The Somnicist

This text presents a comprehensive course for the beginning Somnicist. However, it is not the only book you should read about the subject, or even the most important one. Books may not even be the most effective way for you to learn. Every bit of knowledge you acquire—no matter how tangential, obscure, or insignificant—may come in handy at some point in your adventures. A fable from your childhood, lost-and-found ads in the daily newspaper, factoids on the side of a cereal box, bits of songs, a particular shade of blue, a random piece of a jigsaw puzzle lying in the gutter: everything could mean something (and since it could, then it does). Everything is part of a larger picture which is, in turn, one part of any number of even larger pictures. The Somnicist recognizes this potential, remembers, and makes connections. Some people mistake the creator of their iteration for the Omnul and spend their lives feeding its ego, to the detriment of their own potential. Some people who encounter the Omnul recognize the illusionary nature of existence and spend their energy trying to cut through the delusions and re-merge with the One. A Somnicist is one who has seen the Omnul, recognizes the illusions, and chooses to perpetuate them in any way they see fit. The title Somnicist comes from the Latin word somnia, meaning to dream. To a Somnicist, the world is as malleable as a dream. A Somnicist has seen the secret beneath all of existence: the Omnul ItSelf is the only Truth. All else, at every level, is nothing more (or less) than the Omnul dreaming that It is separate pieces of ItSelf. Each conscious being is a separate point of awareness within that dream. The Somnicist is a lucid dreaming/dreamed consciousness, and can, to some extent, control parts of the dream. Rather than awaken (and thus relinquish the fragmented Self to the Omnulic over-mind), a Somnicist elects to remain “asleep” in order to experience, manipulate, and create these dream-stories. Somnicists straddle a line between imagination and reality. They are skilled in the art of truth-shaping, manifestation (or banishment) of ideas and visions, as they tune their awareness to the varying frequencies of limitless potential of the Quondamarie and bend it to their will. A Somnicist is also adept at navigating the ever-changing conduits of dimensional travel, either via standard portals, or by using the content of others' dreams and fantasies to forge pathways from one reality to another. Symbols and coincidences can also serve as clues, keys, and stepping-stones for those who have learned to adapt to the wildly different laws and ever-changing conditions from one version of reality to the next. A Somnicist’s journey may take them from a crowded city street, through the nightmares of a poet, on a shortcut behind the woodsman’s cottage and out the front door of a smoke-belching factory...and that’s just a jaunt down to the corner store to pick up some milk. Magix is one term for the general skills of a Somnicist, regardless of the individual's occupations or beliefs. One doesn't have to be involved in witchcraft, wizardry, sorcery or spell casting in order to be a Somnicist (though they usually go together). This magixal force enables them to altar and influence bits and pieces of their surroundings, and often those of others, as well—depending on how many others accept these changes, and any forces that might be actively or passively working against them.

IT’S ALL MAGIX

In this class, the path to Somniscience begins with some basic math and science. These foundational concepts are the schematics for the mechanisms and the gears that spin the spirals of the Multiverse. Magix is not miraculous—it doesn’t “just happen” out of nowhere, just because someone with mysterious powers makes a wish and waves a wand. Magix has its origins in the spirit and the imagination, but it manifests as a quantifiable interaction of energy and forces. It can be measured and described with numbers. As with anything you wish to accomplish, you’ll have more success if you can make your plans and predictions based on a clear understanding of how it works. This book provides a crash course in mathematics, philosophy, physics, and chemistry, and explores how these pursuits are not only related and applicable to Somniscience and magixal concepts in general, but inextricably entwined with them.

TO WHAT END?

You may be expecting a lecture on personal responsibility at some point: an appeal to your sense of “the greater good,” or at the very least, a plea to refrain from becoming a super-villain. This text makes no such distinctions or demands. Only you can decide what role you’ll play in your stories. The purpose of this course is not to burden the student with subjective morality, but only to serve as a supplement to self-discovery and actualization of your full potential, whatever that may be. If there were no villains, there could be no heroes. Without villains or heroes, existence would be just a dull mediocre plainness. The loss of one extreme would create a lack of definition in its opposite, which would then disappear as well. Illusions gone, the game would end. We must not try to win. We just play not to lose. Strive for excellence—however you define it. Just give us a good story.