This world is largely influenced culturally by its heavenly bodies. Whether the stars have any real influence as to our day-to-day lives enters a realm of astrology I fear to not get too deeply into, though solid evidence may be taken into account and expounded upon. If such appears I shall note them in a new chapter of this catalogue of knowledge. To introduce what I will be discussing is the nature of the heavens themselves, rather their effects. Though I will freely admit personal assertions and happenings upon our world will be discussions for the sake of contributing to the overall point of this journal.

It can be said that beyond a shadow of a doubt the realm of  the cosmos arrives largely in the realm of Ether. A largely conceptual magik of chaos. In spite of this chaos it has order. It bears host to many of our world’s constellations and they are consistent in their presentation. The sleeping serpent shall always guide our ships southward. Though perhaps the uncertainty of these constellations being omens is what is so chaotic and unpredictable. I digress.

In the end, I hope to bring to light many of the mysteries of our heavens. To look into them and expose their truths. Perhaps such a thing is too structural to bring to light for the matters of the heavens. I also hope this journal is not cut short by my demise, as many I am sure know that the realm of the void is dangerous. A majority of my ventures should thankfully be purely in the realm of the theoretical, as I do not hope to happen upon the methods of traversing the void that often. I would be overjoyed were I to happen upon such methods. A thing to ponder for future chapters.

I hope my publishings to find themselves in places where all can read. Hopefully the full volume will see the light of day. I will need to omit this section if it does. I am writing too unprofessionally to even see the shelves of a library.

On matters of the Ether, I have taken my first dip into its precipice for the first time not long ago. With the help of an astromancer whose name I shall omit from this entry for the sake of privacy, we constructed a band to visit its expanse. It was a scholarly trip I hoped to be relatively small, but such opportunities are limited and so two others joined the expedition. This I had feared would make us more obvious. Our guide kept speaking of the void being very dangerous, that things lurk. Things that bear ill will for the most part if I am to believe my comrades. In spite of this our guide insisted our trip shouldn’t give too much notice outside of an hour.

When we arrived, the space was nothing but breathtaking. We entered a blank void. Supported by a thin pane of immaterial substance. Like glass. Immediately outside our view was nought but stars. At first I assumed we were in a parallel dimension, stars meant little and made no shapes. On further inspection I surmised we were indeed seeing familiar stars. Constellations formed in my mind not from the view we usually see them in, but a different angle. We weren’t just in the same heavens we see each night. We were possible several thousand kilometers away from our home world. Assuming such concepts as distance are within believability out in the realm of the cosmos. I noted the position of the stars quickly in hopes to reference where we were in the heavens relative to our world. Such a thing would be hard to puzzle. As I am sure making a triangle from our world, to a star, from our position in the heavens and making a solid math equation would bode too painful a task. I would need several bright minds at my side to make such a discovery. I will need to somehow procure a team or tools from the mainland to further my studies. I digress. I couldn’t readily ascertain if we were among a constellation but I have my theories on a further paragraph.

It wasn’t long into our venture when the party saw a large figure in the distance. Not just in the distance, all around us. Occasional beings of massive size passing above us and by us. Due to the size they couldn’t have been more than hundreds of kilometers from our position. They seemed unbothered which contributed to my theory that these creatures mean not harm. They also do mean harm all the same. They are paradoxical in their very form and intent. We cannot look to these beings with malice for they do not know the concept of care. 

My compatriots informed me that there was a faint smell of ozone. Of burning. Ash. To say they directly smelled it might be untruthful, for with their noses they did smell the air of a world being destroyed. Something like that. Like a section of universe torn asunder. My comrades were vague so I must assert a more flowery tone to make it sound more descriptive. I could not smell such things. I assume such things are because I am not a mage and the arcane is beyond me. For now I hope, otherwise I hit a dead end in my studies. I theorize that the ether does not just contain our world, but others. I have little evidence to support this. I have a strong hunch that for light to pierce our heavens from such a far distance it must possess power equivalent to our sun. Our sun I am sure is bright enough to dot the tapestry if one were of equivalent distance to another star. Are there other suns? Do those suns also hold a world? Semantics until I procure more evidence.

It is with regret that I must inform you that we did indeed encounter one of the void creatures that did mean harm. A slowly-approaching beast rammed against a shield erected. Our guide managed to pull us out, but we were paused in time. Like the creature itself decided time was not a law it could abide. Stuck in horror, our collective will had shunted us from the spell’s effects. One of our number did not make it. I beat myself over and over for allowing them to come along… But I am told that these things cannot be predicted. I am doing my best to put it out of my mind. It was my expedition, and I should have been the one to fall. Our friend did make it out to the other side eventually. Marred in burns and their form warmed. Like the fabric of reality shifted over a little bit for them. Burns were swirling, marred, purple. Fleks of starlight along their body. One would take pride in the fascinating-looking injuries, if our companion wasn’t at death’s door. Thankfully, local healers managed to bring them back from the brink. I worry the long-term effects of such an injury. We shall see.

I hope to make a repeat visit and pray that I am luckier than what we just witnessed. I should be scared. I should abandon my profession altogether. This has bolstered me, however. I cannot resist the call to knowledge. I hope my compatriots can talk further sense into me in the future. I cannot see myself pulling from knowledge’s temptation, though.

I was informed not but a half hour after the ordeal that a star among the constellation The Lyre had shone brightly. This constellation often has association with contacting other planes through occult means and the music the void produces. Considering all present heard an ear-piercing screech from…. Somewhere… I am lead to assume that could be such a noise. However, contacting the beyond? Sources on site say that the lyre could represent a “Gate to hell”. I must investigate further and interview people with such knowledge. An update I should produce later.

To say my last chapter was my last foray with the void being mentioned before would be a lie. Something akin to morbid curiosity drove me to desire to investigate the matter further. Knowledge is not something I give up so easily. Were this town not so full of distractions perhaps I would have made a more worthwhile discovery. Have some heavens fortend research published. The charm of this town's distractions keep me at the edge of my seat, though. Like the spontaneous chaos can eventually lead to something so terribly fascinating it would be worth pouring every ounce of my being  understanding. No such thing just yet, for now my quarry remains to be the being from the void we saw escape the home of the astromancer.

Whispers weren't hard to catch on the wind of some unknown being roving the lands of the southern reach and mutating everything it seemed to come across. Not in the  way we know mutants to be mutated, but more shifted. Their fundamental properties changed. These were second-hand accounts of these matters so I cannot say with concrete certainty as I write this section of the entry I know in what manner the void bends the properties of reality. Perhaps after this hunt of ours we may know further. I hope it means well. I hope it means not to harm us. It would be a shame to have to spar with such a beautiful creature.

I suppose I should have not wished to harshly for it to turn to non-violence. I believe it was my fault it became as aggressive as it did. I felt its presence within the stones of where we stood. I had thought the being had intended to harm us. To excise us from this plane as it saw fit. On retrospect I let my emotions cloud my judgement. I panicked and dodged the being that came from the stone and I immediately fired an arcane bolt from my tome. A decisive strike that no doubt angered it. After seeing the horror that it was capable of. I had wished I did anything but. To give it a moment to communicate. I had betrayed my vows as a scholar. As a researcher. I acted with my heart before my mind. Hells. Nothing I can do about it now. Nothing more but to fix my mistakes.

The fight itself was odd. It was clear voidlings operate on entirely alien concepts of reality as us. They are not bound by way of the realms of the physical. It could pass through objects like they weren't there at all and walk on air as if the air was a path. Going insofar as to change the very air it stood on into a solid flooring to stand upon. Like black warped glass. It was odd standing on such a material. It felt as though it should have had no structure to it. Some more give. Even as I stood atop the solid air above a cliff face it was as though I was standing on entirely solid ground. The laws of our star do not apply to such beings. Yet for us spoken individuals to be able to interact with it on an external level strikes as odd. Perhaps we are capable of interacting with only part of the void. The parts we can understand.

To say the fight was to our benefit, though, would be a lie. We were not fighting it, it was warning us. It could have killed each and every one of us if it decided to. Yet it did not. It took the form of a vague humanoid shape. It wielded a shape that we can only describe as a great sword. It cleaved through our number in one strike if they were in a line. It lifted and threw like we weighed nothing. It was only when we were at wits end. After dropping its blade from the heavens and onto us, deeply injuring many our number, that it decided to give us mercy. It looked to us all and offered its... Hands. I blame not our party's reaction being rather neglectful and frightened. Personally I was rather curious of what would happen if one of us did take its hand. Did it perhaps wish to show us a secret? What did it wish to show us? It eats at me every night. More than this concussion is eating at my consciousness. It soon left.

I hear we mean to encounter  it once more. I dearly hope we commit to a peaceful approach in order to learn something. Maybe the void is kind. It just may not know how to be kind, or that we need it to be kind. I don't know. I might need a week or two to gather my thoughts and give a proper analytical approach to all this. Even as I write this entry I was just released from some terrible Fae trap. This town never gives me a moment to think properly.

Any of my cohorts in the scientific field must forgive the self-indulgent entry. I am sure the final cut of my writings will include none of my personal notes. Unless I somehow receive some cult following on my personal writings. Can't say many of my friends and fellow settlers within the Southern Reach live as boring lives as I do, so I cannot say with absolute certainty my charm, wits, and tales are anything compared to theirs. There I go, letting my emotions cloud my vision. Perhaps I shouldn't chastise myself for indulging thus. Considering the lack of any official academic structure within this town, it leaves me doubtful my work will be published. That notion in mind, I think I've come to accept that this thesis is a glorified journal where I put my thoughts and feelings down. I fear this might immasculate me, but I shan't indulge some primitive ideals of gender. I find myself pondering such things too much as is.

Be it as it may, I find the best part of research is to clean your mind and focus on your priorities. Uttering my ramblings on paper, no one save for those who steal my thesis will see. Since embedding an arcane stone into this book, I feel almost as though my inspiration upon these pages fuels the arcane potential. Perhaps if one day any great patron smiles upon my work and sees fit to teach me the ways of the arcane I have spent all my life studying, these entries might bolster any magiks further. A personal theory. Mayhaps like a young child I imagine things into some meager existence. By meager, I mean only in my own head. Insanity would be a mercy at this point in time.

I've lacked much in the way of pen or paper in my wayward travels. Rather, I lacked much material that would emboss a more permanent mark. I hoped to impress something a bit more certain into this book rather than utilizing the charcoals and diagrams of my usual astronomical works. That is to say, perhaps I should profess. I have left the southern reach for some time now. As I write this, I have found an inn somewhere at the Southern Reach's border. The other side of the wall, I should mention. I don't know what inspired such wanderlust. Despite the Southern Reach being this fun and interesting thing that has done nothing but keep me on my toes, I started to grow restless. Very restless. Some daemon took over my soul, and I just needed to leave. Mayhaps the weight of my duties mayhaps the weight of everyone around me. A cacophony of horrible noise that is bound to thrum against my head like some wretched tormenter with a large stick. I blame my newfound faith, I suppose.

Across my travels in wake of the winter solstice's approach, I sought to travel locations I've seldom existed in. This time of year boasts earlier nights and thusly more night sky. Where I existed at home, while most stars are circumpolar and thus quite visible, we were limited by way of common cloud cover and the location of the far north. Never have I charted many skies to the south, especially during this time of year. I found terrible and eccentric joy wandering the lands and charting skies. I didn't speak a world for a whole of two months while out there. Never met a soul. Most I've ever done was say thank you at the markets. My horse coarse and cracking from phlegm in my throat. Safe to say this book has gotten quite thick as of late. I'm starting to think I might need to make another volume. I couldn't stand holding more than one book, though. I will simply have to expand the leather bindings and refine the book.

I have found faith in the Equinox and the Phoenix. Met some passerbys who worship them. Yes, I sook the fables initially but never had faith in them. Perhaps that is why I am so bound to this wandering life? It's a habit. As it always has been. Never feeling at home seems to align with their faith and tenants. Let me follow them around for some time. They seem entertained by my waxing poetic of the night sky. They're nearing the wall towards the south. Think it's high time I return home.

Heavens fortend- what happened to this place?

Why-... Why does everything feel wrong?

Just heard a dear friend died... Yet has never come back? Isn't that what usually happens? People come back right? Right? Meridy I am so sorry. I am so so sorry. What have I done-.

Initially, I thought my initial incursions somehow caused this whole mess. My unreasonable mind, no doubt. Still. I should have been here.

Black scars are portals- some are. This is a relief. I thought my own marred face was bound to implode.

I feel. So... So alone. Where's Tauza?

Goodness this page is a mess. This grimoir will most definitely not make as a final copy. I've damaged the pages with my own tears I've been crying so much. Heavens fortend. I thought I was done with loss. The end is never the end here, than why do things end so... Terribly? I must continue my research. Though the ether incursions may have ended, according to those I have spoken with. The ether is bigger than we can ever imagine. Is this hubris? Maybe.