Birth and Dreamsoul Arts
This is the listing for the Birth and Standard Dreamsoul arts. All entries will be catalogued as follows:
Art Name: Name of the art
Focus: Includes learnable levels
Cost: Amount of focal element used to evoke the art
Evoke Time: Listed in pillars, roughly 1 second per pillar
Duration: Where relevant
Damage: Where relevant
Effect: A basic write up on the arts effects
History: Where known
Alternate Histories:
Birth Arts:
These are called Birth arts because every dreamer enters the city knowing these abilities. Most of these are essential arts for basic functioning within the City of Dreams.
Blade Art (Gatesmasher, DreamBlade, SoulReaper, Fateslayer)
Focus: Each focus has their own Blade art
Cost: 5 (Element used is evokers primary element)
Evoke Time: 4 Pillars
Duration: 10 minutes + 10 minutes per plateau
Damage: Base 1-4, increases by plateau.
Effect: Creates a blade in the evoker's pack that can be used for the duration. Blade damage and level also changes with every plateau.
0-9 = 1-4 (Level 0 blade)
10-19 = 2-6 (Level 7 blade)
20-29 = 5-10 (Level 14 blade)
30-39 = 7-12 (level 15 blade)
40-49 = 7-18 (level 24 blade)
50-59 = 9-23 (level 31 blade)
60-69 = 3-30 (level 38 blade)
70-79 = 11-30 (level 41 blade?)
80-89 = Unknown Currently
90-99 = Unknown Currently
Blades colour matches the wielders hair colour, hilt colour matches the wielders skin colour.
Specific Histories: See individual Arts in their relevant focal listing
Drain Essence
Focus: Resilience (Plattable by other foci at 3rd sphere)
Cost: 1 Resilience
Evoke Time: 1 Pillar (Decreases with plateaus)
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Drains the Strength of a maren essence and converts it into a number of focal element points (similar in function to an elemen). The essence must have an amount of strength equal to the maximum Focal energy that can be regained (1 point, plus 1 point per plateau) or only an amount equal to the Essences Strength is gained. This destroys the essence when it runs out of strength. Datoken have a variation of this art that lets them drain energy from a Dreamers Essence and doesn't seem to have the same strength limitations.
History: Before the Great Loss, the powerful SoulMasters of the house would bear the House Artifact with them into battle and set it up in a nearby sanctuary. The SoulMasters of the House would go forth and use their power to restore their fellows and would retreat to the Sanctuary and use the Art of Drain Essence to draw power from the House artifact then they grew weak.
NOTE: Some dreamers believe that maren essences contain the soul of an unawakened dreamer, and that draining the essences is tantamount to committing murder. Use with Caution.
Focus Art (Gatekeeper, Dreamseer, Soulmaster, Fatesender)
Focus: Dreamsoul
Cost: 0 Cost (cannot be evoked)
Evoke Time: 0 (Used automatically when leveled talisman are used)
Effect: The most basic effect of this art is to allow the dreamer to use talisman that are dedicated to that focus. This is most often chakrams, where the level of the dreamers focus art determines the most powerful chakram the dreamer can use. Many considter the focus arts to be the center point of a dreamers focal abilities as well.
These arts are responsible for the special focal abilities of each focus as Follows:
Gatekeeper: 1 bonus damage per plateau (IE: +1 at 10, +2 @20, etc...)
Dreamseer: Extra restoration (Random amount between 1-plat of Dreamseer. +1 flat at 10, +1-2 @ 20, etc...) of elements from Elemen use.
Soulmaster: Grants a 10% absorbsion shield effect to the target of Restore or Healing Aura that lasts for 3 seconds +1 second per plateau os Soulmaster with a random durability.
Fatsender: Hinder, increases vulnerability to damage from arts. Precise details unknown.
Give
Focus: Dreamsoul
Cost: 0 cost
Evoke Time: Instant
Duration: Instant
Effect: Gives a selected talisman to another being. Lesser nightmares cannot accept items.
History: It was created during the Nightmare Wars. A group called the Seekers of Knowledge dedicated to the researching the portals discovered many new arts one of which was called GIVE. Give was created after Join Party as a result of the need to be able to transfer needed items from one dreamer to another during a battle with the nightmares and other times when one dreamer had found items during a session at the spawning sites items of use to other foci. Through the use of Join Party these items could be transferred to other members of the party anywhere in the same plane of Underlight or from dreamer to dreamer in the same room. Quite an innovation born through intense research.
Alternate Histories: Many believe to give another dreamer an item is to hand it to them, in your waking world this very well may be the case, but in the Dream City, as we all know things work much differently.
This proved true with one young dreamer in the past. Melindia, a young dreamer new to the city was found by an young but seasoned DreamWright named Gudrun. Melindia was battling with a Emphant and losing severely. Gudrun, stepped in and aided the young one, then upon learning how new she was offered to show her around, introduce her to others who could help her when needed, and basically just taught her the ropes of the city.
At the end of the day when Melindia found she had to wake, she was ever so grateful to Gudrun. Gudrun had been so kind and giving when others had just passed her by, Melindia wished for a way to show her gratitude.
But Melindia had nothing to give of herself in return to Gudrun. There was nothing she could teach this seasoned dreamer, she could not offer her weak aid in a battle Gudrun may face in the future, for she would merely be a nuisance that was in the way.
Over the next two dreams, this bothered Melindia, She wanted to show Gudrun how thankful she truly was. Words were simply not enough. Then it hit her! Gudrun spoke of her belief in saving the souls from the essences, and how important that was to her, when she was teaching Melindia to blade those blasted beasts. That was it! She would use the skills Gudrun taught her to blade the Emphants then she would give the satchel full of essences to Gudrun to show her appreciation.
She collected the essences and soon found Gudrun in threshold debating with a few dreamers. Gudrun seemed quite upset and was angrily calling the opposing dreamers "murderers". Melindia did not think this would be a good time to drop the essences before Gudrun to be picked up, for she feared the opposing dreamers might also grab them as well to spite her friend. Melindia did not like to see her new friend so upset, and she knew these essences would cheer her up, she had to find a way to transfer the essences she collected to Gudrun's satchel.
She thought of how kind, helpful and giving Gudrun had been to her, and unknowingly these thoughts had concentrated her DreamSoul, almost instantaneously the essences disappeared from her satchel and Gudrun's became overflowing with them. Gudrun smiled seemingly shocked as she found out what the extra weight was. Melindia then whispered to her what she had done and thanked her once again.
Decidedly, Gudrun abandoned her argument and the two ladies ran off to study more on this new wonderful art. Their studies confirmed that this act of kindness was simply a form of intense concentration that came from the heart.
Melindia was so determined to return the kindness shown to her that what she was wishing for came to be, and the art of Give was born.
Researched by LovesLight
Join Party
Focus: Dreamsoul
Cost: 0 cost
Evoke Time: Instant
Duration: Until broken
Effect: Allows the dreamer to form a link with up to 3 other dreamers. This link allows communication between rooms for all of those in the link. Also allows arts to be evoked on other party members even while they are in other rooms. Link can be deliberately broken, but is temporarily disrupted for any members leaving the plane. Waking also breaks the link for that member. In both cases, if the link is disrupted for the Party Leader, it is disrupted for all in the link. Teachers, Guardians, and Rulers gain 1 xp per 1 second for each person that is partied TO (IE: the Teacher, Guardian, or Ruler is the party leader). The experience is bestowed upon breaking of the link. This experience is lost should the T/G/R wake or storm without breaking the party. Any experience gained by any member of the party is Shared by all in the party as follows:
2 Person Party: Earner gains 2/3's, Member gains 1/3rd (Rounded down)
3 Person Party: Earner gains 1/2, Members each gain 1/4
4 Person Party: Earner gains 2/5ths, Members each gain 1/5's
History: Join Party was created during the Nightmare Wars, after Syriand the Graceful and Lagumbar Staggern created the portals. A group of the Seekers of Knowledge dedicated to researching the portals, discovered many new arts. Join Party was one of these. The person credited with developing Join Party was Elian, the Chief Researcher.
Know
Focus: Insight
Cost: 0 cost
Evoke Time: 1 Pillar (Decreases with plateaus)
Duration: Instant
Effect: Tells the evoker the name of the room, and plane that they are currently on. Also reveals any description of the room they are in currently.
History:
Wrensoul had a apprentice, with little DreamSoul to spare as he was very young and didn't have a high orbit so he didn't want to waste any locating himself. So he thus broke down the art of Locate Dreamer till only the basis was left using insight, when this was accomplished he was able to locate himself in the current room and the plane he was in. So it's like locate dreamer but you can only find yourself.
Researched by Palani
Alternate Histories:
Know was created by Cognizaria, Great-Great-Great Granddaughter of the Master FateSender Halek Tor. She wished to save the family's honor and restore respect for Halek Tor. By using his exploration notes and listening to elements around her, she created the art of Know.
Halek Tor was an explorer and left his journal of adventures for each generation to enjoy and learn from. Many generations had passed and unfortunately the pages had became worn, weathered, and torn. Soon his journal was no longer passed from generation to generation and laid unread in a chest. Many years passed and some of his descendants would gather and orally tell of his great adventures and how he would often get lost. They respected him, but somehow always got a huge laugh at his expense.
Cognizaria was present at many of these tale-spinnings. She knew she was a direct descendant to Halek Tor, and the more she listened the more she wished she could regain her family's honor. Cognizaria was determined to find his notes and prove once and for all that Halek Tor should be honored and revered, not laughed at, after all, he had created the art of Recall.
She began at her fathers house, digging and searching the oldest family quarters. She examined all the old relics, trying to find clues. She only needed one good clue.
Her Great-Great Grandmother, Wanderlust, had given her a key, just before the chaos closed around her. Funny, Cognizaria had not remembered the key for many ages. Hurriedly, she ran to the upper most chamber of their old dwelling. She ran to the place where her Great-Great Grandmother used to sit and read from an old book to her. Her memories were flooding her now; her Great-Great Grandmother used to read to her from her father's Journal. Halek Tor was Wanderlust's father!
Cognizaria was reliving the days of her childhood in her mind now. Easily she pulled back a stone from the farthest corner of the room, and from there she pulled out a weathered box. The details of the box were faded, the symbols of each focus nearly gone. Carrying the box, she went into the next room where she stayed as a child and pulled a wobbly chair up next to the window. Gently she balanced herself and reached to the sill. Yes, yes, here lay the key and the key opened the box. Inside, just as she remembered was the fuchsia colored Journal of the Master FS, Halek Tor.
Using his notes and her memories, Cognizaria tried to retrace his tales and his adventures. Her largest problem, it seemed, was clearly making out all the names of the lands and places he had traveled. She went on several journeys herself tracing his path as best she could, but alas, would often get confused and lost herself. This would be no way to return honor and respect to her family, if she too became the beginning and ending for fire-side jokes. She was determined to find her location, and find her way through all of his journeys.
Cognizaria sat by the running waters of the strange land where she found herself. She begin to meditate and remember. As she entered into a deep trance, the water beside her began to whisper. She knew if she listened closely she would understand. Hours passed and she was drawn deeper and deeper into her thoughts. She began to hear the earth she sat on whisper. She listened more closely, trying to separate the two...no, three conversations she was hearing. Time passed as she listened, soon the answers were clear. She emerged from her trance full of vision. Her grandfather was a Master FateSender, the controller of destiny, and she would not let him down.
The night had grown cold. She took bits of the dream around her and created a warm fire. Yes, the element of her Great-Great-Great Grandfather, Halek Tor, Fire. Her thoughts were so clear now. Into the fire she sprinkled some earth, the element of her Great-Great Grandmother, Wanderlust, the GateKeeper. Her powers as a DreamSeer had been fully awakened. She danced around the fire creating gusts of air, her own element. She was truly understanding the dreams. The blaze ravaged and grew almost out of control. She danced and danced making the fire burn hot and bright, so bright the night turned to day. Then very quickly, she doused the flames with the waters that flowed beside her.
Pitch darkness surrounded her. In that darkness she knew exactly where she was. As broad smiles crossed her face, she entered another land and concentrated. YES! She knew the name of that land as well.
Cognizaria had just created the art of Know and used the art to follow the paths and adventures of her Great-Great-Great Grandfather and bring honor and respect back to her family name.
To this day, Cognizaria is honored for her art. Most say to "know" is to recognize, and to be cognizant is to be familiar. Both words keep Cognizaria's memory with great honor.
Researched by Jolly
Locate Dreamer
Focus: Dreamsoul
Cost: 1 Dreamsoul
Evoke Time: 1 Pillar (Decreases with plateaus)
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Reveals the location of a named being within the city. Also allows the evoker to create a list that can be located for en-mass. Mass Locate, or locating for someone off of your current plane only reveals the targets plane. Locating a specific individual on the same plane as the evoker allows for room name as well. Mind Blank blocks location information on the protected dreamer, but does reveal that they're dreaming.
History:
Small undetermined histories have spoken about the creation of the art of Locate Dreamer and the art of know, two arts that are very similar. The best of the two is a parchment saying Wrensoul's apprentice created the art of know, because he hated having to locate himself and hated having to burn DreamSoul to do it.
Now I found it very odd that the art of locate would have been created before the art of know. It just seemed foolish that one would have the ability to locate others and know where they were, but not to "know" where they, themselves were.
After further study, I had found the fact that the art of locate being created before the art of know was indeed a falsity. Deep digging allowed me to find that the art of know was not created by Wrensoul's apprentice but indeed was created much earlier by a descendant of Halek Tor, named Cognizaria.
Though I did discover and formulate what truly did happen to put Wrensoul and his apprentice's names in the history tombs we know today.
Wrensoul's apprentice was very lazy and often inattentive. He did tamper with the art of know and locate but he did not create either. In fact it is his fault Locate is not what it use to be.
You see, with Wrensoul's apprentice being as inattentive as he was he did not often follow Wrensoul as closely as he should have, and often times would get lost from Wrensoul when they were out doing their studies. He would then have to locate his mentor but the young apprentice only had a level 10 locate and at that time was only able to identify that Wrensoul was in the same plane as him. Then Wrensoul would have to come looking for him. Wrensoul had suggested to his apprentice that if he was going to continue to wander off, he should indeed work on Plateauing the art. But Wrensoul's apprentice as I said before was lazy, and didn't want to put the effort into further studies of this simple art, instead he wanted a quick fix.
Wrensoul's apprentice proposed the idea of combining the two arts (locate/know) together, to make one ultimate locating/know art, but Wrensoul would not hear of it. He stated "All things are the way they are for a purpose, and you will learn that as your studies continue."
His apprentice was not satisfied and thought he could combine the arts on his own. One day the young apprentice wandered again, and took this opportunity to work his own "magic". He attempted to combine the two arts and upon locating Wrensoul in his exact location, he thought he had succeeded. Ecstatic he ran off to find and surprise his mentor of what he had done, and brag none the less. But Wrensoul knew better and tested it further making his apprentice try to locate someone not in the same plane as them. He found his locate to be as we know it today. Upon further studies, Wrensoul found that his apprentice not only altered his own locate but future teachings of it as well. Luckily Wrensoul discovered that it did not alter the workings to those who already acquired the art, for if his colleagues were to find out he would surely be a laughing stock and maybe even banished from the DreamWrights Guild.
Wrensoul took this opportunity to cover the tracks of his apprentice. With another Chaos eclipse drawing near, He would use that as a scapegoat for the changes made. He did not want dishonor to be brought to his name or his apprentice's for that would bring dishonor to him as well.
He privately punished his apprentice by making locate cost an extra digit of DreamSoul knowing how much his apprentice hated that, and also stories are told of a more violent punishment but nothing is told of how or what.
Then he and his apprentice hid all the old tombs of Cognizaria and her works in the creation of the art of Know and the two rewrote new ones.
In rewritten recollections of the art of know the apprentice's name is simply left out, but if looking at an old hand written (by Wrensoul himself) parchment there is a large space before the words "Wrensoul's apprentice" so it appeared to look like this..... _________, Wrensoul's apprentice, as if the name of the apprentice just mysteriously vanished somehow. Some say it is the work of Cognizaria's spirit or magic, herself still trying to reinstate the honor and respect to the family name.
Researched by LovesLight
Alternate Histories: To talk of Locate Dreamer, we must also look into the workings of Mind Blank. There are roughly three different schools of thought on Mind Blank. One, that there is one part of our Avatar that is inherently unique in each one of us, but will not harm us if deactivated. If that theory holds true, Locate Dreamer merely finds the unique signature of the Avatar it seeks and reports it's location to the evoker. The second major theory is that our Souls..when blanked.. merely report selective information. While unblanked, they are analogous to an open boo. If this is true, then Locate dreamer looks upon the spine of the book, to make sure it exists, and then onto the pages, if they are not blank, to see what the content (location) is. Finally, there is a third and more minor schoolf of thought. It believes that when we evoke Locate Dreamer sends a message to some sort of center Dream Control. If this Dream control has not been beibed by Mind Blank, it will report the location back of the dreamer in question.So as you can see there are many theories but very few solid facts. The name of the creator of course is very long gone, but was likely one of the ancients, possibly one of the Ancient's first 9 apprentices as it is one of the first shared arts we obtain.
Unknown Author (Preserved by Raven Lunatic)
Meditation
Focus: Will
Cost: 2 Will
Evoke Time: 1 Pillar
Duration: 5 minutes + 5 per plateau
Effect: Allows a stationary dreamer to regenerate 2 element points per tick instead of 1. Amount regenerated increases by 1 per plateau. Dreamer can talk, but no movement, talisman, or art use is allowed without breaking the effect.
History: It was not long after the first dreamers had become DreamWrights, but before any had made the status of master DreamWrights that they began developing various Arts. As they developed these Arts, they observed that each of them, when evoked, drew on their reserves of elemental focus. They also observed that when they stood idle for a moment, their elemental focus would regenerate as long as 1 Dream Soul remained. But standing idle was alien to their nature as they were naturally industrious. So, one of the first DreamWrights, his name is lost to us, learned that by chanting "Ooooohm" after drawing on 2 units of Will energies, he could induce a trance-like state. This state enabled him to regain his depleted elemental energies at twice the normal rate. This being so helpful an Art, that it was later designed to be automatically taught to all newly awakened dreamers as they entered Threshold for the first time.
Alternate Histories: Renrut Nek once had a student, this student was always day-dreaming about everything in the dream, but the task at hand. He would be asked to clean up the study and work area that the students used and always only partially finished.
Renrut decided to help his student my setting a task he would excel at. He tasked the student to find a way to channel his energies he used to day-dream into himself and use that new focused power to better himself. The student agreed and wandered all around trying to find the best and quietest place in the dream to begin his attempts, and settled finally in what is now known as A Quiet Place in Trinity Walk.
There he began to day-dream and tried to focus on what he was to do, not having much success....at this time he never noticed a Bogrom was in the area until it attacked him. He beat the bog but took some pretty serious wounds. He sat down and focused on his day-dreams to take his mind of the pain. He was sitting still for just a little time when he noticed he was almost healed fully.....and that he was kind of looking out of his body.....he stood and took a step forward and wham was back in his body...a bit confused. He ran back to Renrut's study and told his mentor what happened.
Researched by Charixz (12-31-98)
Random
Focus: Dreamsoul
Cost: 0 Dreamsoul
Evoke Time: 2 Pillars (Decreases with plateaus)
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Generates and announces a random number between 1 to 100.
History: Xeoris : A professor by trade, and an avid DreamSeer who sought the knowledge of the Chaos which surrounded the Dream at the time. As at that time, the only way to examine the Chaos was to journey there yourself (a very dangerous practice) he felt quite miffed that no way existed for one to do so safely. In turn, he developed an art that would look at an infinitesimally small area of the Chaos, and report it’s percentage of "purity" as a relation to the purest Chaos yet known. This works on the principle, that for Chaos to be truly Chaotic, it must also vary in concentration, a theory proved by the art of Random. Using this art, Xeoris made several studies of the Chaos, both reflecting on the nature of it, and the increasing danger of a breach in the City Walls, as the City expanded putting more pressure on the surrounding Chaos pressing in. This theory of his was vindicated by the Great Loss, but unfortunately, he was not around to see it.
NOTE: Really annoying sound, use with restraint.
Sense Dreamers
Focus: Dreamsoul
Cost: 0 Dreamsoul
Evoke Time: 1 Pillar (Decreases with plateaus)
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Lets the evoker detect the 3 most populated planes at the time of evoke, in decreasing order. In cases of a tie in raw numbers, seniority within the dream and amount of time dreaming seems to be used as a tie breaker.
History: None recorded
Show Talisman
Focus: Dreamsoul
Cost: 0 Dreamsoul
Evoke Time: Immediate
Duration: Immediate
Effect: Lets the evoker show the name of a selected talisman to a targeted dreamer.
History: An eccentric at best, Yurien was a collector of things both amazing and wonderful. She had a passion for exploring the unexplored and was very fond of any unique talismans she could lay her large hands on. However, as the best of collectors tend to be, she also tended to show off her treasures, if even due to the fact that she had so many. Many took it in their stride, as they realized the genuine pleasure she got from sharing her discoveries with others. Of course, not all were so enlightened, and one, Derisik, a fellow collector, with less, decided to teach her a lesson. Coming over one night alone, he asked to see the Tome of B'iis, a prized possession of Yurien's as it contained vast amounts of insight within it's pages, but not unlimited. Once one read through the entire book, it was useless, it's knowledge granted. Trustingly, Yurien took the Tome out of it's case, and passed it to Derisik, who then promptly chameled, and ran off with it. Stunned, she did not report the incident until it was found by another visiting scholar. In response a small group of DreamSeers created the art of Show Talisman, so that Yurien could continue to display her efforts without fear of theft.
Trail
Focus: Lucidity
Evoke Time: 1 Pillar
Duration: 20 minutes + 20 minutes per plateau
Effect: Causes the evoker to drop small green gems behind them as a sort of trail. This allows the evoker to follow their own trail in reverse if needed. Evoking Trail again causes the trail to vanish. Moving to a new plane causes the trail on the previous plane to vanish.
History: The Art of Trail was created by two dreamers named Hans'ell and Greh'tall. Hans'ell was a dreamer who liked to explore, but always got lost, in search of finding someplace new to explore. Greh'tall was his younger sister who would always end up in search of her brother Hans'ell. Hans'ell would get lost so consistently, that Greh'tall eventually became frustrated, and would no longer come looking for him, being the stubborn Gatekeeper that she was. Hans'ell would eventually get lost, and despite her wishes, Greh'tall would end up searching out her brother. Greh'tall had a smart idea for her trouble-making FateSender of a brother. She gave him a loaf of stale bread, and made him drop it wherever he went so he could find his way back. This worked until a dark-mare stumbled upon the trail that Hans'ell had dropped. the Dark-mare followed the trail of bread-crumbs up to where Hans'ell was exploring the rock formations in the Valley of Totality, and collapsed him. Hans'ell came back home floating, much to the dismay of Greh'tall. So Hans'ell decided that he didn't like the idea of people being able to find him. Hans'ell gathered up the lucidity bound within him, and formed small emeralds out of the ground, and used his ability to blind others, to cast a haze around the stones so that none but himself, were able to see the stones. The only person who was able to find him after that was Greh'tall. Sadly, Hans'ell and Greh'tall were lost to the dream shortly after teaching this ability to a few friends, as Hans'ell wandered far into the rift, and Greh'tall went after him.
Researched by OfF KiLTeR
Alternate Histories: The art of Trail was created by Tengam. Like most people he easily got lost. So he figured the next time our on a travel he would use codex's and drop one every ten feet. After around a half an hour of exploring he ran into an Emphant. Like always he evoked his blade and defeated the Emphant. As He looked at his blade, he wondered if there was a way that he could create something that would evoke so he wouldn't have to stop and create a codex a drop it on the ground every ten feet. So he went and studied how his blade was evoked. After many weeks of studying how it is evoked he added some of his own ideas and then he came up with a glowing diamond shape that automatically would drop every ten feet. When we was done all he had to do was evoke the art again and then the Trail would disappear. And so the art of Trail was created.
Researched by Magnet