The void

### Interdimensional Perversion

Originally the void began as a single man, effectively patient zero. The time he was alive is mostly unknown aside from being prior to the ancient's society, as are his age or place of origin. His soul, the "Central Intelligence" is capable of overriding the will of other souls it snares into itself and become one with them. Whether this ability was gained in his old life or after his transformation is unknown.

After it entered the space between dimensions The Void spread throughout the emptiness it inhabited as it was twisted by the energies of the void, the same energies that reinforced the barrier between the dimensions. After the cataclysm caused by the ancients a number of cracks emerged in its self imposed prison in the space between, allowing it to reach out into other dimensions and begin ensnaring the souls of other beings and make them part of itself, causing its power and ability to manipulate void energies to grow exponentially.

Over the course of several thousand years it has taken more and more people from a number of dimensions and become extremely powerful
.

### Amalgam Flesh

The flesh of the void is a heavily mutated form of human biomass, like a massive tumor.
Void infestations most often begin with the creation of a voidmass, the first of which on Arathia (within the last few centuries)
came into existence when a portion of the Voidlord's hardened void body broke off, becoming its own independent mass and taking root, reverting to its fleshier form and begin to devour everything it could in the rich environment that Mycelia provided.
After a voidmass takes root it will grow as it consumes more, initially this growth often manifests as a large lump of flesh.
This lump can grow eyes or mouths, although they lack a practical use at this point. Initial spreading manifests as tendrils of infested flesh looking for food to send back to the main body, but once sufficient mass has been gained the original voidmass will begin to spread out, forming a layer of flesh over fully consumed pieces of the ground, and eventually breaking through and producing additional flesh to fill in the gaps. A long-running infestation will become more and more difficult to uproot as it becomes anchored into the ground more firmly, and even begins spreading underground without breaching the surface.

### Terminal Stage

Late stages of infestation can spread hundreds of miles, no longer being considered a voidmass, but instead simply becoming a biome of its own, the very same found in the inbetween, using biological terraforming and weather control to change the environment to be more suitable for it. This results in an atmosphere thick with airborne toxins, and which is both warm and humid.
Once several voidmasses have reached this stage and connected with each other constructs such as voidborn can begin to appear, individual infested souls begin splitting from the ground in an amorphous body of void flesh. Others may use pieces of buildings or remaining stone to structure their bodies, resulting in massive humanoid walkers covered in eyes and mouths with pieces of buildings and boulders lodged in various pieces of their body.

Void constructs require a fair amount of void energy to survive as it hold together their otherwise unstable bodies. If this energy is extracted the body will destabilize and fall apart quickly. Void energy isn't supposed to exist outside the space between normally and quickly begins burning away and returning to the space in between when exposed to the open air in any other dimension, causing the green glowing flames that emerge from the orifices and eyes of void constructs and flesh.

### History's Wicked Rhyme

The void has invaded this realm before, and likely will again and again no matter how many times it is pushed back. Deciphered text from ancient structures following the cataclysm speak of many of these infections, with some resulting in what has been called an "avatar event". An avatar event is a scenario in which the Central Intelligence of the void, as well as its auxiliary components, will take direct control of a massively powerful construct, strengthening ever other void construct across the infested territory, and causing it to spread at an accelerated rate.

The void's memory of our realm is maintained due to its unique method of storing data. The void has essentially became capable of operating like a massive computer when storing data, as it forms physical storage drives and disks from hardened flesh which, when used correctly, can reveal vast amounts of information on various subjects when needed. The void uses massive stock of these flesh drives to maintain its store of knowledge while being able to dedicate the souls that compose it to other, more important tasks.

### The Newest Iteration

The recent invasions have been far more frequent than in the past, less than 40 years apart rather than the centuries between previous infestations. This may be due to a new strategy, that of independent void constructs being sent alongside inital voidmasses. The voidlord was the first of these, but it is likely that many more exist on Arathia right now, operating in secret within uncharted regions. Some of the ancient texts referred to such a concept, or more specifically, the claiming of thralls working under these constructs, as "Harbingers." These "Harbingers" would effectively be sleeper agents within local communities awaiting for an avatar event to occur, turning on their comrades in exchange for a place in the collective consciousness. No record of harbingers have been found outside of old theories... but who knows, perhaps they are already at work...