I've been re-reading A Fire Upon the Deep again, and browsing some of the content under the Zones of Thought tag here led me to an answer under this question.
The answer asserts that Vinge specifically mentions that
- Powers do not operate in the intergalactic void
- There are things even greater than the Powers there
I checked for these on my last re-read as well, but did not find any related references. These are very plausible and sensible conclusions, given the themes of the series. Our ability to conceive of beings in the intergalactic void may be critically limited (we can barely get our heads around the Powers in the Transcend).
I've read A Deepness in the Sky (which wouldn't contain much information like that), but not yet The Children of the Sky, so I may simply not have checked the right source yet. I've also proven uneven in interpreting information in the plot-dense Net logs, but these references seem too pointed and Transcendental to be given much coverage there at all. I haven't searched through author statements too closely, and my Google searches have not provided such references either.
What material exists which describes areas beyond the Transcend (whether truly in the intergalactic void or not), and the operations, behaviors, and outlooks of Powers regarding those areas?