Dreamwalker

To the majority of the folk of Cartyrion, the monks of the Temple of Twilight Dreams are a secretive and mysterious lot. The very existance of the order is practially unheard of in the frontier lands and the Feywood, and only slightly better known in the Kingdoms region.

For most, knowledge of the order begins and ends with the fact that it consists of folk of hybrid Alev-Human heritage that have the ability to interpret dreams. Both these things are true, but there is much more to being a monk in the order. It takes time for them to master the arts that they are taught; it may even take a lifetime to reach the highest level of achievement: recognition as a Dreamwalker.

While it may mean little or nothing to outsiders, to those within the order, achievement of this recognition is the highest honor one can aspire to.

Form of Address

Dreamwalker

Length of Term

Lifetime

Related Locations

• The Temple of Twilight Dreams

Related Organizations

• The Twilight Dreamers

Dreamwalking

Very early on in their teaching, monks of the order learn to evoke a dream state and to commune with the two deities they hold most dear: Somnion of the Humanar and Aurelana of the Alevar. Dreamwalkers, though, have gone far beyond this.

Not only can they induce a dreamstate for themselves, they can do so for another who is asleep. Furthermore, they have the ability to insert themselves into the dreams of another and interact with the target's "dream-self". Doing this requires extensive training that is obtainable only at the Temple of Twilight Dreams itself - a hidden place that only those who have achieved the lesser designation of Dreamreader can even hope to locate.

Members of the order believe that the gods often communicate with the folk of Cartyrion in dreams, but usually, the folk are not capable of discerning the true intent of the messages. Dreamreaders often use their abilities to observe another's dreams in order to help interpret what it is the gods are trying to say - or whether a particular dream is even a message in the first place. But Dreamwalkers can go further. They can act within the dreams, and in so doing perhaps draw out a hidden message or gain more clarity than the individual might have been able to manage alone. The most masterful also have the ability to link their own dreams in a way that allows another to experience the messages of Aurelana or Somnion that the Dreamwalker is receiving. Even in a dream, hearing a directive from one of the gods can be a powerful motivator of behavior.

Other Abilities

On a more secular note, one who is to be recognized as having achieved the level of Dreamwalker is also presumed to have mastered a number of fighting forms during their training. The monks use these forms not only for the practical purposes of defense and combat, but also as a physical and mental discipline; each has a ritualized "dance" that practices the particular strikes, defensive poses, and movements associated with the form. The forms are named for something in nature that calls to mind the "intent" of the moves involved. Dreamwalkers are expected to be quite proficient in the Ways of the Willow, the Heron, the Snake, the Wolf, the Oak, and the Swarm.

Hazards

Attempting to interact with another in the dreamstate is potentially dangerous. There is a real possibility of inducing temporary, or even permanent madness in the individual whose dreams are being manipulated. There is a possibility that the Dreamwalker becomes "lost" within the target's dream - there have been incidents where a target slew a dreamwalker within the dream, only to discover later that the dreamwalker had actually died.

Credits

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