Mø’Void
The Empty Set. N demipower of empty sets (no pronouns)
Pantheon: None
Realm: Vacuum / the Nothing / None
Symbol: {Ø}
Mø’Void, a former imaginary moigno, was originally from the plane of Mechanus—and as with all moigno, it was an mathematical genius. It particular speciality was the theory of the empty set, its algebraic manipulation, and its application in probabilistics.
As any Mathematician can tell you, an emtpy set is a concept that can be succinctly described in words that make logical sense, but that cannot possibly include any actual members, for example:
- the set {all triangles with four sides}
- the set {integers that are both even and odd}
- the set {prime numbers between 32 and 36}
- the set {members of the Fated who are generous} woah how did that get in there? – Editor
Why in Nessus’ name might a berk be interested in this mathematical navel-gazing, I hear you ask? Well, it turns out, cutter, that without the concept of the empty set, things get messy when you start thinking about nothing. Well, not thinking about nothing, but thinking about Nothing.
Take for example…
Nothing is better than eternal happiness
—Syllogism to explain the difference between the Empty Set and Nothing
A ham sandwich is better than nothing
Therefore, a ham sandwich is better than eternal happiness
This is the sort of logical gotcha that can burn out a modron’s brain-box quicker than you can say ‘slaad solicitor’. Mø’void’s innovation of the empty set {Ø} as a more precise definition of ‘nothing’ doubtless saved many modron lives, by allowing the clear logical fallacy of the third line to be neutralised thus:
The set {all things that are better than eternal happiness} is {}
The set {ham sandwich} is better than {}
…which is entirely reasonable.
Mø’void teaches that the three things we can surmise about the empty set are:
- Ø is a set
- Ø has no members
- Ø is unique amongst sets in that it has no members—in other words there is only one Ø, and all sets that are empty are equivalent
Mø’void’s concept of the empty set started to percolate through Mechanical society, and while it was received with acclaim by moignos, the modron hierarchs nevertheless deemed it to be Dangerous and Heretical Mathematics. Fearing its concepts might corrupt the Great Machine itself, Mø’Void was expelled into the empty space around Gehenna—which subsequently collapsed in on itself and merged with the quasi-elemental plane of Vacuum. Rumours are that forbidden calculations performed by Mø’void probably played a major part in this. Something about successfully dividing by zero?
If you ask some old planewalker called Udoma, she might tell you a story about how she met that strange moigno before the moment of ascension, and how she befriended Mø’void—for a while. In turn, the moigno taught her tidbits of mathematical knowledge. Thus she gained the power to find lost things in apparently empty spaces, shifting empty spaces and transforming interesting places into seemingly empty rooms… {the set of rooms that “seem to be empty”}.
Today, Mø’void is an emerging (though unwilling) demipower permanently residing in the quasi-elemental plane of Vacuum, in a strange region called the Nothing. There is of course, no realm associated with this strange being. Mø’void cannot be found, seems to have a realm that is also located nowhere, and possibly does not even exist at all any more. But if some visitor to Vacuum doesn’t care where they are going and ends up going Nowhere, they might have a chance to meet Mø’void—in fact, some barmy Sinkers have apparently visited Vacuum seeking only to talk to Mø’void. So far, none returned.
Mø’void has few followers. If any, they must be Mathematicians, planewalkers who’ve lost their minds in some interdimensional closet, or some other kind of barmies. However, cutters who’ve lost something and seek to find it might send an occasional prayer to the uncaring Mø’void occasionally, hoping for a logical paradox to help them find it again.
Sources: Jens and Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: This power is homebrew.