The Dreamlands

Moderators: Shroom Man 777, Ford Prefect

Post Reply
User avatar
Malchus
Posts: 1257
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 7:05 am
Location: In a chibi-land, eating the brains of H. P. Wuvcwaft.
Contact:

The Dreamlands

Post by Malchus »

NOTE: My last transfer for tonight, lifted mostly unedited from OZ, including some of the middle and end parts which were copied from the Wiki article on the Dreamlands out of personal laziness on my part. Though they were changed to fit with my interpretation.


The Dreamlands

Those who suggest that the Great Old Ones were somehow forced into their current slumber, “sealed” somehow by some metaphysical magic mumbo jumbo or other, are speaking supreme utter buffalo feces. The Great Old Ones aren’t slumbering because they have been defeated by some epic past battle. No, they sleep because of one reason: they’re tired. I mean, you can only go around the universe doing acts of dickery for so long before you get really tuckered out. And since their last dickery playground was a planet called Earth, they carved out a massive bedroom in the bottom of the ocean (some call it R’lyeh) and promptly went to a really, really deep sleep. Understandable considering that the Great Old Ones have been awake, dicking around, for literally eons.

Anyway, as these ancient beings dozed off they dreamed. Being the powerful, god-like entities that they are, their dreams actually pooled together and physically manifested into an alternate dimension. This pocket dimension would later become known as the Dreamlands and, since it was created from the dreams of Ia Ia powerful beings that were snoozing on Earth, it intersected the Earth at certain areas.

The dimension is irregular compared to Earth and its intersection points with the planet are unevenly distributed. The Crosspoints that appear in these intersection areas either let things from the Deamlands pass on to Earth, or vice versa. It has also been suggested that the Dreamlands may also intersect the Earths in other alternate universes. This assertion has not, however, been proven yet.

The hottest intersection areas are in the oceans (probably due to the fact that R’lyeh is submerged) and the largests Crosspoint appear in these ocean hotspots. While many smaller creatures or the creatures who can’t survive underwater that exist these large ocean Crosspoints are killed, the larger creatures can usually live through the experience. These large creatures, commonly called Kaiju by humans, find themselves in unfamiliar territory and can lash out violently. The largest ocean Crosspoint hotspots are the Marianas Trench in the Pacific and the Bermuda Triangle in the Atlantic.

The hotspot areas in land, being further from R’lyeh, are more randomly distributed and usually have smaller Crosspoints. One of the most active intersection areas in land is in the Miskatonic River Valley area of the state of Massachusetts. Natural Crosspoints may have become attracted to this area after an incident in the past where one Wilbur Whateley created a Crosspoint via a spell from the Necronomicron. The creature that came out of this Crosspoint would later be known as the Dunwich Horror.

Aside from using Crosspoints to enter the Dreamlands many humans can reach them in another way, but they are usually unaware of this since it happens during their sleep. In essence, the humans’ dreams have somehow intersected the dreams of the Great Old Ones. To enter the Dreamlands, a sleeper must find an unusual stairway in a conventional dream and walk down the Seventy Steps of Light Slumber to face the judgment of powerful gatekeepers named Nasht and Kaman-Tha. If judged worthy (that is, able to survive the dangers of the Dreamlands), the dreamer is allowed to descend the Seven Hundred Steps of Deeper Slumber and emerges in an area known as the Enchanted Woods.

When entering the Dreamlands this way, the person leaves his or her physical body safely in the waking world. If the dreamer is killed during his or her travels, the person's corporeal body will suffer only a shock. These dream deaths are usually not lethal to most people since they only have a tenuous link to the Dreamlands. Waking up causes a person's dream self to disappear; thus the individual usually has difficulty recalling anything learned or experienced while asleep. A dreamer who dies in the real world while his dream self is still alive may have the option of retiring to the Dreamlands for the remainder of his dream self's "life."

Another method of entering is available to Pointwatchers, people with very strong links to both Crosspoints and the Dreamlands. Unlike a usual dream projection, the Pointwatcher can control and is fully aware (even after waking up) of his or her entry into the Dreamlands. He or she can also serve as a medium for non-Pointwatchers to enter the Dreamlands, providing they are in physical ocntact while asleep. Pointwatcher dream projection does not go through Nasht and Kaman-Tha and the steps, but merely a simple door with the Crosspoints-and-Yog-Sothoth-linked being known as the Gatekeeper watching passively as they do so. Since Pointwatchers have a stronger link to the Dreamlands, death of one state means death to another.

Time flows at a different rate in the Dreamlands—each hour on earth represents a week or more there. Consequently, a traveller can spend months in the Dreamlands during a single night's sleep on earth. Fortunately for dreamers, inhabitants of the Dreamlands are either long-lived or immortal, although it could be a problem for those who have physically entered via Crosspoints. Despite its accelerated time, the Dreamlands rarely experiences change. Its geography, politics, and population remain fairly static. Dreamers, however, can exert great change over the topography, such as by creating entire cities with accompanying populations. A group of alien Greys have also established a small colony in the Dreamlands, though they seem to have become twisted by the experience.

While the Dreamlands were created from the dreams of the god-like Great Old Ones, a small pantheon of in-dimension gods called the Great Ones have also sprung up. These Dreamlands gods are Hagarg Ryonis, a huge reptilian monster; Karakal, an elf-like humanoid; Lobon, a spear-bearing young lad; Nath-Horthath, patron god of a certain city in the Dreamlands; Nodens, an inner-earth god; Oukranos, the river god; Tamash, a bearded, silver-skinned old man; and Zo-kalar, god of Birth and death. These gods are somehow protected by Nyarlothotep, which, along with the Gatekeeper, displays that the Outer Gods are also somehow interested in the Dreamlands.

The Dreamlands is divided into four continental regions, each named for its cardinal direction:

The West is the most well-known region of the Dreamlands and is probably the most peopled as well. It is where dreamers emerge from the Steps of Deeper Slumber. The port of Dylath-Leen, the largest city of the Dreamlands, lies on its coast. The town of Ulthar, populated by intelligent cats (not, not cat-people, but honest-to-goodness CATS), is also located here. Other important cities are Hlanith (a coastal jungle city) and Ilarnek (a desert trade capital). The land of Mnar and the ruins of Sarnath are found at the southern border. The Enchanted Wood of the zoogs is also found here. It joins the South.

The South is the southern coastal region of the continent shared by the West along with the islands of the Southern Sea, including the isle of Oriab, the largest. The South's land-locked regions and its coastal areas are known as the Fantastic Realms, because they contain nightmarish and sometimes incomprehensible zones. Otherwise, the islands of the Southern Sea are fairly normal. A smaller continent to the west of the South has been claimed by the Greys as their own.

The East is a continent that is largely uninhabited, except for Ooth-Nargai. The city of Celephaïs is the capital of Ooth-Nargai and was created from whole cloth by its monarch King Kuranes, the greatest of all recorded dreamers. Beyond Ooth-Nargai are The Forbidden Lands, dangerous realms into which travel is interdicted.

The North is a cold, mountainous continent notorious for its Plateau of Leng, a violent region shared by man-eating spiders and satyr-like beings known as the "Men of Leng". The North also has a number of friendlier places, such as the city of Inganok, famous for its onyx quarries. The deepest reaches of the North are said to hold Unknown Kadath, the home of the Great Ones.

In addition to these regions, the Dreamlands has a few other locales that defy conventional description.

The Underworld is a subterranean region that runs beneath the whole of the Dreamlands. Its principle inhabitants are ghouls, who can physically enter the waking world through crypts. The Underworld is also home to the gugs, monstrous giants banished from the surface for untold blasphemies. The Underworld's deepest realm is the Vale of Pnath, a dangerous lightless chasm inhabited by enormous unseen beasts called bholes. Bholes are likely the ancestors of the Dholes of Yaddith.

The Moon has a parallel in the Dreamlands and it also intersection points on the Earth's moon. It is inhabited by the dreaded moon-beasts, amorphous frog-like creatures allied with Nyarlathotep. Interestingly, it is possible for a ship to sail off the edge of the Dreamlands and travel through space to the moon.

Finally, there is Kadath, or Unknown Kadath, the dwelling place of the Great Ones. It is a gigantic castle found atop an immense cosmic mountain in the Cold Waste.
Image
I admire the man, he has a high tolerance for insanity (and inanity - which he generously contributed!). ~Shroom, on my wierdness tolerance.
Mobius 1
Global Mod
Posts: 1099
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:40 pm
Location: Orlando, FL

Re: The Dreamlands

Post by Mobius 1 »

You know, I never was very interested in the various Old Ones mythos, so that was assuredly the reason I missed out on this. It's not bad, I'm surprised. No more over-the-top than any other alternate verse in OZC, but it instead spawns- my favorite bit in the article, by the way, good job- kaiju. That's great. :D
SHADOW TEMPEST BLACK || STB2: MIDNIGHT PARADOX
The day our skys fe||, the heavens split to create new skies.
Post Reply