Void travel is movement through the Void or close to its boundary with the physical world. Gates connect distant places through it, while Silas uses Zal'therak's magic to move along its edge.
Gate Crossings
A gate opens onto a black, formless expanse. Travellers float through it and look for the light of another open gate; aether magic can propel them. An open passage does not itself provide the knowledge needed to navigate. A traveller who cannot find an exit can become stranded, and the apparent length of a journey is difficult to judge.
Jareth and Amos developed metallic cylindrical gate activators. Crushing one releases a spell that opens a gate. The atraxi learned to navigate through practice, and Void travel became routine around Atraxis Prime.
Travel Along the Edge
Silas can slip beneath the world and move swiftly near the Void's surface, watching the terrain above. He carries companions with him and can emerge at another point, using the route for scouting, concealment and battlefield support.
Zal'therak taught him to stay close to the ground rather than fall into the deeper Void. The route requires a known place: Silas cannot use it where he has not been, and his god must know the location. When Silas tried to enter Varnhallow, Zal'therak stopped him, saying there was no Void to travel through there.
Void travel is movement through the Void or close to its boundary with the physical world. Gates connect distant places through it, while Silas uses Zal'therak's magic to move along its edge.
Gate Crossings
A gate opens onto a black, formless expanse. Travellers float through it and look for the light of another open gate; aether magic can propel them. An open passage does not itself provide the knowledge needed to navigate. A traveller who cannot find an exit can become stranded, and the apparent length of a journey is difficult to judge.
Jareth and Amos developed metallic cylindrical gate activators. Crushing one releases a spell that opens a gate. The atraxi learned to navigate through practice, and Void travel became routine around Atraxis Prime.
Activators take months to make, limiting their supply. Jareth considered gate travel more suitable for high-level mages who could learn to navigate than for common transport. Some known gates are unusable.
Travel Along the Edge
Silas can slip beneath the world and move swiftly near the Void's surface, watching the terrain above. He carries companions with him and can emerge at another point, using the route for scouting, concealment and battlefield support.
Zal'therak taught him to stay close to the ground rather than fall into the deeper Void. The route requires a known place: Silas cannot use it where he has not been, and his god must know the location. When Silas tried to enter Varnhallow, Zal'therak stopped him, saying there was no Void to travel through there.
Void travel is movement through the Void or close to its boundary with the physical world. Gates connect distant places through it, while Silas uses Zal'therak's magic to move along its edge.
Gate Crossings
A gate opens onto a black, formless expanse. Travellers float through it and look for the light of another open gate; aether magic can propel them. An open passage does not itself provide the knowledge needed to navigate. A traveller who cannot find an exit can become stranded, and the apparent length of a journey is difficult to judge.
Jareth and Amos developed metallic cylindrical gate activators. Crushing one releases a spell that opens a gate. The atraxi learned to navigate through practice, and Void travel became routine around Atraxis Prime.
Activators take months to make, limiting their supply. Jareth considered gate travel more suitable for high-level mages who could learn to navigate than for common transport. Some known gates are unusable.
Travel Along the Edge
Silas can slip beneath the world and move swiftly near the Void's surface, watching the terrain above. He carries companions with him and can emerge at another point, using the route for scouting, concealment and battlefield support.
Zal'therak taught him to stay close to the ground rather than fall into the deeper Void. The route requires a known place: Silas cannot use it where he has not been, and his god must know the location. When Silas tried to enter Varnhallow, Zal'therak stopped him, saying there was no Void to travel through there.
Hazards and Exits
Closed gates are harder to identify by their signatures than open ones, and usable Essence may be scarce. A traveller may be unable to leave safely until their body is stable. Lunorax entered badly broken, could not emerge without disintegrating and spent a long time rebuilding himself in the Void.
Silas can cut an opening in the boundary from within. Thalena enlarged one of his small, distant tears with aether magic so that her group could cast spells through it. They rejected walking through the tear as too dangerous and chose to wait for a gate to reconstruct and stabilize their Essence.
Void travel is movement through the Void or close to its boundary with the physical world. Gates connect distant places through it, while Silas uses Zal'therak's magic to move along its edge.
Gate Crossings
A gate opens onto a black, formless expanse. Travellers float through it and look for the light of another open gate; aether magic can propel them. An open passage does not itself provide the knowledge needed to navigate. A traveller who cannot find an exit can become stranded, and the apparent length of a journey is difficult to judge.
Jareth and Amos developed metallic cylindrical gate activators. Crushing one releases a spell that opens a gate. The atraxi learned to navigate through practice, and Void travel became routine around Atraxis Prime.
Activators take months to make, limiting their supply. Jareth considered gate travel more suitable for high-level mages who could learn to navigate than for common transport. Some known gates are unusable.
The gates of Thiravos and Theryssa use symbol sequences to form direct passages between gates, avoiding a journey through the open Void. They demand substantial resources and are restricted to a select few.
Travel Along the Edge
Silas can slip beneath the world and move swiftly near the Void's surface, watching the terrain above. He carries companions with him and can emerge at another point, using the route for scouting, concealment and battlefield support.
Zal'therak taught him to stay close to the ground rather than fall into the deeper Void. The route requires a known place: Silas cannot use it where he has not been, and his god must know the location. When Silas tried to enter Varnhallow, Zal'therak stopped him, saying there was no Void to travel through there.
In Thalena's account of the later course of events, her altered body also let her enter the Void's edge. Distances appeared compressed near the surface, but descending farther made the world harder to see. Silas helped pull her back when she became partly submerged.
Hazards and Exits
Closed gates are harder to identify by their signatures than open ones, and usable Essence may be scarce. Prolonged exposure fractures a traveller's Essence. Protective devices can hold the body together inside, but safe exit remains a separate difficulty. Lunorax entered badly broken, could not emerge without disintegrating and spent a long time rebuilding himself in the Void.
Silas can cut an opening in the boundary from within. Thalena enlarged one of his small, distant tears with aether magic so that her group could cast spells through it. They rejected walking through the tear as too dangerous and chose to wait for a gate to reconstruct and stabilize their Essence.
Imperial Warp Travel
Warp drives in the Malverand Intergalactic Empire make a partial breach into the Void and drag a ship along its edge. This differs from taking the whole ship through a gate. Direct Void transit for warpships remained under study: the researchers still had to enlarge gates sufficiently and keep those aboard alive during the crossing.