Voidforged

Start-class article · First seen: s17 · Last seen: s17

Voidforged is the name of Hugo’s race, first said in session 17 when it was explained to a new player that Hugo does not need to breathe and looks human, more or less [20]. It is the body left by the cellular rewrite of Project Veilbreak: glowing veins and faintly glowing eyes under the skin [5], and luminous blue blood that the DM described as “acting like a living conduit” that “stores stress, poison, pain, violence” [7]. Hugo is the only Voidforged on screen; Bella, whom he names to the Black Mask in session 4, is the only other possible one [16].

Overview

Voidforged is the name of Hugo’s race: the body that came out of the cellular-rewrite phase of Project Veilbreak, the experiment whose recording Hugo heard in session 4 ([1]; see Project Veilbreak for the programme). The name was first said at the table in session 17, when Hugo’s race was explained to Ash, the new player, so that he would understand why a breath-holding bet was rigged:

“oh yeah by the way Ash so just so you know Hugo is playing something called a Voidforged that don’t need to breathe but for all intents and purposes I look completely” — Nick (DM), [2]

Before session 17 the wiki’s working terms were “Project Veilbreak survivor” and “Void-Touched”. Voidforged is the name the table has now used, and the older terms remain as descriptions.

Known traits

  • Does not need to breathe [2]. Hugo can breathe “to appear more human” but need not [8]. This is what won the session 17 breath-hold bet against Mike [9].
  • Passes for human. About six foot, early twenties, palish skin with slightly blue-tinted visible veins, by Hugo’s own description [10].
  • On a closer look, slight glowing veins under the skin, faintly glowing eyes, and greyish, pale skin: the result of Mike’s Investigation of 15 [5].
  • Luminous blue blood. Hugo cut his palm in session 17 and the blood was a luminous blue [11].
  • Blood as a “living conduit”. Mike’s Detect Magic on a vial of Hugo’s blood did not read to Mike as magic [12], yet gave a vision of “iron restraints, dark glass and a chamber with no clean air” and “a body surviving things that it shouldn’t survive”, with the DM’s gloss that the blood “stores stress, poison, pain, violence” and feeds it back into the body [7][12]. The DM said the vision lines up with what the Black Mask had told Hugo and “a little bit” with the environment of the Titan fight [13].
  • A leash. The same ritual brought a half-second residual command into Hugo’s head, the word “comply” [14].

Relationships

  • Project Veilbreak: the programme behind the rewrite. Hugo told Mike in session 17 that he is “the result of some form of experiment” and “one of a few survivors” [15].
  • Bella: named by Hugo to the Black Mask as “the other one with me”, who “also went through the showers with me” [16]. That she is a survivor is Hugo’s implication and the wiki’s reading, not a DM statement.
  • Vedalken: the other blue-tinged race of session 17, Mike’s. The two have been described differently and nobody has compared them in play; the wiki treats them as distinct races.
  • The water wolves. When a Rimeclaw water wolf bled purplish blood in session 17, Steven told Hugo the creature was “like you”, since “some people say that purple is just a darker shade of blue” [17]. The DM has not linked the wolves to the Voidforged; the echo of colour is all that has been shown.

Notable named figures

  • Hugo: the only Voidforged on screen.
  • Bella: a possible second, known from one line.

History in the campaign

Session 4: The Still Current, the Black Mask, and Hugo’s Pact

Main article: Session 4

The race has no name yet, but its making is described. In the black void where he bargained with the Black Mask, Hugo played a recording that told of Project Veilbreak: 140,000 candidates, an injection that killed half of them, survivors who “glow with a shimmering light coming from the viscous fluid that has replaced their blood” and had their biology “rewritten at a cellular level”, and arena fights that left “a mere total of 7 candidates” [18][1]. Later he asked whether “the other one with me, Bella, who also went through the showers with me” could be converted too [16].

Session 17: New Hands, the Black Mask’s Renegotiation, and the Rimeclaw

Main article: Session 17

The race is named. Hugo won his breath-hold bet against Mike because he need not breathe, and the new player was told he is a Voidforged [19][20]. Mike’s Investigation saw glowing veins and eyes [5]. Later, in a quiet moment, Hugo told Mike he was “the result of some form of experiment” and bled luminous blue blood for Mike’s Detect Magic, which produced the vision of a chamber and a flash of the word “comply” [15][21]. Steven compared the purplish blood of a water wolf to Hugo’s [17].

Status

As of session 23. Canon. Hugo is the only Voidforged on screen. Whether the name belongs only to the survivors of the rewrite, or to a lineage the project recruited from, has not been said, and the DM has not pinned it down. The race has not come up since session 17.

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 4, line 1322: The Project Veilbreak recording: survivors "glow with a shimmering light coming from the viscous fluid that has replaced their blood" and have had "their biology rewritten at a cellular level"; seven candidates remain.
  2. ^ Session 17, line 622: First naming of the race at the table (explained out of character to Ash, "Hugo is playing something called a Voidforged that don't need to breathe").
  3. ^ Session 17, line 623: "human, more or less": Hugo's daily presentation passes for human.
  4. ^ Session 17, line 639: Hugo's own description: "roughly a human in their early 20s", about six foot, palish skin with slightly blue-tinted visible veins.
  5. ^ Session 17, line 666: Mike's Investigation 15: "slight glowing veins underneath his skin... his eyes seem to be glowing ever so faintly... his skin is rather grayish. More pale-ish".
  6. ^ Session 17, line 1475-1479: Hugo cuts his palm, bleeds luminous-blue blood into an empty potion vial (first on-screen blood-colour confirmation).
  7. ^ Session 17, line 1483: "His blood is acting like a living conduit. It stores stress, poison, pain, violence. And then it feeds that pressure back into his body.".
  8. ^ Session 17, line 807: Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 17, line 1425: Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 17, line 639-641: Inline citation.
  11. ^ Session 17, line 1477-1479: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 17, line 1490: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 17, line 1494-1496: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 17, line 1485: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 17, line 1431: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 4, line 1664: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 17, line 1850-1853: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 4, line 1288-1296: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 17, line 580-581: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 17, line 622-623: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 17, line 1475-1485: Inline citation.