The Unisphere
Scope
The motivation behind building The Unisphere
This is a lot, but please read this section, it's very important to me.
Initially, this began as me writing down the most vivid and lucid dreams I had way back when I was 14 or so and drawing the various creatures and characters that were common within those dreams... But those vivid dreams kept picking up where they left off, sometimes I would sleep, and the dream would last months or years, but I would then wake up and only an hour had passed... Yet I'd retain the memories of all that time. So then it became more than just a passing interest, I put more and more of my belief into this living world within my dreams- and lo and behold, World Anvil came along with just the right thing to start organizing it. There was a point in my life, perhaps for three or four years, I took it way too seriously. I got too engrossed with it that it began to put a strain on some of my closest friends, to the point that relationships were ended. A lot of DREAMEND/The Unisphere's history and the logs of my dreams within my notes got trashed and burned after that bitter turning point. I regret how far I let things get back then- back then it wasn't just sharing this story- it was adopting personas, roleplaying into the real world as if there existed a real way to bridge this gap between planes. There were consequences. Some characters I masqueraded as, I had them live, suffer, triumph, and die- which would be fine and good in any old novel, as people can be attached to fictional characters- but I played them often and aggressively enough that I tricked others, and myself at times, that they were indeed real, real within OUR world.
Yeah... I've learned from my mistakes, I know how greatly I overstepped. Do I still believe things that happen in my dreams are real? Yes, I do. But do I take those dreams and force them to be real beyond the realm they exist in? Not anymore. All that I do now is share the stories and solidify the lore here. This, this World Anvil world, The Unisphere, DREAMEND, what have you. It's still ongoing, on occasion I DO still get those lucid dreams- and so I still have the strong desire to commit them to writing... With some creative liberties taken so that it makes sense. I've come to realize that a lot of things within these DREAMEND dreams are symbolic of things... My personal traumas, my views on both myself and others, events in my life... And of course, the handful (or I guess a growing little group now) of very real ghosts that decide to take up residence within. --And so, I feel it's important to try and record all this, it's quite literally a part of myself. I'll end this with a few parting quotes from a specific video game I had gotten into after losing, and subsequently finding myself again, all of which has given me a lot of motivation and inspiration:
Initially, this began as me writing down the most vivid and lucid dreams I had way back when I was 14 or so and drawing the various creatures and characters that were common within those dreams... But those vivid dreams kept picking up where they left off, sometimes I would sleep, and the dream would last months or years, but I would then wake up and only an hour had passed... Yet I'd retain the memories of all that time. So then it became more than just a passing interest, I put more and more of my belief into this living world within my dreams- and lo and behold, World Anvil came along with just the right thing to start organizing it. There was a point in my life, perhaps for three or four years, I took it way too seriously. I got too engrossed with it that it began to put a strain on some of my closest friends, to the point that relationships were ended. A lot of DREAMEND/The Unisphere's history and the logs of my dreams within my notes got trashed and burned after that bitter turning point. I regret how far I let things get back then- back then it wasn't just sharing this story- it was adopting personas, roleplaying into the real world as if there existed a real way to bridge this gap between planes. There were consequences. Some characters I masqueraded as, I had them live, suffer, triumph, and die- which would be fine and good in any old novel, as people can be attached to fictional characters- but I played them often and aggressively enough that I tricked others, and myself at times, that they were indeed real, real within OUR world.
Yeah... I've learned from my mistakes, I know how greatly I overstepped. Do I still believe things that happen in my dreams are real? Yes, I do. But do I take those dreams and force them to be real beyond the realm they exist in? Not anymore. All that I do now is share the stories and solidify the lore here. This, this World Anvil world, The Unisphere, DREAMEND, what have you. It's still ongoing, on occasion I DO still get those lucid dreams- and so I still have the strong desire to commit them to writing... With some creative liberties taken so that it makes sense. I've come to realize that a lot of things within these DREAMEND dreams are symbolic of things... My personal traumas, my views on both myself and others, events in my life... And of course, the handful (or I guess a growing little group now) of very real ghosts that decide to take up residence within. --And so, I feel it's important to try and record all this, it's quite literally a part of myself. I'll end this with a few parting quotes from a specific video game I had gotten into after losing, and subsequently finding myself again, all of which has given me a lot of motivation and inspiration:
"In darkness, seek joy. Surrender not to saddness, and see beyond despair. Walk free, and bear the light for others to follow. Together, raise it aloft and let it shine. Till the end, blinding and radiant." -Venat, Hydaelyn
"Yours is a long road, my friend, and it stretches on to places beyond imagining. With your every step, these grand adventures shall grow more distant and faint. And there may come a day when you forget the faces and voices of those you have met along the way. On that day, I bid you remember this... That no matter how far your journey may take you, you stand where you stand by virtue of the road you walked to get there. For in times of hardship, when you fear you cannot go on... The joy you have known, the pain you have felt, the prayers you have whispered and answered—they shall ever be your strength and your comfort. This I hope—I believe, here at memory's end." -G'raha Tia
The goal of the project
As I've said above, lot of DREAMEND/The Unisphere is rooted in symbolism. Things that happen or characters that exist within it are representative of things that have happened in my life. Oroitz, for example, symbolizes my depression.
In a way, this world is my way of coping, or a different way of showing myself, messy as I may be.
I'd love to down the line make it into a novel or a D&D campaign since in the past I've had a few friends say they've dreamt of the places I describe. It would be lovely to have such a living breathing world be put into a form others can interact with, rather than just hear about it and see my collection of doodles inspired by it.
The Unisphere's Unique Selling point
It comes from my dreams, anything could happen, and at the same time it makes this world entirely me, because most of what I dream is symbolic of a part of myself.
Theme
Genre
Fantasy, post-apocalptic. There is high-tech and space-age stuff, but at the present time within the world, they are relics of the past, as life has been knocked back to the stone age so to speak. Think of it like how some people muse about traveling back in time with a gun to freak medieval peasants out- or how giving a victorian era boy a dorito would kill them. That level of sci-fi and silliness.
Reader Experience
Equal parts mystical and terrifying. It's a dream, but sometimes it can be a nightmare.
Character Agency
Since I'm the one dreaming it, and I have a majority of the power to influence it, that would make me the main character. I say majority since there are things I CAN'T change no matter how hard I try. But compared to others, if a friend of mine appeared there, they'd have no way of changing the world, since it isn't theirs.