Dreamlands

The Dreamlands is an ethereal plane that exists parallel to the waking world, a place shaped and sustained by the collective dreams of sentient beings across countless worlds, including Phoor. Within its shifting boundaries, dreamers can live entire lifetimes over the course of a single night. Here, time is malleable, and the laws of reality are but faint suggestions.

Entering the Dreamlands

For most, the Dreamlands can only be accessed in slumber, their presence existing as fragile echoes of their waking selves. Yet for the few who master potent magics, it is possible to step into the realm physically. This transformation grants an unusual form of immortality, as the Dreamlands exists outside the temporal flow of the Material Plane. A lifetime in the Dreamlands might span mere moments in the waking world, or centuries might pass in an instant.

Such is the fate of Vel Serath, a wizard of The Arcane Octad, who sought refuge in the Dreamlands to escape the relentless pursuit of the shadowy hunter, Van Droth. Vel Serath now roams its endless expanses, wielding both great influence and growing paranoia as the Dreamlands' unpredictable tides hide enemies both imagined and real.

The Fabric of the Dreamlands

The Dreamlands is a world of infinite variety, divided into realms, cities, seas, and a vast Underworld. Its geography shifts and morphs, yet stable landmarks emerge where the dreams of powerful beings anchor them. These landmarks include:

The City of Oonai, where ivory towers gleam under a perpetual sunset.
The Forest of Zoogs, a sprawling woodland filled with intelligent, mischievous creatures who trade secrets and stolen trinkets.
The Great Abyss, where the cyclopean ruins of Gugs and Ghasts rise from the depths of nightmares.

The Underworld is a labyrinthine expanse beneath the Dreamlands, filled with ancient secrets, unspeakable horrors, and treasures unimaginable. Here, the Men of Leng construct their jewel markets, trading rare and otherworldly goods with those brave enough to risk their company.

Dreamshapers and Created Realms

The most adept dreamers can shape the Dreamlands, creating realms of breathtaking beauty or dreadful terror. These dreamshapers act as gods within their domains, though their creations are often fleeting, succumbing to the whims of stronger dreamers or the chaotic tides of the Dreamlands.

Cities and civilizations rise and fall as dreamers' visions fade or evolve. Some parts of the Dreamlands remain stable over millennia, anchored by the collective subconscious of millions, while others shift like sand with every passing thought.

Inhabitants

The inhabitants of the Dreamlands are as varied as its landscapes. Some are dreamers, visiting the realm temporarily, while others are permanent residents born of the plane itself. These "petitioners" live lives reminiscent of those on the Material Plane, unaware they exist within a dream.

However, dangers abound:

The Men of Leng: These enigmatic traders, with their goat-like hooves and sinister intentions, often deal in rare and cursed wares. Their ships sail the Seas of Sleep, bridging the gap between the Dreamlands and other planes, including Phoor.
Zoogs: Small, clever creatures that inhabit the forests and trade in secrets, often speaking in riddles.
Moon-Beasts: Horrifying entities with slug-like bodies and pale, eyeless faces. They serve as agents of the Great Old Ones, spreading their inscrutable wills.
Gugs and Ghasts: Terrifying denizens of the Underworld, with the former towering over most creatures and the latter thriving in filth and decay.
Great Old Ones: Ancient, incomprehensible entities whose presence bends reality itself. To encounter them is to risk madness.

Connections to Phoor and Beyond

The Dreamlands are deeply intertwined with Phoor and other prime material worlds. It is whispered that the Men of Leng facilitate these connections, ferrying goods and knowledge between the planes. Some of the most fearsome monsters of Phoor trace their origins to the Dreamlands, slipping through the tenuous barriers between worlds.

Monsters like moon-beasts and Great Old Ones serve as harbingers of the Dreamlands’ influence on Phoor. Likewise, dreamers who spend too much time within the Dreamlands might bring back fragments of its strange energy, altering their minds or granting them arcane powers.

The Threat of Van Droth

Vel Serath’s nemesis, Van Droth, is a name whispered in both fear and awe. Little is known about this relentless pursuer, save that his existence challenges even the fabric of the Dreamlands. Whether Van Droth is a dreamer, a native of the plane, or something far more sinister remains a mystery. What is certain is that Vel Serath’s presence within the Dreamlands is precarious at best, and his continued survival is a delicate dance amidst the realm’s ever-changing dangers.

The Dreamlands stands as a realm of wonder and peril, where the boundaries of creation and destruction blur, and where every dream might become a nightmare—or a legend.

The Ziggurats of Atlach-Nacha

On Phoor, the Ziggurats of Atlach-Nacha, such as the White Ziggurat of Atlach-Nacha, serve as tangible gateways to the Dreamlands, intricately tied to the vast web spun by the Spinner in Darkness. Each of the nine ziggurats scattered across the world houses a Spinning Nexus, a glowing spiral of strands that hums with cosmic energy. These nexuses are threads of Atlach-Nacha’s web, connecting the waking world of Phoor to the Dreamlands through an ethereal bridge.

The White Ziggurat in the ruins of Nirnaeth is one such gateway. Though overgrown by jungle, its apex remains clear, channeling energy from the Abyss into the sky, reinforcing the delicate threads of the web. Those who reach the nexus can step directly into the Dreamlands, their consciousness transported across the strands. However, the journey is fraught with danger, as the web is not merely a bridge but a place of its own, inhabited by entities that guard or prey upon travelers.

Accessing the Dreamlands

To traverse the ziggurat’s nexus into the Dreamlands, one must perform a specific ritual, typically under the guidance of the Driders of Atlach-Nacha or another cultist aligned with the Spinner in Darkness. The ritual involves:

Attuning to the Nexus: The traveler must stand within the Spinning Nexus and allow its threads to wrap their consciousness, a process that requires intense focus and fortitude (Wisdom saving throw DC 15).
Opening the Bridge: A blood sacrifice, often symbolic but sometimes literal, activates the nexus, linking the dreamer’s mind to the Dreamlands. The sacrifice is often interpreted as an offering to balance the transfer of energy between realms.
Crossing the Web: As the portal opens, the traveler’s mind is drawn into Atlach-Nacha’s web, a liminal space between Phoor and the Dreamlands. Navigating the web requires willpower and purpose, lest the traveler become ensnared by the Spinner’s threads or lost to the void.

Dangers and Mysteries

The Dreamlands is not a haven. Though it holds beauty and wonder, it is also a realm of unknowable horrors and shifting dangers. Time flows irregularly; a moment in the Dreamlands might span days in Phoor, or vice versa. The very act of entering the Dreamlands risks attracting the attention of its denizens, from benign dream-creatures to predatory nightmares and powerful entities that see mortal visitors as intrusions.

The web pathways accessed through the ziggurats are equally perilous. Traversing Atlach-Nacha’s threads can awaken slumbering guardians, summon cosmic predators, or unravel the traveler’s psyche. Even successful journeys often leave subtle marks on the traveler, changes in their thoughts or behavior as the Dreamlands cling to their minds.

Significance of the Dreamlands

To the Webborn of Atlach-Nacha and their Order, the Dreamlands is not merely an alternate dimension but a necessary counterpart to Phoor. They argue that the Dreamlands provides mortals with the dreams and inspiration necessary to maintain their sanity and purpose, while Phoor offers the Dreamlands structure and stability. This symbiosis, maintained by Atlach-Nacha’s web, is essential for the balance of both realms.

To others, particularly the priests of the New Gods, the Dreamlands is a dangerous anomaly, its connection to Phoor a looming threat that could shatter the waking world if the web is completed. To warlocks and seekers of forbidden knowledge, the Dreamlands is a treasure trove of inspiration and arcane power, albeit one riddled with traps for the unwary.

For all its perils, the Dreamlands remains a place of endless possibility, a realm where dreamers and travelers alike might shape their destinies—or be unmade by them.