Cole (Voidcrafter)

## Pre-Podcast

### Origins

Cole was born Andrew Kyne in 1963 within the city of Long Beach, California. At the age of 11, he had come upon a book belonging to his brother, Coleson Kyne. Coleson explained the book to Andrew, telling him it was a game called 'Dungeons & Dragons.' Andrew and Coleson learned the game together, and began to play together everyday after school. Coleson's 18th birthday arrived on March 21st of 1976, and with it a car. He began hanging out with his other friends more, while Andrew retreated with his friends into Dungeons & Dragons. On April 27th of 1976, Coleson was hit by another car on the freeway and died. This traumatic event caused Andrew to become isolated, retreating deeply back to the original book both of them shared. On July 11th of 1977, Andrew Kyne disappeared from the world while in his room one morning. Upon closer inspection of his room, his parents found nothing. Police investigating the matter found nothing as well.

Reading the book that morning, Andrew felt sad. His heart was empty without his brother. He must've read this book a thousand times since... since Coleson left. Saying he left sounded better, he thought. Not as grim. He read the book again and again. This had been the one thing he and his brother had really bonded over. He wished he could have him back. He wished he didn't have to be here, where cars could crush dreams and people you cared about. Where people simply moved on from events like that. He wished people didn't have to 'leave.' He looked over at his clock. 9:37 am. He sighed deeply and thumbed through the pages about character creation again. Then, he had a singular, powerful thought. *I'm going to leave. I'm going to leave everything.* It was such a strange thought that it struck him as surprising, terrifying even. He enjoyed the idea though, in a way one enjoys being told a dark secret or a whispered joke of the vulgar variety. He sighed again and stared down to the book, only to find the page blank. He blinked a few times. Still blank. No words. This hadn't happened before. As he looked again, deeper, he felt himself falling. He screamed, but there was no sound. Nothing at all. He stared up, and his room was gone. His ceiling, his bed, everything. He was trapped in this white space. This blank void of nothingness numbed his mind into a kind of boredom he'd never felt before as he just kept falling. He wished there was ground to land on, and he hoped he wouldn't fall very hard. Just like that, he fell lightly, like a feather, to the ground. He looked around, to no avail. The ground, the horizon, everything was blank. Just a white blanket of nondescript detail. He sat down and hoped he could be found. He hoped he could be found and let out of this dreadful place.

Andrew was trapped in the Blank Void for 100 years. He aged to become an old man, and eventually discovered he could create the universes by channeling his imagination and shaping the Void's material into objects and spaces. Using this, he created the very first universe, known as Rinn. From Rinn, several hundred years later, individuals arrived who had ascended their universe: the first Voidwalkers. At first, they marveled at the Void and the universes that lay there, 16 total now. But the longer they stayed in the Void, the more their skin aged and flaked away, and the weaker they felt. Without proper protection, they wilted away to dust, with only one remaining. Andrew, who had now dubbed himself Cole in honor of his long lost brother, found the shriveled and dying being. His mind had shattered and his skin had dried and shriveled up, leaving him looking mummified. Cole wrapped him in a fabric that would protect him from the elements of the Void. His memories were long gone, and he deemed him "Rags." Rags became the first Voidwalker, and Cole's only friend in the hundreds of years to come. When Rags told Cole that others were discovering the Void, that other Voidwalkers were coming into existence, Cole felt a duty to instruct only those that survived to meet him. 6 others emerged from their universes seeking answers: Shalee, Carlyle, Davenport, Kalien, Griff, and Dagnee. Cole wove them armor made of a more metallic material than Rags' wraps. These pieces of armor are the first generation of Void Armor, on which the survivors would later base their newer generations. Having no place to go, and fearing they might die in the Void, Cole constructed a universe just for them above all others. It consisted of a single floating city, and he called it the Citadel. Here, he taught the survivors everything about the universe so far, and about how he came to exist in this world. Struggling with their reality, Cole saw that it might damage later generations of Voidwalkers. He swore them to secrecy on the subject of his origins, but the universal knowledge would be useful. Shalee began archiving magic and races while Davenport focused more on animals and technologies, leaving Carlyle to focus on diseases and treatments. Cole left them to their devices, retreating back to his secluded pocket of the Void, known as the Veil. He returned 5 years later to discover a bustling Citadel dedicated to helping fix the problems plaguing the multiverse. As his final gift to them, Cole gave a piece of his essence called the Lifewell to the Citadel to provide them with a raw source of magical energy to draw from. It also acts as an emergency connection to Cole, but is only to be used in dire situation as per his instructions. Cole left once again, and hasn't been seen since.

Recently, Cole has taken a mild interest in both Byron and Cadenza, and has given them a small token of his favor. This is the first time Cole has contacted anyone in 100 years since his departure from the Citadel.

## Podcast

Unfortunately, Cole has yet to make an appearance in the podcast.