The Dream Realm
Colour pools = Silky Navy
Ethereal curtains = Silk Grey or Navy
Shape and size = Infinite
Gravity = Standard, with changeable areas
Time = Flowing (1 real day = 2 subjective days)
Tuning Fork = Oōruritē "B♭" (B flat)
Morphic trait = Alterable
The Dream Realm
AKA: the Dream Dimension, Plane of Dreams, or Dreamscape
An extra-material realm of the Moata Solar System, known for being intensely unpredictable and chaotic - especially compared to the Prime Material Plane of Esau. The Plane of Dreams is a constantly changing dimension shaped by the collective unconscious of all sleeping minds, which acts as a psychological landscape of the subconscious.
Formed as the Moata Solar System - influenced greatly by Moatama (the Creation; the Creator) - yet also was influenced by Sharran in The Nightmare Tide Region.
Also, the Dream Realm connects to the other realms of The Enduring Ones, as well as the Prime Material Plane.
The Dream Realm can be like a star-filled night with silhouettes. It has been referred to being a mirror of the Prime Material Plane. If it is a mirror, it is like a crazy funhouse mirror, which distorts and weirds everything it silhouettes and reflects of Esau.
Scholars believe the Dream Realm itself exists in part or in whole as a result of the dreams of some or all living creatures, primarily those of the Prime Material Plane - yet also of the various inhabitants of other Realms and Planes as well. The result is a realm where literally anything and everything is possible, and where almost nothing ever remains the same from one visit to the next.
"I walk across the world scattering dust
to draw the sleeping ones;
through the dreams of countries and cities,
past dreams of places long gone and times beyond recall."~ Azhrarn.
The Dream-Makers and their creatures, bring messages to mortals of Esau through the medium of dreams or nightmares.DREAM-MAKERS
Azhrarn of The Enduring Ones was the first to rule over the Dream Realm. As time moved along, he found as the populations of the Prime Material Plane increased and their experiences changed their dreams, so then he opened the realm to two others - Onrisos (The Nightmare King) and Phantasos (arch fey of Surreal dreams).
Azhrarn
NAMES = Azhrarn; Azhram; Morpheus; The Sandman; Night's Majesty; Night's Master; Prince of Night and Dreams; Midnight; Kai'ckul; Oneiros; DreamSYMBOLS = grey dream-helm; cloak of stars;
REALM = The Dream Realm - aided in some fashion by Onrisos and PhantasosAVIAN = nighthawk "Azhram", or in the form of a giant black eagle (of the same name) - his black robes often unfurl in a manner suggestive of eagle's wings.
FELINE = long slim short-haired black/brown cat "Midnight"
CANINE = mastiff "Morpheus" - naturally more alert and watchful even at night
Azhrarn tends well to his realm, and takes pride in his influences on people. Numerous times Azhrarn has upset The Fates by meddling with people's choices through their sleep. Yet, there are times The Fates request his assistance to direct a person to the destiny selected.
Azhrarn is the lord, a prince and a personification of all dreams, and the beginning of fictional stories.
A pale, royal, otherworldly character — as the Prince of Night and Dreams and Dream appears as a very handsome, tall, slender pale man with wild dark blue-black hair, bone-white skin, and two distant stars looking out from the shadows where his eyes should be. Most often they are silver, blue, or white - but when he becomes angered, they have been known to turn red. Azhrarn frequently carries a gas mask - said to protect himself from his magical sleep dust - made from a mixture of Oōruritē and sand from his realm.
Azhrarn appears particularly to kings and heroes within their dreams. He dresses in a shapeless cloak of "night" with "flames dancing in its folds". He often takes on disguises in other humanoid forms - especially within people's dreams.
Azhrarn feasts frequently yet never gains any fat to his body, as it is all food from dreams. His need to punish himself, yet be charitable to others, leaves him often lonely, and it is often assumed that Azhrarn will always save a person from danger within a dream. Yet Azhrarn cannot protect very dreamer from The Nightmare King, or from the bizarre dreams given by Phantasos.
His eyes are pools of shadows with glimmers of light within. Azhrarn has a long history of insensitivity towards others, and must come to deal with his past cruelties. He is very concerned with fulfilling his responsibilities.
* Companion: "Merv" Mervyn Pumpkinhead - wise-cracking, cigar-smoking caretaker - in charge of the construction, maintenance, and demolition work
The King of the Dream Realm, Azhrarn rules by considered rules and a set of guidelines. He is not prone to emotional connections. Along with his seven 'siblings' of The Enduring Ones, he is one of the powerful, immortal beings much older than most of the deities of Esau. Azhrarn resides in the region known as The Dreaming in his Dream Palace - the castle is filled with shifting rooms, vast libraries containing unwritten books, memory forests, and seas of emotion.
APPEARANCE
Azhrarn's usual appearance is as a tall, pale Human with wild dark blue-black hair. He dresses in a shapeless cloak of "night" and stars with "flames dancing in its folds". He frequently carries a gas mask - said to protect himself from his magical sleep dust.
His eyes are pools of shadows with only glimmers of light within.
Azhrarn has a long history of insensitivity towards other beings - not easily making emotional connections with anyone. He must learn to deal with his past cruelties. Azhrarn can be very concerned with fulfilling his responsibilities, while at other times is melancholy of his purpose.
Azhrarn is both the personification, as well as the Lord and King over all types of dreams, and all that is not in reality (which, in turn, Azhrarn may define by his existence).
A pale, royal, otherworldly character — the Prince of Night and Dreams. As Morpheus and Dream appears as a very handsome, tall, slender pale man with wild dark blue-black hair, bone-white skin, and two distant stars looking out from the shadows where his eyes should be. Most often they are silver, blue, or white - but when he becomes angered, they have been known to turn red. Azhran frequently carries a gas mask - said to protect himself from his magical sleep dust - made from a mixture of Oōruritē and sand from his realm.
Morpheus appears particularly to kings and heroes within their dreams. He dresses in a shapeless cloak of "night" with "flames dancing in its folds".
Azhrarn often takes on disguises in other humanoid forms, or the form of a giant black eagle - his black robes often unfurl in a manner suggestive of eagle's wings.
DREAM-HELM
It is a helm made from the spine and skull of a long-dead deity.
MISSING
+ Azhrarn went missing - Although few people know that Azhrarn went missing, in a plot by one of his fellow rulers and rival The Nightmare King, Azhrarn vanished.
Show spoilerHis rescue was by his loyal companion Mervyn Pumpkinhead - Mervyn is in charge of the construction, maintenance, and demolition work in The Dream Realm - along with a small group of unnamed adventurers.
SYMBOL: The Night DiamondOnrisos
NAMES: Oneiros, The Nightmare King, The Lord of Nightmares, Lord Nagmerrie
Companion: Brisa - a massive dark grey spider, who moves as silently as the wind
The Nightmare King is considered to be a cousin of sorts to Azhrarn. He resides in The Kohte within The Nightmare Tide region of The Plane of Dreams. He is also called Oneiros - thought to be the bringer of nightmares, and has the ability to appear as animals or monsters.
Lord Nagmerrie created the creatures known as Night Terrors.
APPEARANCE
As a massive, pale grey drow (dark Elves) with dark grey twisted horns and rows of spiked teeth (like a shark) - slim build holding a dark trident - as he stands thick, grey tenticles grow off frame.
Those who can see Lord Nagmeirre when he is invisible, alternately claim that he appears as a cold and fiercely handsome male drow ( dark Elves ), or as a cloud of dark shape slinking around.
Even if this Archfey is ever slain, then The Nightmare King simply retreats into the indestructible artifact, which will be collected by the spider Brisa, only to reawaken a few nights later in darker sections of The Nightmare Tide region of the Dream Realm.
THE NIGHT DIAMOND
It is a magnificent, yet sinister dark grey gem. Starlight is trapped within its shadowy depths.
Each facet gleams with Lord Nagmarrie's influence. Every person who sights it wishes to wear it themselves, and will kill to possess it.
+ Onrisos wishes to become the sole Lord of Darkness and Master of Night's Dreams. He finds the rules and guidelines of Azhrarn too restrictive, and wishes to have greater influence of the people of the Prime Material Plane.
SYMBOL: The Mirror of Non-RealityPhantasos
NAMES: Phantasos, Phantasus, Surreal Dreamer, Starlight Fey, The Misted
Companion: Dox - a giant platypus
This Archfey is believed to bring surreal and strange dreams, and they were able to appear as inanimate objects, such as stones or wood. Phantasos governs good and bizarre dreams, however usually their dreams are a little cryptic.
They appeared in the Dream Realm, at the same time as their 'cousins' - Lord Nagmerrie and Azhrarn. They are nonbinary, and known as Phantasos.
Anyone wishing to 'stop' The Nightmare King would need to wake Phantasos - both literally and to the situation.
Appearance
Phantasos usually is depicted as a black starlight Archfey, who has dark skin and even darker eyes. Their hair is salt and pepper colouring which hangs messily down to their shoulder blades.
They change people's dreams to appear like 'Camouflage Art' - things hidden within things, which creates places they can hide and watch from. Phantasos sometimes wanders off, into Limbo, or another unusual looking plane - seeking new inspiration for The Surreal.
THE MIRROR OF NON-REALITY
As soon as someone walks in front of the mirror they quickly notice the reflection did not match reality. Use an illusion spell where the image moves separate to them and the images behind are certainly not real.
It shows people different things:
+ What they are most worried about their appearance (not the truth, but their perception)
+ People and even animals do not wish to stop looking into the mirror
+ frame edges is white gold narcissus flowers
There is an otherworldly, reality-bending realm inside the magical, unbreakable mirror. It is safest in the hands of Perdita of The Enduring Ones, when Phantasos sleeps.
+ Although Phantasos could have stopped the plans of Onrisos (The Nightmare King), they never did. They seems to be unaware of any great issues - was drowsy the whole time while Azhrarn was missing.
Stone Giant DreamWalkers
In the Dream Realm resides Stone Giant Dreamwalkers. These Stone Giants avoid dying by instead moving to the Dream Realm - they wander about without purpose.
"Somewhere, between heaven and earth, there is a place where dreams are monitored. This is the domain of a legendary figure, eternal and immortal, who shares with the people and the beasts all the secrets of the ages".
Dream Collectors
The beings known as the Dream Collectors. They have long flown in the dreamscapes. They are split into three types Dreamcatchers, Dreamweavers and Dreamsweepers.
The Dream Catchers harvest energy from the magnetic fields generated by dreams, using nets made of moonlight threads. While the Dreamsweepers, lcean up the Dream Realm once a person has departed due to being awake. The Dreamweavers are there while a person dreams, making sure the person weaves in their dream safely.
* Dream Collectors have become corrupted by The Nightmare King when Dream goes missing - they use moonlight thread nets to collect dreams
OTHER CREATURES
Dream-Eaters - Spirit Animals that visits homes in the middle of the night and devours the nightmares of people who are sleeping. It’s usually described as a tapir, sort of pig-shaped with a long snout.
Dream Spiders - weave dream catchers
Night Owls - study the collected dreams
CONNECTED PLACES ON Esau:-
* The Sanctuary of Dreams in Jeyton City
* The Dread Shrine of Nightmares in Kutloc.
Geography
Like many other realms, the Dream Realm is infinite, having no actual boundaries. However, unlike the other realms, geography and direction have almost no value in the Dream Realm. Because this realm is partially composed of the dreams of living creatures, the geographic features of their various realms do occasionally become represented in the Dream Realm - however, these tend to be in a constant state of flux, their relation to one another may be completely incongruous, and elements of multiple entirely separate realms may be found side by side.
Depending on how the dreamscape is being formed at any given moment, you may be able to walk any place on Esau to another - like directly from the heart of Malnax to a rural fishing village in Kutloc, or onto the slopes of a volcano in the corner of the Elemental Plane of Fire. Those locations may or may not be accurate reflections of the other realms (as they are formed roughly how the dreamer remembers or interprets them), and are just as likely to disappear and become replaced by others while you're standing there.
As a result, "navigation" in any typical sense has practically no meaning in the dreamscape, because navigation implies basing your location and direction on fixed elements of your environment, while the dreamscape has none. Any and all normal attempts to navigate the Dream Realm will undoubtedly only flummox any traveler; indeed, a visit to the Dream Realm is unlikely to involve an actual attempt to get “somewhere,” because in the Dream Realm there is no such thing.
The Dream Realm can be affected by many factors, but one of the more dangerous is a vortex. A vortex is a real person who somehow becomes the centre of The Plane of Dreams - it destroys the barriers between dreams making it gather into one, which eventually collapses upon itself and damages the realm beyond repair.
There's at least one vortex every era and Morpheus has to prevent any damage to The Dreaming by destroying it - these are the only times when he has the power to take a creature's life. It has been said by Azhrarn that only once did he fail in destroying a vortex - a whole world, Azhrarn simply called No More, was lost. One of the vortexes that posed a major threat.
Because of the way the Dreamscape is molded and shaped, it is just as likely to find locations so fantastic that they do not and could not exist in any other realm. These fantastical dream environments may be found side-by-side with real places, or real places may take on properties that are completely incongruous with reality. They are truly limited only by the subconscious imaginations of the world's collective dreamers. It is easier to walk and think of where you want to reach, than try to map out the realm.
REGIONS
The Dreaming
In the heart of the Dream Realm there lies the elegant Dream Palace. The front gate of which is watched over by a Gryphon, a Dragon and a Hippogriff. Within the castle of Azhrarn there's a Gallery. Inside the Gallery is where the sigils of the other The Enduring Ones hang on the walls - Azhrarn all keep the sigils of their siblings so they may communicate with one another, or, with permission, to travel from one realm to another.
There's also a Library guarded by a Sphinx named Ramada in which are saved all of the books containing the stories that have ever been dreamed, volumes that do not exist in the waking world. Other places within The Dreaming include
Gnome Bridge
The stone bridge is located somewhere close to the Dream Palace. It is surrounded by various garden gnomes - kept from people's dreams.
The Cat Garden
The Gnome Bridge is always linked to this garden, cared for by a Kobold named Shiny. It is Shiny's pleasure to look after the numerous cats who stay after dreamers have woken. Shiny enjoys feeding, grooming and playing with the multitudes of felines.
House of Secrets and House of Mystery
Near the borders of The Dreaming region and the Nightmare Tide stand an ancient House of Secrets, and a more recent House of Mystery appeared.
Nightmare Tide
There is a difficult to reach region aside for the horrible dreams, sleeping terrors and nightmares - where all colour appears to have vanished, only monotone greys remain.
Lord Nagmerrie wishes for greater control of the whole Dream Realm and to have less laws. He resides within The Kohte - a tent of dark woolen grey. It started off resembling a bloodhunter's of deep scarlet tent, however it slowly became monotone colours and turned into an arena made of patchwork pieces with lantern, along with pulsing patchwork veins.
Creatures such as the horse like Nightmares, the tall Mothman, the carnivorous Jungle Fish, and the scary Night Terrors can be found around The Kohte.
This region is the location where Nightmare Lord has fought to gain more power, and frequently tries to expand his influence and region. Azhrarn rarely goes into The Nightmare Tide. It can be accessed by using the Dream Nail on an innocent while they are sleeping.
Half Light Stones
These smoky grey glass stones form a puzzle stand in the entrance to a dark tunnel, which ends with a hidden doorway - which leads up into the stormy clouds where Azhrarn had been imprisoned.
The Surreal
This unusual region is littered with weird places and landscapes - having the disorienting, hallucinatory qualities with unreal colourings and shapes, as well as fantastic things.
It is home to Phantasos, who resides within a triangular-shaped cabin by a magenta lake, surrounded by an emerald green forest. The cabin is known as Tranquil Sleep. The cabin has a distorted architectural or artistic style. Although the atmosphere inside the cabin is tranquil, the surreal nature of the surroundings affect a person's waking mind.
Azhrarn does visit on the rare occassion, when the need arises.
Insomnia Cave
A cavern full of a bright rainbow colourful shelf of interesting Magical Items, weird sounds and a statue of Phantasos, that has glistening scales along the neck, and occassionally winks whether anyone inside or not.
Localized Phenomena
Dream Tears
Links to The Amber Plane and Extraneus.
Night Hags (Fiend) = The most vile and nightmarish of the Hags, are connected The Hells as well as to the nightmare part of The Dream Realm. Night Hags are Fey turned fiends, so vile even compared to the rest of their kind that they are unable to enter The Feywild Realm . These fiendish degenerates are Soulmongers, who Azhrarn despises - they trade in The Shadowfell and The Hells for power and wealth.
History
Azhrarn , is also known as The Sandman - a hero figure said to protect children from nightmares. The nightmare demons Brute and Glob were sent by The Nightmare King, Lord Nagmerrie, said to have sent them to created false world inside the minds, of in Azhrarn's absence, they took turns tricking humanoids into thinking they were the actual Sandman.
Where in truth, it was an upraising within the Dream Realm, where Azhrarn was captured and given has a "gift" to the vampire called Cleopatra, during The Vampire Wars.
The uprising was started around a gaming table, near the gate/door that leads to the Plane of Void -which now has the Amber Plane in between. The Void Elementals took the distraction of those guarding to bust out through into the Prime Material Plane.
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© 2021 Margaret Livingstone
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