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 then remade into a pitch black shade of what they once were, only manifesting glowing eyes while lacking any stable morphology at all.

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. Reliant upon Apparation to adjust and move their bodies, they 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. In order to differentiate themselves, they will don masks or learn to utilize Possession in order to wear the body of another.

• A Null may slowly Drift until they learn Apparation, clawing along like a squid of weak, gelatinous tentacles burbling out words with wheezing breaths.

The Urge

From the moment Nihil are spat out of the void, Nihilos lives in 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 Galdr, Glamour, and Poetics Arcana are subverted with the Metaphor of Absentia. They lose any Pact they possess and will be refunded any XP or Merits. If your Racial Merit was a Pact, then you may replace it with Apparation.

• Exodii wield black voids traversing through the void of Nihilos rather than portals.
• Aboteurs are only be able to manifest blackened metals or rocks, while maintaining any other properties such as sheen or texture.
• 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.
• Summoners can only summon beings from among the twisted Spirits of Fallen Godheads, and their Familiar will be similarly corrupted.
• 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.
• Draoidh 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: Insanity, Eye Pain
• Moderate: Temporary Loss of Select Emotions, Memory Rot, Brain Fog
• Greater: Paralysis of Varying Degrees
• Placeholder:

Spells

As Null is a Blight, it utilizes the Metaphor of Absentia for casting. Unique to a Null, all of their Spell Reserves are converted into Absentia.

Spell

Description

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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