Void Sickness
So, what exactly is Void Sickness?
Void Sickness is the mental affliction that occurs through using the Void without a suitable vessel, with the latent concept of nothing overriding one's mental faculties and eventually, overriding their sense of self completely.
The In-Universe Explanation
Void Sickness, is at its core, the inability to cope with the nature of the Void. And that goes for everyone, even creatures of the Void themselves.
Given the Void is nothing, the absence of everything down to a conceptual level, utilising it and taking it within yourself forces one to channel that nothingness; and as such, slowly overrides one's own internal concepts and ideals.
Take this to mean that the Void begins to slowly wash away what makes you, well, you. The familiarity with the concept of Nothingness begins to seep into your soul and mind and eventually, at the peak of the sickness, it becomes all you know.
Fully developed Void Sickness leaves the individual as a husk, an empty shell that roams with the individual's most primitive and baseline desire; with any concept of personality or character. Game wise, this is essentially a PK. You can no longer control the character as they were, realistically.
Void Sickness did provide some level of strength increase for Void Abilities if achieved, though only few times had it been seen as worth the price.
The Game Mechanics Explanation
Within TGR, using Void Abilities without a Vessel has dire consequences that trickle in over time, and cannot be reversed. Even getting a Vessel afterwards in post does not instantly remove the issue, and in fact, may not be able to relieve the sickness at all.
Void Sickness has 5 stages, each one having a threshold of points needed to reach that stage. Usage of Void Abilities without a Vessel garners points, and these points cannot be reduced unless one owns a Vessel and does not use Void abilities.
The stages go as follows:
Stage 1 - Perspective
The lightest and most benign stage of Void Sickness, being the initial one. At this stage, during combat encounters, users may experience brief visual illusions (similar to parallax) that cause them to misinterpret the nature and positioning of real tangible things.
In combat, this manifests as a roll of 50 one must make every 5 actions. Rolling a one renders one's mind blank for the rest of the combat encounter, similar to that of a coma.
Stage 2 - Warping
The next stage of Void Sickness. Upon this stage, the user's personality begins to change. They begin to act irrationally during times of high brain usage, and their actions may be misconstrued or misinterpreted by the DM to render outcomes more befitting of Void Sickness. Players can lean into this character development, and if they do not wish to, DMs may outright cease control of a player's action and misconstrue it themselves.
Irrationality and delusion; all begin to manifest at this level of Void Sickness.
Stage 3 - Insanity
The third stage of Void Sickness is officially insanity. While still in control by the player, the character is no longer sane; focusing on their goals and doing anything to achieve them, and focusing on them singularly. A lot of the time, characters ignore other needs such as eating, sleeping, and more; instead opting to focus on their impulses.
During this stage, extreme hallucinations are extremely common. Often, the player will be put in a position where any word of the DM essentially cannot be trusted as reality, though sometimes it can, and more often than not, this has disastrous consequences for the player either way. Any interaction with players must be doubted as well, with DMs often working with other player characters in the player's vicinity to set forth a false reality.
Stage 4 - Fragmentation
The penultimate stage of Void Sickness, and the height of its danger that the player will experience. There will be periods of time where the player will not be able to control their character, instead being added to a GDMs hivemind. The player is not allowed to know what their character is doing, where they are, or what state they are in. At minimum, a player gets to be in control of their own character for one week every month. In that time, the player will of course (similar to all the other stages) still have all the other effects of Void Sickness prior, but will still control the actions of their character.
Furthermore, this is the beginning of the fragmentation of the self. Any player within the TGR server at any time may manifest themselves as a fragment of the player, appearing as a hallucination representing a part of their being. These hallucinations, can if they want, physically harm the character; and have a desire to gain control of the main "body" (aka, control of the character). Under supervision of a GDM or GDM Helper, a fragment can be successful in taking over the character for up to 1 day maximum (where the fragment must still act on that fragment's desire/what part of the self they're based off). The player can wrest control back from the fragment early than the time limit under similar circumstances to how the player in control of the fragment did.
Stage 5 - Nothing
There is nothing. The character is no longer yours. They are lost to Sickness.
It should be noted that while in any stage, all the effects of the previous stages apply and stack.
The Void Point System
The point system helps both player and DM determine which stage of Void Sickness a player is out.
The system runs in a total of 500 points, where upon 500, one reaches Stage 5.
Thresholds for Each Stage
Each stage obeys an easy to follow threshold.
Stage 1 = 100 Void Points
Stage 2 = 200 Void Points
Stage 3 = 300 Void Points
Stage 4 = 400 Void Points
Stage 5 = 500 Void Points
How to Gain Void Points
To gain Void Points, a player must use Void Abilities without a Vessel. Each Void Ability corresponds to a different level of Void Points, and based on if its a state or how usage occurs, can incur a different amount of points.
Different abilities and their Void Points go as follows:
Void Walk (universal travel usage, plus portal usage)
Universal entering and exit
1 Void Point
Portal Usage
0.2 Void Points per usage
Void Cloak
0.2 points for every action within the state.
If out of combat, 0.2 points per minute.
Void Sage
1 point per action within the state.
Void Sage Meditation interrupted
25 points per occurrence
Void Lightning
Imperfect Usage
1 point per usage
Erasure Usage
50 points per erasure
Void Manifestation
Depending on the scale of the manifestation, can range from 1-100.
Void-based Reality Warping
Depending on the scale of the reality warp, can range from 1-100.
Void Marks
5 points per teleportation
5 points for every additional person teleported
0.05 points per day per active Void Mark
Void Art
Depending on the scale of the Void Art, can range from 1-100.
Contextual Differences based on Character
The nature of one's character has a profound effect to what degree one experiences Void Sickness, and the list is as follows:
Regular Individuals
Regular individuals experience Void Sickness on its baseline level.
Void Beings
Void Beings experience Void Sickness at a 50% level of reduction.
Close Descendants of Amalgamations
Close Descendants of Amalgamations experience a 75% reduced rate of Void Sickness.
Amalgamations
Amalgamations do not experience Void Sickness
Vessels
Vessels are a conduit for which Void users can direct the nothingness in order to abate/avoid the symptoms of Void usage.
The In-Universe Explanation
The concept of a Vessel was technically theorised by those on the First Planet during the process in creating and designing the Master of the Void, though it should be noted that these conceptualisations never actually made it to a practical state for any of those who were selected for candidacy. Void Sickness was used as a test to determine which candidate was the most fitting (beyond all the other tests and trials), though it was not seen much given the levels of capability in using the Void most candidates actually attained. Regardless, Void Sickness prior to the formation of the Master of the Void was based on comparability with the Void itself, and thus was used as some form of "Void Potential" measurement.
The usage of a Vessel was determined to be practically possible after the creation of Father Tempus, and though the Key themselves did not need a Vessel, the process was invented as a back-up just in case anything went awry. It wasn't later, until the work of some of the Amalgamations, that the practicality became an official process and ritual.
A Vessel, for all intents and purposes, was an object that was used as a plague carrier for Void Sickness; and often it was an object that held close meaning or appreciation to Void beings. All Void Beings at a young age had to go through the process of acquiring a Vessel by law set out by the Swimmer Council following the Calamity Wave incident, even if the Void Beings themselves had no real intention of using the Void in a way that would cause sickness in the process. Theoretically, it was possible to use a living being as a Vessel, though this was extremely frowned upon by most if not all circles, either due to morality or practicality reasons.
To guard one's Vessel was essential for any Void being, considering its destruction would result in any contained Void Sickness to return back to its owner. Vessels themselves could also pose a danger, sometimes bidding to take control of the Void Being themselves depending just how much sickness was contained; though the connection between Vessel and Being was often seen as symbiotic and deeply emotional, usually a positive one at that despite incidents.
How to Acquire a Vessel
Acquiring Vessels was a deeply difficult and personalised experience for any Void Being, often seen as a "coming of age" moment for most circles.
Regardless, the process was a toiling one. One would, over time, need to venture within their mindscape with their intended Vessel on their person; and fight through their internal "Twelve Levels of Hell". Each level would represent a different Amalgamation, given each represented an aspect of the Key/Void itself. The process was highly emotionally and physically taxing, though using the safeguard of an experienced Void being meant there was no threat to life in the process, and on some occasions, powerful Void Beings could even assist within the mental scape. It was possible to do the process on one's own, but it required a risk of death that was not uncommon in initial historical partaking of the ritual.
Within RP, obtaining a Vessel would be seen as a PK scenario throughout unless assisted, and as such, should not be taken lightly. Though the alternative is far worse.
The Game Mechanics Explanation
With a Vessel, it is impossible to gain Void Points. However, extended Void usage in any scenario may cause the Vessel to act up, to various degrees of success depending on how much Void Sickness is actually contained within.
If Void Abilities are not used within 24 hours, 1 Void Point is reduced for the character. Thus, if one were not to use the Void for 499 days, they could hypothetically go from Stage 4 to completely cured.