquiring fame and fortune for herself. The young Ulemedi, Meitsef, wished to join Shein in one of their hunts while secretly plotting to take the Exalt for herself. Due to the extreme taboo of betrayal in Ulemedi culture, Meitsef planned to enact her plan far away from Ulemedi space during a raid.

Meitsef served gained favour with Shein by assisting them as their representative. Meitsef handled Shein's social affairs in their place. Meitsef worked closely with Uslaad, showcasing and distributing the Transcend's Void Mirror to other Ulemedi. In her interactions with the Transcended slave, Meitsef came to know more about Cephri and the controls placed upon him by Shein.

Shein, spurred by their initial successes, decided to accept a few of his kin on another hunt with Meitsef as their second in command. With their opportunity now in reach, Meitsef began to enact her plan. After Shein's expedition truly entered Weave remnant territory, Meitsef made sure to carefully tune Cephri's control to herself while locking parts of Shein's out. The young Ulemedi advised Shein to raid a universe with a known Exalt within. This reality was greatly fortified, which made it otherwise suicidal to attack unless Shein committed most of their forces. Shein, however was confident in being able to take their prize, exultant in their continued successes. Meitsef further advised Shein to keep Cephri and their doppelganger away from the front line until the defenses have been destroyed. During the raid while the majority of Shein's forces were occupied, Meitsef proceeded to take full control of Cephri. Uslaad noticed the sudden shift in control, and became aware of his lieutenant's treachery. The elder slaver alerted their slaves and the Ulemedi stationed at the back. Caught red handed and trapped, Meitsef realised the horrific fate that would befall her now that her betrayal was revealed.

Deciding that if she could not have Cephri, then no one would. Meitsef proceeded to fuse her soul directly with multiple Arish for more power, a process that would kill her given the failsafes built into every Ulemedi's soul by the Kin. In her death scream, she then wiped the controls on all the slaves present in the raiding force through brute force, Cephri and Uslaad included. Meitsef also severely disoriented the Ulemedi in Shein's expedition temporarily stunning them. Freed from control, all the slaves in the force brutally slayed their former masters. Uslaad and Cephri both killed Shein personally in revenge for they had done to them in their service.

The defenders of the universe that Shein raided granted shelter and refuge to the freed slaves, albeit sectioning them off in case of remaining subversion. Uslaad's Void Mirror technology was also salvaged, with the former slave's knowledge and expertise transmitted by the local Unlasting enclave to the other parts of the Weave remnants. Once all the former slaves were properly screened, they were released under supervision by several Negentropic agents. Cephri underwent further metaphysical augmentation to make living as an Arish host more bearable before being inducted into the Patra, and now serves as a specialist in combating the Ulemedi. From time to time, Cephri performs raids on Ulemedi outposts close to Weave space, freeing slaves and assassinating Ulemedi figures.

## Mechanism

The Void Mirror makes use of inversion technology pioneered by Uslaad. Using a Void-patterned shell and a Protean Husk pattern, the Void Mirror is activated via thought to transform it into its active, gaseous state. This gas inverts an entity's metaphysical properties into a doppelganger it spawns under the initial entity's control. This doppelganger has, if applicable, slightly less potent inverted versions of the initial being's abilities. The doppelganger is also relatively difficult to physically destroy, as it recoalesces after being damaged. It is, however, fully affected by terraforming fields, the Silence and the Death Concept and thus can be dealt with permanently in a relatively easy manner through such methods.