The Dreaming

To enter the Breathing Metaphor is to pass in another direction entirely, which is not on either side, above or below, before or behind.

— from The Body Divine, by Alkeptoros

The old Breathing Metaphor persists about the far ends of the causeways of Law, an aetherscape of abstract emotion shaped by the egos of forming spirits and what mortals may travel there.

— from Pillars of Creation, Thrones of Law

The Hand of the Mountain wound the Breath and Flesh of the the Swirling Shadow about the Axis, tying it up into the Breathing Metaphor. As the Shadow unwound and spread, fibrous, throughout the aetherous realms it gave defiant shape to metaphors, which as artifacts of divine thought were never meant to know form. In this way, the Axis that defined spirit now also defines Dreaming.

— Lightbearer Kirik Sul, Shining Provost of the Palace of Sight

Geography

Though it is by its nature so deeply permeated by the essences of Rebellion the Dreaming is arrayed in areas with shifting arrangement, and the borders divining them are often theoretical exercises, it would be inaccurate to say that all places in the Dreaming are the same. There are, in point of fact, a number of distinct locations within the Starlit Country.
There exists a vast dream-ocean, known variously as the Dreaming Sea, the Starlit Ocean, the High Waters, and Dorakh's Haunt. It can be used to access most other regions of the Dreaming, but is stalked by the Pirate God Dorakh Mul aboard his ancient ship, the Exaltation.
The Tower of Eyes is a titanic structure with a puzzle in every room, and with puzzles stretching across many rooms. It has been said that those who complete every puzzle in the tower, from the bottom to the top, will be granted a fantastical boon by the entity that governs the tower, the Vigilant. Many rooms can be accessed from different points of the Dreaming, and some particularly adventurous oneironauts chart paths through parts of it. The Vigilant allows this, so long as the travelers can solve the new puzzles it puts in their way.
The Citadel of Hours is an expansive fortress of shining dream-stone and aetherial fire. It is ruled by the Warden, who fights the other powers in the Dreaming to expand its dominion and exert its will.
The Garden of Stone is an expanse of decayed wasteland, thick with statues. All were clearly carved to considerable detail, some are immaculately preserved, some are barely recognizable for their rubble. It is ruled by the Lithic, an entity of obscure and unclear goals, but it is believed to have been responsible for the creation of the Plague of Illusions, Dancing Lights.
The Many-Coiled Serpent is as much a creature as a location. An unfathomably large beast, the Serpent winds its way through the Dreaming sky, and can be seen overhead in many places of the Dreaming. The Serpent does not engage in the politics of the Dream Dominions, but it is not known if this is because it lacks interest or intelligence. It is docile when others stand upon its back, and it is often chosen as a place for two parties to meet on neutral ground. The Sunken Well is the remnants of the Deeper Well, the academy of the Craft-Scholars of Old Aestyvus, which was destroyed upon the Elevation of Aestyvus. What remains has been shaped into a palace by the ascended craft-god of the Aestyvine, the Ironmonger. The Sunken Well rests over the Dream-side manifestation of the Worldforge, one of the Thrones.
The Palace of Sight is the Academy built by the Heavenly Empire of Kantirin in a cloud of the Breath of Glory which has been relatively uninfluenced by the essence of Rebellion. It is composed of over a dozen floating towers made from crystalline glass, connected by countless struts and bridges.
The Court of Shadows rests at one end of the Aetherial Axis, and from there it seems to stretch high up into the sky. It is the metaphysical and metaphorical representation of the dead god Vassar , whose Flesh and Breath sprawled throughout the old Breathing Metaphor to transform it into the modern Dreaming. At the heart of the Court, backed up against the Axis, is an empty throne, representative of the god in question. That which remains of it has power here.

Alternative Name(s)

Breathing Metaphor, Spirit Lands, Starlit Country

Type

Dimensional plane

Included Locations

• Greenwood Labyrinth
• Hills of Glass