Imagine some clouds floating in the sky where you can walk and run and dance on them. Now, replace the clouds with patches of barren soil and the sky with a dark, murky void with more floating soils in the distance. You can feel only emptiness and despair in such plane.

Welcome to The Rift.

Theodoric Allen Altar, expressing his first impress the first time he enters The Rift

Void Rift, or simply The Rift, is a plane that occupies the gap between realms. Composed by the remaining of either unmade, shattered or broken realms that once existed, The Rift’s layout is often described in the literature as “chaotic, unlikely, and unbelievable”. The Rift harbors many landmarks and sites that exclusive to none of the known realms, such as Great Library and Maker’s Foundry.

In The Rift, there’s a series of pathways that connects the realms, called The Way.

See more: The Rift folklores and legends

Little is known about The Rift’s origins, as the Great Library holds little accounts regarding the creation of it. However, Grand Archivists stated that the Rift had existed for eons and had experienced several “reformations”, destroying the existing realms and creating other sets of realms in the process.

The Makers’ accounts, however, have several implications regarding the Rift’s origin. As one of the existing primordial kins lived through countless centuries, they stated which, with some evidence mentioned such as the Obelisk and the existence of beings such as The Devourer as well as places like The Abyss, The Rift was created as recent as 30,000 years ago (in Runemilenian calendar).

Nuloa, the Grandmaster of Great Library, had a statement in light of The Rift’s unclear history, which he said: “The truth of The Rift’s origin is still a mystery for entire sentient beings.”

See more: Regions of The Rift

While the realms are present here and there like bubbles, The Rift occupies the entire empty space in and around them. If there were no discernible landmarks scattered along The Way, there would be no way one can make a map for even a small portion of The Rift.

Nazrul, Great Library’s Cartography Archivist

The Rift’s massive size and its ever-shifting nature makes anyone attempting to chart The Rift’s regions almost impossible. However, due to the fact that the remains of destroyed realms take some time to vanish entirely from existence, Riftwalkers and Librarians tend to use the remains of said doomed realms as “landmarks”; a cluster of similar or closely resembling remains of realms is then called “region.”

There are several known regions in The Rift, including:

• Abyss: The plane that's almost impossible to reach safely by normal means known by Riftwalkers. Abyss holds The Rift's deepest places where everything has been reduced into its basic elements. Legend has it, all of the convicts judged by Great Archivists were sentenced to be imprisoned somewhere in this region.
• Alexylva: one of the oldest regions in The Rift, where most of the ancient craftsmanship still could be found by Riftwalkers. Alexylva region holds numerous remnants of several realms with similar culture and architectural style, emphasized in giant marble columns and classical-styled buildings. Some areas within Alexylva are holding precious (if not anomalous) artifacts, which most of them are guarded by mechanical constructs of their former realms. Alexylva bears similarities with Great Library, assumed that the Library was actually a part of this Rift region.
• Numidia: the region emphasizes in natural anomalies and forest-like landscapes, consisting of woods, hills, rivers, and cliffs. Numidia is an amalgamated region where The Rift's unforgiving nature is considered void; living organisms such as trees and grasses are present in this region. Its largest landmark–Tree of Life–can be seen by Riftwalkers from afar and it's quite prominent to the extent its actual size may be as big as a regular realm. Several Makers' legacies can be found in Numidia as well, especially in sites near the Tree itself.
• Kythera: the region consisted of giant workshops and machinery resembling those of recent Runemilenian industrial era. Most of the machinery present in this region are still active and producing machines by unknown means and for unknown groups. A much more unforgiving Rift region where the machines always turn hostile to Riftwalkers. Known to host a divine, mechanical being worshipped by a group of eccentric technophiles who somehow capable to live around ether rivers unscratched.
• Helena: a recently shattered realm that somehow managed to hold most of its parts together in The Rift. Also known as the “region of light” since Helena holds more light beacons than the rest of known regions. This region holds much more water than any other regions, indicating Helena was actually an oceanic realm before it met its doomsday and its remnants present in The Rift.
• Noneiffica: also known as Runemilenia by its dwellers, Noneiffica was once deemed as a “forbidden realm” due to Mad Queen Invasion happened around 5000 years ago. The Way to this region was cut off until the event of First Hero's emergence, when the Way that was cut off reconnected, and its connection to the Lux Primus re-established. Also, because of First Hero's deeds, Noneiffica becomes Devourer's next target shall it breaks free from its prison deep in The Abyss.

There are several known dangers in The Rift, some are common while some others are rare to be found.

As the final place for the shattered realms to be completely disintegrated, The Rift harbors numerous volatile, unstable energies that move in a spontaneous yet understandable pattern, some of which form into some sort of “ether rivers” that flow from one point to another. Due to its nature, even the calmest “ether river” may causing harm to any living beings dare to approach it. Some even may create a whirling dark cloud of energy, which mostly harnesses such devastating powers originated from various realms of origin, obliterating everything in its path. For this reason, Riftwalkers have to pay attention for any changes of “ether flow” around them.

The Way and the lands scattered around The Rift also reek of dangers. Those who don’t pay attention to where they step on may be tripped over the Way and fall into either the bottomless pit of The Rift or the much more inhospitable plane of The Abyss. Even though, the way gravity works in The Rift is also a subject of mystery.

Numerous hostiles could be found in The Rift, ranging from the ether-based creatures in shape of jellyfishes to the deformed group of creatures stalking in the dark corners of The Rift—Lurkers. Lurkers are a special case in this group; they emerged and inhabited The Rift just after the event of Mad Queen Invasion.

Manifested beings are people or other sentients being who seems to live normally within The Rift. However, even if they're sentient and also sometimes conscious about their condition, they're just a manifested being. The manifested being often appeared as a normal human being (or another form). Capable of taking a reason, communicating, and even has emotion.

Shards are volatile substance within The Rift. It often appears as pieces of crystal spread through The Rift. Shards are the most basic substance within The Rift. The structure of the substance can be reconstructed to almost everything as long as someone has the knowledge to create such an object. For an instance, someone could create any kind of food by reconstructing the structure of the shards. Or maybe create a weapon. However, it is impossible for someone to create something that is beyond their knowledge, like creating a living creature.

The Great Filter is a periodical phenomenon within The Rift that makes life or civilization impossible to establish. The Great Filter causes a massive disturbance on the fabric of space causing distortion and turning most of the matters into something else. There is no known means to endure or survive in and around the Filter; avoiding the Filter at all cost is much advised for any Riftwalkers.