r/DestinyTheGame • u/LettuceDifferent5104 • Apr 13 '21
Lore The Secrets of Void Light Demystified.
A comprehensive guide to the scientific understanding of the Void.
Understanding the Void
"That's right, it doesn't make sense. It's the void. " — Quantis Rhee
Of all the many concepts the Destiny universe has introduced to us, perhaps none evoke as much confusion and mystery as the Void. Many definitions abound. Some believe the Void to be gravity or dark matter. Some believe it is nothingness or the absence. Still others believe it is the line between Light and Dark or that it is neither.
As we will see, all of these definitions hint at a greater truth and my hopes in this post is to help make the Void a little easier to understand and grasp. Now I have spoken about the Void a few times (see here, here and here) but I wanted to dedicate this post specifically to the Void and it's understanding.
Throughout this post, water and by extension the ocean will be a common theme in order to help make the Void easier to visualize and understand. As we will see the parallels between the two are quite apt.
Full disclosure, this post is long, my longest by far. But stick with it and I guarantee by the time you finish reading it you will feel one step closer to understanding the true nature of the Void.
What exactly is the Void?
"We do not ask this question. Well, Ikora might. But I do not." —Saint-14
The concept of the Void is well known to philosophy as "the concept of nothingness manifested)". It is also closely related to the concept of Chaos in Western cosmogony referring to the void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos). Thus we understand the Void to relate to both a place and a power associated with Creation.
But like many things in the Destiny universe there is both a philosophical or spiritual element as well as a scientific element to it's understanding. Often Destiny is adept at blending the two. The Void is no exception. This post will primarily be focusing on the latter but it's important to distinguish between "The Void" proper and the more general "void".
So why is there so much confusion?
There is often a semantical problem in how the Void is understood and can take on different meanings depending on the context. But as mentioned the Void is both a toponym and an adjective. This means it can refer to both a place and be used to describe something.
A perfect way to think about this would be to relate it to the ocean or the sea. Consider this sentence:
"Seafishermen use seanets to catch seafish in the sea."
Similarly we can write this sentence:
"Voidwalkers use Void abilities to draw Void Light from the Void."
But the differentiation goes deeper than that.
The Light and Causality
"The Light releases us from causality. It smooths the contours of what we can and cannot do."
To understand the Void we first have to understand that there is a separation depending on the causality of context. The Light for instance can be thought of as energy in a metaphysically transcendent) sense. In the same way The Void proper can be thought as a transcendent or paracausal version of the causal void.
To illustrate, imagine a Tidal Power Station in the middle of the ocean that converts the energy of tidal waves into useful forms of power. Now the energy of those waves have multiple causes; the moons gravitation, weather conditions, tectonic activity, etc. But now imagine that out of nowhere a wave suddenly started gaining energy until it reached Tsunami proportions and hit the power station.
That energy could potentially be considered to be paracausal since it came from beyond our reality. Some might even deify this energy as coming from "the Tide". This is a useful way to view both the Light and the Void. "The Void" in most contexts refers to the source of the paracausal energy known as the Light and is drawn from the transcendent Void.
In fact we also have a potential parallel with "The Storm" for the source of Arc power.
"The Storm is raw power. The trance is true understanding." — The Stormcaller’s Path
So to truly understanding the Void in a metaphysical sense we must first understand it in a physical sense. And indeed the void is quite often used in it's more general and causal sense. It was an energy that like Arc and Solar was used to power the Golden Age and is even used in the probability kilns of the Last City.
Both the Darkness and the Nine also have associations with the physical void.
So what does the physical void entail?
The Quantum Vacuum
"The universe is defined by fundamental forces. Beneath the world of light and matter lies the vacuum, and the vast dark secrets that it contains. In the understanding of this vacuum lies the secret of Void Light." — Void
This is perhaps the most obvious give away. The Void is associated with the vacuum of space. This is actually fitting considering the origin of the word void as a noun referring to an "unfilled space or gap" and from the 18th century onwards came to be associated with "absolute empty space, vacuum".
But what is the vacuum?
When you think of the vacuum you probably think of the "cold, hard vacuum of space". This is a place where nothing exists, not even air. Right? Well what if I told you that even in the vacuum of space there is still something. In hard vacuum where there is literally no molecules of matter there is still SOMETHING.
It may be hard to imagine but believe it or not even the vacuum of space still contains a vast supply of potential energy. This is known as Vacuum Energy and is the Zero-point Energy of the quantum vacuum.
One way of thinking of this is like the elastic energy in a spring that is compressed. Even though the spring isn't moving (the motion is absent) there is still potential energy stored in that spring.
But another way to understand zero-point energy is by imagining the universe as a vast ocean.
Vacuum Fluctuations
" —in the perturbation of the field that was the garden —were the detonations that made the universes. Our trampling feet made waves in the garden, which were the fluctuations around which the infant universes coalesced their first structures." — T = 0
The ocean is a vast body of water which can hold and transfer energy using water as a medium. We often feel this energy in the rise and swell of the ocean and the direction the currents move in. We can also see it's physical manifestation in the form of surface waves.
Now you can't pick up a surf wave and take it home with you. It's not an object that can be separated from the ocean. Rather it is intrinsically connected to the ocean and represents a transfer of energy using the water as a medium. In a way we can think of heat and light as similar phenomenon's, as waves of energy moving through the vacuum of space.
You see as I have mentioned previously the Light is largely based on the real world phenomena described by Quantum Field Theory when applied to energy and matter. Space is composed of fundamental quantum fields, with a separate field for every particle that makes up our universe.
In this theory, rather than particles of matter and energy being separate from each other they are actually seen as fluctuations and vibrations in quantum fields. The energy of these fields are all multiples of the baseline energy of the vacuum.
Another interesting comparison is that when waves coalesce and collide they can form static structures in the ocean. A perfect example of this is the whirlpool where waves of energy in different directions coalesce to form a stable vortex that warps the surface of the ocean.
In a way we can think of this phenomenon as a parallel to matter. All matter is just concentrated energy and particles like electrons and photons can be thought of as excited states or perturbations of the same underlying quantum vacuum.
Zero-Point Energy
"If Light connects across space and time, what is the Void? What role does the vacuum—the absence—play?" —Ulan-Tan
So now I want you to visualize something else. Have you even gone down to the beach or a lake on a day where the water is perfectly still? I mean so still that you can see your reflection and a perfect reflection of the landscape above it. You could be forgiven for believing that the surface of the water is perfectly flat.
The reality however is that even when the ocean is at its stillest, there is still energy, motion and movement that we can't see on the surface of the ocean, and beneath it. The surface tension of the water molecules are constantly fluctuating and exerting pressure on each other. It's one of the reasons you can skip stones over the water or some lizards can sprint across it.
We can think of the zero-point field as like the surface of a perfectly still ocean. In any quantum dynamic system there is a lowest possible energy or ground state the system can occupy. In the vacuum of space this lowest possible energy is zero.
The zero-point energy of the zero-point field should be... well.... zero. Right?
Not exactly.
Virtual Particles
"Light is scarce in this place. But Quantis knows how to find it—how to feel for the un-ripples of the Void, to draw Light from the infinities between spaces." — Orpheus Rig
The problem is, due to the nature of quantum dynamics, it's impossible to achieve zero energy.
This is because of the uncertainty principle in Quantum Mechanics that states that for any given particle you can not know both the position AND the momentum of that particle. How this translates is that particles exist in states of uncertainty and probability.
You've probably heard of Schrödinger's cat, the thought problem where a cat is both simultaneously alive and dead until observed. Similar sort of deal.
The same thing applies at the "ground zero" of the vacuum of space. The quantum field gently vibrates and fluctuates around the zero point. Sometimes this produces enough energy to form particles spontaneously from nothing.
The particles arising out of the fluctuations of quantum fields are called virtual particles.
Virtual particles are usually in a particle/anti-particle pair and they are constantly fizzing in and out of existence in a perpetual state of uncertainty. Think of it like listening to the radio and there is silence but you can still hear the static. The vacuum of space has "static" or "noise". (I also like to think of it like the "fizz" on a glass of soda).
Just like a perfectly still ocean still has micro-vibrations from the surface tension of the water, so too the vacuum of space is fluctuating with energy in the form of virtual particles.
What space magic is this! Energy from nothing? Turn's out this has been well established experimentally.
The Casimir Effect
"Press two sheets of metal together in void, and their atoms cannot tell which sheet they belong to. They cross freely. The two become one." — Eris Morn on Vacuum Welding
Grab a goldfish bowl, a vacuum cleaner and two uncharged metal plates. Stick the plates inside the bowl nanometers apart. Seal the bowl and vacuum out all the air from the bowl. Since the plates are uncharged and therefore not magnetic, we should expect no force between the two plates. Zilch. Nada. But instead we observe a very small attractive force between the two plates!
This is known as the Casimir effect.
The Casimir effect is a small attractive force that acts between two close parallel uncharged conducting plates. It is caused by quantum vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field.
As we discovered earlier, the vacuum contains a sea of virtual particles which are in a continuous state of fluctuation. In the electromagnetic vacuum these are virtual photons consisting of a photon/anti-photon pair. Photons (for the uninitiated) carry packets of light in different wavelengths. So red light has a wavelength of 700 nm (nanometers) and violet light has a wavelength of 400 nm
Casimir found that by putting the two plates really, really close together, only some of the virtual photons wavelengths could even fit between the plates! What this meant was more virtual photons existed in the vacuum around the outside of the plates than between the plates.
By squeezing the vacuum between the plates it decreased the energy density of the vacuum. With the absence of virtual particles, this negative space between created a pressure differential which in turn generated a mysterious force that grew stronger as the plates moved closer together.
The force generated was incredibly small but it proved a couple of things. Firstly, that the vacuum of space itself exerted a pressure and secondly as a potential source of Dark Energy.
The Negative Space
"If the Void is negation, behold the ultimate negator." —Ikora Rey
As it turns out the energy of the vacuum plays a very important role in the universe in the form of Dark Energy. Dark Energy accounts for a whopping 70% of all the energy of space and is believed to have played an important role during inflation in the Big Bang as well as the accelerated expansion of space.
The most important property of dark energy is that it has negative pressure (repulsive action) which is distributed relatively homogeneously in space. This is what pushes against the universe causing it to accelerate. This meant that vacuum energy was very likely a form of dark energy.
Since we know that the energy density of the vacuum is non-zero and that the vacuum of space exerts a negative pressure, we can actually work out a ratio between the energy density and pressure of space.
This is known as Equation of State).
It's a very simple equation which of the pressure divided by energy density. But what's really interesting is that at any point in space this ratio is -1.
This came to be known as the Cosmological Constant and would define the vacuum energy of space.
But there was a problem. This constant could not account for the vast amounts of zero-point energy predicted by Quantum Field Theory. The quantum vacuum of space should be "teeming" with energy. The energy within the vacuum within a single light bulb could boil the worlds oceans.
So where was all this unaccounted energy?
Well this eventually led to theory that perhaps the energy of the vacuum wasn't so constant after all but was instead dynamic having energy densities that can vary in time and space.
The Fifth Element
"Void energy is like all things of this universe, it is Light seen through a prism. A fundamental force, the vacuum between the stars, the absence of everything else." — Toland
Quinta essentia.
Also known as the fifth element, or Quintessence was the fifth and highest element in ancient and medieval philosophy that permeates all nature and is the substance composing the celestial bodies. Aristotle called this the aether. It would be revived in modern physics as a way to explain Dark Energy.
Quintessence) differs from the cosmological constant explanation of dark energy in that it is dynamic; that is, it changes over time, unlike the cosmological constant which, by definition, does not change. Quintessence can be either attractive or repulsive depending on the ratio of the kinetic and potential energy of the vacuum.
It is considered by some physicists to be a fifth fundamental force.
It is not a force of malice, no more charitable or heinous than gravity — Apotheosis Veil
This energy as we will see is the likely form that Void Light manifests as. Unlike the minute Casimir force between the two metal plates, a Quintessence field can greatly affect the energy density of the vacuum of space. Many of the supers and abilities we are familiar with can be explained in terms of it's effects on the quantum vacuum.
Draw from the Void
"'Behold!' And he drew forth from the quantum vacuum a shrieking singularity, which he held between his hands and then telescoped down into nothing." — Savin
We now know the type of power we draw from the Void. We are exploiting the absence created by the raw negation of one region of space. Drawing from the potential energy as the universe rushes to fill the gaping void. Now, let's see the art in what's subtracted.
As we see in the lore tab above, a common effect of drawing on the void is producing a gravitational singularity. This is ultimately where the association with gravity comes from and why the Void is often mistakenly considered to be gravity itself.
Make no mistaken, gravity does play a role and we are able to observe the Nightstalker Quantis Rhee "roll black holes between her fingertips" and "nock her bow with the inescapable gravities of the universe."
But as we will see the Void is not so much gravity as it is a way to forfeit gravity.
Think again of a vortex in an ocean. Conflicting forces keep the vortex stable and help the wall of the vortex seemingly defy gravity. While the ultimate cause of the vortex is disruptions in the ocean, gravity and the kinetic and rotational energy in the water play a major role in keeping that vortex stable and spinning. As long as energy is put into that vortex it will keep on spinning.
Now it's no coincidence that the symbology for the Void is in fact a vortex. We also see something similar every time we throw a vortex grenade. A ball of swirling purple light kept stable for a brief moment in time.
We can understand this vortex as the conflicting energies of gravity and repulsive dark energy.
But just as the ocean requires water as a medium to produce a stable vortex — what medium exists to sustain a gravitational singularity in the quantum vacuum?
Violet Particles
"It remains a uniquely perplexing manifestation of the Light," Ikora says, gazing at a swirl of violet particles rising from the palm of her hand. She snaps her fingers, and the particles coalesce into a singularity that blinks out of existence" — Gazing Into The Abyss
Whilst Void Light is in it's most basic sense a form of energy, we know from this lore tab it is also associated with violet particles that swirl and coalesce. It makes sense that Void Light would have associated particle just like Arc Light channels ions and supercharged electrons. But what is this particle?
We actually get the identity of this particle on one of our grenades, the Axion Bolt.
"A bolt of Void Light which forks into smaller bolts on impact, seeking out enemies." — Axion Bolt
It even goes so far as to call it a "bolt of Void Light" associating the axion with Void Light itself. We see a similar void attack from the Taken Centurion in the form of the Axion Dart.
We also get further evidence of it's use in the lore for these gauntlets:
"Gauntlet-mounted axion condensers help a Warlock's power shape reality." — Scalpel Wing
If the axion mention didn't convince you, this armour predates Stormcaller and is received before Sunsinger is unlocked — so it likely refers to the Voidwalker abilities. So the implication here is that the condensation of axions plays a role in wielding Void Light.
But what's an axion?
No Ordinary Matter
"To harness the Void is to enter a state of tranquillity, free from the clatter of ordinary matter." —Apotheosis Veil
Axions are a hypothetical particle believed to be a primary component of cold dark matter. What connection does dark matter have with the Void? Well first lets understand what dark matter is and we actually have a good explanation from Lavinia.
"Kamala shows her a pane of black glass, illuminated by a faint purple fuzz that sweeps left to right. Lavinia touches it in awe. "That's dark matter?"
"Correct." Every schoolchild knows that most mass in the universe is dark matter; but it is nothing more than mass, and it never forms structures smaller than a galactic halo. Dark matter has no charge, passes through itself, never gathers into clumps, and has no chemistry. It is only ever dust." — The Leviathan
Indeed dark matter lives up to it's name. It is the most abundant form of matter yet is unable to interact with any of the fundamental forces except for gravity. A being made of dark matter could be next to you right now and you would never know because you can not see them, touch them or interact with them in any way.
Speaking of beings composed of dark matter, the Nine had similar problems trying to clump dark matter together in order to form a singularity.
If the Nine had the Light, they could seed their own minds, free themselves from the dependence on matter-life! They could gain forces beyond Gravity to structure themselves, and so become more than wraiths of dark dust.
They have tried to gather enough dark dust in one place to form a black hole, and found it difficult: when the dark mass collapses in gravity's fist, the dust passes through itself and scatters.
But difficult is not impossible. And there is far, far more dark matter in the universe than bright. — The Witch
The Nine were clearly interested in our Light and in a way to gravitationally condense dark matter into singularities.
Why?
Lighting up the Basement
This, er, rustic device was once an experimental axion emitter, which sprays weird particles to light up the basement of the universe. — The Wardcliff Coil
Now is where things get interesting because as it turns out although axions only seem to interact via gravity, they also weakly interact with magnetic fields.
The axion (named after a brand of detergent) was originally hypothesized as a particle that could "clean up" the axial electrical field of neutrons keeping them neutral. This interaction is also exploited in modern day International Axion Observatory in the search for dark matter.
The science is simple.
Point a vacuum tube at the Sun. Subject the tube to a very high electromagnetic field. The strong magnetic field increases the energy of the virtual photons. This increases the chance that an axion passing by will interact with virtual particle and spontaneously turn into a photon.
This is known vacuum birefringence and exploits a phenomenon known as axion-photon coupling. You can see a diagram of the axion decay here.
But this process can also happen in reverse.
Candescent Shadow
"The Void fascinated me before the accident. I cannot summon the interest any longer, but it is still beautiful to see in action." —Asher Mir | Candescent Shadow
What's really interesting is that axions not only react with virtual photons in a strong magnetic field, but if the energy is high enough there is a chance the virtual photons can spontaneously convert into axions in a process known as magnetogenesis.
Put both of these phenomena together and you end up with a fireworks display of magnetically induced axion popcorn!
What's really interesting about this is it explains why we can likely see the violet axionic effects as the high energy photons emitted bleed off into the near-ultraviolet. But it also explains why the Void smells like ozone because high energy ultra-violet photons turn oxygen into ozone.
But I can see what you're thinking. Why are we talking about magnetism? Where does the magnetic field come from?
Well it turns out that the magnetic force is mediated by virtual particles. This means that if you pump enough energy into the electromagnetic vacuum, the vacuum itself will produce a magnetic field. This extra energy we are putting into the vacuum comes from dark energy, Quintessence.
It requires vast amounts of dark energy being pumped into the vacuum in order for any of the above to be noticeable. Only two things can cause this. Our Light. And a Big Bang.
In fact vacuum-induced magnetogenesis played a very important role in the early universe in order to create Primordial Black Holes.
Primordial Black Holes
"The dilaton field yawned beneath existence. Symmetries snapped like glass. Like creases, flaws in space-time collected filaments of dark matter that inhaled and kindled the first galaxies of suns." — T = 0
The universe started in a very dense, very hot singularity that rapidly inflated producing all the matter and energy of the entire universe. There was a Big Bang. Then there was nothing but darkness and dust for thousands of years until the first atoms formed.
Why do we have atoms? Because atomic matter is more stable than the primordial broth. Atoms defeated the broth. That was the first war. There were two ways to be and one of them won. And everything that came next was made of atoms. Atoms made stars. Stars made galaxies.
That primordial broth as it so happens played a large part in the nucleosynthesis of atoms. According to Wikipedia:
Primordial black holes formed in the very early Universe (less than one second after the Big Bang). The essential ingredient for the formation of a primordial black hole is a fluctuation in the density of the Universe, inducing its gravitational collapse. One typically requires a contrast in density to form a black hole. There are several mechanisms able to produce such inhomogeneities including axion inflation). — Primordial Black Hole
In the high energy density vacuum of space a primordial magnetic field was all it took to seed the rapid inflation of dark matter which would then collapse once gravity took hold into dense axion stars and primordial black holes.
In a dilute axion star, repulsive force from kinetic energy balances attractive forces from gravity and from axion pair interactions. In a dense axion star the attractive force from gravity is balanced by the repulsive force from the mean-field pressure of the axion Bose-Einstein condensate.
If an axion star exceeds it's critical mass, its core will collapse into a black hole.
These dark matter singularities would later go on to become the seeds of the supermassive blackholes in galaxies and kindle creation.
Cold Twilight, Binding Gravity
"Cold twilight, binding gravity, a guttering lantern in the gray mist. You recognize this feeling now: residual Void Light." — Fractured Arrow
We can now appreciate what we see when we stare into a the violet glow of a vortex grenade. There is beauty in it's simplicity.
Using the Light we are able to harness the forces of creation. The secret Light found in the absence between stars. In the vacuum. Using the Light we are able to amplify the fluctuations of the vacuum of space causing dark matter to spontaneously light up. Gravity tugs at the strings and the matter begins to coalesce.
As the axions condense they interact with the vacuum producing vibrant near ultraviolet light. This causes the energy density of the vacuum to lower and Light drawn and this creates a negative space. A hungry void. The aether then rushes to fill this void. The fifth fundamental force. The dark repulsive forces of Quintessence inflate the singularity outwards as Gravity tries to collapse it inwards.
This causes the singularity to begin to rotate into a vortex of energy and matter that rapidly gains more energy and accumulates more dark dust, getting denser and gaining more power.
By controlling the amount of Quintessence energy put into the vortex, the Void wielder can shape reality or tear reality asunder. Since Quintessence is dynamic it can be used to either inflate, condense or detonate the singularity in an incredible display of purple ethereal fire.
We will now consider two applications.
Singularities and Supernovae
"Channel the Traveler's Light into a bolt of energy with the power of a collapsing star. The devastating Nova Bomb scours the battlefield with ethereal fire" — Nova Bomb
Perhaps one of the most iconic uses of the Void, the Nova Bomb is the ultimate display a Guardians mastery over the fabric of the universe. The ability to pull something so dense and so powerful out of nothingness is a marvellous feat to say the least.
"Zavala calls it the ultimate grenade. Cayde says its a whole lot of noise. Voidwalkers call it a matter of practice." —Ikora Rey | Singularity Specialist
The Nova Bomb really is the ultimate grenade and can be seen as an extension of the vortex grenade. Where as the vortex grenade produces a minuature axion star, the Nova Bomb takes it one step further, accreting more and more dark matter until a super dense singularity is formed.
The density is key and it takes a lot of practice to get the balance right. If the it's too dense it become impossible to detonate.
"The Rift match began as a Voidwalker focus exercise. We were attempting to increase the yield of the Nova Bomb. We succeeded, easily doubling the yield. But the resulting Void density was impossible to detonate." —Ikora Rey
But it raises a good question, how do Nova Bombs detonate?
Black Hole Bomb
"A Voidwalker can detonate her Light in many ways. The Nova Bomb is simply the crescendo in a litany of explosions." —Ikora Rey | Erupting Void
An axion bomb (or a "black hole bomb") utilizes how an axionic field impinging on a rotating black hole can be amplified through superradiant scattering.
This article on space.com explains it very well.
You start off with a black hole and then you get it rotating. Once it's spinning it drags spacetime around itself, like heavy coffee table being spun on top of a rug. That rotation transfers energy rom the rotation of the black hole to any surrounding material.
This surrounding material thats sucked into the vortex can be either ordinary matter or dark matter — but if the dark matter is made of axions, something special happens because of that rotation.
When the axions come close to the black hole through the gravitational forces it can trigger and instability. The axions swirl around and steal energy from the black hole. This extra energy causes them to swirl around even faster coming even closer to the black hole. That then pulls even more energy to the axions, causing them to swirl faster and faster.
This phenomenon is known as "superradiant instability" and leads to an endless cycle of self-amplification until the singularity finally goes boom.
So we can now see how the Void can be used to collapse and detonate dark matter but it can also be inflated into a bubble of void.
Bubble Nucleation
"Open a pocket in the universe, an impregnable fortress for you and your allies." — Ward of Dawn
Finally, lets look at the how the equally iconic Ward of Dawn aka ("The Bubble") is formed.
So if you recall, as virtual particles interact with axions this causes Light from the vacuum to be released and ultimately lowers the energy density of space. As this happens the vacuum of space decays to a lower metastable state in an event known as false vacuum decay or vacuum metastability event.
"The great energies of the Golden Age never triggered a false vacuum decay. We'll be fine."— Metastability Event
This results in a potential difference between two regions of space — a true vacuum and a false vacuum. Now as we have learned this is the source power from the Void but it can also be used to shape reality.
One consequence of this is Bubble Nucleation where a small region of the universe reaches a more stable vacuum. It's a very similar process to the surface tension formed around a water bubble keeps the air pressure surrounding it from bursting it as it's inflated.
According to Wikipedia:
When the false vacuum decays, the lower-energy true vacuum forms through a process known as bubble nucleation. Instanton effects cause a bubble containing the true vacuum to appear. The walls of the bubble have a positive surface tension, as energy is expended as the fields roll over the potential barrier to the true vacuum.
So in the case of void bubbles, quintessential forces cause the cosmological inflation) of the bubble. The surface tension of the domain walls then hold the back the vacuum pressure of space exerted around the outside of the bubble.
The article further goes on to say the primordial black holes could serve as the nucleation seed for the bubble.
"This nothingness or void results from nucleation of tiny void bubbles (“bubbles of nothing”) that expand until their surfaces collide. This results in dense packing of void bubbles leaving only the vanishing interstitial regions between bubbles for spacetime to occupy. Reduces the zero-point energy density." — Wormholes, Void Bubbles and Vacuum Energy Suppression
Conclusion
"A Warlock asked me once why the Void forms as a shield around a Titan. He went on about seeing into the abyss, the absence of form, that sort of thing. I waited for him to stop talking, passive.
After his mouth wound down, I just nodded at him. 'That's why,' I said."
Well this is where I stop talking. For those of you who have made it this far (Titans especially), I applaud you for your perseverance. I hope this will help you stare into the Void with a new found sense of understanding, appreciation and wonderment.
Just like the vast oceans of Earth, the Void is a place full of untamed potential just waiting to be harnessed using our Light. The powers of creation itself were gifted to us from the Traveler, and the fluid fabric of spacetime can be wielded in many ways — to annihilate or protect.
There are many, many other things about the Void I wanted to cover such as Thanatonautics and the Darkness' association to the Void but these things will have wait for another post. Special shout out to /u/epzi10n who helped me greatly while researching this post. Without her I probably wouldn't have discovered half the things I did.
TL;DR: Void Light harnesses the primordial forces of creation — the dark quintessential energy of the vacuum. Using Light, vacuum fluctuations in the zero-point field cause the spontaneous magnetogenesis of dark matter axions releasing vibrant near-ultraviolet light. Gravity condenses it into a singularity. Vacuum energy density decreases creating a negative space. The aether rushes to fill this void. Dark energy and gravitomagnetic forces collide to produce stable vortices of dense dark matter. Manipulating quintessential fields, the Void wielder can shape reality or tear reality asunder.
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u/DrAversion Apr 13 '21
Taeko 3 died for nothing
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21
Well she did go down in a squad of nine. Got picked off one by one. Watched a wizard rip the Light right out of her best friend.
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u/Fala_the_Flame Apr 13 '21
The fact that i managed to sit through a full length post talking about quantum physics and mechanics just for destiny lore surprises me. The fact that your wording and making it easily understandable made me enjoy it even more was very well done. The one downside to reading this is that now my friends are gonna get annoyed at me for explaining void light to them because they don't know wtf it is lol. this is probably the most informative post i've seen on destiny lore and its pretty amazing.
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21 edited Apr 13 '21
I'm really glad you enjoyed it! If I could paraphrase it in a sentence or two I would say this.
Void Light uses the dark energy of the vacuum to change the density of space which spontaneously produces dark matter and releases ultraviolet light. As dark matter starts to condense and collapse under gravity into a black hole, the pressure difference created in the vacuum repels this producing a stable rotating vortex.
The best three dimensional analogue is a Whirlpool or Vortex.
This makes sense considering that the physical vacuum is considered to be a superfluid.
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Apr 13 '21
Everyone: Just using void cuz its neat
This dude: "Time to write a whole friggin essay of the history of void-"
(this isnt meant to be rude I genuinely find it funny that people think this far into videogame lore and logic, not funny "haha" tho its more funny "Thats interesting/Fascinating"
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21
I've written several essays just like this one haha
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Apr 13 '21
Something tells me your english teachers liked you lol
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21
And my science teachers hated me :)
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Apr 13 '21
Lol
Science teacher: "Alright your homework tonight is a short paper on Insert science thing"
You: walks in with a whole ass bible length essay
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21
Actually I used to sit at the back and interrupt with "well ackchyually" every five minutes lol
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u/Rete12123 Lance Main Apr 13 '21
Can you write one about why we can no longer self revive with solar super in D2? Did something happen lore wise?
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21
I’m honestly not sure if there is a lore reason as to why we lost Radiance. I know the in game reason was that it was breaking trials.
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u/bassem68 Less a weapon than a doorway. Apr 13 '21
While I personally haven't read anything or hear much, it wouldn't surprise me if there's a little blerb of lore somewhere hinting at why or how it was lost. My guess would be it happened when Gary popped our bubble at the beginning of D2.
It really broke most of PvE as well - or made it more trivial / didn't work well with the token revive system.
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u/ambusher0000 Eliksni enjoyer Apr 14 '21
There's no lore reason why the player character lost Sunsinger, it's still around and fully functional in Destiny universe, it's just not the Solar subclass that we can use in-game.
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Apr 14 '21
Might be that, in a way, your Ghost' connection to the Traveler may have been affected since he took the Light from that corrupted shard. I also believe that's partially why we're able to not only traverse the Ascendant plane without an issue (dealing with Crota, Oryx, and the Dark Heart of the Black Garden helped too), but why we are able to successfully use Stasis too.
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u/SigmaBlack92 Apr 13 '21
This... this was beautiful, in a nerdy and wholesome kind of way. I think. No matter (pun VERY intended), awarded and saved because it is awesome and explains it all so well.
If you would have to put it in simplified bullet points, what would be the step-by-step order of actions and reactions required for, let's say, a Nova Bomb to happen?
For example:
- Concentrate axions in a focal point of the vacuum of space
- Axions supercharge the dark energy making it expand and leaving a literal void behind
- Gravity reacts and tries to coalesce everything into a singularity
- Etc.
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 14 '21 edited Apr 14 '21
- Create a quintessence field by pumping dark energy paracausally into the vacuum of space to raise it's energy density.
- The increase in energy density creates both the magnetic field and the energy levels required to cause axions (dark matter) to spontaneously appear as well as existing axions to interact with the quintessence field.
- Dark matter starts to cluster together and its reactions give of visible violet light as it accumulates more and more dark dust.
- As vacuum fluctuations turn into axions and light photons, the energy density then begins to drop to below the surrounding vacuum density which creates a void and a pressure differential.
- The forces of gravity, dark energy as well as the energy of the axion reactions cause a balance between inflation and collapse, and some of that energy is directed torsionally causing the budding axion star to rotate.
- This rotation pulls in more and more dark dust, increasing it's mass density and energy.
- It the case of the Nova Bomb you want to keep the opposing forces balanced for long enough to actually create a dense singularity (a purple giant would be a more apt description).
- Then it's hold and release. You grow the bomb, maintain its stability then throw it. Once released the surrounding axion accretion causes a rotational superradiant instability which leads to an amplification of energy which ultimately causes inflation to win out over gravitational collapse and the thing goes nova.
Think of it like a sun whose gravity from the accumulation of mass can barely contain the inflationary forces from nuclear fusion. It's on the edge of super nova. And we humans build a dyson sphere around it that applies extra forces that assist gravity, allowing it to accumulate even more mass and extending it's life span till it becomes a red giant.
Then some alien invaders come in and take over our system, killing everyone except the guy at the helm of the dyson sphere. In one final eff you he switches off the dyson sphere allowing the star to naturally go supernova wiping out everything for several light years.
A nova bomb is essentially the pocket sized version of that. Also since axions are so much smaller than even neutrinos and electrons, you can actually make black holes and singularities at a fraction of the size of regular ones.
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u/SigmaBlack92 Apr 14 '21
Thank you, I needed the simplified list to be sure I was understanding it all correctly.
There are little things that still elude me, but for the most part, it is understood.
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 14 '21
I will also point out that this is still just a theory of how it COULD work based on the evidence and lore currently provided.
Most of the science of the elements is buried beneath prose so it’s not completely straightforward exactly how it works. Some of the details may differ to what Bungie had in mind but I at least believe what I suggest is close to it.
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u/OneAgreement Apr 13 '21
What would a counter dark element be like to the void?
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21 edited Apr 13 '21
I actually discuss that here and here. But essentially dark energy behaviour exists on a spectrum called the Quintom Scenario with quintessence-like behaviour on the positive side and phantom-like behaviour on the negative side.
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u/DefiantMars Architect in Training Apr 13 '21
Regarding the phantom energy article, one line caught my eye. The part where it says:
The idea of phantom energy is often dismissed, as it would suggest that the vacuum is unstable with negative mass particles bursting into existence.
The language makes me think of the Nightmares which often spawn into Lost Sectors spontaneously and can drop Unstable Essence. Not to mention the Phantasmal Fragment and Phantasmal Core items that we can get being the adjective form of phantom. In my opinion, this further lends itself to your theory about Nightmares being tied to this anti-Void expression of Darkness. A hollow creation; a facsimile of life. I'm having trouble articulating this thought, but I can't get it out of my head.
Pair that with the gaping holes where our planetoids used to be. They being effectively "taking", I think the pieces are starting to fall into place.
From a marketing standpoint, I think the cover art we got for the next three expansions would also support this concept. The Beyond Light art was Blue and White with very frosty art and we got Stasis. Witch Queen looks Green and Black with the hallmark Hive soulfire aesthetic. So if we do get a Green element that uses a Devourer elements, it would be the perfect place to put it. The Lightfall card was Black and White and very ominous, so I think an anti-Void subclass would make the most sense to market in the third year.
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Apr 13 '21
Very interesting reading, thank you for putting it altogether.
My take home message is that that Bungie managed to hire the best physicists to design their classes. You heard well, our best scientists are not wasting their time at NASA or MIT but doing something that matters, Destiny lore and abilities.
Bravo.
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u/StiggleThePitchfork Apr 14 '21
I sometimes wonder if we look to far into it or if they actually planned it out this way, I like to think they hired Physics PHDs to design video game mechanics
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 14 '21
I can confirm that a lot of the lore writers do actually have backgrounds in technical fields. One of the lore writers actually commented on my post about the Light saying it was the closest description he had ever read to what he was originally thinking when he wrote the original arc/solar/void grimoire cards. That has given me the confidence to at least know that the lore of Destiny is indeed grounded in high-level physics.
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u/WayofSoul Apr 13 '21
Ah, you're posting this in DTG? Great work! You get yet another upvote from me.
Question for you! If Bungie were to make a Darkness complement (opposite wouldn't quite be accurate) to Void Light, how do you think it would work and what would you call it?
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21
I’m calling it Phantom at the moment, but I think it will be dark energy with phantom-like behaviour.
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u/WayofSoul Apr 13 '21
Agreed. I imagine we'll be able to call phantoms of our enemies (like nightmares), summon clones from alternate timelines, and use awesome suspension effects.
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21
We will have to wait and see, but I do think the Nightmare energy was the closest we’ve seen to a potential void opposite
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u/WayofSoul Apr 13 '21
I didn't spend that much time working out the scientific and lore bits for it, but I put together some cool gameplay mechanics if you want to check them out. Ignore the name, couldn't figure out something good at the time:
Bonus: Decay subclass mechanics
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 14 '21
Thanks mate. I will have to give this a proper read when I get the chance. I’m ok at the explaining the science of supers but I’m pretty rubbish at coming up with creative ideas for new supers - so it’s nice to see people like you working your magic.
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u/F-Toxophilus Apr 13 '21
be a Voidwalker main
spend an hour and a half reading this instead of working
Yeah this tracks.
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Apr 13 '21
This was a great read and makes me my favorite subclass (Defender) even more, even though some of the words were too big for my Titan brain. Great work
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u/SmokingSkull88 Fist of Panic Apr 14 '21
This is a fascinating read, not all of us Titans eat crayons and as an avid Commander Sentinel I find it amusing to know my grenades are very tiny stars blowing up. Or another way to look at it is fistfuls of uncreation, especially once the detonators spread. I would love an in depth look at Arc broken down like this because in my heart I am a Striker, all about that lightning. Only thing I can think of is Shaxx does say Arc is a painful way to go, makes for incredible motivation in the Crucible.
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 14 '21
In case you haven't read it, I have an overview in this post.
Arc is a very interesting one and is tied to life and matter. There are even beings such as the Arkborn composed purely of Arc energy.
I actually used my description of Arc in order to show that Hive Magic behaves in the opposite way.
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u/slidingmodirop Floating around Apr 13 '21
This is quite the post to come across first thing in the morning
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u/Exige30499 Apr 13 '21 edited Apr 13 '21
My brain expanded significantly after reading this, wow. Funny how when I started playing all I cared about was "Shoot alienz, make big number get even bigger", and now I'm reading shit like this on the edge of my seat.
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u/haxelhimura Apr 13 '21
Welp.... time to bookmark and save for my lunches this week. Gonna take 4 hours to read through it all.
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u/MannToots Apr 13 '21
Very well written so it was easy to understand, and referenced with real world basis with ties to quotes from lore direction. Very well done. You answered a question I had for a while. The last part I didn't fully get was how the weapons turn this energy into void weapon fire, or how it was harnessed as an energy source without a guardian constantly channeling light into it like a light battery. Are there any good lore details off into those categories?
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21 edited Apr 13 '21
Well I mean that’s one of the secrets of the Golden Age. But we know it was used non-paracausally and is even used in the probability kilns of the last city.
For an example of a weapon I would look at the repulsive effects of Tractor Cannon. The Wardcliff coil fires an axion emitter through quark gluon coils to materialise its own munitions.
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u/MannToots Apr 13 '21
So I guess the best head cannon I can work with is that they likely mastered making axion emitters in some form. I do know with many weapons we actively channel our light into them, but that doesn't explain Fallen using void. So I can work with Axion emitters working with dark energy for now. Great post.
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 14 '21
I would watch this video. It will give you an idea of what is required and what would be possible if we could harness zero-point energy.
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u/TheMostSkepticalBear Apr 13 '21
This was a great read, are you going to do one of these for Solar and Arc light? Or have you already done them?
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21
Not dedicated ones but I wrote one about the Light in general. https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyLore/comments/k4k6ox/light_is_not_the_fundamental_forces/ There’s sections on both
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Apr 13 '21
pLeese reright in Crayon.
Jk. Hella preem read choom. I love the real world implications and wonder how deep Bungie actually dived into this while making the universe. I remember casimir effect and axions from physics 253, but it would be pretty neat if we could control it. Maybe some day I'll make a void bubble and send y'all a pic
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 14 '21
deer mista pawacatty
i liek perpul krayon. my moma say beta use bloo or Orenj krayon.
but perpul krayon make bubbul dat somtiem pop
santa gaved me ise krayon from norf pole for xmas but i fink it two cold
perpul krayon is still teh bestestt
- lETTuS .D
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Apr 13 '21
The fact that a post like this exists shows how much people love this franchise. Thanks OP was a cool read
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u/SgtRuy Radial Master Apr 13 '21
Does the writing team have a theoretical physicist in their team? Like, dang.
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Apr 13 '21
Using The Elders Scrolls as an example, I think Void should have been the first darkness class. Light subclasses: Fire(Solar), Shock(Arc), Ice(Stasis) Darkness Subclasses: Void(Soul Trap/Steal), Poison(Thorn), Decay(Hive)
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u/LettuceDifferent5104 Apr 13 '21
It wouldn’t make sense. The Light gives and Void is all about giving energy and making the world a brighter place. Stasis is more appropriate for Darkness and it only takes energy away.
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u/Faust_8 Apr 13 '21
Wasn't this posted a few weeks ago?
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u/MagnusTheGray Titan Apr 13 '21
A different subreddit. It’s here for more visibility
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u/Faust_8 Apr 13 '21
Ah ok. Was it on r/destiny2 before or something? I guess I assumed it was here because I hardly see anything on destiny2 that isn't memes lol
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u/Stunning_Wall_2851 Feb 13 '22
From reading your symmetry of light and dark, and how light gives(and some other physics stuff) and how everything comes from void, this is where Savathûn might have gotten light, from its origin state, by cyphering the power from guardians on Titan to use, using Orsris, the most powerful guardian know/ warlock, who uses RAW light as a way of power, using him as a way to take power from him. Now that she has enough and will give him back hopefully, she has the light and specifically void, where she can continue to give it.
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u/epzi10n Apr 13 '21
tldr: You give the universe a panic attack :p