On The Composition of the Void

[Logos.5603]

The six different domains of magic were split from the Void by Soo Won. The fact that the Void could be split in differing parts suggests that the Void was composed of elements that could allow for the differentiation of the six domains. So the Void is not one thing, but composed of at least two different things, for the relationship or interaction between these things is what can allow for the possibility of different states of being (i.e., the six different domains). But this implies a third fundamental thing: the medium through which the interaction takes place. So the Void is "made up" of three fundamental things. But differentiation requires order for the parts to remain...well...differentiated. So the Void is not pure chaos. Kuunavang is wrong calling it chaos incarnate. The Void is simply a particular kind of relationship (or relationships) between two different (or more) fundamental things occurring within a third thing.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

15 hours ago, Logos.5603 said:

But differentiation requires order for the parts to remain...well...differentiated. So the Void is not pure chaos. Kuunavang is wrong calling it chaos incarnate.

On this in specific, yes, definitely. And it is even brought up, though not blatantly, in the plot when Taimi comes in with a "after studying the Void a bit we learned" such and such.

It is something that is perceived to be chaos incarnate because of how it interacts with existing things, by breaking it all down and smushing it into a magical singularity it defies laws of order as Tyrians (and Earthlings) know it, thus looks like a chaotic mess. But since it's really just "all things combined into one indistinguishable thing" in the end, the argument can be made that it is perfect order.

But I don't think ANet intended that second half.

[Logos.5603]

A school of philosophy around the study of the Void should've definitively formed right after these recent events in Cantha. I think it would be nice if some of the books we find had more philosophical content about the world and this played more of a role in our understanding of the mechanics of the universe.

[Raffrey.5271]

Even if the Void is not purely chaos, its characteristics made it unavoidably chaotic. Like, imagine if a drop of water is magic, and a cup of water is condensed magic (or ley-lines, though not flowing), fire element is some water with some red dye stirred in (red paint). As you paint, your brushes are occupied with different colours. You clean them by dipping them inside a cup of water, which eventually become more and more cloudy and muddy, mostly also greyish. Basically, it's just water tainted with many colours, but most people wouldn't use it in their drawings. Because if you don't know what you're doing, most of the time even when you do aware of what you're doing, it can ruin your artworks.

That is the Void. A pool of water tainted with all the colours you can imagine. Aka, "Everything".

[DanAlcedo.3281]

You take light and shoot it through a Prisim. 

You get colors. You can now combine these colors to create new ones.  Yellow + Red = Orange. 

What happens when you combine all the colors again without a prism? 

Black. There are still all the colors in there. 

If you want to paint a painting. You need to filter out the colors out of the black. 

Now replace color with Magic. 

Ley Energy (White light) is all colors combined with a Prism. 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by DanAlcedo.3281

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

15 hours ago, Raffrey.5271 said:

Even if the Void is not purely chaos, its characteristics made it unavoidably chaotic. Like, imagine if a drop of water is magic, and a cup of water is condensed magic (or ley-lines, though not flowing), fire element is some water with some red dye stirred in (red paint). As you paint, your brushes are occupied with different colours. You clean them by dipping them inside a cup of water, which eventually become more and more cloudy and muddy, mostly also greyish. Basically, it's just water tainted with many colours, but most people wouldn't use it in their drawings. Because if you don't know what you're doing, most of the time even when you do aware of what you're doing, it can ruin your artworks.

That is the Void. A pool of water tainted with all the colours you can imagine. Aka, "Everything".

This analogy falls apart because the water has no subtractive color in it at the start. If color were the types of magic, then the water is "typeless magic". But Ley-Lines, what you equate to the water, is definitively described as "all magic" (e.g., all colors) in Season 3 by Taimi, and this persists even into End of Dragons and Gyala Delves. Which you analogize as the muddled grayish coloring, and use to reflect Void.

9 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

You take light and shoot it through a Prisim. 

You get colors. You can now combine these colors to create new ones.  Yellow + Red = Orange. 

What happens when you combine all the colors again without a prism? 

Black. There are still all the colors in there. 

If you want to paint a painting. You need to filter out the colors out of the black. 

Now replace color with Magic. 

Ley Energy (White light) is all colors combined with a Prism. 

This is... Incorrect. In the middle, that is. If you mix the colors of light together, you get white again.
You're mixing (no pun intended) additive colors and subtractive colors together, thinking they're the same system. Mixing pigments together creates black, but pigments are not composed of light.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_color
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtractive_color

And yes, it is very likely that this was the analogy they were aiming for with Aurene vs Dragonvoid, since Aurene is prism, thus additive color; Dragonvoid was made the opposite, subtractive color. But the systems used as possible inspiration are innately different systems, but with Void and Ley-Lines, it's still all magic - the very same system.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Konig Des Todes.2086

[DanAlcedo.3281]

29 minutes ago, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

This analogy falls apart because the water has no subtractive color in it at the start. If color were the types of magic, then the water is "typeless magic". But Ley-Lines, what you equate to the water, is definitively described as "all magic" (e.g., all colors) in Season 3 by Taimi, and this persists even into End of Dragons and Gyala Delves. Which you analogize as the muddled grayish coloring, and use to reflect Void.

This is... Incorrect. In the middle, that is. If you mix the colors of light together, you get white again.
You're mixing (no pun intended) additive colors and subtractive colors together, thinking they're the same system. Mixing pigments together creates black, but pigments are not composed of light.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_color
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtractive_color

And yes, it is very likely that this was the analogy they were aiming for with Aurene vs Dragonvoid, since Aurene is prism, thus additive color; Dragonvoid was made the opposite, subtractive color. But the systems used as possible inspiration are innately different systems, but with Void and Ley-Lines, it's still all magic - the very same system.

The color example is not perfect but it's an easy way to explain it to others. 

Simply replace color with magic. 

Edited June 6, 2023 by DanAlcedo.3281

[Raffrey.5271]

3 hours ago, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

This analogy falls apart because the water has no subtractive color in it at the start. If color were the types of magic, then the water is "typeless magic". But Ley-Lines, what you equate to the water, is definitively described as "all magic" (e.g., all colors) in Season 3 by Taimi, and this persists even into End of Dragons and Gyala Delves. Which you analogize as the muddled grayish coloring, and use to reflect Void.

Yeah, now that you mentioned it, water isn't a good representation of magic, since it's literally colourless and being something with the same name as an element, which can cause some confusion. But all over the world (real life world), blue is often a symbolical reference of water element.

I think ley-lines aren't made of "all magic". I'm going through stories all over recently to refresh my memories on something so until I'm done with it, I can't say for sure. But I think what Taimi said could be outdated, because saying ley-lines are "all magic" equates them to the Void, which we all can tell they at least have some characteristic differences. My guess, but I think ley-lines are currents of flowing magic. Just magic. Pure magic.

When Zhaitan died, its magic was released and flowing everywhere. Some of them found its way to Mordremoth. And later to Primordus, Jormag and the others, along with Mordremoth's magic when it died. But ley-lines' colours hadn't changed one bit. I think this is either because the element's ratio wasn't dense enough to cause a visual difference, or it's something that should've been properly indicated visually.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Raffrey.5271