The various characters and creatures found within Voices of the Void.
Beware of spoilers.
open/close all folders
Humans
These humans are part of the Alpen Signal Observatorium, an organization that focuses on searching for intelligent life. Dr. Kel
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Even before player-input shenanigans, Dr. Kel seems to be a bit...weird for a professional astronomer. He dresses extremely casually, in a hoodie, dark jeans, and a character logo shirt, and has very messy and unkempt hair. And according to
Word of God he has a habit for eating bugs he finds, likely why the player themselves even have the option to eat them. And yet, he is enough of an expert in his field that Dr. Bao tapped him to be the sole employee of an entire radio telescope array, and according to some emails you can get, his work there can lead to ''groundbreaking advancements in deep-space field theory and maybe even Cosmology.". - Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Prior to the unkempt, nerdy guy we have today, Kel's playermodel was originally this thing
◊, which can only be described as a people peg from the Game of Life with a cat smile. When Kel was given a proper model, this original version was added in as a toy the player can place down in their base. - Extreme Omnivore: Kel can eat almost anything, from mushrooms to cockroaches to rotten, zombified deer carcasses with little to no ill effects afterward. There's even official art of him casually eating some roaches.◊
- Messy Hair: His hair, both in-game and in artwork, is long and unkempt.
- Nerd Glasses: Wears a pair of circular glasses and has been described to like "goofy nerd stuff", which can be seen with the various Shout-Out-y stickers on his fridge and luggage bag.
- Player Character: The only character you play as in Voices of the Void.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Word of God states that his is sushi.
Dr. Bao
- Anti-Hero: Is a terrible boss and generally unpleasant person from what we know so far, but the data he makes Kel gather is also genuinely useful and (according to some emails), can lead to groundbreaking scientific advancements.
- Bad Boss: Sends a newly-minted employee fresh out of college into the middle of a forest known for dangerous supernatural phenomena, expecting him to run an entire satellite array by himself and also barely provides him with enough food and resources to survive, forcing him to buy more supplies with credits that he only gets from providing him with valuable data. He's also stated in the lore to be willing to put his employees under extreme mental and physical pain to get what he wants.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: A much darker example than Kel. Bao is stated to be a borderline sociopath who doesn't care what happens to anyone as long as he can maintain his reputation and get the data he wants. The only reason he's allowed to maintain his authority over the company is because he has enough talent to back up his ego, enough to surpass basically any other scientist in his field.
- Narcissist: Has an extremely high opinion of himself thanks to his reputation and is said to value himself over anyone else.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Just about the only leeway he gives Kel is that he will never request something that Kel cannot possibly provide him, such as data drives above the level his computer has been upgraded to make.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: His authority makes him basically untouchable, and his reputation gives him a near endless supply of employees to do his bidding.
- The Sociopath: Doesn't give a single shit what happens to Kel, or anyone else, as long as he keeps getting what he wants.
Allies
While Dr. Kel may not be alone in the array, persay, that doesn't mean some aren't helpful. Kerfur
Meow!
Click here to see Omega Kerfur/Kerfur-0.
A robot that Kel can purchase for 500 credits, which will go out and repair broken servers on his command. With the right components and a blueprint from the bunker, Kel can upgrade them into "Omega Kerfur".
- Bland-Name Product: It is very obviously supposed to be a Kerfuś, and was in fact directly named as such in early development builds before its name was changed to avoid copyright.
- Made of Explodium: Spamming the pet command causes Kerfur's meows to increase in pitch before exploding, deactivating it. Doing the same to Omega Kerfur results in their limbs being scattered, forcing you to rebuild them with the craft table.
Aliens
Between anomalies within the satellite array and the signals Dr. Kel encounters, these aliens will inevitably arrive on the base and screw something in the process. Arirals
(Prounounced Ah-ree-ral) Humanoid aliens with pale skin and catlike features such as a snout and whiskers on their cheeks and eyebrows. In-game, they're invisible using cloaking technology and have a tendency to chase after and knock down Kel if he peeves them off, though Kel can also gain their favor by being nice to them.
- Casually Powerful Giant: Downplayed; Arirals are decently taller than a human, and at least twice as strong. They can send Kel careening across the room with a light shove.
- Catch and Return: Even if you manage to pinpoint them and toss something at them while they're in the mood to knock you around, you'll just get that item thrown right back in your face for your troubles.
- Cats Are Mean: Arirals have a tendency to play disruptive pranks on Kel unless he makes friends with them. These pranks can vary from harassment to (notoriously) breaking into Kel's base and punting him across the room with objects or their own strength, either as part of a prank or if Kel annoys them to outright sabotaging Kel's ATV with explosives in an attempt to kill him if he angers them enough.
- Cat Folk: While not full-on Funny Animal, the Arirals have various catlike features. Most prominently their snouts and whiskers, as well as a tail and pawpads under their webbed feet.
- Don't Look At Me: Attempting to set up a camera at their campsite will cause them to destroy said camera and suffer a loss to reputation.
- Hero of Another Story: Posters that appear in their treehouse after it has been built up enough imply the Arirals are ruled by a Darth Vader Expy and the ones on Earth are rebels fleeing their control. You can't communicate with them, though, and even if you could, interfering in an interstellar war is not your job.
- Innocent Aliens: While the Arirals may love to prank Kel or throw him around sometimes, they usually mind their own business, happily setting up a picnic and a treehouse far from the base. If Kel goes out of his way to be kind to them by leaving shrimp at their treehouse or returning lost items like the gun, they'll return the favor by feeding Kel in his sleep or giving him gifts like a box of cookies or a plushie of himself. If you put one of the Argemia plushies in the microwave, however, a large horde of them will come over and attack you for awhile.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Shrimp. They'll eat any that's left out of your inventory (i.e. in your fridge, on a table, ect.), and if you purposefully leave them in locations like your base's front door or their campsite, they'll return the favor.
- Tastes Like Friendship: Leaving their Trademark Favourite Food (see above) for them to eat will increase Kel's reputation with the Ariral visitors. Increasing Kel's rapport with the Arirals reduces the frequency and severity of their pranks, and increasing it to the maximum will result in them helping you out in various ways (see Innocent Aliens above). They'll also write you notes in their best attempt at english offering to help against a vague but ominous threat.
- Visible Invisibility: While any Ariral that you may encounter in-game is invisible, they do have a distinct Predator-like cloak distortion effect that can allow you to spot their approach.
- With Cat Like Tread: Despite being invisible, they have a habit of loudly knocking things in their way over, especially if they're angry with Kel.
Rozitals
A race of mechanical creatures. While individual Rozitals don't make an appearance in Voices of the Void (barring one major exception), Rotizal spaceships are among the many signals that can be acquired.
- Canon Welding: The existence of Rozitals in this game all but confirms that Voices of the Void takes place in the same universe as Advanced Education with Viktor Strobovski.
- Easter Egg: At the very bottom of the grated-off bottomless pit is a single dancing Soltomia.
- Humongous Mecha: The Big Pyramid is so tall that it's able to comfortably straddle a satellite dish.
- Mechanical Lifeforms: Made from an alien metal and powered by a crystal that essentially acts as their brain.
- Mysterious Note: A Rozital "obelisk" that implants itself just outside Alpha displays a warning message to Dr. Kel once he approaches it, warning about the yellow Wisps.
- Neat Freak: A Rozital may sneak in through the garage skylight to clean your ATV for you after you've made contact. If you start going in through the door to investigate the humming, she quickly drops the sponge and leaves the way she came.
- Summon Bigger Fish: The Wisps are a huge threat to Dr. Kel while their event is active, as they make exploring the forest a dangerous task. However, players can trigger the Big Pyramid event early by searching for and downloading its specific signal, which soon clears up this problem.
- Tripod Terror: The Big Pyramid has three folding legs. It even "roars" like a War of the Worlds tripod.
Array Lifeforms
Mysterious entities that lurk within the satellite array itself. Antibreather
A strange biomechanical lifeform that emerges from the cave near Romeo to wander around at night. While averse to Kel's presence and tackling him to escape the area when sighted, it won't aim to kill him.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In as much as it could be considered "nice" or "cruel" considering its seemingly animalistic nature. In Advanced Education with Viktor Strobovski, it would attack and kill anyone who was heard breathing in its vicinity, but within Voices of the Void, it simply knocks them aside and runs off.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: The Antibreather's limbs are brass implants, with its arms ending in mantis-like blades.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It's a creature that hates the sound of breathing and does anything it can to make the noise stop.
- Getting the Boot: If you use a sleeping bag while in the caves, it will happen upon you and throw you back out the front entrance, no worse for wear. A handy way of escaping if you get lost down there.
- Running on All Fours: Compared to its original design, it now has longer extremities that allow it to hit a full gallop rather than dragging its forelimbs across the ground or waving them in the air in a frenzy.
- Trademark Favorite Food: It seems to like hamburgers enough to be in a better mood when fed one.
Erie
A returning character from Advanced Education with Viktor Strobovski in the form of a doll.
- Creator's Favorite: See Advanced Education with Viktor Strobovski.
- Easter Egg: To get the Erie doll, you must do a series of steps involving a garbaged piece of gore and finding a specific graffiti within Sierra. If done correctly, then at midnight she will crawl out.
- To get her to stand and walk, start by giving the doll a sheet of paper and a pencil, then "feed" her with whatever was written upon.
- You can also use the doll as a required item for Kerfur-0.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Erie has a television head, metal legs, and bird-like claws. She is still flesh and blood and could change things, however.
Fossilhound
A dog-like creature that can rarely spawn on the outskirts of the map. If it detects Kel via sound, it will relentlessly chase after him until it despawns.
- Dem Bones: Seems to be the skeleton of a dog, as it's name implies, with a strange crystal embedded in its skull.
- Harmless Enemy: While aggressive, much like most "enemies" in the game, the worst it will do is just shove you onto the ground and make you ragdoll for a short time, never being able to properly kill you.
Furfur
A mysterious creature of the forest that is neutral unless provoked.
-
Fan Nickname: Also known by the community as "Wendigo" or "Skinwalker". - Jump Scare: See Toilet Horror.
- Sinister Deer Skull: Their skull resembles that of a wendigo. Finding one in the abandoned cabin and microwaving it causes the skull to glow red and disappear.
- Toilet Horror: Using the toilet in 3:33am will summon Furfur and leave some bones afterward.
Fridge
A shadow of a humanoid that will always spawn once you leave the map boundaries and freezes your game once it appears.
- Fan Nickname: Some of the community has taken to calling it a variety of names, such as "Shadow Man" or "Mountain Man".
- Shout-Out: It's a reference to a bug found in Saints Row 2 called The Freezer.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Once spotted, the game will freeze forcing you to restart.
Mannequins
Wooden mannequins can be found in some parts of the station, or stranded outside on occasion... but some of them have a mind of their own, and like to spy on Kel. Or even walk around on their own.
- Can't Move While Being Watched: The walking mannequins will never move while being observed or if their shadow's in a light source the player can see, at which point they will freeze up and even fall over if their balance is off. This is completely averted when they're set alight.
- Infernal Retaliation: If a mannequin is set on fire by Kel, it will immediately start chasing down Kel without stopping and deal damage to him if it manages to touch him. The only way to stop the mannequin afterward is to destroy it.
- Murderous Mannequin: Subverted. While some of them are alive, and like to steadily and creepily approach you, they can't do any physical harm to the player. Once set on fire, though, they play this trope straight and will deal damage via burning you with contact.
- Window Watcher: Occasionally, a mannequin may spawn outside peering into Kel's bedroom via the window. Going outside reveals that it's standing on top of a few pallets to get this view.
The Insomniac
A shadowy humanoid with a translucent body and glowing white eyes. When your stamina reaches 10%, it will begin to stalk you from the corners of the base or your vision. If Kel does not sleep within the next five minutes, it will begin to chase after you and send you into a nightmare once caught.
- Forced Sleep: Will automatically put you into a nightmare once it grabs you.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: And once you spot them, you better get some rest before it decides to take matters into its own hands.
Wisps
Whatever you do, don't let this light catch up to you.
Large orbs of varying colors that roam the map at night, each having their own unique properties. They are very rare to spawn, with the exception of the yellow wisps, which will become a danger to Kel in Story Mode.- An Arm and a Leg: If you aren't quick enough to run away from a yellow wisp, it will suspend you in the air before ripping each of your arms and legs off, before dropping you onto the ground to bleed out. Judging by the fact that a deer corpse with similarly ripped limbs can be found once the yellow wisps arrive, it's likely their main method of killing.
- Blue Is Heroic: The blue wisps, like the pink and purple ones, will never attempt to chase the player. They can still deal burn damage on contact, however.
- Made of Explodium: The red wisps will cause explosions when coming into contact with any surface or object. This includes Dr. Kel.
- Random Transportation: If a green wisp touches you, it will teleport you to a random area on the map.
- Red Is Violent: The red wisps are the most aggressive of the wisps.
Wolfgang
A giant centipede that comes out of the cave near Romeo to roam the area. It rarely comes out on its own, but can be coaxed out by placing a pumpkin near the cave entrance.
- Creepy Centipedes: A gigantic and very fast centipede that can open doors. Thankfully, it's passive and cannot hurt or hunt you down in anyway.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Pumpkins. It's nest contains a multitude of them, and putting one near a cave is the only way to guarantee it to spawn as well as open up the cave.
Zombie Deer
A partially decomposed corpse of a deer that appears in front of your base after processing a signal from Earth. If you don't consume its corpse, the spirit of the deer will come after you.
- Let's Meet the Meat: The only way to despawn them is to eat the corpse. Even checking the help screen invites you to do so.
- Non-Human Undead: With cameras on strategic spots, the player can spot the deer standing like a live deer. It doesn't help that there is actual live deer within the premises.
Other Oddities
Argemimic
A demented hybrid of an Argemia plushie and the Antibreather that only appears in the tutorial.
- Catch and Return: Anything thrown into its corridor will be launched back out, including gas cans with enough force to make them explode on impact.
- Easter Egg: It only emerges if you manage to climb into an elevated corridor, which is something you have to go out of your way to even attempt, and it looks like a fusion of two entities from the creator's past works.
- Jump Scare: Abruptly appears with a loud scream and is already charging at you when you spawn it.
- Lethal Joke Character: It looks goofy and its scream comes from the memetic Half-Life 2 Stalker enemy, but it is one of the few things in the game capable of outright killing Dr. Kel.
Maxwell
Just an ordinary adorable Tuxedo cat... or is he? Maxwell spawns in a random position on the map after entering his name into the console. Once found, you can bring him back to your base to have him be company on the long days and nights you'll spend decoding signals.
- Action Bomb: Petting Maxwell has a random chance of instantly turning him into a skeleton who then explodes with considerable force.
- Ascended Meme: Of the eponymous Maxwell the Cat, naturally. He even plays his signature leitmotif whenever he's nearby in the forest to help you locate him when he spawns.
Argemwell
> La Creatura activated. Find The MF.
A plushie version of Argemia Armuntela in an adorable Maxwell-shaped package that will spawn in a random position on the map upon entering "argemwell" into the console. Functionally identical to their Terran counterpart, you can bring them back if you'd like an actually visible Ariral to accompany you on the job.- Action Bomb: Petting Argemwell too much has a random chance of instantly exploding into a pile of shrimp (so far known to be an Ariral's favourite Terran food) with considerable force.
- Ascended Meme: Of this image by artist Big Snort. Argemwell's leitmotif (see below) is also considered by the fanbase to be the Ariral's leitmotif.
- Leitmotif: Like Maxwell, Argemwell will play Surasshu - Eek! whenever the player is nearby to help you find them when they spawn on the map.
"Evil" (MAJOR SPOILERS)
...the end is near...
What appears to just be an asteroid, albeit oddly red... that is, until you download and fully process its signal, at which point you'll only have a short window of time to delete the signal off the drive and your computer before it takes Earth for its own.
- Brown Note: It seemingly preys on anything that's intelligent enough to unscramble its signals, and uses documentation of its signal find them. However, it can only enact its attacks using archives of the actual signal; Deleting the data in its entirety and just remembering what you saw so you never make the mistake again is seemingly enough to avert its attack.
- The Dreaded: To the Arirals, who will send you an email shortly after you process the Evil's signal to level 3 urging you to destroy it before time runs out.
- Hostile Terraforming: Whatever it is, it seems to be able to "convert" planets by turning it all into a red and black mess whilst killing all life on the planet, as showcased if you fail to delete the signal. It's implied from another signal that a planet called Tamalan suffered the same fate.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Its name in the signal glossary is simply Evil, and considering what it does to Earth if its signal is not destroyed, it's a very befitting name.
- Nightmare Face: If its signal is processed to level 3, a red human skull is shown on the signal reader's image alongside its message.
