#voidrite

Each of us carries the Void inside our bodies. It churns just beneath the surface of our consciousness. It yearns for our contact. Our fears. Our desires. The truth is only a portion of what the Eye allows us to see.

One day such knowledge may be yours.

Cover by Bethesda Softworks and Arkane Studios.

Today I’ll be reviewing the third (and so far final) installment in Adam Christopher’s Dishonored novel trilogy, following Dishonored: The Corroded Man and Dishonored: The Return of Daud, in addition to following its relatively immediate predecessor Dishonored: Death of the Outsider in the games and tying into the comic bridging story Dishonored: The Wyrmwood Deceit. Chronologically, this story is the last in the Dishonored timeline thus far, for reasons that will be readily evident.

The book was published by Titan Books of Titan Entertainment.

A lot has changed in the Empire of the Isles since the fall of the Outsider in 1852. His removal from his place at the Ritual Hold fundamentally altered the nature of magic, and the world itself is breaking down by degrees as the Void moves apart from the “real” world.

The fracturing of magic has driven the Abbey of the Everyman to the point of needing to be abolished by Empress Emily Kaldwin the Wise, with the men of the Overseers and the women of the Oracular Order driven against one another, resulting in the surviving Overseers being driven into poverty, and the Oracles driven off and/or killed in witch hunts, the latter of which are not under the control of the Empress at all.

Following the fall of Delilah Copperspoon’s usurping government, Alexandria Hypatia’s recall of her invention the Addermire Solution seems to have ultimately resulted in no form of the elixir being produced anywhere at all, presumably on account of the side effects of said drink when taken in high doses. Said side effects seem to include addiction, given the disposition of one former Overseer. As such, this explains why there is no restorative for mana in Death of the Outsider.

With the Outsider gone, there is little to keep the world stable. While Billie Lurk was able to see “hollows” in the fractures between worlds, things have gotten much worse since then, to the point of rips in the fabric of reality itself that Lurk calls “rifts.” Far more dangerous than the hollows, these tears can make travel impossible from one point to another, and in the case of Morley, were involved in the “Crisis,” better known as the “Three-Day War” between Queen Eithne and King Briam that ravaged the country and the city of Alba in particular.

What exactly happened to the Outsider is deliberately unclear, but some inferences can be made. The text avoids actually saying that the Outsider is dead or was killed, using terms like “fell” and “gone” instead. While this word choice on its own might just be an implication that anything is possible, there is one added piece of the puzzle. In Death of the Outsider, if Billie Lurk kills the Outsider instead of freeing him from the Void and giving him back his life and his name, she tells the ghost of Daud that “The world might change, but we won’t. Killers never change,” continuing on in the conclusion that “after all this, I’m still just a murderer.” That kind of fatalistic attitude is not present in the novel’s Billie, who seems to have done her best to move past her failures. To paraphrase a certain character from Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer, the world cannot have her pain, and her every movement forward indicates a refusal to allow her past to dictate her future. In all, her ability to move forward seems to indicate that the boy who was once the Outsider is still alive, but that Billie has told not a single soul what happened that day in the Ritual Hold between her, the god in human form, and Daud.

On another note, Martha Cottings finally has her arc paid off, one first set up with the original appearance of the post-prostheses Billie Lurk back in late 2016’s The Wyrmwood Deceit. It’s a small thing, but still good to know where that was going.

"The Outsider had fallen, and the Void had become unmoored from the world—but it was still connected to it. It still existed, but its relationship with the world was different. Somehow, that had changed the way magic worked. That change had driven the Overseers and the Sisterhood to moonstruck oblivion, and had affected Billie’s black-shard arm and the Sliver."

Predictably, removing the focal point from the magic system has resulted in a serious shift in the way in which magic actually works. Although this change was alluded to in The Return of Daud, having been implied in Death of the Outsider, this is the first time we see it in any sort of depth.

First and foremost, the most famous use of the Void, through the Outsider’s Mark. Given the Mark was a means to connect to the Outsider and share in his connection to the Void, those empowered in this way (in particular Emily Kaldwin and the possibly-alive-and-imprisoned Delilah Copperspoon) have lost their powers altogether, their connection to the supernatural power completely cut off. Whether or not the Mark itself has disappeared is unclear, but such a thing is largely irrelevant now given the revelation that it is the Outsider’s true name, especially with him gone.

"The world is broken around you, and you carry the scars. I wonder if you can live with that."

Important to the magic system is a new term that refers to what Billie has become: Void-touched. Individuals of this type are both a part of the Void and not, having an intricate, physical connection to both worlds that lasts beyond deposing the Outsider. Owing to that connection, magic still does flow to these persons, albeit in different ways that are more “standardized” than the specialization made possible by the connection to the Outsider himself. In the case of Billie, she can summon the Twin-bladed knife and can view through walls akin to Daud’s Void Gaze, in addition to seeing trails leading toward areas of high Void energy concentration, but her teleportation (Displace), mystical disguise (Semblance), power to strike with the power of the Void through her knife (Void Strike), and ability to see across vast distances (Foresight) are inaccessible.

Much like how Daud felt agony when he tried to empower himself with a rune in The Return of Daud, there are certain significant downsides to Billie’s abilities that last beyond the Outsider’s fall. Given that her powers still derive from the cognitive aspects of the Void, she has difficulty using said powers for the majority of the novel. Said difficulty comes from her insecurity with herself after the fall of the Outsider and the changes in the world, feeling she is too different to reconcile her own life’s experiences. Until she manages to accept that both she and the world are changing, but that change is just a part of life, she has a chance of not summoning her powers, but merely feeling agony. In essence, she has to realize that while the Void may be harder to grasp, given it is now further away, and given that this means that her powers will be weaker and slower to activate, she has to accept the world as it is and own her new identity for herself.

Certain runes, including those from Maximilian Norcross’s collection, have new characteristics, ones that can be replicated or otherwise utilized to act as a kind of “magical technology” bridge. The most overt use of these runes is the Leviathan Company’s teleportation to and from the Void Hollow, a location that has emerged in the space between the Void and the normal, “real” world and is more of a reflection of the real world with elements of the Void within, including the ambitious Leviathan Causeway. The runes allow one to transport through the aforementioned rifts, rather than just view them, and to teleport to any point within the Hollow as well. Other supernatural abilities are likely possible, but are not gone into depth about. Most notable is that these abilities can be used by anyone, including those without any connection to the Void before, so long as they have two of these runes in their possession and know how to use them.

The Void itself has had some major changes, as well as elements that existed before that are expanded upon. The most prominent is definitely the effects of the Void itself (including the Void Hollow) on unprotected individuals. Without proper protection akin to a mystical HAZMAT suit with certain specific runes, individuals will slowly find their flesh turn to stone, in an accelerated form of the transformation that the original members of the Cult of the Outsider underwent when becoming the “Envisioned.” To use a real life analogy, the Void seems to exude a kind of supernatural radiation that infects life from outside the Void itself, eventually turning victims into little more than shells of their former selves, incapable of interacting with others around them beyond fulfilling some relatively basic mystical commands such as grabbing someone or transporting them away.

Some of these cracks are in time itself, not unlike the fractured nature of time around Stilton Manor as seen in the Dishonored 2 mission “A Crack in the Slab.” As such, some entities like the Shadow (a mysterious Void presence tied to a particular conspiracy in Morley) and Billie Lurk herself can manipulate the rifts to travel to various points in time.

"I know more than most. I know that time is bleeding into itself around you. I know you have felt it, and you’re searching for the places where the world has broken against the Void."

Whereas many cannot make changes in time that will stick, others such as Billie can on account of having a physical presence in both the Void and the normal world. In a sense, Billie herself is a focal point around which time solidifies itself on account of her Outsider-given Void-connected prostheses, the cold black shard arm and the Sliver of the Eye of the Dead God, making her essentially the only person who can solve many of these problems.

On account of the increased use of the Void by mundane persons, there is an increased focus on certain physical elements present in the Void itself. One particular one that has been seen before but never thoroughly examined is the very Void stone that is common in locations of the Void, seemingly the same one that makes up the black shard arm: voidrite. On the mystical end, this material can be shaped into new artifacts, such as blades with mystical properties (such as one wielded by the aforementioned former Overseer Woodrow) capable of causing paralysis through some kind of self-harm ritual combined with a vocal incantation (“Eco, lazar, lapolay, yram.”) to paralyze a target until the spell is broken. On the mundane end, there are far more applications, including use as a volatile fuel source that can also negate gravity, allowing for the first air vehicles in the entire Dishonored franchise, along with giving some similarities to DC Comics’ Nth metal. One particular fact holds true for another use of voidrite: a weakness for Void-based entities. Much like how the Twin-bladed knife is lethal to Envisioned and even the Outsider himself, voidrite fuel can harm even monstrously enormous Void creatures when other sources cannot do a thing.

"I am here because you are different. The Void has found you through the cracks in your broken life. And when you cut me out of it, what will remain? What will you leave behind when you walk away?"

Technically speaking, Billie Lurk can be considered the most heroic and selfless character of the various Dishonored protagonists. Corvo Attano wanted to save his daughter and lover and in theory reclaim his good name. Emily Kaldwin wanted to save her father and reclaim her throne. Daud did perform a heroic act in The Knife of Dunwall and The Brigmore Witches, but only on the urging of the Outsider, and subsequently ignored any and all blame in any of his actions to the point of becoming a villain once more across The Return of Daud.

By contrast, Billie Lurk’s decision to look into the rifts is entirely on her own volition for the safety of the Isles and perhaps the entire world. Yes, she is the only one who can truly sense them and see what is wrong, but she had no outward obligation to do anything about them. By going out of her way to try to stop the madness, a problem she is well aware that she is responsible in part for causing in the first place, she proves she is better than Daud, something that his ghost admitted to her in his talk about her forgiving nature. From going to the Imperial Palace to try to solicit her friend Emily for help (a surprise, given it was unclear if they were even allies anymore, let alone friends), to going to the Academy of Natural Philosophy to use up Anton Sokolov’s remaining goodwill in a fruitless attempt to get the scientists to look into the rifts as anything but a meteorological phenomenon, to traveling to Morley on her own so as to help solve the problem of the rifts, everything involves her being the instigator. Even when she nominally is traveling to Morley to get evidence and support for Withnail Hugh Bruce Dribner’s experimentation with the Void rifts, she is the one in charge, considering she is the only one who could stop any of it on account of her borderline Schrödinger’s cat nature.

Her personality, as ever, leaves something to be desired in terms of her rudeness, but Adam Christopher manages to make her blunt, rude exterior and relationship with royalty absolutely hilarious, especially in how she deals with people trying to be overly polite with her in accordance with their protocols. Even her interactions with the borderline antisocial personality of the stoic Miles Severin are entirely reasonable, neither overly harsh (given circumstances) nor overly kind when dealing with his better sides. She is simply matter-of-fact and, to a point, highly manipulative, showing the darker sides of even the most heroic of people in the Isles owing to her upbringing.

“What will we do with the drunken whaler? What will we do with the drunken whaler? What will we do with the drunken whaler, early in the morning?”

Certain elements in the novel, on top of those in previous ones, give implications as to how this story may move forward into future games.

Voidrite is outright stated to be volatile, and able to expel an extraordinary amount of energy. Additionally, the substance is capable of sealing rifts, as it did with the one at the Leviathan Causeway, on top of being lethal to Void entities like the Shadow or Envisioned, but in powerful enough levels even able to face down fully realized Void gods like the Outsider himself. Said substance could be made into not only swords, but also projectile or placed weapons of untold power with a “poisoning” effect added on, primarily in the form of grenades or traps, but not excluding bolts nor bullets either.

Together, this could end up taking the balance of power shift away from the Void alone and more toward a more evenhanded use of power between magic and technology, a stance that had already begun under the creation of Jindosh’s clockwork soldiers and their ability to effortlessly take on the anti-witch Overseers. The fact that the anti-gravity properties of voidrite have made for the creation of flying machines within a year of the Outsider’s fall even further shows the rapid expansion of technological superiority without letting magic fall too far behind either. What other properties could this substance have? It appears that only the surface of its utility has been explored thus far.

In addition, the Voidrite infected seen at the Leviathan Causeway seem to be, in some ways, not dissimilar from the Weepers of Dishonored nor the Nest Keepers of Dishonored 2, with the “radiation” of the Void corrupting them by even faster degrees than the Envisioned. Adding to the ability to seal rifts, this set of facts sets up a possibility of a variation on the Gears of War “emergence hole” sealing mechanic for explosives to avoid incursions of the Void, or even to open them up in the first place to change the flow of battle.

The fact that the teleportation runes can be used to travel not only into the Void Hollow and out, but also across the other dimension to other locations in that parallel world, brings up the very real possibility of near-instantaneous intercontinental travel, allowing for incredibly fast invasions and, from a gameplay perspective, a reason for not only a fast-travel system in a series that is becoming increasingly open-world (especially in Death of the Outsider), but also for a far larger map including more of the Isles, and even a possibly more global conspiracy.

Adding to the possible globalization of the game, we have the other, rather familiar properties of the Void’s atmosphere, which bring to mind a host of hazardous materials with the use of a mystical HAZMAT suit. However, the sheer destructive power and heightened energy release bring particular focus on an analogy to nuclear power. Much like Edmund Roseburrow’s discovery of whale oil as a fuel source acted as an analogy to various power sources (in particular gasoline) for Dunwall’s industrial revolution, the discovery of the power of voidrite could act as an analogue to nuclear power. Couple that with the very real possibility that Morley could invade other nations with superior, air-based firepower made from the Void-based substance, along with the economic implications inherent to the trans-oceanic Leviathan Causeway, and the stability of the Isles could fall into ruin with the advent of voidrite national superpowers.

Rifts are seen to have erupted all across time, or be capable of being used to access different eras as far back as 1790 and likely earlier still. Without a Void-touched being who has a corporeal presence in the Void and reality (Billie Lurk being the only known example), these eras are not in much danger of having serious alterations in the timeline, but can still pull people from other eras through them. Could this mean that earlier villains could emerge once again, perhaps for some kind of alliance across the ages, brought forth by a magitechnology sorcerer with a mission?

On the magical end, do bonecharms still function? They are not used overtly in the novel, unlike runes, but they do seem to be disconnected from the Outsider’s Mark, especially in the hands of Zhukov (who used the fully powered Twin-bladed knife which might not have the same abilities), Paolo (who used Vera “Granny Rags” Moray’s Marked hand as a vector), and Breanna Ashworth (who had access to her powers through the Arcane Bond with Delilah). How would their functions have shifted, or even been removed altogether, with the changes in the Void? Do they connect with the Leviathans, if we will ever see their like again?

Many questions and possibilities to think on.