Oneiromancy

Origin - Oneiromancy

(NOTE: Please speak to theme lead Emi Hoshino on-game before applying for this origin!)

The endless battle for dominance over the heart of humanity unfolds across all realms, even within the realm of dreams. To counter the insidiously growing strength of darkness on the minds of dreamers, Oneiric Guardians can arise, burdened by choice with the solemn duty of safeguarding dreamers from the clutches of nightmarish terrors. By bravely facing the shadows that haunt both dreamworld and reality, these guardians strive to grant the world a more peaceful slumber, for at times the specter of tragedy lurks just one restless night away.

To become an Oneiric Guardian, one must confront and overcome their personal nightmare and purify it of the negativity associated with it. It isn't just enough to 'defeat' the nightmare, one has to meaningfully embrace it in some way, turning it from a weakness to a strength. If someone of the appropriate age and potential can do this, one can bring a piece of that sanctified nightmare into the real world with them. It will serve as the focus and symbol of their new power over dreams and allows them to join the ranks of the Oneiric Guardians... if they so choose. Every such talisman is unique and specific to the nightmare it came from, be it a friendly talking spider, a tiny and cute version of the monster under their bed, or a locket symbolizing the loss of a loved one. The observant foe can potentially gain some insight into the Guardian by the shape of their talisman or its reflection in their powers.

In addition to encouraging restful, positive slumber, self-realization through dreaming and good feelings, Oneiric Guardians get their name from their responsibility in confronting Nightmares with a capital N. In a place where magic is stronger, the powers of darkness can manifest by realizing someone's nightmare into a Youma that must be confronted. In addition, there are Youma that spread, prey on, and draw strength from nightmares in the dreaming world, as well as in reality. Oneiric Guardians can sometimes see when someone is touched by these despairing shadows and must intervene before this darkness wholley consumes its victims. This intervention can take any number of forms, typically battles in the dream world where the guardians either help the victim confront their fears head-on, casting out the shadow in their mind, or defeat the dream-demon themselves by ultimately capturing and purifying it through their talismans, reducing it into harmless dream energy.

As befitting something that draws its powers from something as individualized as dreams, Oneiric Guardians can vary wildly in style and appearance, with their powers frequently reflecting the talisman from which they channel dream magic. Commonalities do exist, however, with manifestations of their powers having an ephemeral, dreamy quality to it, a haze of sparkles and shimmering light surrounding them. Manifestation of sleeping sand, tapirs or their mythological counterparts in the Baku, or other cultural associations with dreaming can often appear when they invoke the fullness of their power or transformation.

OFFICIAL FAQ

What is the Dreamscape?

The Dreamscape is a realm that lies beyond, but is connected to, each dreamer. Each person has their own private dream, shaped by their mind and vanishing when they wake, but dreamers are all connected to and feed into the greater Dreamscape. This vast realm is created by the ever-shifting hopes, dreams, and nightmares of humanity and where they often take on new and different kind of lives of their own. The Dreamscape is influenced by the dreaming hearts of humanity, and in turn, influences them.

How do you get into the Dreamscape?

Ask Emi, lol.

Each Dreamer's dream contains a sort of border region that symbolizes the connection between dreamer and dream. The mind perceives and creates this as a sort of liminal space that's designed to channel you back into your own dream, as the dreamer subconsciously recognizes the danger posed by wandering too far afield of their own bubble. These liminal spaces are generally reflective of what would 'work' on a Dreamer to do so. These are your 'I was lost in a maze of hallways!' dreams or 'God, I had the worst dream, I was on a set of stairs and there was no end in sight!'. These are two easy examples, but they can be any number of things. 'God, I had a work dream and my bosses had me running errands all night in my DREAMS' is valid, as is 'I found the nicest moonlit glade and I just didn't want to leave'. Your character's border is unique to your character on a given night. It -can- be consistent, but it doesn't need to be and it can shift based on what works and what you wanna display about your character when it comes into play.

If a Dreamer can successfully navigate this, or even just slip through a crack in it, they'll make it into their local dreamscape.

Any unprepared dreamer who makes it into the Dreamscape proper will certainly have an interesting trip, but they'll be at great risk, especially if they're not already lucid. Dream entities who feed on the energies of dreaming minds are always on the look out for dreamers who've slipped through their own borders, and will gladly take advantage of them -- or worse.

There are, of course, some other ways into the Dreamscape, but those are beyond the scope of the FAQ.

What does it look like?

An important thing to understand about the dreamscape is that it is local, first and foremost. People living together dream together, and their shared dreams create the Dreamscape where you are. This is why there is a Radiant Heart Academy in the dreamscape, and why there is a dreamscape of Tokyo itself that it sits inside. Most students, aka most of the players, will generally enter the Dreamscape around Radiant Heart, which is is the Radiant Heart that exists in the memories and dreams of its student body over the years its been active. I've described it previously as a great floral courtyard, dominated by seas of faceless afterimages of its students, with an ever swirling sea of Sakura and a great moon above shining down on it, larger there than it is beyond the courtyard. (I WONDER WHAT THAT COULD REPRESENT)

Beyond it sits dream Tokyo, an ever shifting vista of the Tokyo that was, is, and could be, and there's way too much to it to go into detail here. I recommend reading this log for a good description of what it can look like on a given night: https://radiantheartmush.com/2449/Five_Nightmares:_Are_You_Bad_Enough_Mahou_To_Rescue_Hinoiri The dreams closest to the dreamers are the most recognizable, and flowing outwards from them the Dreamscape gets stranger and stranger. Dream Tokyo goes from something recognizable, to something formed from the recombination of dreams and nightmares and older things.

Who Else Can I Find In the Dreamscape? Dreamers: Sleeping humans, usually but not always unaware they’re outside their own dream.

Nightmares: Nightmares -- with a capital N -- are most commonly masses of dark energy given shape, form, and identity through contact with a dreamer or through ambient recombination with fragments of dreams in the Dreamscape. Very dangerous, as some of you have learned. The Nightmares can be anything from the monster under your bed to the invasive form of nightmare capitalism represented by the Salarymen.

Dreams Entities: The Dreamscape is unsurprisingly -full- of seemingly living dreams coming with all seeming levels of sentience. There are even stranger things, seemingly psychedelic entities that lurk beneath its skin, too. Emi calls them 'Watchers' or 'Observers', since they don't seem to take an active hand in things... so far as she can tell.

Other Dream-Sparkles??: Dream Magic is so far -not very common-, but as we see with Mamoru, Alala and Seriss Nyx, there are others who can manipulate dreams and possibly interact with the Dreamscape.

How does the Dreamscape interact with my character's dreams?

On a given night, it typically doesn't. The dreams and dreamers are the backbone that dream the Dreamscape into existence, not the other way around. That said, Nightmares are drawn to powerful emotions and those suffering from great stress or traumas, and who's dealing with powerful emotions and traumas more than a bunch of teenage girls? A Nightmare emerging from your darkest dreams or even emerging into the real world -- as they can do -- is always possible! Getting to punch your bad dreams in the face can be really therapeutic. How much control do dreamers have over themselves or their environment in the dreamscape?

In their own dreamscape, a dreamer is effectively the 'narrative lead', their psyche sets the rules and the 'story' and what's possible within it. How much control a dreamer has beyond that tends to be linked to their own proficiency at dreaming, and the narrative of the dream itself. Working with the flow of a dream is -way- better than trying to fight it.

Once outside, though, this control broadly evaporates. The Dreamscape's rules are defined by the weight of countless dreams and individual dreamers can't change the rules or force dreams to obey them and they’re mostly subject to the Dreamscape’s currents. Mahou -- and Emi of course -- might have a LITTLE more leeway here to make small, personal changes to themselves, but even they can't bend the Dreamscape to their will.

How do Henshins work with the Dreamscape?

If you're in the dreamscape and lucid, you can call on your Henshin and it'll work mostly the same. If you go to sleep in your Henshin, and then Henshin in your dream, your sleeping body will de-henshin. It seems that henshin magic can go with your sleeping psyche, or remain with your body, but not both. What happens if I get hurt in my dreams? What happens if I get hurt in the Dreamscape?

Well, if you're hurt inside your own dreams, it works just like being hurt inside your own dreams in the real world. It's not going to have any lasting impact on you beyond the trauma of a bad dream.

Beyond that, it's a matter of energy and intent. If a Nightmare comes into your dream, -it- can hurt you, because it is wielding energy with intent to do so, and if you get hurty beyond what your henshin can handle, that injury will appear on your sleeping, vulnerable body. This is how Emi gets banged up quite frequently and has a frequent flyer card from Mamoru.

Physical injury isn't the only sort of damage one can deal with in the Dreamscape. For example, the Salarymen worked Hinoiri to exhaustion in her dreams to drain energy from her, and are known for doing the same to workers across Japan. It's a dangerous place!

What if I want to run a capital-N Nightmare scene?

Well, you definitely can do that! Definitely reach out to me and we can collaborate on your idea and make sure it fits the Oneiric Guardian theme -- most ideas will. Nightmares are pretty flexible.

How do nightmares interact with the waking world? Can a nightmare escape into the waking world?

Yep! Nightmares can do all kinds of things to impact the waking world! While -most- of them remain creatures of the Dreamscape and torment dreamers, some can become powerful enough to emerge into the real world, usually -through- a dreamer whose been consumed enough by one to be possessed \or by simply being powerful enough to 'bleed' into the real world. Dark energy is the pathway to many events that some consider unnatural 😉