So... how does sans's machine work?
First let's see where the machine drops you off.
*in an empty room that only exists as long as you're in it. After you leave this room you can not go back, however, you can enter the rest of the void through this room.*
That alone already tells us a lot about how the machine works. (Which we'll call the void portal for future references.) the void portal creates a room that bridges the gap between reality and the void. (I don't think this room disappears tho, I think it simply goes away while it's not needed to conserve energy, since "probably" opening up a hole through time and space takes up a whole lot of energy. I also don't believe it does this on its own, but is sans simple pulling a couple switches then waiting for you to give the a-ok to bring you back. Making the room reopen as well.) but how does the void portal create a room within the void you may ask? Remember when we talked about how their cannon world is made up of pixels and code? And how the void may be made up of a similar programming? My interpretation is that the VP takes advantage of the physics of their respective worlds and creates a program that would fit both worlds respectively (creating what is essentially a game door)
Game door: a door within a "game area" that leads from one map to another. Most of the time to a much smaller sub map.
EXAMPLE: a door to a house in a 2D environment. Unable to transition to a 3D environment to create an interior, a separate "mini map" is made to place assets to APPEAR as a houses interior. (This type of map can be as big or as small as you need it to be) a "game door" is placed if front of the house to make it look like your PC (playable character) is entering the house where in reality your PC is actually traveling to another "map" through a connected "game door" on the other side. Teleporting you between vast locations while merely giving you the allusion of simply walking through a door.
Ok. So we've got almost all our previous questions answered so far. But now we get to the outlier of it all. Toby fox (aka, the annoying dog) which is basically the god of this respective universe... but at the same time bound slightly by its rules? (Sooo... demigod?) well no. Neither of them actually. Who Toby actually is-is the very FIRST player of undertale. (He's the creator. But I'm talking about STORY-WISE here.) through our play throughs of undertale, we meet something known as the annoying dog. And although his antics seem mischievous and consiquentless, you actually start to piece together that the dog has been guiding you on your journey all along. Finish the game and choose to play again and you may find yourself in a hidden cave where a mysterious door appears in front of you. Manage to get the door open, and you get our final answer. Behind the door you find the annoying dog (Toby) in front of a bunch of computers, seemingly controlling the whole game all along. (Or, that's our first thought as we see this). But there's actually a bigger implication here. What if Toby isn't "controlling" the game per say but is actually writing in game code so the game can "control itself" to his liking. If the computers in front of him really DO control the entire world of undertale, than it's completely within the realm of possibility for him to do this. Doing so, he could just as easily write in a code for him to be able to hop between maps "unbound" by the worlds nature and physics. Giving him the free roaming ability to hop in and out of the void at will. Ok. Answers done. Pack your bags and go home everyone there's no more.... oh wait a minute. We just discussed the void in its cannonisity state. But we have yet to even scratch the surface of the fandom. Whelp... here we go.
THE DARK VOID FANDOM:
Everything from here on out will be (completely) from the fandom. However (warning) it doesn't mean that it'll be any less complicated. It's also ok if "instances" from the fandom doesn't fully align with the cannon story since it is (drum roll) fannon ^_−☆
The first instance with interactions to the void in the fandom is not (despite popular belief) from the anti void we all know and love today but actually DID start off with the traditional DARK VOID SPACE. But instead of exploring what could be on the other side, fans took a less traditional (all be it creative) direction of having a ghost like figure (a gaster most often) talking to, guiding, and sometimes even haunting their main protagonist. This is where classic sans (or cannon sans) got his debut as a fan favorite main character for fan fictions (instead of focusing on the more traditional (Y/N) character story perspective. Sometimes even taking the reader character out of the equation completely IE frisk and chara).
Most of the time it started off as a couple of stories following sans and his futile attempts to build a machine to try to reach gaster and get him out of the void. As stories progressed however, the mysterious figure known as gaster began showing himself inside of dreams and even as physical specters in the real world (that only some people "mainly sans" could see)
And here's where we get our first glimpse into the power of the void (from the fandoms perspective)...
The first being Astro projection but not in the typical sense. In these stories (gaster) isn't leaving his body unprotected to walk around the "real world" for a couple split seconds at a time. Not only would that not be very efficient, but it would leave his body in serious risk of possession (IE, what happened to frisk and chara, nuff said) but instead, he's bending the voids "space" to create a sort of "specter" that gathers information for him as well as help him communicate with others (the ones who can see him.)
Now what do I mean by space and Spector? Well normally we would mean time and space (space) and a ghostly projection (Spector) but not in this case. Remember, their world is based off of being in a video game (IE cyberspace) as their "real life" so we have to think of terms within this mindset. So when we talk about space (and more specifically BENDING space) in the virtual domain, we mean the code that makes up the world and everything around it. So when we say that gaster is "bending" space to do this, we mean he's altering the game code so he can appear and interact with an environment that he is not a part of. But now he needs a body to do so (IE, interacting with said environment) which is where the Spector comes in. And no, I still don't mean ghost. (You may argue that YES there ARE ghosts in the game, but that's actually part of my argument on why he CANNOT be a ghost.) remember when I said that only curtain people could talk and interact with him? (But isn't that a natural born trait of ghosts?) normally yes, BUT not in their world. You see, in their world, ghosts are just natural citizens that can (in fact) be seen by everyone (almost constantly) but you might also argue that in battle (napstablock) disappears. Couldn't that be what gasters simply doing. Which I would argue (oh Countryaire) in some comics (most famous a one where a frisk badmouths a gaster saying it's rude to listen in on other people's conversations) you can clearly see that one person in a group can see a clearly visible gaster while the others cannot. Meaning that the gaster hasn't disappeared but is just invisible to the other persons eyes. So what's going on here? Well, the simplest explanation is actually my "definition" for Spector when referring to this game, which is... (Spector: a player character or PC in a video game). That's right. Gaster is a player of undertale. But not in the way that you're thinking, so let me explain...
Taking control of the voids exposed code, gaster has shaped the games programming into creating a PC for him to interact with the world outside of where he is. Just like we use PC's to explore fictional video game areas and interact with the environment and assets around us. Even though we can't physically do it ourselves. So to sum it up, the first power of the void is the power to interact and alter game code. Which, when you actually think about it... Isn't really all that impressive (depending on who you ask)
It's the second power that's a bit more... (concerning) to say the least. And that is when gaster uses the voids powers to interact with dreams. (But don't panic about your privacy just yet, there's a catch.) gaster (most if not all the time) can only seem to interact with Sans in this form. (We have yet to see anything from his followers tho since their interactions seem limited) and occasionally he interacts with chara too (which could have possibly been alive during the time of the accident, after all, we don't know how old she/he REALLY is, just that they died as a child in most cases) so... gaster can only enter the dreams of people who remember him? (I guess that ones up to debate). So second void power... (mindscape hopping, with boundaries?)
Ok what else has the fandom given us in terms of the void. How about we hop into a different void for a second to visit everyones favorite emo sans GENO (or genocide sans) in the save screen. (We won't be getting into the details of the save screen right now, but all you need to know is that it's a void and Geno lives in it.) Genos backstory is actually a lot more simple than most sans's backstories, it goes as follows:
Sans suffered reset after reset with perfect memory and no way to stop it. And these weren't pacifist runs either. They where full on genocide. After having enough of the human and picking up the remains of his brothers scarf (for what probably seemed to be the millionth time to him at this point) sans became desperate. Finding his way into the "true lab" he injected himself with determination (hoping for one last stand off with the human) of course he inevitably looses and begins melting away as the human uncaringly moves on with their run. However, filled with determination and unwilling to die, Geno reached out for a save file. And woke up in the save screen. Unable to load or continue, he was inevitably stuck there forever. Which is where we get our next visit from the void.
While Geno is in the save screen, his gaster visits him (not as a specter but a full on entity at this point) and relentlessly harasses Geno constantly. (The reason?) trying to convince Geno to come live with him in the void. Which Geno obviously refuses (afraid that he'll be forgotten forever, he holds onto hope that someone will come for him. Which eventually many people do. But that's a discussion for later.)
But by that backstory alone we already have two new powers that the void provides for its inhabitants.
The first of which, is the ability to travel freely between voids (but not out of them for some reason)
And the second (if we are to believe what gaster says to Geno and take it at face value) you can bring other people into the void (however it's unknown/unclear wether this mode of traveling into the void is dangerous or not. But from Genos reactions it seems like the same thing that happened to gaster will happen to him if he tries to go with him. However "again" since this never happens, we can't really conclude anything from reaction alone.)
So what else has the fandoms dark-void provided for us? Actually, the first instance of an empty abyss. (Unlike the cannon "void-rooms" in the game) most people depict the void as an endless expansion, sometimes with sudden drops (like bottomless pits) at random intervals. (However since everything looks the same all around it's really unclear how anyone gets around in this version of the void.) but does that mean the room filled void was completely thrown out by the fandom. (Not quite) in fact, the void has now since become a space tying different spaces together. What do I mean by that? Well, imagine a world with two cities, these two cities being connected by multiple roads. The world (is the void.) the cities (are places such as the room-void and sometimes even actual cities, which we'll get into later) and the roads are this fandoms version of what the void is. (Which is the endless expansion we've come to know) and the entire thing put together is the void. (Inside the cities, outside, the road itself, everything in that world is the void.) However, it is noted that there is a little problem with the "road" in addition to having those random drop off areas it's also exceedingly unstable. (Think of what I described before when talking about the layer around the void-rooms, the space that tore gaster and his followers apart). Fannon wise, if you stay too long on these "roads" (the vast spaces in between "cities") the void will begin to tear you apart slowly at the molecular level. Spreading you across time and space (not to the quick extent gaster went through but the result would be the same.) also note that the random drop off areas have a speeding effect on this process (ripping you apart quickly, TO THE EXTENT of what gaster went through) but strangely enough IS reversible. (With a side effect of you possibly becoming an error)
I also talked about actual cities being inside this void. (Seemingly with the same physics, if not more stable than, the void-rooms) meaning they're safe to stay in for long periods of time (with probably little to no effect). Can house multiple inhabitants. (As well as provide for them). And can actually make the void more easier to traverse. (IE, adding landmarks and making the void actually somewhat mappable). But where do these cities come from? Obviously no one in their right mind would build them here of all places. (Well you're right about one thing, these cities didn't originate here). It's more likely that these cities are the remains of erased timelines, and the inhabitants of the void where the ones to build them. (Perhaps to build up some sort of sense of normalcy)
So that's what the void looks like. But now... how far can you go in it? Earlier we talked about how the void connects to other voids in the multiverse. Basically allowing Their inhabitants to travel anywhere there is a void without limitations, and also in the case of gaster and maybe even more, travel around the "real world" which we will refer to as AU's from now on, with SOME limitations.) ok. That's a pretty cool power. But it's only as powerful as the scope in which you can travel. However, during many comics (most notebly the goopster/dadster commic) we get an insight as to how big the void really is.
And
It
Is
Mind blowing (O_O)
(Continue)- turn page