Parallel Worlds
There is a realm that is separate but also intrinsically tied to our world known as The Dreamlands. Every so often, when we sleep, we are transported to this marvelous and overwhelming place. It is tempting to think of the Dreamlands as an ephemeral dimension only in one’s mind—a place unreal and thus inconsequential. However, the Dreamlands is a very real place, albeit not real in a sense widely recognized by modern scientific or philosophical thought. But it is real and what happens there matters…More so than we can even begin to imagine.
A Journey into Dreams
When one is dreaming, they might just notice the Steps of Lighter Slumber, tucked away in a corner of an otherwise normal dream. These steps are the entrance into the Dreamlands. After descending these stairs, the dreamer must then pass through the Cavern of the Flame to fully enter the Dreamlands.
As a dreamer makes their way into the Dreamlands, they become aware of their ability to exercise some control over their surroundings. The reality of the Dreamlands is somewhat malleable. A dreamer can occasionally manipulate small details on themselves, such as their own clothing or equipment. Exceedingly powerful dreamers can reshape whole parts of the Dreamlands with their desires and intentions, often without at first realizing it; such is the case with the city of Celephaïs, which was created, complete with its population, by the dreams of King Kuranes.
If a dreamer dies in the Dreamlands, they are jolted awake, safe in the waking world; however, they can never return to the Dreamlands, intentionally or otherwise. Their dream-self is dead. Conversely, dreamers whose waking self has died can become permanent inhabitants of the Dreamlands.
A Realm of Many Lands
Though the Dreamlands is ever changing, there are certain constants to its geography and peoples. It’s a flat realm, in the sense that it has edges at certain points that confirm it is not a globe like the waking Earth. Within this flat land you will find recognizable elements of cultures, technologies, plants and animals that we know in the waking world. Alongside these recognizable aspects, though, are what we would consider fantasy: mythical creatures, ancient gods, enchanted blades, giant monsters, and ships that sail between the stars. And even then, there are denizens of the Dreamlands beyond even the boundless imagination of the dreaming human mind.
The Dreamlands is roughly divided into four regions: the North, the South, the East, and the West. Each with their own distinct histories, economics and cultures.
The West has the largest human population of the Dreamlands’ regions and where the Steps of Lighter Slumber terminate so most dreamers visit the West first and foremost.
The South encompasses the Southern Sea and the many islands within it. One part of the South, the Fantastic Realms, is so called because the lands within it defy fundamental laws of nature, with oft-horrifying results.
The East is sparsely inhabited, with the population focused in the city of Celephaïs. Beyond Celephaïs is the dangerous region called the Forbidden Lands.
The North is a similarly foreboding place. There, inland, across onyx quarries and a mountain range, is the expansive Plateau of Leng, a barren, frigid waste inhabited only by satyr-like Men of Leng, carnivorous shantaks, and the occasional giant, man-eating spider.
Below the Dreamlands sits The Underworld. It resembles dark, subterranean places of the dead from myth and legend. The Underworld itself has multiple levels, descending through cramped caves, vast caverns, jagged crevices, and underground necropolises.
