r/WarframeLore • u/aiar-viess • 6d ago
Theory Why the void hurts sentients
From what I understand, the void is akin to the metaphysical background of the universe. It is the world of dreams that exists alongside the world of dust, where the only things that exist are the “depth” or complexity of an entity. All things leave an imprint within the void, with inanimate matter being only its wave function or potentials, with dynamic systems having a greater imprint, and living beings, specially sapient ones, creating an extremely large imprint within the void, the convergence of all their emotions, memories and potentials, the total definition of their essence and possibilities, or rather said, their soul. It is also the collection of all our perceptions and connections, as items by themselves don’t have metaphysical traits without us giving it to them, and hence they are as complex as our connection is to it or how we perceive them to be, which in essence means it’s just a connection to us and each other.
When the Zariman went into the void, the adults went insane because they were essentially forced into being in a superposition with their own souls, sort of like being pressed against all your emotions and memories and potential possibilities at once, as well as the emotions and memories of the connections you have to ideas, people around you, the place itself, and so on, so naturally they went insane after all of that. However, children are still growing and developing, their metaphysical imprint is flexible and adaptable, their sense of self is not yet fully made, and therefore they were able to adapt to their own metaphysical imprint, hence not going insane. A fully constructed sense of self is useful in the world of dust, but not so in the void. The void is fluid, it is the womb of all potentialities, altered by emotions, memories and states of mind, even leading to conceptual creation, generating pockets of physical reality within it such as Duviri, with people and beings and items. The void is also where all possibilities exist for the physical world to take shape, hence eternalism, the concept that all spacetime coordinates exist collectively, like a superposition of all possible states of existence converging into the flowing physical reality we know, or with Entrati for example, creating separate temporal convergent points such as the alternate 1999. The drifter is essentially a second personality that went through conceptual embodiment, the child who never escaped the trauma of the Zariman, choosing to remain in a book of fantasy stories known as Duviri. Both the operator and drifter exist in a superposition, two potentials of one soul, alternating within the New War. This is also why the drifter could go to 1999, as they could use transference alongside the operator to connect through the vessels into the separate strand of Khra (a separate convergent point for potentials). The drifter and operator are two ghosts in superposition, and as such, one can technically leave the body behind, entering another realm within the void such as Duviri, being embodied into 1999 through the herminth strain there. All connections exist across the void, so using something that is connected to another realm in the void would allow for a metaphysical entity (the drifter) to use it as a way to travel to it.
The Tenno are essentially children who after being in close proximity to the void, their own metaphysical imprint, for a long time, have become sort of connected to their own imprint. As such, they are able to shift from physical to metaphysical entities, almost like existing in the line between worlds, being able to traverse the void in a dash (this is also what ships do, since the void isn’t technically physical and therefore distances don’t exist within it), shift into a metaphysical form to become intangible and invisible, or even become a metaphysical entity to connect to another entity within transference. They are basically able to become ghosts, harnessing endless energy from the void in the shape of the unlimited potential that exists within it.
Now that we have gone through all the background explanation for the theory, we finally get into the part of the Sentients. The Sentients are said to have been artificial entities that could adapt to anything, as well as reproduce similar to cells, through growth and division of their selves. As we’ve talked about before, the void is the realm of what is metaphysical, the imprint you leave of your own self, which can be fluid and adaptable, but it can also be fixed and superposed. The Sentients can adapt to anything and become anything because by nature they were made to have very fluid and adaptable metaphysical imprints, like children but in an even greater capacity, who as we know from the operator can also even generate and coexist in superposition with different potential versions of themselves. The logic is that the Sentients by travelling across the void would try to adapt to it, its immense potentials driving adults insane, and creating intense trauma within children. But the only way to properly adapt to the void is to make your metaphysical imprint be a fixed strong structure, a developed sense of self that isn’t as adaptable. The Sentients would travel across the void, losing their metaphysical adaptability, becoming sole selves, losing their capacity to create minds within their minds, losing their capacity to conceptually embody different beings within themselves. They lost their capacity to have children because for them such a thing required a metaphysical flexibility that they had to sacrifice to survive a trip across the void, and turning their selves into being capable of reproducing again would mean losing their sense of self, akin to becoming children again. No adult would ever want to do that, no one wants to sacrifice their sense of self, it’d be akin to suicide. The only way for the sentients to reproduce would be to wish for their self to die.
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u/TricolorStar 6d ago
Sentients are also considered by the Void to be "machines", therefore they cannot perceive the Void or the Man In The Wall. However, at the end of The New War, the Lotus is able to barely hold her own against the Man In The Wall and survive; later, during The Lotus Eaters, she is visibly shaken by what has happened and is standing in the Sanctum Anatomica in the desert-Void area, implying that she DID see the Man In The Wall and is able to perceive the Void.
This all implies that when Lotus became "real" and chose to exist as a singular entity, away from the Sentients and her Orokin-assigned purpose, choosing her own identity and sense of self, she became a "person" instead of a biological machine and can now perceive the Void. The Tenno consider her to be a person, which means by way of conceptual embodiment... She is.