Void Callers are ageless entities responsible for creating nebula as well as the vast distances of empty space...in space. They have existed since The Beginning and will probably exist until The End. They are not so much living creatures that are born as they are the personification of the nature's cyclic processes. The only way for a Void Caller to exist is for another to stop existing (that is to say within there own existential experience. There are many Void Callers, possibly an infinite amount. There are just billions of times fewer of them than any other organism.). When a Caller decides (they don't “die” unwillingly.) they are at the end of their cycle, they begin a process similar to the final phases of a star's death, concluding their term in an inexplicably large explosion. These explosions release untold amounts of dust and gasses closer to the epicenter while the “shock wave” pushes other celestial items away in a violent flurry – leaving an empty void around ground zero. At the heart of the blast, a new Void Caller emerges to experience their stint of existence.

Void Callers not only create nebulae and empty expanses in their departures, they also “sing” them into existence. Their “ singing voice”, although silent to most species, reverberates dozens light years into space, vibrating the fabric of space-time. These vibrations are intense enough to cause dust and gas particles to vibrate as well and become ionized. The charged particles pool together in heavy concentrations to form nebulae. Void Callers may also sometimes “yell”. These are shorter, but more intense bursts that literally blow celestial bodies away – leading to the empty areas of space.

The reason behind all of this singing and yelling is communal. Though Void Callers dot the universe and chase infinity, they are often alone. A Caller may spend their entire term without ever being within a 600,000 light years of another of its kind. In thus they sing and call out into the vastness of space hoping to receive a reply. It is very rare, but if a Caller meets another of its kind they will often stay together for their entire terms. Unsurprisingly, these pairs are often the oldest Callers in universe, choosing to spend all of their time with each other rather than restarting their cycles. The areas of space in which two Callers are together are the most celestially active in the universe, a result of the pair's chatting.

If a Void Caller does not find a companion of its own kind, it may seek it elsewhere in other species. Very few planets harbor advanced and evolved civilizations in the universe (like 3 in 20 – on a universal scale thats an unimaginable number of planets. Dont worry, we're not alone!) and fewer still are within range of Void Callers (Void Callers can move at light speed, which doesn't count for much in deep space where things are often hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of light years away from each other.) If, however, a Void Caller finds itself close to planet with evolved and advanced inhabitants it may chose to live among them by forming a shell. A shell, or a visible body, is the result of roughly a decade long study session conducted by the Caller, who picks and chooses what its shell will look like by observing the species it wishes to be assimilate into and imitating its favorite traits. Unfortunately, the shell can never be 100%. The immense energy of a Void Caller is not easily contained and often needs an exhaust system of sorts for the energy to bleed out, otherwise the shell will break. Shells are visual covers, they contain no organs and only serve to house the entity inside. This means Void Callers cannot speak in a worldly sense, doing so would be the end of planet and nobody would be able to hear them anyway. Fortunately, body language and sign language often suffice.

Esther is a Void Caller clad in the shell of a small female Harlequin Great Dane. To maintain her shell, she lets her excess energy drain through her eye sockets in the form of aether, which makes it look like she is crying a heavy blue fog. Her decision to use her eye sockets as her "exhaust system", means that she doesn't actually have eye balls, much to her displeasure. Instead her “eyes” are the visible light of her energy which is just white. Despite her choice of appearance, Esther maintains a very delicate and petite demeanor. Short for a Dane, she stands proudly at 5'2'' and weighs approximately 95 pounds.

Ever lovely work done by the immaculate

Void Callers are a race of entities I made up over a couple weeks. They're manly inspired by music and whales (originally they were going to be space whales, but I wanted Esther to look a specific way. More on that later) their voices, for the very few that can hear them, can sound like droning guitars or a choir of singers. Its not uncommon for a Caller's voice to hit different pitches and tenners at the same time making it sound as if two Callers are singing at once. Older Void Callers' voices can sound like an acapella, while young Callers usually have either a single pitch or a "duet". I'm still kind of working on the lore behind these guys so I'll expand on them as I go and hopefully get some supporting art.

Esther the character was inspired by something else entirely. I used to work at a dog daycamp and boarding place. Our job there was to supervise up 32 dogs at a time while they all played and what not. Well we had this little Dane puppy named Pepper come in one day. Pepper was a harlequin Great Dane with the bluest damn eyes a dog could have, absolutely gorgeous dog - who also happened to be deaf. Being deaf, Pepper didn't know what barking sounded so she would pretty quiet, but when she would play she would make these weird noises that sounded like she was trying to sing and talk at the same time. She was so sweet and loving. Now, Im not a sucker for puppies - I mean yeah, puppies are awesome and cute and I'd own hundreds at a time if I could, but I never really put on the kid gloves for puppies. "You're cute, but that doesn't mean you get to be a dick". But Pepper was different. Maybe it was because she was deaf or maybe it was because she was just so sweet and her bright spirit couldn't be contained by that stoic facade all Great Danes wear, I dont know what it was, but I loved that dog. Well about two weeks after first meeting her, I come into work and am told Pepper had passed away from complications with her spaying surgery. I didn't react in anyway that could be considered extreme, all things considered I take news of dogs' deaths very well I think. I know they have sorter life spans than we do, their quick passing is inevitable. I know that a dog I meet today will probably be over rainbow bridge around my next decade - that somehow softens the blow for me and I just make the most out of the time that I have with them while they're around. But as time wore on and the realization that I'd never get to see Pepper again or play with her, or watch her play with the other dogs and counselors, there was this tiny puppy shaped hole in my heart that grew and grew. I've never cried over Pepper's passing or got seriously depressed, but she haunts my mind. I miss her immensely. I want to see her awkward run and I want to hear her awkward sing talking again, as much as I know I never will - not in my time here.

But I have this notion, energy can not be destroyed only transferred and every living thing on this planet has energy. Not just the electricity that allows us to move our limbs and lips, but an energy that makes us different and unique. Two people can think the exact same thought, look the exact same way, even act the same - but there is an acute distinctness about each of them that makes them their own entity. Call it a soul or a spirit, what have you, I dont know what it is, but it is an energy. Since we are all the result of stars, that is to say "we" as in Earth and her lings, are all made of star stuff, surely the universe gave us our energy too. The electricity to move our limbs and lips and the untraceable stuff that makes us - us. I think that when we die, our bodies go back to the earth and that identifying energy goes back to the universe to be used elsewhere. So while Pepper may not be here anymore, I believe she's somewhere out there being something else. Esther is my way of coming to terms with Pepper being gone while not really having to let her go.