Dreamwalking
From Mizahar Lore
| "All the truths of the world are found within The Chavena. It is like a great and powerful library with no organization and no way to easily track its contents. It contains everything that ever was written down only in the language of truth. The Dreamwalkers are the librarians, curious and bold, that are not afraid to see the world for what it is, nor are they afraid to come face to face with what lies deeply in the hearts of people. They hold no false delusions of sacrifice or honor, for the world is made up of very selfish individuals - one and all. The evidence is written in the chavi where anyone with the ability to read and desire to know can see. And no matter how many changes the Dreamwalker's make to the reality of the world, the truth never ceases to exist. It is etched forever in the first layer, the original grain, of the pathways of energy stretching from the Ukalas to the Mortal World." - Vulci Trivanti, "Champion of Nysel" |
| Gnosis | |
 I sleep cradled in Nysels arms snuggled into the Chavena, lost in the wonder of your enchanted dreams. | |
| Granted by | Nysel |
|---|---|
| Positive marks | Exploring the Chavena and Individual Chavi |
| Negative marks | None |
| Pos. mark appearance | A twisted fractal-like design often elegantly colored or patterned. |
| Neg. mark appearance | None |
| Mark location | Any |
| First mark | Any Age During RP |
| Champion | None |
Dreamwalking is the gnosis granted by Nysel that allows a mortal to tap into the chavena and expertly navigate its essence to accomplish specific tasks. This gnosis is often mistakenly interpreted as dream manipulation. While partially true, the altering of dreams is just a very basic part of this gnosis ability. Dreamwalkers (sometimes called Dreamers for short) have the ability to tap into the chavi of other people – even strangers – and can then view, insert, or withdraw information according to their own personal desires. In addition, Dreamwalkers are capable of performing other highly useful acts which encompass a whole host of abilities that go beyond the simple manipulation of an individuals chavi itself. Nysel considers Dreamwalking his personal gift to the world of mortals, but does not lay out standards of usage for his followers. Being a dual natured God, his followers - The Dreamwalkers - naturally fall into both benevolent and malevolent categories, with the vast majority of Dreamers filling out the ranks somewhere in between either state. Dreamwalking has no natural counter yet developed and has only other dreamwalkers (and Nysel) to regulate their activities.
Contents |
The Chavena
Between the Ukalas, the divine realm of the gods, and the mortal realm where Mizahar resides, there exists a thin radiating corona created by all the life within the Mortal Realm being loosely and lightly tied to the Ukalas. It is within this delicate weave of energy that the God Nysel has claimed his power and mastered its structure. The chavena is not just a singular entity. It is best described as a complex root system anchoring all life in the mortal realm solidly to the divine realm. The chavena is vast, made up of individual chavi that bend and twist around one another on their journey to the Ukalas. The chavi are in constant motion, spiraling, drifting, weaving... and are breathtakingly beautiful to behold in the darkness between the mortal world and the divine. Sometimes these individual chavi touch (for a brief instant, a lifetime, or for any length of time in between), brushing up against one another, impacting those chavi adjacent, and creating a huge entangled web of thoughts, feelings, and experiences all stored that can be later accessed (via dreams) by those that own the chavi. Since these chavi are in constant motion, these areas of connectedness are constantly changing, creating new realities moment by moment. It is for this reason that people close to one another – family, friends, lovers – often share the same dreams or pick up on worries another has, especially while sleeping. Sometimes, they are even known to share the same dreams.
Scholars have speculated that all knowledge, all truth, and all things that have ever existed in the world are evident (and most likely deeply buried) in the chavena. It is for this reason that the chavena is sometimes called The Chavic Records. Other disciplines, both magical and divine (like Divination, Webbing, and Lykata), can access the chavena, but no other gnosis except for Dreamwalking, can truly master it in a complex deliberate way.
Make no mistake though; The chavena is a dangerous place to the untrained and unaware. It can be deadly even to those skilled and accustomed to traversing its dynamic structure. It’s pathways and secrets are jealously guarded, and while it holds no denizens of its own, the chavi that make up The chavena produce their own sorts of horrors. To traverse the chavena, you must pass through tens of thousands of chavi - millions even - and they house the nightmares and dreams of that which spawned them. It is incredibly easy for a Dreamwalker to get tangled up in the chavi of another and not be able to retreat and find their way back to their own. Getting lost can mean a long and agonizing death for if one’s spirit does not return to ones body, the body will fall into a coma and pass from the world from starvation (unless cared for) and disuse. And if the body should perish (through treachery, accident, etc) while the dreamer is away from it, there is nothing for the spirit to return to and it will loose itself. Lost spirits do not remain in the chavena. They slide from the mortal realm into Dira’s arms, and eventually onto Lhex for judgment.
There are no structures, denizens, or landmarks within the chavena. However, there are structures bound on the mortal world that can assist a dreamwalker or even a normal individual not gifted with Nysel's gnosis in seeing the chavena and indeed in viewing their own personal chavi. These structures are Nysel's Temples, and when visiting them, it is easy to get a sense of how the God of Dreams is truly the ultimate Dreamwalker with abilities that even eclipse his own champions. Unfortunately, due to his nature, most Gods and Goddesses do not trust Nysel and often hold no love for his dreamwalkers either. They feel his manipulation of the chavena is unnatural and intrusive.
The Chavi
The chavi, simply put, are the entirety of the experiences of a single living creature collected in a weave of colorful energy that links that same living creature between the mortal realm and the divine realm like an umbilical cord. Chavi house memories, thoughts, fears, expectations, all blended together in a branching strand of energy that looks more like a tangle of beautiful geometric shapes and lights that drifts and undulates like the tentacles of a jellyfish - refracting light and creating an incredible space of beauty. Dreams are fueled by experiences and are often just the beautiful interaction of a person’s mind with the delicate upper layers of the Ukalas. Dreams take their substance from the contents of the chavi, with the newest or most dramatic knowledge stored often being the most prominent. Most Dreamwalkers believe that chavi are almost entities unto themselves and that dreams are the conversations they have with the mortals to whom they belong. This is reinforced by the fact that when a living thing dies, its chavi does not cease to exist. Rather it becomes fainter, muted, and disconnected at one end. Dreamwalkers often believe that if a person is reincarnated again, they relink to their old chavi and resume adding to its collective knowledge.
Each chavi is different, in both the way they look and what they contain. Not all Chavi are created equal. Some are faint and weak while others ripple with power. When a living creature dies and becomes a spirit, their Chavi continues to exist, but becomes faint and treacherous to navigate and almost impossible to manipulate. While conversely, beings of great intelligence - Gods and Goddesses - hold great power in the form of advanced, forbidden, or long forgotten knowledge. These chavi take considerable favor from Nysel to navigate. It is also possible to encounter a chavi that belongs to a greater being - and that in itself can be terrifying for their dreams, memories, and expectations can be more than a simple mortal awareness can absorb or manipulate. Chavi’s of more powerful Dreamwalkers can seem intimidating and protected to lesser Dreamwalkers. Within the chavena, there is no standards and no equality.
It is thought by Dreamwalkers that deities use chavi to track their mortal followers and that gnosis marks act as a sort of beacon for those deities to easily locate the ones they’ve marked.
To a well-skilled Dreamwalker, all the chavi are different. An outside might stare at the beauty of two different chavi but be unable to tell them apart. Dreamwalkers can easily distinguish differences in color and shape. They can often determine 'nature' before even touching a chavi. Dreamwalkers can see unique color combinations and can identify obvious reoccurring geometric patterns. These patterns store the individual information of each living thing the chavi is connected too. The identity of a chavi’s true owner is never altogether easy to determine unless the contents of the chavi are viewed carefully. Names can be determined from the memory of a mother calling a child to dinner. Appearance can also be discerned by combing through memories until a Dreamwalker finds one that involves the chavi’s owner looking into a silvered glass or clear lake. To a well-skilled Dreamwalker, no knowledge is sacred if the person who the dreamwalker suspects knows it - actually does.
With the knowledge Dreamwalkers have access too comes great responsibility. It is one of the reasons that Nysel limits the amount of people he marks at any significant level. And while he doesn’t favor the dark nor the light, his generally neutral dreamers carry significant power within them to do great good or great evil when he places his trust in them. For this reason alone the Dreamwalkers keep quiet about their identity and their abilities. It is incredibly rare for someone to know the true meaning of a mark from Nysel. And when the knowledge is released, it is not uncommon for the Dreamwalker to turn up dead if they are discovered. Nysel has powerful enemies. People respect their privacy and are generally horrified when rumors surface hinting at either the existence of Dreamwalkers or the possibility of what they can actually do. Dreamwalkers, in the very literal sense, are the ultimate voyeurs. .
Locating Chavi
The single easiest chavi to locate is ones own. Instinctually, one can always find their own chavi when entering the chavena which is as simple as passing from the waking state to the stage of sleep where dreams are possible. It gets harder to find ones way ‘back’ to their own chavi once in the chavena, but it is possible with focus. When a dreamer focuses on finding their own way home, deep concentration of their spirit will cause their chavi to flare brightly acting as a beacon with which they can more easily navigate the tangle of other people’s chavi to find their way home.
Exploring is simple, yet dangerous, especially if a Dreamwalker has no set chavi or destination in mind. It is not uncommon for Dreamwalkers to encounter chavi’s and learn an incredible amount of information about a complete stranger just out of curiosity, and then later, back in the mortal world, dedicate their life to finding the owner of the chavi just to meet them in the flesh.
Finding a specific person’s chavi, however, can be difficult.
The chavena has no boundaries that are easily discernible from within it. Life is constantly shifting in the mortal realm, and so to does the Chavi that make up the chavena. No single chavi will be the in same place for very long. There are no landmarks or visual clues to navigate the chavena. It is a place awash with colored weaves that dance back and forth like some fantastical energetic kelp bed, with fronds drifting in the current. A Dreamwalker must have a key, especially at lower levels, to find what they are looking for when they are seeking out specific chavi. Keys are simply things that belong to the person whose chavi they are looking for. A key can be a piece of hair, a scarf carefully retrieved after it has been sneezed into, a letter with a glossy set of lips having been pressed into it to prove the senders affection towards the received. Anything that once belonged to the person or thing who’s chavi is being sought (blood, tears, sweat, hair) will suffice as a key. Dreamwalkers with a third mark do not need keys any longer, and can indeed start exploring some of the more powerful chavi’s and manipulating them.
Manipulating Chavi
The manipulation of chavi is a complex and delicate thing. By reading the strands of energetic light that make up the chavi, a Dreamwalker can take in all the information that the owner of the chavi knows. This is considered ‘viewing’ chavi. This doesn’t mean they can retain what they see or understand it completely, especially if the knowledge they view is fully alien to their education or way of thinking. They cannot absorb skills or language knowledge this way unless they take the opportunity to slowly review the information, retreat from the Chaven, practice what they have learned in the mortal realm, go back into the chavena and learn a little more, withdraw and practice repeatedly until full instruction has occurred. In this way, Dreamwalkers can tap knowledge’s long lost (if they know who had them and had a key) or stumbled upon them in the immense tangle of the chavena.
A Dreamwalker can also carefully conceal information that exists on a chavi (but not permanently erase it), twist information (alter events/memories), or add false information to the energetic strands of the chavi through careful study and manipulation. This translates into altering memories, implanting false ones, or removing them completely. A person with a tampered chavi will have different dreams, than they would have before the tampering, and indeed would remember incidents how the dreamwalker wanted them to remember rather than how they really happened. Other dreamwalkers viewing a tampered with chavi can often times spot the tampering and alter the ‘work’ back to its original state.
First, chavi manipulation is carried out by simply blending the Dreamwalkers energy with the energy of the chavi they are wishing to manipulate. They then infuse themselves with the target’s chavi itself, reviewing the material it contains, and changing it through the force of their will (much like a child uses their imagination). This happens by concentrating on altering details and changing facts, which then lays down a new set of memories over the old. These manipulations must be restricted to the areas of expertise the Dreamwalker is familiar with or else they run the risk of the memories seeming hazy or phony for the owner. At best a uneducated manipulation will seem like a ridiculous day dream for the target who most likely will ignore the new memory and tap into the one beneath. A non-healer should never attempt to plant a memory of being ‘healed’ in someone’s mind unless they have a decent amount of knowledge in medicine, gnosis marks of healing, or have experienced a similar injury and subsequent healing themselves. The same could be said for non-swordsman trying to dreamwalk and alter a swordsman’s memories of a sword fight. Without proper knowledge, Dreamwalkers run the risk of bordering on stupid when they lay down false memories.
Dreamwalkers, through this ability, have an enormous capacity for healing – especially erasing traumatic events from the victim’s memory. They also have a tremendous capacity to abuse the unsuspecting by infusing them with false memories. For example, a unscrupulous Dreamwalker could plant a false memory of a person owing them a gambling debt then show up in reality to collect the money from them after returning from the chavena.
Dreamwalkers can always spot tampering by other dreamwalkers and reverse it if the dreamwalker’s gnosis marks are of equal or lesser value than their own.
Dreams & Dreamscapes
Although somewhat deceptive, the term Dreamwalking truly refers to the viewing and manipulating of the Chavi. Dreamwalkers enter the Chavena through sleeping and dreaming. They can bring others into their dreams as well as a way of taking the to view individual Chavi. Only Dreamwalkers can truly see the Chavena and the individual chavi. Others, escorted or manipulated by the dreamwalkers see only the chavena in the way the dreamwalker wishes them too. These views are called Dreamscapes. Dreamwalkers can create whole landscapes that are very real within the chavena for other non-dreamwalkers to exist within. Dreamers and dreamwalkers cannot exist within the dreamscape for overly long periods of time. Their bodies must eat, drink, wake up, and function. If they do not, they often die on the dreamscape and their bodies decay on the material. Wounds received on the Dreamscape become real in the material. Death in the Dreamscape equates to death on the Material. Non-Dreamwalkers cannot find or remain in dreamscapes without the presence of the dreamwalker. Each Dreamwalker has a slightly different dreamscape, though all of them use dreamscapes for the same thing - to play out the events (and potentially alter them) as they are recorded on the Chavi. It is as if they translate the patterns of the Chavi into a form most non-dreamwalkers can process inside their minds. They seem to manipulate time and space randomly, painting the world for others and themselves. Dreamwalkers can represent the chavi and chavena for other dreamwalkers in the context of a dreamscape but higher level dreamwalkers can break the dreamscape to see the real chevena anytime they please. Dreamwalkers can meet each other on on the Chevena in dreamscapes and converse and exchange information at will. The Chavena where all the Chavi exist is a realm that can be manipulated by dreamwalkers.
Other Abilities
At three and four marks, Dreamwalkers can infuse an individual’s chavi with a complex set of false memories – or unrelated memories - designed to trick the victim (much like a coiled spring ready to be sprung) into altering their behavior under certain circumstances – usually instant and instinctual. These conditions cannot be simple something like ‘you see your mother’ and so you should ‘kill your mother’. Complex Manipulations must be concealed in tiny pieces or stages – little cogs in a clockwork mechanism - rather must be direct. These complex manipulations are often disguised in a more complex series of events, depending upon special circumstances, and are almost always extremely effective. These complex chavi manipulations or ‘traps’ are called geis’. Geis’ are very special conditions (if that, then this – if that, then this now – etc) that a dreamwalker can set up in a seemingly innocent manner that will cause a person under the influence of a dreamwalkers geis to ‘react’ the way the dreamwalker wants them too given the right circumstances. Geis’ can be powerful healing tools as well as dangerous manipulations. A Dreamwalker can literally weave a false memory on a person’s chavi so that every time they crave alcohol, they remember being incredibly ill to their stomach, hence often times curing themselves of their alcoholism and craving. Geis’ can be incredibly dangerous too – causing normally peaceful people have violent reactions or develop overwhelming emotions – especially of hate or despair. This is especially true if a geis is established in a chavi and then gets repeatedly (even nightly sometimes) reinforced by nightmares, false memories, and paranoia.
The more a Dreamwalker alters a chavi (especially in a negative way), the more ‘disturbed’ that chavi’s owner becomes. Mental instability is a very real possiblibility. Chavi’s can be so frequently and callously altered that the victims can often develop mental illness, paranoia, or deep rage. Reoccurring nightmares are one of the biggest drawbacks to over massaged and over manipulated chavi. There is no way to permanently erase a chavi from existence. There is also ALWAYS a way to revert a chavi back to its original state, removing the layers of manipulation done either to plant a geis or cause false memories. It simply takes a Dreamwalker of equal or greater mark numbers to undo the work.
Dreamwalkers are also well able to take ‘guests’ with them into the chavi. Those guests must be thoroughly asleep in the mortal realm in close proximity to the Dreamwalker. Once the dreamwalker enters the Chavena, he or she can then search out the chavi (normally close) of the person wishing to accompany the Dreamwalker. With a dreamwalker’s guidance, these ‘escorted guests’ can view other chavi and aid the Dreamwalker into altering the target chavi if manipulation is necessary. This assistance comes in the form of the dreamwalker letting the guests imagination link with their own when ‘reweaving’ the knowledge on a chavi.
Mark Progression
Nysel gives no negative gnosis marks for he has a tendency to use those that oppose him as 'training aids' when breaking in new Dreamwalkers.
| Marked [Cursed] - 1 Gnosis Mark | |
| Dreamwalkers can enter the chavena by using their own chavi. They can view the contents of their chavi and perform simple manipulations of the information therein. They can randomly explore the chavena and whatever random chavi they come across. They can then find their way back to their own chavi after such explorations. Dreamwalkers can seek out and find the chavi of specific individuals using a ‘key’. Once located, outside chavi’s can only be viewed, but not manipulated whatsoever. They can tell if another Dreamwalker has touched their own chavi and how it was manipulated. This manipulation on their own chavi can be easily reversed if the level of Dreamwalker that preformed the manipulation has the same or lesser number of Nysel's gnosis marks. The work of more powerful dreamwalkers (ones with more marks) is not reversible, though the meddling can still be identified. Dreamwalkers marked with Nysel’s first Gnosis Mark must lay down and relax to sleep before entering the chavi. It takes them, once asleep, approximately a half-hour to enter the chavi and begin their dreamwalk. Entering the chavi is as easy as entwining ones awareness with their own chavi and tracing it back to the chavena, much like following a pathway or trail. All dreamwalkers instinctively can touch their own chavi and follow it either to the chavena or find it again once adrift in the wash of chavi therein. Dreamwalkers at this stage can build, manipulate, and maintain their own dreamscapes. They can bring others to them as well. | |
| Favored [Despised] - 2 Gnosis Marks | |
| Dreamwalkers favored by Nysel can manipulate the chavi of others by adding, subtracting, or manipulating a chavi's present content. They can identify past manipulations of other’s chavi. If desired, Dreamwalkers can retrieve lost sections of their own chavi, or ‘reset’ their own chavi to their ‘natural’ or ‘original’ state (as long as an equal or lesser level dreamwalker performed the manipulation). Dreamwalkers can clearly identify altered chavi, what its original content was, and who did the alteration. If they come across a chavi that’s been altered and identify the person who altered it, they can find that other Dreamwalkers chavi without the use of a personal effect or key. Dreamwalkers still need to use a 'key' to find other non-Dreamwalker chavi. Dreamwalkers can enter the chavena with only a few moments of meditation or within seconds of drifting off to sleep. They can also locate and view the chavi of the dead, though they cannot manipulate it. | |
| Priest/Priestess [Adversary] - 3 Gnosis Marks | |
| Priests and priestesses of Nysel have the ability to pull a willing individual’s awareness (as if they were a Dreamwalker themselves) into that individual's chavi and help them them to walk around the chavena ‘escorted’ by the Dreamwalker. They still must use a 'key' to locate the willing participants chavi, and that participant must be fully asleep to enter the chaven with the dreamwalker. This is called ‘escorting’. Dreamwalkers must locate the chavi of those they intend to 'escort' before they can pull these willing participants into the chavena with them. The individual non-Dreamwalker can then examine their own chavi as if they were a Dreamwalker, but they can not manipulate it. If the Dreamwalker allows it, the visitor can aid in the Dreamwalker in the manipulation of their own or another’s chavi by adding their expertise and imagination to the vision the dreamwalker must create to manipulate something outside their expertise. Called 'borrowing' this allows a dreamwalker to do complex manipulations that might otherwise be outside of their abilities due to their skillset and knowledge. These 'escorted' guests can only aid a Dreamwalker while linked to trice marked Dreamwalker. For example a jeweler might be ‘escorted’ into their chavi by a dreamwalker and then into someone else’s chavi to help the Dreamwalker reinforce the memory of a wealthy merchant having had his wife’s expensive rings and broaches replaced by inexpensive glass so if she is robbed, he will easily give the things over to a highwayman rather than fight for worthless glass and perhaps risk his life needlessly. The reality would be that the memories are false and that the gemstones in the jewelry were still very much real. The danger in 'borrowing' someone else's expertise in chavi manipulation is that first, the Dreamwalker must reveal themselves to the person they escort (since to borrow the person must be present to make sure the memories are absolutely correct), and then they reveal their abilities. This is something rarely done, though possible. Dreamwalkers can manipulate the chavi of the dead and locate the chavi of those creatures more powerful than they are (even Alvina and Deities) for viewing. Dreamwalkers with three marks can instantly access the Chavena, simply by closing their eyes and letting their awareness slide down into themselves - down deep into the Chavena via their chavi. This process takes no more than a heartbeat but leaves their 'vacant' body vulnerable. Often they will appear as if they are sleeping standing up (or sitting in a chair, etc). | |
| Champion [Nemesis] - 4 Gnosis Marks | |
| Champions of Nysel have almost unlimited capacities for locating and manipulating chavi. Champions still require 'keys' to locate specific chavi. There are no restrictions on what chavi they can or can’t manipulate, but they are quite conscious of the attention they might draw to themselves if they mess with a powerful creature's chavi. Champions can 'escort’ multiple folks into the Chavena and keep track of them (normally by keeping them all together) with ease. They can lay geis’ with very little thought, and can - if given enough concentration - locate every Dreamwalker active on the chavena instantly, regardless of where they are. They can access the chavena while fully awake and without even blinking or having appeared to have 'left' their form. | |
Additional Notes
Keys are extremely important when looking for a specific chavi. Without a 'key' an individual chavi is virtually impossible to discover, and once discovered impossible to relocated again if separated from. They must ALWAYS be biological (hair, tissue, blood, bones) and directly from the person who's chavi, they are looking for. Without a key, looking for a specific chavi in the expanse of the chavena is like looking for a specific grain of sand in a vast beach that stretches out for hundreds of miles. There is very little, if any, chance a dreamwalker will succeed. They would have an easier time just exploring random chavi they come across. For example, if one wanted to look at Galifer Odalah's memories of the Valterrian, they would have to have a key to his chavi to find it. Since he was involved and at the heart of the Valterrian, there's no possible chance a key for him would still exist, thus a search would have to be conducted of the chaven randomly. A Dreamwalker could spend several lifetimes looking and never come close to finding it. However, if he wrote all his important texts in his own hand, with ink made from his blood (which was somewhat common for mages in his time though Galifer was no mage thus no blood ink), then if one located one of those books, even after all that time had passed, the Dreamwalker would have the key to find his chavi. Such things are rare though.
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Out of character note: Nysel's Gnosis Marks cannot be granted at character creation. Nysel is extremely picky as to whom he marks and thus its important that a PC do some extensive rp before they try to gain Nysel's attention or attend to his faith. |
Mark acquisition threads
| First mark | ||
 | We Dream In Color But We Live In Black And White | First mark acquisition for Kavala. |
 | I Call You Back To Me. | First mark acquisition for Caelum. |
 | Marked and Charged | First mark acquisition for Kelski. |
| Second mark | ||
 | The Stars In His Eyes. The Stars In His Hands. | Second mark acquisition for Chemar Tisserand |
| Third mark |
| Fourth mark |