The Dreamweaver's Notes

Doctor Julen Alaniss began studying sleep patterns and issues in Ethanian war veterans in her third year at Yseult College and while the official transcript and notes were written by several assistants, Julen also recorded her own personal notes to be used for the study as well as for her own benefit as an arcanist. The notes she wrote herself start out fairly professional and straightforward, however their trajectory towards the more intimate and revealing now hold myriad more information than just that applicable to the singular study of her focus.

Today, the journal itself resides at Ethaeras University's main library, and is available for student public access. It's an incredibly intriguing read for medical students and arcanists alike, because it holds information on both the dreamweaver's patients as well as the dreamweaver herself.

Background

Julen has asserted on multiple occasions that she prefers taking her own notes when it comes to both research and practical applications of her field, but she admits that she "didn't know all the details that a formal medical—or any manner of academia, really—study required" (Alaniss). At the beginning of the intitial study in particular she recorded her own notes in addition to the transcripts in an effort to practice her note-taking, and retain control over the research process.

Julen's Research

Julen's research at Ethaeras primarily concerns sleep patterns and dysfunction in association with war-related trauma, and she's mostly worked with Ethanian veterans from the Beourjen-Ethanian War. Specifically, her research is aimed at manipulating sleep patterns using her arcanic abilities, which is not only extremely difficult given the complexities of sleep and dreaming itself, but can also be dangerous due to the nature of the work.

The notes themselves reflect these dangers and complexities. Julen was doing her research on top of a full academic schedule, and the effort was taxing on her own psyche at times. She often wrote the notes immediately after each session—a full session usually meant she'd stayed up all night and used her arcanic abilities for six to eight hours straight, and then afterward listened to the subject describe in detail whatever nightmares they might have had while sleeping. She also often took a varalium tincture herself as a preventative measure against arcana poisoning; the result is a somewhat less formal note-taking as the research progressed.

Importance

Julen's research is some of the most sophisticated use of arcana to date. Prior to her studies, dreams and sleep were thought to be dependent on the gods and tides; while many dreams may still be regarded as messages from the gods, Julen's work has also proven that there is a physical component to them, and that they can be manipulated.

Read the Document

The Dreamweaver's Notes

~wip~

Archet 12, 1545

Had Session 1 with patient 04 today. He was very polite, originally from Hassling but moved to Ethaeras shortly before the war. I went over my background, standard procedures, and his mental and physical history. He said he's had the standard dream flashbacks, some day-to-day sensory issues and episodes of panic two or three times a month.

I administered a half-teaspoon of laudanum at 21:00 (ingested) and he went into uninduced sleep within the following hour. Olivaine did transcription, and I used psychic arcana—only sensory reading, no psychic alterations—from 21:00 until 7:00 the following morning.

His signaling followed standard levels overall, with more erratic signaling every 80-90 minutes or so, which follows typical patterns of dream-sleep and is to be expected in similar patients. He only remembered one dream, which involved a senior officer—faceless in the dream—with an open wound across his lower intestine, telling patient 04 to stitch him up so he could get back in formation. Patient 04 tried to stitch up the wound but his hands were too shaky and the intestinal organs kept spilling out despite his efforts.

Patient 04 said he's had this dream at least four times within the last year, as well as several other variations. His signaling did almost reach that of conscious signaling after dream-sleep each cycle but he didn't wake, so I'm going to stay with just the half-teaspoon of laudanum for now.


Archet 17

Session 2 with patient 04 today. Spoke to him about needles and injections in the future, even just for the laudanum, and he was open to the idea. I did a slight pull on the overall signaling when he was in the second sleep stage to move him into the third. No effects were present, and he didn't afterward recall having felt the arcanic effects.

He didn't report any dreams this session, and other than my alteration, his signaling was typical in comparison with last session's. Olivaine did transcript. I did not use any medication for myself, though I will start with a tincture of varalium (1%) next week.


Archet 20

Session 1 with patient 06 today. He's a slighen, and works as a smith in the foundry district; has lived in the capital his whole life (except for while deployed in the war, obviously). I went over background, standard procedures, and his history and everything. He's had a fairly erratic sleep schedule, gets a full night of sleep every other week. Most nights he said he gets between 4 and 6 hours of sleep.

Mentioned several recurring nightmares, three resembling standard war flashbacks; one included forced lobotomy and another involved sounding—I'm hesitant to do any injections because of these. He said he's had Knockout plenty of times before but doesn't fully remember it due to being in slighen arousal state.

I prepared a syringe of Knockout, and administered a half-teaspoon of laudanum (ingested) at 21:00; patient went into uninduced sleep by 22:00. Olivaine did transcript, and signaling followed typical patterns for similar patients. Some erratic signaling in third stage sleep going into dream sleep, indicative of fear response or entering slighen arousal state, but patient stabilized naturally during dream state.

He awoke at 4:00 the next morning, and expressed disinterest in going back to sleep. I did some conversation therapy, as he seemed somewhat agitated. He only reported a vague idea of a nightmare.


Archet 26

Session 4 with patient 04. Administered laudanum as usual, signaling levels started off normal until about 60 minutes in (third stage). Some erratic variation through the last two stages; I pulled a bit on the signaling to smooth out the pattern to normal, and the rest of his sleep proceeded with minimal abnormality until about 3:00. He woke up then and I called the end of sleep then.

I ingested a half-teaspoon of varalium elixir myself, and patient 04 reported same dream with the intestinal wound. Did not report any realization of my arcana usage during the sleep period. We discussed his experience with the dream tonight, but there were no noticable differences according to him. I also discussed the idea of inducing lucidity, either with mugwort or through arcanic means—I'd prefer trying out the herbal method first, just to see the change in signaling before I try and manipulate anything further.

Close

Type

Journal, Medical

Author
Thaumaturgical Doctor Julen Alaniss
Date/s
1545-1547
Ownership
Yseult College, Ethaeras

Dreamweaving

Dreamweaving is a skill within the field of psychic arcana where an arcanist 'pulls on' or manipulates chemical signaling in the brain in order to affect the sleep-wake cycle and, in instances of extremely skilled arcanists, individual dreams. It's considered to be somewhat dangerous because often an arcanist is manipulating areas in the inner brain also connected to basic functioning and they can't recieve verbal feedback from the individual they're using arcana on since the individual is unconscious.

The other thing is that for an arcanist to do this safely and properly, they have to follow through the entire sleep period, which means they may be using arcana for up to eight or nine hours straight. This is exhausting to begin with, but it also opens up heightened vulnerability to arcana poisoning for both the arcanist and the individual being acted upon.