First Invasion of K'aresh

The First Invasion of K'aresh was a large scale conflict between the people of K'aresh and the void-spawn of the All-Devouring. The invasion culminated in most of K'aresh's inhabitants either evacuating the planet or being corrupted by the Void, with the All-Devouring taking control of K'aresh thereafter.

Prelude
Nexus-King Salhadaar and the Ethereum's meddling into the art of shadow magic did not go unnoticed by the malicious void lords. One among them, Dimensius the All-Devouring, was the first to reach out to the Ethereum's scholars. He promised them a magnificent deal of power, the likes of which could elevate them to greatness beyond the scope of everything they had ever known. All he asked of them was to conjure a magical rift between K'aresh and the Shadowlands via the Twisting Nether, that Dimensius would be able to grant them the full extent of his might. Warily, yet eagerly all the same, the Ethereum began hastily making preparations to forge the rift in question. Unbeknownst to them all, Dimensius had much more ulterior motives...

The Invasion of K'aresh
Upon successfully creating a vortex known as the Shadow Rift in the skies of Hadaaron, the Ethereum was met not with power or strength, but instead darkness. Seizing control of the rift, Dimensius ordered countless void-spawn - the armies of the All-Devouring - to begin bathing the surface of K'aresh in shadow, and it was not long before a full-scale invasion was underway. The Ethereum made many attempts to close the Shadow Rift - or at least gain control of it - but their efforts were fruitless. Dimensius was more than a mere master of the Void; he WAS the Void, and he sought only to widen the gap between their reality and his own.

Making one last effort to save his people, Salhadaar ordered arcane shielding - similar yet different to the Eco-Domes used to conjure nature from nothingness - to safeguard Hadaaron from the shadow Dimensius sought to unleash upon the planet. Although the dark energies were blocked, the unimpeded flood of arcane energy tore away the K'areshi's corporeal shells and infused their souls with enough energy so that they could subsist without a body… barely. Now called ethereals, the survivors of the ordeal took to binding themselves with enchanted strips of cloth to provide their souls with enough structure to live on. The action had just barely manage to protect the integrity of the K'areshi race, as those who were outside the barrier when K'aresh was flooded with Void were instead transformed into the abhorrent: monstrous and aberrant shells of their former selves who were plagued with minds of nothingness of veins of shadow, as well as bound to the will of Dimensius. This altered state also proved to be a blessing in disguise, as their enhanced minds and magical abilities allowed the ethereals to fight Dimensius and his limited forces to a standstill. Over the years, however, Dimensius eventually grew powerful enough to summon armies of fellow void creatures, forcing the ethereals to flee into the Twisting Nether and the Great Dark Beyond, using magical portals and an intergalactic, space-faring vessel, the Stygiax, respectively to do so.

Aftermath
In the wake of the ethereals' flight, Dimensius and the All-Devouring took control of K'aresh, managing to subvert the arcane shielding and subsequently bathing the entirety of the world in darkness and shadow. In doing so, many if not all forms of sentient life were corrupted and transformed by the Void, and any and all resistance to the void lord's efforts were quelled by the sheer magnitude of both his armies and his powers. The former city-state of Hadaaron was transformed into a tenebrous den of darkness known as Voidheart.