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The King of Dreams and Nightmare Queen

I recently had some big ideas for how the Astral Plane works in my flintlock fantasy story setting. I was hoping to get some feedback on them to see how well they work.

Without getting too much into it, there are two Astral Realms called Dreamland and Nightmareland. (I'm iffy on the name for the latter.) Before and during the Divine War, there were two Faeries, husband and wife, who had immense Psionic Power. They created an enormous Dreamscape to enjoy together but later invited others to join them. This Dreamscape came to be known as Dreamland. Eventually, some of the Archons of Light offered to make the husband and wife conditionally immortal. They would enter a deep sleep and so long as they never woke from it, their bodies would not age nor die. However, if they ever did wake, their bodies would rapidly age and they would perish. They were tasked with maintaining Dreamland to provide a refuge for people from the nightmares that the minions of Hethetex, Dark Lord of Dread and Despair, were using to torment people. Dreamland would be a place the minions of Hethetex could not enter.

To keep their bodies safe, the husband and wife created two separate palaces in which they would each slumber under the protection of a loyal group of guards. These Dream Palaces, as they were called, were then moved into their own Pocket Dimensions. While their bodies would remain separate, the husband and wife would be with each other in Dreamland. So long as the mind of one of them remained in Dreamland, it would be sustained, allowing the other to go out into the Deep Astral to bring sleeping people to Dreamland where they would be safe from the minions of Hethetex.

As the wife was the faster of the two, this task usually fell to her while the husband, who had more strength to sustain and defend Dreamland, remained there to keep it both safe and stable. However, as the centuries passed, the wife began to grow, well, bored. The thrill of evading the minions of Hethetex was gone, as was the challenge, and few of the people she took to Dreamland remembered her when they awakened, though they did seem to retain a vague memory of her husband, the "King of Dreams" as he'd come to be known.

Resentment began to fill the heart of the wife and she soon began to converse with the minions of Hethetex rather than simply drive them away. She also took to studying the nightmares they gave people. In so doing, she found that nightmares provided her with more excitement than dreams. Eventually, she would make a small, secret Dreamscape where she could take people's minds and subject them to nightmares of her own creation. This pleased Hethetex greatly, so he visited the Queen of Dreams and made her an offer. He would sustain her immortality and empower help her to expand the Dreamscape of terror she had created so that it was as great as Dreamland. She would become the Nightmare Queen and the memory of her would remain in the minds of people far more than the memory of her husband, the King of Dreams.

The wife initially refused the offer Hethetex had made, but as the Divine War worsened, and people's nightmares increased, the Queen of Dreams could not put the offer out of her mind. Eventually, she lost all desire to resist the temptation, even though she could have overcome it in time had she been patient and endured. Instead, her jealousy and resentment of her husband got the better of her. She abandoned him and Dreamland and accepted the deal with Hethetex. With the power he granted her, she expanded her Dreamscape, transforming it into what is now called Nightmareland. Those who protected her body in what was now the Palace of Nightmares sided with her, as they had been corrupted by the Dark Lord of Dread and Despair alongside the queen.

So, that's the origins of Dreamland and Nightmareland. I'm still figuring out how they work, exactly. I do know that not all dreams and nightmares take place in these Astral Realms. Some obviously do, but not all. The key thing about both is that you are not alone in them, so you can meet people in either one and later find them in real life, provided you can remember them when you wake up. Another detail is that some people can have their bodies taken to either the Palace of Dreams of the Palace of Nightmares, where they will spend the rest of the life in slumber while their minds join the ranks of either the King of Dreams or Nightmare Queen. They will still age and die, physically, but never become sick or suffer physical harm in their permanent hibernation. A big drawback to doing this is that your memories of your waking life tend to fade quickly, though not entirely, so that remembering what life was like when you were awake can be very difficult. This is why most people who do this are those who are dying and want to continue their life in another way. They aren't cheating death, exactly, since they still age and die, but this does grant them more time to live and a way to help (or harm) people while doing so through dreams and nightmares.

One other thing I'm thinking is that, due to the way the Astral Plane works, while Dreamland and NIghtmareland are technically on opposite ends of the Psionic Universe, there are places where their borders "touch." This is where the servants of the two rulers will battle each other or launch raids into the opposing realms to either save or abduct the minds of sleepers visiting them. The dynamics of these battles are a bit strange, since the soldiers of the King of Dreams are all "happy warriors" who tend to use cheerfulness, kindness, and humor as their primary weapons to counteract the fear, anguish, and misery their counterparts wield. Also, due to the nature of dreams, things can get quite... imaginative, like someone launching puppies from their arms to pin down a Nightmare Soldier and lick them into submission.

A final idea I have involves Dream Dust and Nightmare Dust. Not only are these how servants of the two monarchs can bring people directly to Dreamland or Nightmare Land, they are also what allows the King of Dreams and Nightmare Queen to generate projections of themselves. Both have to remain in their castles at the center of each Astral Realm in order to maintain their stability, so using the Dust to create simulated bodies is the only way they can interact with anyone outside of them. (And, yes, this means they're Astral Projecting their minds from their physical bodies AND sending out Dust Projections of their minds from their Astral Projections. Stuff gets weird on the Astral Plane.) These Dust Projections can manifest both on the Astral Plane and in the physical world, which is how both rulers recruit people to work in their physical palaces and bring more Dreamers to take up residence in them.

So, that's all I've worked out for now. What do you guys think? Does this work? Do you have any suggestions? Let me know!
 

Queshire

Auror
Well, it's servicable but I think I would just use angels & demons for that sort of thing and leave the dreamlands for something more abstract personally.
 
The Astral Plane isn’t the Spiritual Realm, it’s the realm of Psionics. Dreamscapes, Mindscapes, and Simulated Realities are a part of the Outer Astral, so Astral Realms exist in forms other than Dreamland and Nightmareland. Indeed, Mindscapes are a part of Telepathic communications. I just realized that it was feasible for there to be Astral Realms focused on dreams and nightmares and things developed from there.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
I am reminded of Lovecraft's 'Dreamlands' which are described as a sort of dimension reached through dreams. This is technically a 'real' place, with 'real' inhabitants. Many mortal dreamers wander its fringes, assuming 'temporary reality' there. Being Lovecraft, the Dreamlands are ruled by a number of often malevolent deities.
 
I’m thinking that Nightmareland will probably be in line with how Lovecraft designed his version of Dreamland. Hetherex isn’t one of the Eldritch Lords, but he’s got a lot in common with them. He’s the god of fear and grief, so fear of the unknown is well within his wheelhouse.

One idea I had after creating this thread was that Nightmareland would have satellites of sorts that are not sustained by the Nightmare Queen herself but are under her authority. These satellites would each be based off of some common types of nightmares. One of them, which I’m calling Helter-Skelter, is an ever-changing labyrinth in which Dreamers are pursued by some… thing. What it is, exactly, is never clear, because you never get to see its entire form, but it chases you all over Helter-Skelter for what can feel like days. If it catches you, you wake up, but you’ll feel like you not only didn’t get any sleep but like you’ve been running a marathon. The Thing is probably some kind of Astral Entity the Nightmare Queen found, one that feeds on fear, that she put in Helter-Skelter to chase people. It sustains Helter-Skelter and can modify its interior layout but the Queen can override its control if she chooses. I’m thinking that the satellites of Nightmareland are actually factories of sorts for converting Psi into Nightmare Dust.

Dreamland probably has satellites that serve the same purpose, but they operate on happy dreams, like going to a fun party or getting to fly. I’m mulling over ideas for more satellites, but you get the point. They aren’t part of Dreamland and Nightmareland but they are an important part of the system that keeps them running.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
I’m thinking that Nightmareland will probably be in line with how Lovecraft designed his version of Dreamland. Hetherex isn’t one of the Eldritch Lords, but he’s got a lot in common with them. He’s the god of fear and grief, so fear of the unknown is well within his wheelhouse.

One idea I had after creating this thread was that Nightmareland would have satellites of sorts that are not sustained by the Nightmare Queen herself but are under her authority. These satellites would each be based off of some common types of nightmares. One of them, which I’m calling Helter-Skelter, is an ever-changing labyrinth in which Dreamers are pursued by some… thing. What it is, exactly, is never clear, because you never get to see its entire form, but it chases you all over Helter-Skelter for what can feel like days. If it catches you, you wake up, but you’ll feel like you not only didn’t get any sleep but like you’ve been running a marathon. The Thing is probably some kind of Astral Entity the Nightmare Queen found, one that feeds on fear, that she put in Helter-Skelter to chase people. It sustains Helter-Skelter and can modify its interior layout but the Queen can override its control if she chooses. I’m thinking that the satellites of Nightmareland are actually factories of sorts for converting Psi into Nightmare Dust.

Dreamland probably has satellites that serve the same purpose, but they operate on happy dreams, like going to a fun party or getting to fly. I’m mulling over ideas for more satellites, but you get the point. They aren’t part of Dreamland and Nightmareland but they are an important part of the system that keeps them running.
Suggestion if you are going to go the Lovecraft Dreamland route:

Many of the 'Dreamland's' inhabitants are 'real.' And sometimes when they dream, they find themselves 'trading places' with a dreamer in the waking world. When this happens, the 'real world person' seems to be stumbling around in a daze, with only a hazy notion of how day to day things work. It might get even more interesting if the dreamers could transfer objects between realities.
 
You can't permanently transfer Astral Objects onto a Material Plane (they'll just vanish if you stop supplying them with Psi.) However, you can create copies of physical objects to use on the Astral Plane that will continue to exist unless you disrupt their structure the right way. You essentially "scan" a physical object with a Psionic Technic and its shape and physical properties are replicated. This process is actually a key aspect of creating Simulated Spaces on the Astral Plane, such as Mindscapes, Dreamscapes, and Simscapes. So, while someone from Dreamland or Nightmareland can't bring something from the Astral to the Material, they can most certainly do the reverse and frequently do so. Both Astral Realms are filled with objects that are simulated copies of things from the Material Planes. It's a bit like how the Matrix worked in The Matrix franchise. The Astral Plane is, among other things, a massive virtual reality universe that overlaps other Planes of the Multiverse.

As for inhabitants of the Astral trading places with Dreamers, that's possible, I think. I do have a being called The Entity which can use Psionics to take over people's bodies remotely. Their minds basically fall asleep when The Entity takes over so they aren't consciously aware of what's happening and cannot resist. However, The Entity can only target people with a specific weakness in their innate Psionic Defenses, which all creatures with some level of intelligence possess. This is why it's very difficult to read someone's mind without them being aware of it. You can feel something trying to poke around inside your mind and it triggers certain Psionic Reflexes. However, some people have a weakness in those reflexes that The Entity exploits.

The downside for The Entity is that it cannot access the thoughts, memories, or emotions of its victims. It only has access to their motor controls, physical senses, muscle memories, and their Arcane and/or Psionic abilities. It has to gather information on the victim using external clues, so The Entity is unable to convincingly pass itself off as the person it is controlling. It rarely bothers trying as a result. I'm thinking that, in addition to the person acting wildly out of character, there may be some other signs that something is amiss, like a faint glow in the eyes while the person is under The Entity's control.

But my plan for The Entity is that it is a physical being of some kind (still not sure what, beyond it not being humanoid) that lives on a Material Plane or perhaps inside a Pocket Dimension. That being said, it may be possible for Astral Beings to take control of a body while you're Astral Projecting. You lose access to your physical senses and motor controls while you're doing this (the same way you do while you're dreaming) so I can see there being Astral Beings who take advantage of this by using people's bodies like puppets. However, unlike The Entity, they can only do this when someone is Astral Projecting.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
I would suggest making the dream transfer involuntary:

1 - earth dreamer visits dreamland or nightmare land.

2 - earth dreamer encounters 'native' of dreamland or nightmare land, either repeatedly, or one or two or three intense encounters.

3 - 'native' of dreamland / nightmare land starts wondering about said dreamer, maybe takes action to locate.

4 - earth dreamer and native dreamer get their astral images 'tangled.'

said 'transfer' wouldn't last all that long for either party - minutes to couple hours maybe. Could be serious medical effects. (like Doc looking at routine lab results and going 'Wow! What's going on with this guy?'

earth dreamer would probably score higher than normal on the usual ESP/PSI tests.

native would either have access to 'magic' or also score high on equivalent of ESP/PSI tests

Lovecraft had actual physical portals to the Dreamlands.
 
I would suggest making the dream transfer involuntary:

1 - earth dreamer visits dreamland or nightmare land.

2 - earth dreamer encounters 'native' of dreamland or nightmare land, either repeatedly, or one or two or three intense encounters.

3 - 'native' of dreamland / nightmare land starts wondering about said dreamer, maybe takes action to locate.

4 - earth dreamer and native dreamer get their astral images 'tangled.'

said 'transfer' wouldn't last all that long for either party - minutes to couple hours maybe. Could be serious medical effects. (like Doc looking at routine lab results and going 'Wow! What's going on with this guy?'

earth dreamer would probably score higher than normal on the usual ESP/PSI tests.

native would either have access to 'magic' or also score high on equivalent of ESP/PSI tests

Lovecraft had actual physical portals to the Dreamlands.

Ok, there is definitely some potential, here. I had not considered accidental "body swapping." Technically, your mind is still inside your body when you dream or Astral Project. What you send out is a Psionic Avatar or "Dream Body" that is a copy of your own. It is linked to your body through a Psionic Tether, which is a very thin (like, less than a hair's breadth) string. If the Psionic Tether is cut, you don't get lost in the Astral, you just find yourself "back" in your body. Think of it like losing a connection with a game avatar in WoW or something like that. However, while that might give you a metaphorical headache, having a Psionic Tether cut will give you a very literal headache, potentially on par with a migraine. Your Psionic Avatar will usually cease to exist when this happens, though it may remain, but you will not have access to it, nor will it act on its own.

Though that does give me an idea: What if someone deliberately cut a Psionic Tether in order to "hack" someone's Psionic Avatar? They could then attach their Psionic Tether to it and impersonate the person... sort of. Their Psionic Avatar would look like the other person, but they might not be able to impersonate their personality since they wouldn't have access to the original owner's mind and memories. Maybe there could be some residual data in the Psionic Avatar that they could use, but it'd be limited, so unless they're a really good actor, anyone who knows the original creator of the avatar is going to notice something is amiss.

Anyway, while body swapping isn't literally possible, I could see people's Psionic Tethers getting tangled so that they end up "inside" someone else's body. What would actually be happening is that their Psionic Avatar gets projected into the other person's body while that person's avatar ends up in theirs. To put it another way, it's like you have two people controlling characters in a game but their controllers suddenly glitch so they end up controlling the other player's character instead of their own, only what they end up controlling is the other person's body.

Heck, this could be something people could also do deliberately. Imagine two spies in separate parts of the world who could "body swap" in order to relay information back and forth or so that the body in enemy territory could be used to perform tasks that involve skills the owner of the body doesn't have. For example, say you have a spy who doesn't know how to disarm a bomb but finds himself in a situation where a bomb needs to be disarmed. He contacts an agent back home who can disarm bombs and lets him take control of his body. The agent uses his body to disarm the bomb while he uses the agent's body to give his superiors a report and receive new orders. That would be a very interesting application for Psionics.

Getting back to the original topic, I can see an Astral Entity accidentally taking over someone's body through some kind of Psionic entanglement. Astral Entities do not have physical bodies as they're comprised of Psi Energy, but that could come with the drawback of getting pulled into a physical body under the right circumstances, namely while someone is Astral Projecting. That would be pretty alarming for them, at least at first, and some would probably want to get out of the physical body as quickly as possible while others might find the experience quite intriguing.
 
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