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Description
All Void Entities reside in the Abyss until they are brought into the mundane world. They are more ideas that corporeal beings; there is no mass or space for them to occupy. Time is also irrelevant in the Abyss. These beings have varied amounts of power, from the weak ones who become timid Faelin to the so-called Abyssal Kings who have the power to shake a realm.
Void Entities are at the heart of most spells, notable exceptions being the Creator-class spells. Due to Void Entities being part of the Void, they are able to facilitate the movement of magic in ways easier than most humans. It is unknown what class of Void Entity is needed for any particular spell. One theory holds that a single Abyssal King is at the heart of every spell ever developed, while other theories have gone so far as to state that the Void Entities that are used in spell creation exit the Void and become either Faelin, Vadiants, or Shroudlings.
The only way for a Void Entity to naturally enter Laenost or another realm is through the Vannul inside the soul of a human. There have been Void-Tearing experiments by the Council, and Zael Talen was rumored to have brought terrors from the Abyss, but the only way that a Void Entity can reliably enter the mundane world is through a human. While it sounds like it would be an unpleasant process, it actually happens frequently without the human ever knowing.

Faelin are created when a Void Entity enters through the soul of a pure-minded human, or one that is experiencing positive emotions. The spectrum of Faelin is fairly broad, and someone just having "one bad day" can still bring forth a Faelin. Faelin spirits will wander until they find something that interests them, for some reason they dislike taking the forms of creatures with sentience.
While they are getting accustomed to the mundane world they will remain Hidden, invisible to the naked eye, until they have found a form they like. Being spirits and Void Entities means Faelin are very malleable in their bodies, and they will take the appearance of whatever interests them, piece by piece. The tail of a fox, the body of a lizard, the head of a bird, a Faelin can sometimes be very creative with its form. The most commonly seen Faelin take on the bodies of small animals, along with wings. Almost all Faelin have wings, as they are able to fly naturally and they desire to copy the living things they see.
Faelin can be very outgoing, but the thoughts and worries of humans grate on them. They have little intelligence, no more than a small animal, but they are very receptive to emotions. They are rarely seen in cities, as stress and anger drive them away.
As spirits, Faelin do not interact with the mundane world. There are some that receive magical energy from humans which allows them to properly touch things, but those are rare. They follow the geometrical rules that bind normal creatures, because they are copying them, but it isn't uncommon to see a Faelin drifting lazily through a wall as it wanders around.

The antitheses to a Faelin is the Shroudling. Just as Faelin are born from pure minds or positive emotions, Shroudlings are the opposite. The more wicked the heart or vile the mind, the more powerful a Shroudling will be born. Shroudlings have a corporeal form, unlike Faelin, and they cannot usually manifest their bodies near where their spirits entered the world.
Just as the name suggests, a Shroudling is a creature of the Shroud. While the Shroud is technically reachable by any portion of Laenost, it is only at the edges of the world that the Shroud is concentrated enough for a Shroudling to be born. The spirits of Shroudlings will travel to the edge of the world to form. Due to the presence of the Shroudlord millennia ago, the Unclaimed Lands are where they choose to manifest most often.
The form of a Shroudling is determined by the mind and memory of the human whose soul the spirit came from, and from the minds of any other humans that the spirit finds along the way. They will take the forms of Charcoroths, Harpies, Naga, Minotaurs, and many others, depending on what the humans have thought of as frightening. It is little known that the scary stories told to children are the fodder for Shroudlings to form through their entire lives.
Shroudlings will Fade when they are slain as long as they have a connection to the earth. Their bodies will dissolve and return to the Shroud. Many Shroudlings have elements in their bodies that can be useful to humans, but the body must be properly preserved first to prevent Fading.

Vadiants are Void Entities that are too powerful to enter unconsciously into the mundane world. In order for a Vadiant to come into the world, a human has to make a connection with a Void Entity that has a desire to become bound to the world, and pull it into their own soul. Vadiants are always intelligent.
Once a Vadiant joins with a human, their souls become as one. They retain their own minds and thought processes, but they are never again able to separate, until the human dies. Some Vadiants will return to the Abyss at that point, others will that in the mundane world to search for a new human, or even just to wander the world.
The benefits of being connected to a Vadiant are numerous. Magic becomes easy to cast; a thought can do what would take words or actions. The Vadiant has an inherent knowledge of magic that it imparts on the human. The amount of magic that a Vadiant-user has is generally higher than other humans. Many Vadiants also provide magical wings for their companions, although the flight does consume magical energy.
The spirits of Vadiants are able to enter what is known as a "free form" outside of the human, although those are Hidden to all other humans. Vadiants choose their own forms, similar to Faelin, except that Vadiants keep to a theme (Dragon, Minotaur, Roc, etc.).
The pinnacle of Vadiant power is the Absolute Metamorphosis. Very few humans reach this level, it requires being one with the Vadiant at every level. At high levels of synchronization, a human may take on certain physical aspects associated with the Vadiant, Absolute Metamorphosis takes on their entire body.
Aside from being devastatingly powerful, this form is also incredibly dangerous- the Arcane/physical ratio can go well above 50%. It may look like the human's body is completely turned into a different creature, but the body is still there, dispersed or modified, so having a lower ratio means it is easier to reassemble the human's body.
There are tales of humans who took Absolute Metamorphosis to the limit and passed to 100% Arcane for their bodies, who then either lost their humanity permanently or died as a result.

Abyssal Kings are the last entry. The number of these Void Entities is unknown, even asking Vadiants yields no answer. These beings have rarely come into contact with the mundane world, it would take a catastrophic amount of magical energy to bring them in. There are theories that the Leviathan and the Windlord are Abyssal Kings, though that is unproven. It is thought that the Lunaric Catastrophe involved an Abyssal King to some degree. Some Highborn Arcanic races, and even humans, revere these powerful beings as gods.