The Lucidist Heresy

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Warning! This page contains SPOILERS for the Emdar campaign. Please do not read if you're a player of that campaign!

The Lucidist Heresy

The Lucidist Heresy refers to the conflict that lead to the Lucidists to splinter off from the Lullabists, becoming their own dedicated sect whose beliefs are incompatible with that of the greater order. 

After Hypnarch Moroseth's death, Joseph Tang campaigned on a radical platform promising change. No longer would the Lullabists be satisfied lulling the Dreamer into a comfortable slumber- they would take a more active stance in shaping the Dreamer's ideals and imagination. By educating the Dreamer instead of keeping them ignorant, Tang hoped to bring forth positive change in the world. Though Tang was able to rally some support around him, his ideals were ultimately rebuffed and condemned as a dangerous heresy, and Marigold Umber instead ascended as Hypnarch. 

Sensing that the tide was quickly turning against him, Tang made his move. Before the new Hypnarch could properly consolidate her power, Tang used one of his most valuable pieces; one of the monks entrusted with bringing the Dreamer one of their daily meals was sympathetic to their cause. The monk only spent a few minutes with the Dreamer in conversation, but the dialogue was influential enough that it caused one of the most powerful psychic ripples ever registered by the Insomniacs. Seeing it as a preamble to a true awakening, Hypnarch Umber took no chances; as her first decree, she would order the Dreamer to be executed. As her second decree, she declared all of Tang's ideas heretical; he and his ideas were to be purged utterly.

Tang was not without resources, however, and he and a handful of his disciples managed to escape from the Cradle. His intellectual inheritors still carry on the fight to this day. Now styling themselves the Lucid Dreamers, or Lucidists, they continue to attempt to influence the Dreamer. Having been declared a heretical sect of an already secret sect means they have access to only meager means and their attempts to influence the Dreamer have not amounted to much.

Their lack of success has done little to dampen their resolve. When the first psychic surge was registered by the Insomniacs, measuring changes around the Bourgold Estate, the Lucidists seemed blessed by fate; on of their own devoted disciples, Celeste de la Roca, was the court magician of that particular household. Celeste initially suspected Hugo- the changes to reality all seemed to favor the gardener, as the Bourgolds were rewritten to always have had a prestigious garden; convenient for a gardener send to exile there. However under closer scrutiny the boy was revealed to be as common as they can be, save for one thing- his correspondence with Prince Roam Sebastian von Darren-Gelgis.

Clandestinely seizing the letters revealed their closeness, and Roam's letter radiated a powerful well-wishing. Celeste had found her dreamer, and for the first time in decades of struggle, had identified the Dreamer before the Lullabists had the chance to. Acting swiftly, she conspired to intercept the letters between the Prince and his former gardener, which would spur the worried prince into action, beginning his journey. Not long after the young prince had left the castle, several more psychic surges were felt, confirming Celeste's suspicion. She had found her Dreamer, and he was out in the open, protected only by his humble retinue. Now she only had to get her hands on him before the Lullabists found their chance to strike...