The Outer Worlds

This is one of the articles that was submitted to the Secrets of Tibia 3 contest. It was written by Javaca.

The Outer Worlds

We know very little about how extensive the external worlds around us are. In general, we can assume the existence of Paradise, Earth and Hell. But in the Tibian world there is a place that holds complex and little understood secrets: the Void.
 

The dimension of Variphor, the ruler of the Void, is probably a much vaster place than we know. It is likely that creatures from Tibia's past came from this place and not all of them are in any way related to or allies of Variphor. In general, the structure of this place resembles the Cosmic Horror stories, written by H. P. Lovecraft. In the worlds created by him we know powerful cosmic creatures from gods to smaller creatures but still too superior for the human intellect to understand.
 

The entire structure of this grand universe is centered on the existence of Azathoth. As the two differ, Variphor is fully aware of his actions while Azathoth is a "blind and idiotic" entity who needs to be told not to wake up from the dream that keeps this reality functioning. Within this dynamism, humans are too insignificant for the greatest of the external gods to care about, but there are still some like Nyarlathotep who are interested in some lower beings and often associate with them.

Azathoth (Crossverse Wiki | Fandom)
 

Furthermore, authors such as Robert E. Howard describe in one of the Conan the Barbarian stories a chapter of Lovecraftian nuances (with regard to cosmic beings), The Tower of the Elephant. In this tale we meet a creature named Yag-Kosha with a humanoid appearance but an elephant's head. Apparently similar to the race of Elephant Men (not named in Tibia) briefly mentioned as an ancient race that disappeared from the course of history and perhaps linked to the concepts of Qjell, the god of the Deepling with the same appearance.

Yag Kosha (Art by Dai Nguyen)
 

Using this parallel, perhaps it is reasonable to say that not all the creatures that existed throughout the ages in the Tibian world were the creation of one of the primordial gods that we know, but beings from External worlds. Others like Tukh and Mitmah seem to have been inspired by Aztec-Mayan deities (Kopakhn and Tikatl are others mentioned when breaking the Iksupan vessels) and may come from a place different from all the others we know so far. In order not to remain just in the field of hypotheses, we will start from the central idea that there are Four Dimensions in the Tibian world:

* Paradise: the abode of the beneficent primordial gods Fardos and Uman. Demigods Crunor and Suon would also be here.

* Underworld: the abode of the evil god Zathroth (Uman's counterpart) and the demi-gods Fafnar and Urgith.

* Tibia: the land where Humans live and all Other Races were created or came to this world in some way.

* Void: the dimension of Variphor and all of its subjects. Some entities and beings we don't care about Variphor being from here too.
 

There may be events that are not directly related or that mention Variphor by name, but as the facts unfold, the traces of Variphor's influence become clear, however small it may be, and this can literally be linked to the support of the timeline. What kind of weapon could kill a primordial god like Tibiasula? Could this have been obtained from the Void as an indirect "gift" from Variphor to Zathroth? If this is even remotely close to reality, Variphor could be as primordial as the gods Fardos and Uman Zathroth or even before them.
 

Now we will focus on all the knowledge obtained through Variphor's incursions and how far his influence has reached in the Tibian world. The first mention of Variphor in recent history comes with the rediscovery of Yalahar. This mysterious entity was responsible for the fall of the Yalahari empire, granting them power but later leading them to decline like a literal Trojan Horse.
 

We then move on to Feyrist. A "The Source of Corruption" appears to be bringing chaos to the fairy world. A Yalahari named Zarcorix is involved in this somehow. He disappears before the final fight ends and we haven't heard from him since. Beyond these lands and somewhat before that, a "corruption" ravaged the continent of Zao. Could she have some kind of connection with these fairy events?
 

After some time we noticed that rifts from an unknown dimension began to appear and creatures from an Otherworld intended to invade the Tibian world. At the end of this course we face the "World Devourer" who, although his appearance does not mention the name of Variphor by name, the “Messenger of Heaven” informs us who is responsible for this invasion but says that mentioning his name (Variphor) will grant him more power.
 

The problems keep appearing! A wizard in Darashia is looking for powerful warriors for a mission of great importance but also danger. Mazarius informs us that Ferumbras is seeking a divine Ascension and to prevent this we need to recover the pieces of an ancient weapon known as Godbreaker. After recovering all 7 parts we discovered that Mazarius deceived us from the beginning. He is a follower of Variphor and the Godbreaker pieces we recovered were for another purpose than he had said.

A new incursion by Variphor's forces has been found in Zathroth's Secret Library. While we were fighting demons, extradimensional, ice giants and yalaharis, Variphor's followers used this purposeful distraction to steal the secrets of handling the Godbreaker while we faced "The Scourge of Oblivion". Furthermore, it was revealed that one of the The Ruthless Seven probably betrayed Zathroth and gave away the location of the secrets of Zathroth's Secret Library. We haven't heard from them since then, but it's possible that a new, even more powerful incursion will happen soon.
 

During the Mysterious Ornate Chest Quest we are introduced to a secret organization that researches ways to confront or reduce the influence of the "Puppet Master" in the Tibian world through ancient knowledge. Again, Variphor's name is not mentioned by name but everything suggests that this refers to him, similar to what happened in Heart of Destruction Quest. In the context of this story we discover that this Puppet Master has been manipulating the course of history in many aspects. Some we already know and others we have little information about.
 

Although we don't know all the details, it is revealed to us how far this Puppet Master's influence reached and this is something very broad:
 

* Garsharak - The first dragon. Although we don't exactly have a great danger involving dragons, it is believable that this could change soon and would probably be related to Nimmersatt in some way, perhaps as one of his offspring obtaining great power and causing a great Age of Dragons to return to the world as it was during the great war of the gods.

* Zoralurk - The third demon of the Triangle of Terror that we know little about. Known as the "demon with a thousand faces", it may be that some aspect of its existence already exists out there, but it is quite likely that something greater related to it will emerge. It seems to be related to the story of Ankrahmun and perhaps in some way to Those Below.

* Zathroth - Even a primordial god would be manipulated in some way by the "Puppet Master". The murder of the primordial goddess Tibiasula may have been Variphor's influence on Zathroth. Perhaps as part of his plans this would be beneficial to his plans.

* Ferumbras - It was already well covered during the Ferumbras Ascendant Quest. The great power that Ferumbras obtained is completely linked to the origins of the Void. He was used as a distraction and scapegoat for Mazarius to obtain the Godbreaker parts for Variphor.

* Qjell - The god of the Deepling is something mysterious that refers to a real figure (Elephant Man) or some kind of puppet created by Variphor to manipulate the great forces of the ocean for his purposes. There is also no clear explanation of what the Deathlings are and why they are at war with the Deeplings. A sequel to this story would probably fill in the missing gaps.
 

There are still other small quotes that appear in books or Quests that could be related to Variphor and the influence of the Void in the Tibian world. Many events that happened during the great war of the gods can be related to Variphor's influence. The emergence of the "blood god" that had no revealed influence could have been an action of Variphor. Rotten Blood Quest itself is intrinsically linked to this. Ancient dragons (bosses) that were influenced by lost slivers of the "Blood god" and corrupted that place with something similar to the corruption of Zao and intermediate invaders (usually linked to the existence of Variphor and the Void).

Blood god (Concept generated by Seaart.ai)

In the course of reading several books throughout Tibia, I believe that 03 of them stood out on this topic. They are all in the Isle of the Kings Library but there are copies and damaged versions of some of them in some other places as well.
 

* You Cannot Even Imagine

* The Godslayer Races

* Some of the Ancient Races
 

In "You Cannot Even Imagine", there is a narrator who visualized notorious events, some of which were of great importance such as the Ascension of Ss'har to become the serpent god. This figure appears to be the deity of the Lizard and likely granted Scarlett Etzel the power of "world vision" when she found one of her tombs in Ankrahmun but this power came in exchange for her sanity. I also believe that there may be some connection between Ss'har and Mitmah. There appear to be some statues related to the serpent god in the part of Iksupan invaded by these interdimensional creatures.
 

In "The Godslayer Races'' several events are reported, but the main one is perhaps the existence of an ancient race of god wars that was destroyed by Zathroth for his betrayal. The Noshar (known as soul-eaters) would have obtained great unrevealed power and became a threat to both Zathroth's and Fardos' and Uman's exercises during the war. One is supposed to imagine that this could be an evil gift from Variphor. Who knows, it was the Noshar who created Devovorga and intended to use it during the great war of the gods. Devovorga's own history confirms that it was created during the war of the gods, so this theory of having some connection with the Noshar would be relatively valid.
 

Devovorga by RazanAlvz (Deviantart)
 

In "Some of the Ancient Races'' we are introduced to ancient races that disappeared from history without leaving a trace. Some of them were nominated and some were not. Among them are the S'vir who traveled the sky in their cloud ships, the Tur'osk'ahar who are remembered for creating runes as big as sheep, and the Elephant Men (their name long forgotten) who speak in common words of magic that formed reality around him. If we consider the parallel of The Tower of the Elephant, these creatures could come from some "outside world" and have no influence from any of the elder gods in their origins.
 

I generally believe that the "Void" where Variphor lives is something very broad in many aspects and there are gods and creatures that live there but I am not under its control. Another hypothesis is that the world of Tibia is a "planet" in a larger universe. And in that great universe around him would be the realm of Variphor and other gods and species of various forms. In this case, the "cracks" of the Otherworld in the world of Tibia would be something like a "wormhole" that connects one point to another but not exactly another physical dimension.
 

While we do not have official and definitive answers, most of this remains in the field of hypotheses, however certain evidence seems to be intrinsic to certain scenarios and provide more effective assumptions about this being related to the influence of Variphor and the Void. When it comes to Variphor's servants, this covers various types of creatures and humans. It grants power in exchange for control.
 

Just as Dungeons & Dragons served as inspiration for some aspects of Tibia's lore, Lovecraft's Cosmic Horror has a lot of potential for hints of a Void expansion. Variphor's incursions still have a lot to show and many paths already started can be filled with more details over time. Who knows, maybe soon we will have new creatures superior to the Challenging class in the Bestiary.
 

What are the Yielothax and what is your connection between them, Sight of Surrender and the Ring of Ending? There are too many gaps open for the story to be properly understood. How big is Variphor's influence on the Tibian world and how long ago in history has this been cataloged? It is quite possible that its origin predates the very structure of time created by the Tibian primordial gods.
 

Among these are the wizard Mazarius, the yalahari Zarcorix, the mysterious Demon Prince, among them Prince Drazzak who states during his fight that "Variphor will rule!". Interdimensional creatures like those from the Otherworld that came with the World Devourer. A comet that crashed onto an island east of Oramond (Furious Crater) and brought creatures like the Courage Leech. The Misguided cult that is controlled by The Souldespoiler.
 

The constructs and magical creatures of Rotten Blood appear to have a direct link to the Void. Although they are not directly classified as interdimensional they have similar characteristics to them such as the "Converter" creature being a "Breach Brood" infused with cursed blood. If the origin of the "Blood god" is also related to Variphor it would be a notable confirmation of this. From what little we know about the Blood god, its power has been fragmented into "Splinters" that are spread across the Tibian world in various forms.
 

Other interdimensional and magical creatures may also be related in some way. The Sights of Surrender are completely different from anything that exists in Roshamuul, as creatures from another world. The Umbral manipulation used by the Dreamers (former inhabitants of Roshamuul) may come from the Void, directly linked to Variphor. 
 

Our knowledge about the Void is limited but it is credible to think that many events that seem disconnected or meaningless to us may have their roots in the influence of Variphor. Like the puppet that cannot notice the strings of the master who controls it.

Variphor (Concept generated by Seaart.ai)