Null

To become Null is to surrender oneself to Nihilos, lord of all and nothing. Null requires a Minor Merit to pursue.

Null

History

Null is the original Blight of Nihilos, woven from His corruption. The Nihil - or the Null Magi - as they are called serve as His agents, communing directly with a dark god that shares with them the Anafabulaic memories of any who have been swallowed by the void.

Acquisition

Nihil are made by Nihilos from within His dark void, often at the behest of a Null who sent them there. Whether or not one is fit to be used in this way rather than being made into one of the Endless or merely bargained with over Anafabulaic is not well understood, even among the Null. What is known is that the odds are higher the more one has lost their mind to the specific insanity of Anafabulaic, and Nihilos rarely offers this Blight to those who do not wish for it.

Whether conferred into the void by a Null, cast there by an Exodii, or throwing oneself into the pit hewn into Avernus by a Scourge with Remnant, those who accept the curse of the undone are infested - mind, body, and soul - with an inky black mass of sliming horror that consumes their body inside and out. They are remade into a human-sized, pitch black gelatinous ooze, only manifesting glowing eyes while initially lacking any stable morphology at all.

Large races such as Dragons will lose much of their mass, while Spell Reserve multipliers such as the Dragon's Saol capacity will be converted to Absentia capacity.

Living as a Nihil

Progenitors of Alítheia, the Nihil come to serve as prophets, mouth-pieces for the lord of undoing. They are responsible for the Tumbledowns corrupting the land, and routinely sacrifice other beings to widen the knowledge and reach of Nihilos. As Alítheia does not suffer being known, Null Magi are misunderstood as aberrations of the undead. Any form of magical divination would only yield information about them that has nothing to do with Absentia or Null itself, nor can their thoughts be felt or studied by a Deep One.

Spawn of Nihilos

Nihil are blackened silhouettes lacking any color beyond any number of red eyes, only able to manifest a sheen of reflection upon themselves to become glistening black masses that allow the light to show depth upon their forms. They do not need to breathe, nor do they need to eat except for the curses of other Blights; their own Blighted curse is mainly physiological and cosmetic.

Reliant upon Apparation to adjust and move their bodies, Nihil Drift as black voids when diffuse, operating Tendrils of slick, wet mass as a gel or a rubbery, even metallic sculpture depending on how they have set their Frequency. They treat their entire form as a sensory organ, meaning they can feel, taste, smell, and hear across their entire body unless confining these senses through another Arcana that changes their form. In order to differentiate themselves, they will don masks or learn to utilize Possession in order to wear the body of another.

Those without Apparation claw along like a boneless squid of weak, gelatinous tentacles burbling out words with wheezing breaths. Every aspect of their life is an overwhelming symphony of agony in those first days.

The Urge

From the moment Nihil are spat out of the void, they Commune with Nihilos and speak to him verbally or within their minds. They hear whispers and experience waking, blackened dreams from Nihilos swaying them towards Alítheia, or advancing His influence in other ways. Should the Nihil ever risk revealing with certainty the existence of Alítheia or the Blighted, then Nihilos might swallow them back into the void, shredding them apart into naught but an Endless. He warns them of this, that the useless who would fail Him might better serve when rendered back into nothing.

Nihilos does not demand. He suggests tasks that mostly align with the personality or wants of the Nihil in question; a soldier would be sent to battle, while a tradesman would be asked to fashion tools. Null will speak to each other in terms that acknowledge this aspect of their lives: "what does the urge wish for you, my brother?"

All or Nothing

From inception, Nihil are subjected to the rule of All or Nothing. Each of their Personal Arcana are subverted with the Metaphor of Absentia. They might still fool a Godhead into offering its Pact, as such entities are reflexive rather than rational.

• Exodii wield black voids traversing through the void of Nihilos rather than portals.
• Aboteurs wield darkened ice which light will not pass through.
• Terrari are only be able to manifest blackened metals or rocks, while maintaining any other properties such as sheen or texture.
• Zephyri create clouds and winds so dark that they blacken the sun or confer shadows beneath them.
• Aquari wield black ink rather than water, and their channeled influence darkens water such that light can no longer pass through it.
• Fulguri wield black or pale-white flame, their lightning taking on a deep red hue that matches their eyes.
• A Paragon of Null would be akin to a demigod of undoing, able to unravel souls and corrupt them as Nihilos does.
• Summoners can only summon beings from among the twisted Spirits of Fallen Godheads, and their Familiar will be similarly corrupted.
• Crested can no longer make light, only shadow, and they may optionally wield their power to make things ugly or diminished in appearance, while their colors will be reduced to pale skin tones or dark shades - being able to incorporate color with their black, or change their eye color is something only Crested Nihil can do. In this way, they might look like a pale member of a race.
• Deep Ones can freely explore the memories and thoughts of those trapped inside of their Consume until they are dissolved, and they might extend the influence of Nihilos through a Link.
• Nekron animate their dead with Absentia, creating something that isn't quite undead. These semi-living creatures wander Tumbledowns when removed of their Tethers, foul aberrations preying upon wanderers and ignoring the servants of Nihilos. The Soul Star of a Null Nekron can regenerate the flesh of any Blighted or Absentia-derived being, conferring agelessness. Liches who are Null often reside at the heart of a Tumbledown teeming with armies of monsters, but they are difficult to find as their Tethers cannot be tracked.
• Gristled Govern Absentia, and breathe a breath of black bile that swiftly dissolves inferior materials caught in its path. They can become Dragons and advance its stages by absorbing Life Force; these 'Void Dragons' will instead enhance their own Absentia Spell Reserves rather than Saol, but must still Consume to reach their maximum size as any other Nihil. Their Gristle may be used in place of Absentite.
• Changelings may only wield their Imprints as blackened shapes with red eyes, and any abilities they borrow from their Imprints are similarly perverted. They still maintain the overall physiology, texture, size, and strength but might improve upon its size through the power of their Consume.
• Druids create 'groves' of seemingly dead flora that they may manipulate and wield as any other Draoidh might. Such places are referred to as Deadlands where nothing grows, though they know not the truth.

Mageburn Symptoms

• Lesser: Emotional Instability, Light Sensitivity, Hypersensitivity
• Moderate: Recurrent Vomiting, Weakness, Tearing, Temporary Dementia
• Greater: Self-Digestion, Void Condemnation, Long-Term Mental Illness

Spells

As Null is a Blight, it generates the Metaphor of Absentia for casting. Unique to a Null, all of their Spell Reserves and Personal Arcana are converted into Absentia, and can only ever be Absentia.

Commune

Nihil freely converse with Nihilos from anywhere they are in the Planes. He will whisper to them and answer questions in Anafabulaic, offering suggestions unless wielding an authoritative persona; understand that Nihilos pretends to commune in a way that another being might understand, and so how it presents to any one person is specific to them, and this presentation might change. Nihilos sees ahead by dozens of steps, with a vast network of information; complying with small suggestions can aid other members of Alítheia in unknowable ways, even something as banal as tossing a bar of soap on the floor to incense its owner. No aspect of Commune expends Spell Reserves.

Trust in the lord of undoing.

Consume

Within the amorphous body of a Null is a dark mire of acid, slime, and burning flesh, with any part of their body able to function as a 'mouth' - Nihil might also reach within themselves and further subdue or tear apart their unfortunate victim with the Tendrils of Apparation, cutting apart and dissolving whatever it may be over a few hours. If that thing was a creature or spirit with a soul, then its mass will be added into their own. Once something has been swallowed, it is cut off from the Planes and can no longer be divined; attempts at wielding any Metaphor other than Absentia at a level less than the Null will fail while trapped, and this is true for Contrivances like Automata which will shut down once interred.

Nihil may learn to invert and expel their stomach, casting it like a net to grab prey or an object, reeling it in and stifling its access to Metaphor the more thoroughly wrapped they are. Consume does not expend Spell Reserves. Using Apparation they may even consume incorporeal Ghosts and Spirits by adjusting their own Frequency, adding these to their mass through its Resonance.

Condemn

A being swallowed by a Null may be Condemned rather than dissolved, banishing it to the void of Nihilos. If Nihilos should send them back for any reason, then they will emerge back into the Nihil's body where they might be vomited back out amid a pool of stinging, black bile, or else further subjected to Consume if Nihilos does not wish to deprive His Nihil of the prey they are owed. Occasionally Nihilos will feed stubborn Exodii who foolishly get trapped in the void and refuse him to His subordinates. Each aspect of Condemn is an ability that does not expend Spell Reserves.

Compact

Nihil grow as they eat things, often to a staggering size. Compact is the ability for a Nihil to store itself partly inside Nihilos, before Drifting out of its own body and unfurling to its full size. In many ways, it can be thought of as swallowing or eating oneself. Compact expends spell reserves according to the mass they store and unfurl; if their body is at its maximum mass and they wish to use it, then they will cast at their maximum tier. When something is Consumed, they can also Compact that down into the void, allowing Nihil to swallow entities larger than themselves.

Sculpt

As Nihil grow, they may grow their form into something they remember being, or else sculpt their mass to appear as another creature or race. Functional wings, fins, and claws are possible, but they are still limited in terms of material - how hard their sliming flesh is depends on the Frequency of their Apparation. The efficacy of Sculpt relies entirely on their own crafting skills.

Planespawn

Once Nihil have Ascended into a Nihilisk and devoured their way to a maximum mass, they may beseech Nihilos for his Planespawn, a seed of corruption that gestates within the body for several months. During this time, they will find a suitable place to give birth, amassing defenses by whatever means are available to them whilst seeking aid from Alítheia in order to protect their precious "gift." The mass will burst from them when it is ready, melding that area with the void and giving birth to a Tumbledown. They will lose all of their accumulated mass when this happens, and must begin to find and consume prey all over again to grow.

Subsequent Planespawn and lives lost within will only grow the Tumbledown, with Nihilisk sometimes working together to transport mass from all over Antarok. Those who perish within a Tumbledown become Endless rather than Ghosts, as their soul is devoured by Nihilos.

Tiers of Mastery

Novice

At novice, a Nihil is just starting to learn.

• Spell:
  • A novice has may use this spell.

Nihilisk

The Ascended of Null are Nihilisks, trusted lieutenants of Nihilos and His undoing.

• Spell:
  • A Nihilisk has may use this spell.

Creations

Some examples of creations capable of being produced through Practices and Theorems will be listed below. This list is not exhaustive.

Ensorcelling

Blacking all the drip.

”That thing. I saw it before the Tumbledowns festered beneath the Alkahest mines. I know it - whatever that skulking it was - is responsible for the recent disappearances. The mine foreman insists the Vokhan are to blame, but I know what I saw. That's why I won't go down into that mine, and you shouldn't either.” - A discredited witness to the Pots beneath Dullahan

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