Dream-walking
Researched by Ilphere
Dream-walking, by M. Ruchard Rademacher, submitted for consideration to the Masters of the Castalia in 1720. Accepted, with honours.
- Begins by recapping the debate over whether there is truly a plane of Dream, or merely a multitude of temporary individual dreamscapes. Ruchard's conclusion was that there are temporary demi-planes created by every dreamer, and a central, permanent place from which dreams spring, which he called the Eye of Dream. In the temporary demi-planes, what we call dreams, people do not naturally enter physically, only mentally, and death or damage does no harm to their actual body. The Eye of Dream, however, is a different matter - Ruchard believed that damage sustained there, even if the individual was not physically present, could potentially result in actual physical death.
- There are two things meant by 'dream travel'. The first is travel in the material plane that is accomplished through physically entering the Eye of Dream, much in the way that one may travel through the astral plane, for instance. The caster may take other people along, depending on his or her skill, but may only remain in the Eye of Dream for a limited time, a few hours perhaps, certainly less than a day, before returning to the material plane. The travel accomplished can be incredible - perhaps as much as five miles in the material plane for every minute spent in the dream. This is a very powerful and rare spell.
- However, Ruchard had also uncovered a previously-unknown spell called "dream-walking", which is what his treatise primarily concerns itself with, and which he describes in detail. It is able to be cast by a sorcerer of middling power (i.e. it's a 4th level spell ;). He or she can also bring along companions, up to eight. The caster must be able to see a person who is dreaming, and be within a short distance of him/her, in order to enter his/her particular temporary dreamscape. The caster and any companions are physically transported into the demi-plane of that individual's dream. The spell is instantaneous, thus it does not end and bring the traveller(s) back after some appointed duration - for this reason alone, Ruchard proclaimed the spell dangerous, due to the possibility of being lost in dreams. When the dreamer awakens, his/her dreamscape will disappear, and Ruchard believed that if that happens, any travellers within that dream would be immediately sucked into the Eye of Dream, to who knows what fate.
- Ruchard also suggested that individuals, perhaps even those without magical capability, can learn, with difficulty, to manipulate and move through dreams, a phenomenon he called 'lucid dreaming'. He believed that the demi-plane dreamscapes, though temporary, were interconnected, and that by mastering lucid dreaming one could learn to travel between them, whether when one was actually dreaming, or travelling as part of the dream-walking spell.
- A final note: Ruchard cautioned that physically traveling in a dreamscape has many similarities to dreaming naturally. The dreamscape may change around you in strange ways, figures you encounter may behave in bizarre or alarming fashion - even you yourself may undergo changes that would never occur in your waking life. Your spells or abilities may not work as expected, your appearance may be altered, your very personality and spirit may be changed. After all, it is a dream - just one that's solid enough to kill you. Upon returning to the waking world, however, you should return to your normal appearance/behaviour/abilities.
