In the cosmology of Final Fantasy XIV, Voidsent are malevolent, aether-starved monstrosities that originate from the Void—the colloquial name given to the Thirteenth Reflection. Driven by an insatiable, endless hunger for the vital life energy known as aether, these entities constantly seek ways to breach the dimensional barriers separating their desolate home from the aether-rich world of the Source. While once ordinary citizens and living creatures of their own star, the complete collapse of their reflection warped them into corrupted, immortal fiends who view all living things merely as sustenance to be devoured.
Long before recorded history, the struggle between the deities Hydaelyn and Zodiark resulted in the sundering of the original world into the Source and thirteen parallel reflections. Each reflection developed its own ecology and civilizations. The Thirteenth Reflection was a world where mortals learned to harness aether through specialized artifacts called auracite, utilizing it to seal away and battle primordial threats.
However, the Ascians—manipulative immortals seeking to trigger a cosmic Rejoining—clandestinely pushed the heroes of the Thirteenth too far. The excessive use and corruption of auracite began to drain the world's elemental harmony, tilting the balance entirely toward Darkness (reproach/activity). Unlike other reflections where a localized calamity allows the Ascians to break the dimensional barrier and funnel the aether back into the Source, the transformation of the Thirteenth happened too rapidly and completely.
The forces of Darkness unleashed a catastrophic Flood of Darkness. This catastrophic event completely blanketed the star, wiping away the elemental aspects of the land and leaving behind a twisted, formless expanse devoid of natural life. The inhabitants did not die in a traditional sense; instead, the overwhelming influx of dark energy disrupted their aetheric harmony, melting their physical forms and rewriting their biology. Thus, the mortals of the Thirteenth were reborn as the first Voidsent.
The fundamental driving force behind any Voidsent is insatiable hunger. Because the Void is entirely spent of natural ambient aether, its denizens suffer from a perpetual state of starvation. To survive and grow in power, they must consume the aether of other entities. This has turned the Void into a vicious, meritocratic ecosystem where Voidsent relentlessly hunt, kill, and devour one another.
Because the natural cycle of reincarnation (the Lifestream) was broken on the Thirteenth by the Flood of Darkness, Voidsent are functionally immortal. When a Voidsent's physical form is destroyed within the Void, its soul does not return to the Underworld to be cleansed and reborn. Instead, its essence lingers in the formless dark, gradually reforming a physical shell over time. The only definitive way to end a Voidsent's existence is for another entity to entirely consume its core aether and absorb its soul, incorporating that power into their own being.
When a Voidsent consumes a substantial amount of aether from another creature, it can assimilate traits, memories, and power from its prey. This process allows lower-tier entities to evolve into entirely new, highly sophisticated forms. Conversely, if a powerful Voidsent falls into starvation or expends too much energy without feeding, it can degenerate, losing its intelligence and reverting to a lesser, more feral state.
Because Voidsent possess an incomprehensible variety of shapes, sizes, and intellectual capacities, naturalists and researchers of the Sharlayan and Eorzean orthodoxies devised a taxonomy known as The Twelve Rungs. This hierarchy ranks Voidsent based on their relative strength, magical potency, and capacity for independent reason. The lower the number of the rung, the more devastating and intelligent the entity is. It is important to note that this is an Eorzean academic convention and does not represent an official caste system recognized by the Voidsent themselves, though higher-ranked entities naturally command the servitude of lesser ones through brute force.
The Highest Rungs (1st to 4th): These ranks comprise god-like entities and cunning commanders possessing immense magical reserves and absolute sapience. They are fully capable of speech, political maneuvering, and orchestrating complex invasions. Examples include the Cloud of Darkness, shadow-weaving lords like Diabolos, and aristocratic fiends like Succubi and powerful Ahrimans.
The Middle Rungs (5th to 8th): This tier consists of highly dangerous foot soldiers and specialized predators. They possess localized intelligence and can execute complex commands, but they are generally driven by immediate survival instincts or the dictates of a master. This category includes Mindflayers, Gargoyles, and standard Ahriman variants.
The Lowest Rungs (9th to 12th): These are mindless, feral scavengers and baseline constructs. They have zero capacity for complex thought and act purely on primitive predatory reflexes. Examples include Flans, Imps, Grenades, and gaseous or amorphous entities that clump together out of residual dark aether.
A Voidsent cannot simply walk into the Source at will. The dimensional veil between worlds acts as a barrier that prevents foreign souls and dense physical matters from crossing over. For a Voidsent to enter the physical plane, a gateway must be established, which typically occurs through two distinct methods:
Natural tears in the fabric of reality occasionally manifest in areas featuring highly volatile or corrupted local aether. While small, naturally occurring rifts only allow minor, low-rung Voidsent to squeeze through, massive artificial rifts can be torn open using forbidden black magic. Historical civilizations, most notably the magi of Mhach during the War of the Magi, perfected the art of voidgate summoning. They utilized specialized pacts, sacrificial blood rites, and nullifying talismans to pull high-ranking Voidsent into the Source to serve as living weapons of mass destruction.
For mid-to-high-tier Voidsent to cross the threshold without a colossal, unsustainable portal, they must send their disembodied souls across the rift to claim a physical vessel on the Source. This process requires a proper host body:
Corpse Possession: Many Voidsent target freshly deceased flesh. For example, a Succubus typically manifests by forcing its ethereal essence into the corpse of a recently deceased mortal woman, reshaping the dead tissue into a fair yet fiendish form.
Ocular and Organ Investment: Smaller but highly perceptive Voidsent, such as the Ahriman or Deepeyes, manifest by investing their entire essence into specific organs—usually the eyes—of creatures that perished in throes of intense terror or agony.
Living Pacts: Certain martial disciplines, such as the Garlean Reapers, circumvent the lack of personal magical manipulation by forging explicit, symbiotic contracts with a Voidsent avatar. The mortal offers a steady supply of aether from slain foes, and in exchange, the Voidsent manifests partially through the user's shroud to lend its devastating physical and magical might.