The Great Dreamer

"So, are you here?"

"Yup."

"Good, lets get started."

"And how do we do that?"

"Well, first, where are we?"

"I don't know, I can't see any thing."

"No no, sorry. I mean, try to imagine a place, once you have it firmly in your mind, describe it aloud."

"Ok, I see an island."

Waiting in dark silence, nothing happens.

"Was something supposed to happen?"

"Well, nothing happens if you leave it that simple," a new voice declared as a beautiful women appears from the nothingness, complete with long black hair and simple sapphire dress to match her eyes.

"Frainden, do you mind? Your form is disrupting my lesson."

Melting back into the darkness with a shrug, the women vanished without a trace. "So this is your new student, Greny? I was wondering why this area was empty. Is this her first Forming?"

"NO, I made a dragon last week."

"Yes, Frain, this is her first true Forming, the first intentional Forming." The last part directed more to his new apprentice, but in the nothingness, it was hard to tell. "Trith, I would like you to meet my friend, and fellow Mysticist of the Dreamer's Order, Frainden. She lives on one of the floating islands between Dir'ndal and Hwyple."

"She's not here on Prytis?" Trith questioned in amazement.

"No, she isn't, and neither are we at the moment. We have left our bodies back on Prytis, we are in the Nothingness, at least until you complete the first half of this lesson and make a place for us to be."

"Heh, right. I said it was an island, what else do I need?"

"Well that's the first lesson. You see, at the moment, you don't yet have the focus to will things into existence. You must concentrate, and describe the location in detail. What is on this island, what is around it? And remember, you are not limited by reality, but for this first time you want try to keep it simple and small. So an island is perfect."

"Ok, the island is about 50 feet from the center to each edge, but it's more of an oval then a circle. 120 feet from end to end. The edges are sandy with a few palm trees, but I don't see any water. The island is just floating in the air above nothing. There are beach chairs on the sand, the kind rich people from Vontrovor always bring with them."

"Good, now, can you see it?"

"Yeah, but, what is up with the center?"

"You never said what it was, so it was never created. You'll notice that there is no sky either. Nevertheless, this was a great first step.

"Oh, the center is a fine grassy field, and the sky is...green, with black stars. Yeah, the grass is blue, and the sand is red. Hey, why didn't the sand change to red?"

"Once you set something it is harder to change it, but you can with a little concentration."

"Oh, well, later then. I want to take a closer look at what I made. Can I go down there too?"

"Yes, once you have.... What do you mean by 'too'?"

"Well, Frainden already went down there. See, she is making a sand castle, though I don't know where she got those shovels and molds, or the water to make it all stay together."

"That Frain, she always loves to play around. Yeah, we can join her down on your new world once you Form a body for yourself. This plane of existence is to grand and broad for a mind to comprehend all at once, so we naturally section off the sense of our surroundings to one place at a time. That place is where we are "located" in the plane at that moment, but with a thought, you can be any other place. For further protection of our mind and sanity we must form a body around that locality if we want to interact with anything. It is usually best to try making your body at least somewhat like your real one until you are better at getting into details, that way your mind subconsciously fills it in. So just describe what you look like, including what you want to be wearing."

"Oh, that's simple. I am a red haired, skinny girl, some would say too skinny. I have light freckle spattered skin. I am about 4' 5", twelve system standard years old, and wearing simple fava leather overalls, and a white jerkin."

"Now, will yourself to lower until you can feel the sand in your toes. Very good. Now, open your eyes, and look straight ahead. And look at all this you have created."

Trith looked around in awe; it looked so real, exactly as she had imagined it to be. The rich chairs, the black stars, the blue grass. She felt the individual grains of sand as they passed between her toes the wind she had neglected to mention blew her hair like the heroin in a bard's tale. Before she knew it she was running across the beach and rolling in the grass. Reveling in the stability she had lost when she had left her village, and she knew that at any time, she could return to this place and it would be exactly as she wanted it to be.

"You where right. She really is powerful. Are you sure you can handle her?"

"Yes, but I would like it if you would keep dropping by, she is young, and I won't pretend to understand the mind of a young girl. Her family, her whole village died in her first Forming. She recreated the entire village in the Dreaming Lands and pulled all of the villager's minds into it. No one noticed until she accidentally created a dragon when some bullies where beating her up. So not only is she powerful, she is alone."

"I still have to get her to leave the Dreaming Lands before her body wastes away. She has been in here for almost three days, so it's been about two weeks for her. I found her body, but I don't think it will be easy to wake her. And the village, it's eerie, bodies everywhere, they just fell where they were, didn't die for over a day, when the dragon destroyed the dream village."

"Your going to have to inform her that dragon's aren't creatures of destruction, have her meet Charles. That would do her a world of good."

"Yes, but the matter at hand is her survival, even the most powerful Mysticist can't survive here once their body dies, and she can't even sense that her body is dying. The shock when she made that dragon disoriented her. I want you to stay with her while I care for her body. I will come back as often as I can, we need to wake her, she could be one of the Great Dreamers of legend."

Breaking out of her jovial tone, "One of the...? I hope you haven't mentioned that to her."

"No, I know better then that. She already knows she is special, I have no intention of further inflating her ego, just teaching her to use her capabilities, and hopefully saving her life in the process."

The old man and the beautiful woman looked on like parents from the beach as this girl, a girl who could be a Great Dreamer, played with the litter of siple kittens she had formed only seconds before. Convinced, the unspoken question on both minds, "how can one of the most powerful human creatures in the Systems be so innocent and unaware of what she is?"

Legends of CotAoE

The Void & the Abyss

In the beginning there was Void, no things, nor place, nor time, existing as we can now understand them.

The Maker gathered his children as his father had before Him, and He taught them many great things.

The Maker divided and set apart a point of the Void and created a place; this place he called Abyss, and it was empty, for He had not made things nor time to be therein.

The Life-force

The Maker set Prana in motion and formed Kami of all things that would be; things of Æther, of Pyro, of Hydro, and Geo.

The Maker set Prana again and formed spirits of all plants and animals of Carna that would be.

The Maker and His Wife set Prana again and formed spirits of all Their children that would be; and with them the Abyss was complete, without time.

The Fall of Memnon

The Maker gathered together the spirits and Kami and taught them many great things with His children.

One among the children rebelled against His teachings, and his name was Memnon.

The Maker allowed Memnon to speak, for The Plan required opposition in all things; though it pained Him knowing how many of His children would fall with Memnon.

Many spirits and Kami listened to Memnon and a third of the children followed Memnon as he was cast from the Abyss, unable to return, and without power in the Void.

The Space

The Maker divided, set apart, and folded a point of the Void once again, in the same location and dimensions of the Abyss, and it was empty, without things, nor time, nor name.

The Maker set Chrono in motion and time was within the space.

The Maker set Lumino in motion and Light and Truth were within the space.

The Forces First Were

The Maker and His Wife bore a son from the Light and the Truth, and his name was Vontrovor, and the first man was within the space.

The Maker and His Wife bore a daughter of their Power, and her name was Prytis, and the first woman was within the space, for no man is complete without a wife, and no woman is compete without a husband.

Vontrovor, seeing the Truth of The Plan, and his wife, using the Power she had from the Maker and His Wife, brought another life into the space.

The Maker opened the Rift between the space and the Abyss a third time and left it open; from the Abyss flew Sarihon to be the daughter of Vontrovor and Prytis.

Sarihon was given command over the Breath of Life and was set Keeper of the Rift.

Vontrovor and Prytis, seeing that Memnon and his angels would find the new space, bore another child, and Sarihon allowed Ammoni to enter the space.

Ammoni was given command over righteous and natural conflict, and honor, and he was the husband of Sarihon, and they completed each other.

The Force’s First Works

Sarihon, commanded by her father, Vontrovor, he knowing The Plan, granted the space a Breath of Life and the space was filled and it was called The Æther, and it spread the Light and Truth to every corner of the space.

Ammoni, commanded by his father Vontrovor, separated the calm within The Æther into the natural conflict of heat and cold, and fire and water, and there was Pyro and Hydro in The Æther.

Prytis, commanded by her husband, brought forth the masses of land, dirt, stone, and metal, and there was Geo within The Æther.

Memnon found the space called The Æther and saw that he could have power there, and commanded his scattered angels to return from their searching that they might corrupt The Plan, for they knew not that it was created with their designs in mind.

Memnon used his influence to dim the Light and Truth in many areas, and there was Nox and shadow in The Æther.

Vontrovor, not despairing, for he knew The Plan, set The Lumino to spin round The Æther so few places would be entirely without its Light and Truth.

Prytis brought into The Æther the first of the Plants and the Animals; and Memnon’s angels tried to corrupt them, but they could not reach them for they had not yet their spirits.

The Forces, husband and wife, brought forth human children, male and female, each pair with the power to bring forth children, and Sarihon granted these the spirits of the children of the Maker, for such was The Plan.

The Fall of Humanity

Memnon tempted the children with his angels and some followed his corruption, and with their fall the Maker withdrew his staying hand from time on the bodies, and they where mortal.

Sarihon began to return some spirits, kami, and children to the Abyss when their time was over and the children called her Death over Death.

The First War and the True Dragons

In the Æther there had become two people, those who followed the Maker, by the word of Vontrovor, and those who followed Memnon.

Memnon stirred his followers to destroy the followers of the Maker, and they began to slay them.

Ammoni, in his duty over righteous conflict, lead the followers of the Maker to defend themselves, and to gain honor for their deeds against Memnon, and the children called him War past War.

War summoned the Forces to their aid, and together they granted some children to have new power and new bodies, and these where the first dragons and the first to learn magic.

The dragons taught the children magic and many wise ways as they where instructed by the Forces, and the followers of the Maker flourished in The Æther.

The New Races and the Fall of Dragons

The dragons knew not the Truths of The Plan and where corrupted like the humans, some to one degree, and some to another.

The Dragons used the power given them by the Forces and the corruption of Memnon and they changed the children to be new races, many like unto themselves, and all the children where forever changed, some retaining similarity of humanity, others more animal, some almost normal, and others full of magics.

The creations of the True Dragons were plentiful, and some flourished, while others where quick to return to the Abyss, and it was all part of The Plan; the Maker loved these children no less, nor more, then he had the humans, they all being His children by The Plan.

The New Things and Expanding Knowledge

The children, both human and inhuman, having learned magic from the True Dragons, or gained by their strange touch,, began to find Knowledge of things they had not been taught, and the Maker revealed to them the making of things and learning of skills.

The children built new shelter beyond the caves of Geo, which Prytis provided them, and found the windings of Hydro and the power of Pyro, which Ammoni brought to them as it was needed.

The children learned to cultivate fruits and plants and to hunt animals for food and cloths.

The children made tools from the weapons of war, and modified magics from the dragons to till the ground and slay the animals.

The Forces wept, for they could not be in all the places the children spread, yet they cheered for their growth and learning and guided them to many rich and wonderful lands.

All these things were done in accordance with The Plan.

The Shattering and Gathering

As the children learned, many were tempted further, for Memnon, the Father of Lies, worked in small ways to slowly corrupt that which is good, and the children grew proud of their accomplishments, their learnings, their creations, and they forgot their Maker.

Memnon guided them to leave their worship of The Maker that they might worship the Kami of things which were in The Æther.

Many Kami used the power given them by the worshipers, and that given by Memnon for their assistants, to help the people, thus brining more worship and power for themselves and to make evil war one with another until the children would worship Memnon.

Thus the children fell away from The Maker into diverse and ever darker ways.

The Maker, to save a portion of his children from the evils around them, shattered The Æther into many small dimensions, each into different aspects, each formed for a purpose in The Plan.

Knowing The Plan, Vontrovor and the Forces gathered the fragments, linking them like a great chain-mail, and thus was created The Maker’s Chain.

Many generations pass, many stories to be told, and many lives far lived.

Remaining Eight

As the children grew, separated in the Chain, each in their own unique links, they changed, becoming more molded by their worship.

To the worshipers of Æther it was given talons and wings that they might fly though The Æther of their link, and these feathered men were the Kon’du, being interpreted Sky Children.

To the worshipers of plants it was given fluid agility and malleability to adapt to their ever changing forest link, and these Green Children were the Blit’du.

The worshipers of Hydro and Geo were give strength, gills, and blades to live in their Hydro link with its great troubles, and these Warrior Children were the Can’du.

To the worshipers of insects was granted hard bodies of infinite diversity in their link of Geo, and the Brown Children were the Chit’du.

Worshipers of Geo and Æther, in a link not unlike that of the Kon’du, grew large to roost upon the mountain tops, and small to hide within them, these great flying reptiles were the Ron’du, being interpreted Children of the Edge.

Worshipers of Memnon, living in the shadow of Nox, became vile shadows themselves, and these children were lost to all but Memnon, The Maker, and Vontrovor for many generations.

The remaining worshipers of The Maker were granted purity of Luminos and great knowledge to travel The Maker’s Chain to aid their brethren, and these were the Luminaries, guided in their worship and teaching by the Four Forces.

The great Dragons, shamed by their sins, entered a great slumber until they should be called upon for a good purpose in The Plan, fearing, that in idleness, they might fall into great temptation once more.

Thus the eight races were for many generations.

The War of Words and Weapons

Separated as they were from The Maker, the children had not lost all flicker of intelligence and imagination.

Wishing to travel like the Luminaries, the children studied the ancient Arcane magics and discovered Locus, and by its power space was unlocked to them, and they formed grand gateways to the other links in the chain.

Others learned to open portals, others to teleport from place to place, and the children began to find one another and to fight, each defending their way of worship, and thus began the War of Words and Weapons, lasting many generations.

The Beginning of Ages

The Maker saw the slaying of his children and knew that it was a part of The Plan, for the wicked would always destroy the wicked.

Time came to begin a new stage in The Plan, and The Maker sent out of call to his other children, secreted away in other points within The Void.

It was time to begin the Cycle of the Gifted Ages, and the Gifted Ones came to The Maker’s Chain, each receiving new bodies and the gifts once granted to others of The Maker’s children.

First was called Dike, that he and his people might build a foundation for other Gifted Ones to come from beyond The Maker’s Chain.

Second was called Aeon, that he might build up a holly nation unto The Maker, and bring the children from the decline of their height into the embrace of their father Vontrovor, to join the ranks of the Luminaries.

The Age of Elfenar

Thus we come to the Third who is called Elfenar.

Elfenar, called forth to bring the word of The Maker back to a fallen people.

These are his times, and these are the stories of his Age, these are

“The Chronicles of the Age of Elfenar.”

Tindel and the Book

It was a cold morning, as all mornings were in the city of Ise. After all, Ise was far from the Plains of Pyro, and in an area which had no seasons. This morning was no different then all the others, but that did not mean the entire day would be so un-extraordinary.

On this morning, again, like so many others, Princess Tindel stood on her grand veranda, draped in many thick furs to keep out the cold, looking out into the great forests of Float Oak that was her peoples industry. Princess Tindel was not your typical princess. Though if you actually looked at the statistics she was, for most Princesses were not proper as they were each told all the other Princesses were.

Tindel, like so many other princesses, was taught the traditional things a princess should be taught. Things like dancing, etiquette, embroidery, and how to appear to be aloof of all things happening around you, among many other boring things. However, on this morning, Tindel had hope in her heart that things would not always be so boring.

The night before, right after one of her boring aloofery lessons, Tindel had snuck into the library to read (her father had restricted what she was allowed to read to only include stories of brave Princes saving the beautiful Princesses). It was there that she had come across a most amazing little book. Within its mysterious pages was the story of an improper princess and her amazing adventures.

While the story seemed to fit her perfectly, some things struck her as odd. The story could not have been a history, for she could not figure out any nations that matched the description. The book was not created in any way she was familiar with, for its binding seemed to be a soft parchment with amazing artistry on it. The artistry was not painted on, nor engraved in any way, and the words could not have been written by even the most accomplished of scribes, not with such uniformity and absolute consistency.

Her logic dictated that the book must be a creation of magic, but no product of magic had ever felt so real, so ancient and somehow original. She had stolen the book from the library, and its absence did not trigger the alarms, its presence in her coat did not alert the ever vigilant Castle Sensor, and even her magic wardrobe did not alert her father to her hiding it within its drawers.

She spent all that night reading the tales of adventure, working with dragons, fighting wizards, making friends with witches and giants, and the king’s masterful manipulation of the fabric of magic. That was yet another thing assuring her it was not a history, the magic seemed to follow different rules then she had learned in her forbidden history reading. The book almost seemed to belong to another world, beyond what her people knew existed, this she knew deep down, but could not explain.

Gathering the courage to do as her Heroine from the book had, she stood on the veranda, clutching the book under her furs. Finally, she walked to the edge and declared to the sunrise in a load voice, “I would rather be eaten by a dragon!” To her surprise, she did not receive a response. Or did she? If so it was not in the way she was expecting, so she waited for it just a little longer, and longer, and longer.

Eventually the servants came to get her ready for the new day, a normal day like all the others before it. Tindel was more depressed then ever, her only hope had been shattered.

Little did Tindel know, her declaration had indeed caused something to happen. It had, with her unknown innate magic power, penetrated into a deep and seldom touched portion of the Dreaming. There it sped across space and time, swirling around the sleeping minds of ancient creatures, until it awoke one of them.

“Today we shall begin your practice for being scared of mice. I have checked your chair, it will support your weight when you stand on it. Now, you remember the scream from last week child? That is the one you use when you jump away from the mouse. Are you ready child?”

Of all the things Tindel had been forced to learn, training to be scared of mice was the third stupidest she had heard of, and the other two she could not remember at the moment. So it was that when the professor opened the cage, Tindel picked up the mouse and kissed it (well knowing she was running the risk of it turning into a prince, whom she would then be forced to marry).

The rotund professor stormed off in a silent furry as it was unfashionable to show any high emotions. All the better, for now, at least until her father came to reprimand her, she could sit and think. What could she have done better; why had it not worked for her like it did in the book?

It was in this time of thinking that a man in black robes seemed to materialize through the chalkboard covered wall (and not where she knew the secret door was located). The man strode towards her and, by a combination of instinct and training, she let loose with exactly the proper scream for the situation. As the scream began to leave her throat the man raised his hand and stopped it in mid-air.

It was a most peculiar situation to be in for she had a sound physically stuck half in and half out of her mouth, making it impossible to close or to make any other sound with her voice. When she tried to bite into it the scream reverberated through her jaw directly to her ears where it seemed to be magnified a thousand times loader then when she had created it.

“Where is the book?” the man asked with a hint of aggravation in his voice.

Calming herself from the experience, and seeing there was nothing her struggling would improve, Tindel pointed to her still open mouth indicating she could not tell him while she was thus bound.

Focused thoughts will be sufficient. The words seemed to form within her mind, and she knew they where from the mysterious visitor.

Not entirely sure she understood what he meant, she began, THE BOOK IS… she stopped as she saw the mans head recoil. CAN YOU HEAR ME?

Yes, unfortunately. Please, quiet your mind, you have the loudest thoughts I have heard in nine thousand years, though I have been asleep for the last two thousand. Anyway, the book?

Why do you need my book? she thought timidly.

As close to accurate as it may be, it does not belong in this reality. The Four have charged me and my kind with finding all of the otherworld artifacts and removing them. They cause a cancer of divergence within the Arcs.

Tindel was clearly confused by all of this, but she thought she suddenly understood something of it all. You are a dragon, aren’t you?

Yes, I am. And no, I have no intention of eating you. Despite what the book claims, dragons have no need to eat. Nor do we steal princesses for servants, I usually get my servants on Vontrovor. They already know their place and what to do and I don’t have to deal with any spoiled attitudes. Now, since you have read it and I don’t have a means of wiping your memory, I will have to remove both it and yourself. You seem to be a powerful enough telepath, perhaps you would survive in my realm.

Telepath, I am not a telepath.

Yes, you are. I am not the one facilitating this conversation. Furthermore, only a powerful telepath could scream into the deep Dreaming loud enough to wake a slumbering dragon. I believe your declaration was “I would rather be eaten by a dragon.” A simple mis-quote from the divergent book.

* * *

Thus Princess Tindel met her first dragon, who removed her from the physical world, forever having endless adventures in a world purely created by her own mind.

I, Thornbrier

This is the start of my record as a member of The Watchers Network. To any who read this I thank you for the interest in the history of these worlds. As I am a member of The Watchers it is my responsibility to observe the inhabitants of these worlds and record them. When possible I will attempt to make the record fun and enjoyable while maintaining the level of detail required for accurate historical functions.

Please note, this is only my personal repository of information, if details are missing seek them in the primary computers of the Network located in ARC 25, level D, sub-corridor 12 (Note Added: 328 years after this entry the primary computers were moved to ARC 26, Level A1). Search for the author name Runemaster, he is my mentor (Note Added: The personal records of Runemaster have been all but lost).


I hope you enjoy my additions to The Watchers Record.
Brother Thornbrier