Dream-Weavers

PC Dream-Weavers must be elves or humans. In addition, all Dolphins are Weavers. Silver Dragons and Water Dragons are often Dream-Weavers, while Fire and Earth Dragons tend toward magic use. Gold dragons may be either or both. Basically, the Dream-Weaver has a strong connection to the Dream of the Dragons and can manipulate the Dream to a greater or lesser extent. Dream-weaving costs Willpower.

Dream-weaving doesn't affect the material world. It acts on minds and on perception. It is a difficult and subtle art which requires a great deal of training and practise.

Dream-weaving must be learnt from another Weaver. True Dream-Weaving is never spontaneously developed, although people who are unusually sensitive to the Dream may have undirected premontions, 'eerie feelings' when they are in danger, frequent deja vu, etc. In fact, such experiences are an indication of strong natural aptitude for Dream-weaving, although only some have the dedication to truely master and direct the Dream. Elves are often Dream talented. Some say this is the result of their memories of existance in the Dream between incarnations.

In some ways, learning to Dream-Weave is analogous to learning any other skill. It requires a teacher and some natural aptitude. In game terms, to advance in Dream-Weaving, the character must find a teacher who knows the skill they want to learn, as well as spend the appropriate experience points. However, learning Dream-Weaving also has more dangers then learning, say, violin-playing.

Dream-weaving loosens the personal ties of the Weaver's conciousness to their own place in Dream, allowing them to reach out into the rest of the Dream and change it. The teaching process helps the student to realise that believing the conciouness to be tied to the physical body hinders individuals from using all their senses and powers. A student may work for many months before suddenly gaining access to new abilities as they finally find the courage to let go another anchor to the 'real world'.

System

Level	Difficulty
Novice	Terrible
Disciple	Mediocre
Scholar	Good
Sage	Superb

When a Dream-Weaving attempt is made, the character must remove tempory points of Willpower from their pool. The Willpower is recovered as normal. The basic costs are as follows:

Factors	Points
Novice ability	1
Disciple ability	2
Scholar ability	3
Sage ability	4
Unable to meditate properly beforehand	+1
Repeating a failed attempt	+1 per failure
Surroundings noisy or uncomfortable	+2
Injured	+2
Immediate, serious danger	+4
Each skill level the character possesses above that required	-1

NOTE: This system is untested and should only be regarded as a general guide.

In order to learn Dream-Weaving, the character must have taken the Quality: Dream at character creation. The initial level should be Terrible, or at the most Poor. The ability ot Dream-Weave is innate, so if the character doesn't possess the Quality: Dream, they cannot 'learn' it later, except under any special circumstances the GM allows.

Learning a new Dream-Weaving skill without adequate supervision or trying to hurry the process can cause serious damage to the would-be Weaver. The commonest side-effects are selective memory-loss, changes to personality and temporarily altered perceptions. Most Dream-Weavers suffer from some of these symptoms occasionally and their problems can be triggered again later by stress or failure. More serious dangers are insanity, total amnesia, permentant perception changes and even complete loss of the concious mind, possibly to be replaced by something Other from within the Dream.

However, proper teaching reduced the chances of these side-effects. In game terms (FUDGE), the player must pass a Dream Quality roll against a difficulty determined by the skill of the teacher and the length spent training. The default is Superb difficulty for no teacher. The difficulty is also at +1 for learning an entirely new School. The GM may also require a Willpower roll if the character has not been wholly dedicated to the training.

Success means that the experience can be spent and the new power gained. A failure mean that the skill is not learned, and a temporary flaw is picked up. The PC will require at least a further week of training per relative degree of failure to advance before they can roll again (ie. after a roll of Mediocre on a required diffuculit of Fair, they will need another weeks training at least. If they have failed by four levels, four weeks is needed. By doubling the amount of training, the PC can reduce the difficulty of the roll by one.) If a result of below Terrible is rolled, the character may suffer a more serious effect at the GMs discretion.

Schools

Dream-Weaving is intimately tied to the worship of Luinen by the Elves. The Sea-Elves of the Isle of Winds no longer worship Luinen and Dream-Weaving is not practised by them. The Elves consider Dream-Weaving to be a tool for furthering their understanding of the Dream, although they appreciate it's more practical applications. The study of the Dream is looked on as a continual process of learning, and the different areas of Weaving are refered to as Schools. Those who have reached the current limits of a School are referred to as Sages by Elves, rather than Masters. The Schools allow the practitioner to reach into the Dream of Luinen and are often used in religious rituals.

During the dark of the moon, Elves are reluctant to practise non-clerical magic, including Dream-Weaving. They consider it a time when it is easy for the lure of magical power to open the heart of the mage to the Endless Night, without the protection of Luinen's light.

In order to lessen the dangers of Dream-Weaving, most Weavers specialise to some extent. The Dream-Weaving skill is divided into a number of different Schools. Learning a new School is difficult but once the School is learned, learning the various powers of the School is easier than learning a new School. The powers of an School must be learned slowly. Trying to move straight to the higher levels of an School is a sure way to insanity.

School of the Senses

The Elves believe that the physical senses are limited by the anchoring of perception in the physical form. Once the Dream-Weaver understands the illusion of seating conciouness in the body, the senses can be freed to give clearer and truer information about the World. Masters of this School often spend a great amount of time tasting a song, or touching sunlight, in order to learn more about the Dream.

Novice: Heighten Senses - increased perception of normal senses. Disciple: Extend Senses - allows detection of things outside the normal ranges (UV light, infra-red, noises of too high or low frequency for normal hearing, incredibly fine taste, touch and smell discrimination.)
Scholar: Transform Senses - really weird stuff: see with hearing or touch etc.
Sage: Dream Senses - the senses extend permenantly into the Dream allowing emotion, magic and other spiritual areas to be sensed, often translated into the normal senses. Sages of this School often refer to 'the colour of pain', 'the smell of the Dark', or 'the sound of magic Arts'.

School of Illusion

Elves are facinated by illusion and sleight of hand. Illusions can be used as tool to open the minds of other to the Dream of Luinen. It is also of value in itself, because it is beautiful and brings the fluid ephemeral magic of the Dream into the mortal world. Finally, it can be used to protect the Elves from the Dark without resorting to destructive violence.

Novice:
Disciple:
Scholar:
Sage:

Umm...can't think of a way of grading illusion powers yet.
The genral plan is that the Dream-Weaver creates a picture in the victim's mind rather than creating a hologram type image, which fits in with the idea of Dream-Weaving in general. Potential limits to illusion magic are:
Number of senses affected
Range of illusion
Area of effect
Number of people who can be affected
Likelihood of success

School of Thought

This School is said to have developed orgianlly as a teaching aid, to help free the minds of potential Dream-Weavers from their physical constraints. It allows direct communication between minds, allowing the expression of concepts which are difficult or impossible throught speech. It also allows Dream-Weavers to study the minds of others, to improve their understanding of the Dream. By spending more Willpower points, the Weaver may include more subjects in their mind effects.

Thought-Weaving is also useful to help those Dream-Weavers whose minds have been damaged by their arts. The use of any of the mind alteration skills are dangerous, because the Weaver must enter the subject's mind within the Dream and can become trapped or have portions of their own mind replaced by the subject's. This is especially true when working with deranged minds and the minds of those serving the Dark. The more profound the alteration attempted, the more dangerous. The School may be used on non-Dream-Weavers, but it is considered reprehensible by most to use the School for mischief or to damage minds.

Novice: Aura reading - read subjects emotions.
Disciple: Read Minds/Alter Emotions - read surface thoughts, change emotions.
Scholar: Thought projection/Alter Thoughts - direct mind speech (allows replies if the other is a Dream-Weaver), change current thoughts of subject.
Sage: Mind Speech/Alter Memory - two-way speech even with non-Weavers, change the memory of the subject.

School of Seeking

The School of the Senses alllows the Weaver to expand their senses in the world around them, including things which cannot normally be detected. The School of Seeking sends the senses out through the dream, including space and time, to find information. This School can be somewhat unpredictable - for unknown reasons, some areas and times cannot be seen. It is speculated that this may be due to the unnatural unfluences of the Lord of Endless Night, the Magic Arts or even Dream-Weaving. This School is not as dangerous to use as the School of Dreams or Time, although there is still some danger of the mind being lost in it's search, or the vacant body being possessed by something unpleasant. The danger increases with the distance of the search, as does the difficulty of finding the desired information. Note that this School can only search for things which have happened in the past. The future lies within the remit of the School of Time.

The more senses sent out by the Weaver, the more Willpower must be spent. Note, this School may be combined with the School of the Senses, but costs in Willpower should be added together.

Novice: Self-Searching - the novice can reach into his own mind to recover lost or forgotten facts, or even to remember incidents not noted at the time.
Disciple: Far-Searching - The senses can be sent out over distances, but not yet into the past.
Scholar: Past-Searching - The senses can be sent into the past in the present location, or over great distances in the current time. The senses may be sent into the other Worlds, if there is a gate nearby.
Sage: World-Searching - The senses can be sent out backwards into the far past, over great distances in the current world and into the other worlds even if there is no gate nearby.

School of Time

Also known as the School of Prophesy, the study of the future is an area of even more uncertainty and obscurity than the School of Seeking. By understanding the future, Dream-Weavers of this School hope to divine portions of the Dream as yet unrevealed, as well as safeguard themselves from the workings of the Dark. This is another dangerous School, because the study of the future is full of uncertainties and careless use of knowledge obtained from the Dream in this way can bring about the very dangers the Weaver was hoping to avoid. Nothing of import gained from this School is acted upon without most careful consideration by the Scholars and Sages of the School.

Each person sees the future revealed differently, often in obscure symbols and metaphors and the interpretation of insights is often difficult. The further into the future the Dream-Weaver wishes to look, the greater the uncertainties and probablity of error. Often weeks or months of meditation and study are required before the mind can be directed forwards into the desired time. There are only a handful of living Elven Sages of this School, almost all of whom are found in the Elven Isles. The very act of looking forward seem to hasten the world-weariness of it's practitioners. The greatest Sages of Time to be found in the World are amongst the Silver Dragons. However, they must be convinced of great need before they will reveal their insights.

This School is the smallest and most esoteric of all the Schools, despite it's great potential importance to material policy. The School carefully screens applicants who wish to learn it's secrets because a knowledge of the future can create a great strain on the unprepared or unsuitable mind. This in the only School where students commonly abandon their studies after becoming novices. Some go on to study in other Schools, but some have their minds broken by the shock of seeing into time. Even those who have studies in other Schools before turing to Prophesy can find themselves unprepared.

Novice: The first step in the School of Time is to open up insights into the novice's own future. At this stage, the novice's teachers test the ability of the new Weaver to deal with insight into the future, including the realisation that unpleasant events forseen cannot always be changed or avoided. Many fail at this stage.
Disciple: Here the fate of an individual, single object or small place (a grove of trees, a house or small street of houses) can be divined. For some reason, this is easier if the disciple is in contact with the place person or object when the meditation is carried out. They are likely also to experience unsought for glimpses of their own future. Many more students of this School fail here, unable to bear the knowledge of unavoidable pain and suffering of their loved ones with which they are faced.
Scholar: The future may be determined for large groups of people, and large areas of land, even if the Scholar is not present. The Scholar also experiences uninvited visions of places and people they are close to and of major events and choices which will affect large numbers of people. Although few fail at this stage, many become weary of the world before they become Sages.
Sage: Future visions experienced by Sages rarely suffer from the clouds and uncertainties of the lower ranks. Although no insight granted by this School is infallible, few prophesies have been proved false, even when they have spanned centuries. However, most Sages are reluctant to reveal too much of the future, perhaps because they can also see the consequences of so doing. The possible futures of all creatures and places are open to the eyes of the Sage, even without concious effort. To look at a person is to see their possible deaths, and the lines of their descendants passing into the mists of the far future. Cities are seen built, abandoned, ruined and rebuilt all at once. Very few non-Dragon minds are strong enough to bear this strain for long.

School of Dreams

This is the most difficult of the Schools to master and the most dangerous to the Dream-Weaver. This School seeks to understand and even shape the fabric of the Dream and to make the Weaver part of it, ultimately allowing them to take their physical form and travel into the Dream itself. This School carries the greatest risks of insanity and loss of personality, and well as the dangers associated with travelling through the Dream. In addition, the Dream-Weaver may not always reach their destination. It has been known for Weavers to find themselves in the different Worlds, far from their desired destination.

Novice: Form Dreams - the novice can send dreams to others, easier if personally known. The novice also learns how to strengthen the dream around them to make Dream-Weaving more difficult.
Disciple: Dream Walk - the Disciple can 'walk' through the dream, although he cannot yet take his body with him, experiencing the senses of those who minds he pauses in. Each transfer costs Willpower and carries the risk of getting lost. In the plane of Air, the Weaver may use the raw stuff of Dreams to make small, non-permenant objects.
Scholar: Dream Jouney - the Scholar can actually travel through the Dream, taking his physical form with him. Extra people can be taken, but the risk is great. However, the Scholar can only travel to a place if he can find a sleeping mind there to 'exit' through. This carries the danger of becoming trapped in the sleeping person's dreams. In the plane of Air, the Weaver may use the raw stuff of Dreams to make small, longer lasting objects or larger non-permentant.
Sage: Astral Journey - the Sage can travel physically using his own dreams, taking other with him (at greater cost and risk). He can travel between Worlds and it is rumoured that some great Sages of this School have been able to move through Time. In the plane of Air, the Weaver may use the raw stuff of Dreams to make substantial, permenant objects.

In addition to these specific skills, Dream-Weaver PCs can expect a few side-benefits to their dangerous profession:

1. Premonitions of danger: Dream-Weavers often have warnings of danger, both to themselves and to those close to them. Warnings may be vague feelings or specific dreams, may be plain or cryptic and may occur months or minutes in advance of trouble. Don
2. High perception: Dream-Weavers should get a reduced difficulty of one on most perception rolls. This applies especially to rolls involving sentient creatures. They might even merit a reduction of two, depending on their Schools and the circumstances.
3. Empathy: Dream-Weavers are like emotional antenna. They are hightly attuned to the Dream, and tend to reflect the strong emotions of others around them. While this can often be an inconvenience, it can be helpful. Suppose the party is at a royal banquet in honour of a visiting noble. Everyone seems happy enough, but the party's Dream-Weaver starts to feel strong dislike toward the King. Is it the food, or his he picking up the concealed feelings of the treacherous visitor (and his heavily armed armed escort...) ?
4. Weird feelings, deja vu, unexplained paranoia: A Dream-Weaver can be a tremendous way of introducing stories, giving clues and getting the party mixed up in things they would never otherwise have noticed. Don't overdo it though.
5. Sensitivity to Dream-Weaving. All Weavers, especially those of the Schools of Dream, Seeking and Senses are able to detect Dream-Weaving powers in use around them. Those of Disciple level or greater in a School become sensitive to priestly magic also. Scholars and Sages can in addition feel the disturbances of wizardly magic. This should usually require a roll of some kind.
6. Less sleep. Dream-Weavers, who have a constant connection to the Dream, need to sleep less than others. The more powerful the Dream-Weaver, the less sleep she needs. Dolphins, who all have natural Dream-Weaving ability, never sleep.