A Void-Sailor's Primer: First Journey

(from the journal of Hlas Sarethi, Mages Guild Warlock, 5E 913)

I will never forget the first time I sailed the Void.

You have to understand: I was born on Masser; my grand-sire was a Landfall survivor. I grew up in Ald Sotha Below but he and I visited every Khajiit city during my apprenticeship – something about their theology and the Seventh House - and that meant walking the sands beneath the stars. You don’t walk under Oblivion and not want to go there. So when the Guild offered us a trip to Secunda, for research, I lept at the opportunity.

The ships are small, for the most part; most of the space is dedicated to storage or the ego-chamber. If you’re lucky (and we were) you get a cabin, but most of the sailors slept in the hold, all stuffed together like slaughterfish in a tin. I was so excited my grand-sire told me to stop grinning or he’d slap me. He needn’t have said anything – our departure quickly acclimated me to the reality of Void travel.

Have ever ridden a Guar that’s been badly spooked? They’re uncontrollable – tear off at a terrific speed and nothing you do will slow them down. If you’re really unlucky you might be thrown from the saddle and dragged. Imagine that, only exponentially worse. That’s departure – when the ship’s ego thrusts it in nothingness by virtue of Belief alone. Over time the ego can suffer from Disbelief, hence the need for an ego-theologian, but when you first leave port? Amaranth preserve you.

I spent the entire trip emptying my stomach into the waste receptacle and when we got to Secunda I actually kissed the sugar-sand. The sailors had quite the laugh at my expense but I was so glad to be on solid ground I didn’t care. While my grand-sire consulted with the Mane, or explored the Silver Wastes, I recovered in the ancient Guildhall - left over from the Remanite ‘nauts - thinking about home.

I was lucky though. On the way back I “found my gut” and a day out from Masser was able to go on-deck.

I can see it now: my grand-sire and I staring into the Void. You’ve never seen Light like that: nothing between you and the Light of Aetherius. I could FEEL the magicka in the air, my skin drinking it in like a fine wine. I felt more alive in that moment than any in my life before. I still dream about it, sometimes.

When we got back to Masser I said my good-bye’s to my family and joined the first ship outward-bound. I sailed for a century before returning to the Guild and don’t regret a moment of it. The things I’ve seen: void-serpents dancing on the edge of Moonshadow, pirate ships burning from our atronach cannons, a Remanite void-station coming to life after millennia of quiescence. And stars – stars so close you could almost touch them!

The Guild has been good to me, don’t misunderstand, but someday soon - I’ll be going again.