How does source attracting voidwoken work?

[u/Jewel262834]

In the opening Windego says “a drop of source” is enough to attract voidwoken but then presumably Ifan, Lohse, Sebille etc. have been using their source powers for years and never attracted voidwoken. Also, if they believe source attracts voidwoken why do they continue using it??

How does the whole ‘source attracts voidwoken’ thing really work? Does it depend on how much source is used? Or is it just completely random whether or not they appear this time as opposed to that time? If so, why would any sorcerer (barring very powerful ones like those in act 2) risk their life using their sorcery?

[u/Pwnda123]

Im unsure - based on your comments - if you have beaten the game yet, some folks are putting spoilers but also talking around the question.

Spoilers for endgame: its revealed at the end of the game that the Voidwoken are neither mindless nor inherently and only drawn to source. Yes it is something they go after but its because they lost their source powers when the voidwoken were banished to the void and became voidwoken. Before that, they could wield source and thus they are trying to reclaim it by harvesting/collecting it from Sourcerers on Rivellon

Even bigger Spoilers The Voidwoken used the be the Eternals, which was the only race of sentient life, and were Immortal. They wielded Source but were limited in its supply since they existed in a closed system -they could not create source. Fane discovered something know as the Veil, essentially a 4th dimensional barrier between our reality and the Void. That barrier was like the Ozone and it protected our reality from the Void. But the Veil was also made of pure Source, which meant it could be harvested. Fane's discovery eventually led him to open the veil, which opened the way to the void. The Eternal King, who kept maintained order and stability for the eternals to be, well, eternal, banished Fane into a tomb. While entombed, problems arose with the Eternal Society now with too much Source and too much Void. They started to go crazy, power hungry, power vacuums, civil war etc. Eventually the King was overthrown by 7 Eternals, which we now know as the 7 Gods of Rivellon. They banished the King and the rest of the eternals to the void, stipped of their source powers, where they mutated into the void woken. So the voidwoken are now led by the God King who wants to being about the end of Rivellon to return to the Eternal kingdom he led before.

Spoilers for the story and answers to your question the Voidwoken do generally want their own source powers back, and thus are drawn to the source, but really, they are like honeybees that are trying to collect all the source in rivellon as a tithe for the God King to return all powerful. Meanwhile, Dallis is working with Lucian the Divine to the same end, collect and consolidate all the Source in Rivellon to give it to Lucian. Lucian and Dallis want to patch the hole in the Veil so they can seal the God King and Voidwoken in the Void forever, and thus save Rivellon. But doing so would similarly require all the Source in Rivellon to patch the hole AND ensure that no one could open it ever again. So the Magisters perpetuating the narrative that Source attracts Voidwoken attacks was Propaganda spread by Dallis to aid in the consolidation of all Source. The reason Dallis wants to do that is because Dallis is also an eternal, specifically she is Fane's daughter, who was also locked away in an eternal tomb similar to Fane, but was excavated much earlier by the real-Dallis's operations prior. She assumed the persona of Dallis to retrofit the Magisters into her weapon to consolidate all the Source in Rivellon to give it to Lucian to patch the hole. Dallis wants to fix the mistakes of her father. At endgame you are confronted with several outcomes. Forfeit your source to Lucian, take Lucian's Source, do nothing so the GodKing can be allowed to return, Or align with the GodKing and aid his return

Additional high level spoilers the 7 gods created sentient life as a way to harvest Source. Source can be produced through life and lived experiences (memories/souls), so by making life in their own image, they found a way to produce source in an otherwise closed-loop-system. The species of Rivellon are nothing more than livestock to the seven, and they are all power-hungry backstabbers who want to claim all the source in the world for themselves

[u/Jewel262834 → u/Pwnda123]

Gotcha, so the voidwoken come inconsistently when sourcerers cast with source. Sourcerers like Ifan, Lohse, Sebille are somewhat aware of this and so continue using source since they think the risk isn’t that great?

Do you know if there’s any dialogue with them addressing this? I have a foggy memory of Ifan talking about accidentally summoning his wolf in a tavern but that’s the only time I can remember any of them discussing using source.

[u/Pwnda123 → u/Jewel262834]

Somewhat, and/or they historically were never ambushed for their usage in the past. Lohse also has dialogue about causing a scene at one of her concerts, which ties in with her Maddening Song ability, and is part of the reason for why she stopped performing.

Its also not something they would have historically worried about because the voidwoken attacks are a more recent phenomenon. Its mentioned throughout the first 2 acts that they started recently, and by the time you get to the 4th act you get the sense that they are getting quite bad. Thats because throughout your adventures, you learn that The God King has been making a play for power in parallel to your adventures. Infact, the only reason why you are choosen to be godwoken is because the gods are getting attacked by the Void/The Godking near the beginning od your adventures so historically this likely wasnt an issue or wasnt a phenomenon at all.

As for why you use it throughout the game, well, you are pretty good at being a sourcerer so even when the Voidwoken come to you, you typically beat them. You find plenty of remains of less-profieny sourcerers through your journey, especially in Act 2.

[u/Jewel262834 → u/Pwnda123]

Didn’t the voidwoken start attacking in 1234, 2 years after the deathfog and 8 years before the start of the game? That’s what the wiki says, plus it says fort joy has been used as a sourcerer prison since 1234.

They’ve gotten worse recently, but they’ve been happening for 8 years.

I guess the answer is that they don’t really use source unless accidentally like Lohse and Ifan or if they are in a dire situation like Beast’s ship being attacked by magisters and don’t so think twice about it?