Oneiromancy

The arts of dream manipulation are practised by many changelings. Though all have the ability to shape dreams, not all bother to hone the skill. True oneiromancers seek to understand the nuances of the human condition, as expressed through dreams. The Skill associated with oneiromancy is Empathy — because changelings were once mortal, their manipulation of dreams is, of necessity, half psychology. They do not have the potency of Wyrd to wholesale reshape dreams the way the True Fae do, but if changelings understand what dreams mean and how they work, they can get the same result from a mortal dreamscape.

## Entering Dreams

**Personal dreams:** Always. No cost.

A changeling passes through his own dreamscape as he follows the lines of Wyrd to the dreams of others, but needs neither special meditative sleep techniques nor the presence of the Hedge in order to manipulate his own dreamscape.

**Fetch's dreams:** 1 Willpower.

**Fetch's revenge**: Presence + Wyrd. Extended roll. Rolled each time they invade their fetch's dreams. Target number is equal to the fetch's Willpower. Once it is equalled or exceeded, the fetch realises the oneiric connection between himself and the changeling, and may learn to spend a point of Willpower himself to haunt the dreams of his changeling tormentor. A fetch that has learned this technique very quickly becomes a capable oneiromancer, as capable as any changeling while in the fetch’s own dreams, or those of the wayward the fetch replaced.

**Dream-tasked dreams**: 1 Glamour.

Changelings may enter the dreams of others through the use of a pledge, using the dreaming task. Motleys commonly enter one another’s dreams to keep a concerned eye on their brethrens’ dream-lives, and changelings often work dreaming tasks into the pledges they use to ensorcell mortals. Changelings often seek to bind up other mortals in dreaming-based pledges, too — doing so allows changelings to keep track of certain elements of the population, useful for presaging the arrival of the Faerie Hosts into the changelings’ neck of the Hedge.

**Entering the Dream of another:**

1) Changeling must be in a Hollow or the Hedge itself.

2) Changeling must enter a deep, meditative sleep.

3) Changeling makes an extended meditative roll: **Composure + Wits + Wyrd + Equipment** (one roll represents 30 minutes)

 12 successes
 16 successes

Possible equipment: Yoga mat (+1), prayer beads (+1), meditative music or relaxation tapes (+2), meditation room (+3).

Possible penalties: Loud noises (-1), nearby children (-1), uncomfortable environment (-1), lack of sleep (-1 to -2), lack of food (-1 to -3).

4) Changeling makes a reflexive **Resolve + Composure** roll when a loud noise occurs nearby or something disturbs their body to stay within their dream-state. If the roll fails, they immediately awaken, yanked from this reverie.

5) Changeling can exit a dream at any time with a successful **Resolve + Composure** roll and an instant action. Does not count for the the one whose dreamscape serves as the setting for a dream-visitation. Non-lucid dreamers have no control over whether or not they can end the dream. A lucid dreamer or oneiromancer can make a Resolve + Composure roll to awaken, as above, but this roll can be reflexively opposed by a present oneiromancer’s Wits + Empathy + Wyrd roll; indeed, multiple oneiromancers may reflexively use Teamwork to assist one another in keeping the sleeper asleep until they are finished with their goals there.

## Dream Intensity

**Roll**: Wits + Resolve. (The number of successes gained determines the Intensity of the dream, rolled at the onset of dreaming.)

Not all dreams are the same. Some are powerful, intense experiences that snatch up the dreamer and hapless oneiropomps and take them for a ride, forcing them to experience the fullness of the dream’s intended course until it is completed. Other dreams are wisps of imagery and vague symbolism, poorly remembered when away, and often only half-noticed while asleep. Such dreams are easy manipulated by skilled oneiromancers.

* **Recurring Dreams**
	+ Wits + Resolve + 9 again.
* **Memory Dreams**
	+ These are often not faithful recollections, but are coloured by the associations the dreamer has with the dream, what emotions they experience in remembering the dream and other similar personality “tints.” Sometimes the dreamer himself isn’t aware of why he continually remembers a certain event from his childhood, or why a specific hallway from his high school years recurs even in dreams that aren’t about old alma mater. Many oneiromancers can discover the reasons behind the recurring dreams through careful exploration of the dream itself.
	+ Wits + Resolve + 9 again.
	+ Wits + Resolve + 8 again if the dream is a recurring memory dream.
* **Wish Fulfilment**
	+ The human subconscious is, in many ways, the source of such human experiences as hopes and desires, whether sublimated or open. Therefore, it is no surprise that many dreams feature some kind of wish fulfilment, allowing the dreamer to experience her fondest wishes. Making love with someone she is infatuated with, the opportunity to get back at someone who has hurt her, the chance to reunite with a loved one who died while they were quarrelling — most people experience some sort of wish fulfilment dream occasionally. The meanings behind those dreams are often obvious, but sometimes the wish fulfilment is expressed in symbolic terms: dreams of flight may represent freedom from a constricting or binding situation, while dreams of being pregnant may represent a creative urge unfulfilled.
* **Prophetic Dreams**
	+ **Wits + Occult + Wyrd + Bonus** equal to the Intensity of the roll.
		- Rolled when a changeling who suspects his environs to be prophetic.
		- Success: Indicates whether or not the dream itself is indeed prophetic, but provides no other information about it.
		- Exceptional success: Indicates not only whether the dream is prophetic but also gives an indication how to avoid or fulfil the prophesy.
		- Makes any changes to the dream negates its function as a prophetic dream.
	+ A dreamer who experiences a prophetic dream and then later sees that prediction come true may regain a point of Willpower.
	+ Changelings who experience a prophetic dream and later see it come true regains a point of Glamour.
* **Nightmares**
	+ What wish fulfilment dreams are to hopes and desires, nightmares are to insecurities and fears. Recurring nightmares, can actually contribute to poor health and psychological stress. Nightmares are intensely personal. What creates great fear in one person may simply be an odd dream for another. Therefore, the kinds of nightmares a character experiences tells much about what he fears, hates or generally has negative associations with. Similar to many dreams, however, nightmares can be tremendously symbolic: what appears to be simply a strange dream about clowns and playgrounds may actually be symbolic associations with being abused as a child to the dreamer.
	+ **Wits + Resolve** equal to or higher than **Willpower - Derangements**
		- The Nightmare is so severe that the dreamer likely wakes sobbing or screaming.
		- Changeling regains no willpower.

## Dream Riding

A dream-riding changeling enters the dream of another and makes simple changes to events and the environment around him. He can introduce fairly dramatic changes, altering the appearance of the dream’s setting, how its dream-inhabitants act and all manner of other changes. The integral dream itself remains relatively the same, however.

**Roll**: Wits + Empathy + Wyrd - Penalty equal to the Intensity of the dream being altered.

* The oneiropomp has to roll for every change they make to the dream.

* The oneiropomp views the dream happening around the dreamer from a disembodied vantage just above the dreamer’s head.
	+ It is a change to make himself appear within the context of the dream
	+ It is another change to make himself appear to be someone or something else within it.
* The oneiropomp must be careful to not use too heavy of a hand, however, lest he disrupt the dream.
	+ Should the oneiromancer ever roll a number of successes on a dream riding roll that is greater than the Intensity of the dream, his changes were too much for the dream to remain whole, and it unravels.
	+ The oneiromancer may spend a point of Willpower to prevent this happening.
	+ The oneiromancer also has the option of voluntarily giving himself penalties to this roll, but once he has determined his dice pool, all the successes from that roll count. It can be something of a delicate juggling act to keep a weak dream intact.

Most of the time, changelings simply dream ride in order to observe what is going on, not doing much to change the content of the dreamscape. Naturally occurring dreams have value in and of themselves, and a wise oneiropomp understands this. From within the dream, a changeling may use dream riding to perform a number of simple actions.

* **Analyse the Dream**
	+ Determine if the dream in question is a full nightmare, recurring dream, memory dream or wish fulfilment by making minute, weak changes to see how the dreamscape reacts to them.
		- **Wits + Empathy - Penalty** equal to the Intensity of the dream.
		- The oneiromancer makes tiny changes and looks for the signs that indicates the kind of dream — memory dreams immediately reinforce aspects of the dream that are remembered rather than imagined, nightmares slightly twist introduced aspects into darker manifestations, recurring dreams are harder to introduce random events into because their pattern is already set, while wish fulfilment or normal dreams are relatively simple to change.
	+ Determine if the dream is prophetic or not.
		- **Wits + Occult + Wyrd + Bonus** equal to the Intensity of the dream.
		- Making any kinds of changes to the dream, even those to determine the type of dream, will nullify the effects of the prophetic dream.
* **Convince the Dreamer**
	+ Alter dreams subtly, injecting subliminal suggestions into the dreamscape for later use.
		- **Wits + Empathy + Wyrd.**
		- Requires a whole night of work.
	+ For each success on the dream riding roll, the changeling may “store” an extra die in the psyche of the dreamer.
		- When interacting socially with the dreamer at a later date, the changeling may tap into these subliminal clues, pitching his voice to a certain tone, using a certain phrase or wearing a certain scent, using as many of these dice as he pleases on any Manipulation-based roll in dealing with the dreamer.
		- These clues remain embedded in the dreamer’s psyche for one week, fading at the end of that period.
		- Only a single “batch” of subliminal clues may rest in the psyche of any given dreamer at one time — establishing a new set of suggestions overwrites the previously stored ones.
* **Learn about the Dreamer**
	+ By watching several nights’ worth of dreams, an oneiropomp may learn quite a bit about a dreamer.
		- Extended **Wits + Empathy + Wyrd**
		- One roll permitted per night.
	+ During these nights, the oneiropomp may not alter the content of the dreamscape whatsoever.
	+ Every five successes on this roll reveals one of the following details about the dreamer:
		- her Virtue;
		- her Vice;
		- one of her derangements;
		- her Willpower;
		- one of her Merits (Mental or Social only) or one of her Flaws (Mental or Social only);
		- It can also reveal the use of mind- or emotion-altering supernatural powers on the dreamer within the past month.
* **Psychotherapy**
	+ An oneiropomp with the knowledge to do so may actually use the dreams of a subject as a means of treating psychological or mental problems.
		- **Wits + Empathy + Wyrd - Penalty** equal to the Intensity of the dream in which the work is performed.
		- Each night of work by the oneiropomp is the equivalent of a week of normal psychotherapy.
* **Scour the Intensity**
	+ Though this is rarely used, the oneiromancer may actually scour the Intensity of the dream, reducing the power of its hold over the dreamer’s psyche. Most oneiromancers use this to lessen the power of nightmares, allowing the dreamer to experience the nightmare (and thus perhaps get the kind of catharsis that some people gain from their bad dreams) without finding themselves exhausted the next day.
		- **Wits + Empathy + Wyrd - Penalty** equal to the Intensity of the dream;
			* Each success reduces the Intensity of the dream by 1.
			* If the Intensity of a dream is scoured below 1, the dream ends abruptly, and the dreamer awakens.
			* This may only be performed once per dream.
	+ This can also be used to scour away the Intensity of dream-poison, reducing the hold of the True Fae over mortals they control through the contagion-dreams.
		- **Wits + Empathy + Wyrd**
		- This roll is opposed by a roll of the dream-poison’s Intensity.
		- If the oneiromancer wins this contested roll, each of his successes over that of the dream-poison reduces the Intensity of the dream-poison by 1.
		- If the contagion-dream wins, however, the oneiromancer takes one point of Willpower damage per net success (see Oneiromachy).
* **Search for Dream-Poison**
	+ Searching for the subtle signs of dream-poison is a time-consuming and often difficult task.
	+ Extended **Wits + Empathy + Wyrd - Penalty** equal to the Intensity of the dominant dream that evening.
		- Each roll takes a single night of work, and requires a number of total successes equal to the Intensity of the contagion-dream.
		- Most oneiropomps regularly search the dreams of those they watch for the taint of the True Fae.

## Dreamscaping

A dreamscaping oneiromancer creates the dream in its entirety, using his raw Glamour and the power of his Wyrd to shape a dreamscape from the latent stuff of the dreamer’s dreamscape. An oneiropomp cannot actually dreamscape his own sleeping hours, thus, many motleys assist one another with the creation of dreamscapes meant to bolster and nurture one another.

In order to do this, the dreamer must not be actively in the middle of a dream. Thus, an oneiromancer who enters a dreamer’s dreamscape before she enters REM sleep may take the opportunity to shape his will into the fallow, unattended dreamscape, setting the stage for his own psychodramas. However, the mind of a dreamer fights such unnatural intrusions. A dreamer’s psyche has its own unknowable agenda, and fights any changes to the symbolic, subconscious presentation the psyche has in store for a sleeper.

Any single dreamer can only benefit from a Glamour-crafted dreamscape once per night — thus, an oneiromancer could craft a healing sleep dreamscape and then a stress relief one, but the dreamer would only gain the mechanical benefits of the first dream.

**Dreamscaping a fallow psyche**

**Cost**: 1 Glamour.

**Oneiromancer's Roll**: Wits + Empathy + Wyrd

**Sleeper's counter Roll**: Wits + Resolve

**Effect**: This contest immediately triggers REM sleep — if the Oneiromancer's roll wins, he shapes the dreamscape into a scenario of his own choosing at an Intensity equal to his net successes. If the dreamer’s psyche wins, it begins a dream of an Intensity equal to the net successes on the Wits + Resolve roll.

**Dreamscaping a scoured psyche**

**Roll 1**: Wits + Empathy + Wyrd - Penalty equal to the Intensity of the dream. Repeat until Intensity is 0. (Rules of Dream Riding apply)

**Cost**: 2 Glamour

**Roll 2**: Wits + Empathy + Wyrd

**Effect**: Oneiromancer shapes the dreamscape into a scenario of his own choosing at an Intensity equal to his net successes.

* **Healing Sleep**
	+ By creating a dream that interacts with physiological processes, the oneiromancer may speed the dreamer’s healing.
	+ With a healing sleep of any Intensity, the time the dreamer spends asleep counts as a full day of rest. Thus, if the sleeper experiences a true day of rest and then a night of healing sleep, he is considered to have gained two days of rest toward the purpose of healing wounds.
	+ If the Intensity roll is an exceptional success, the healing sleep counts as two days of rest alone.
* **Stress Relief**
	+ Tapping into the subconscious affirmations of self that some dreams embody, the oneiromancer who knows a dreamer’s Vice and Virtue can shape her dreams to assist her recovery from stress — in game terms, he can shape dreams that allow her to recover Willpower.
	+ A stress relief dream allows the dreamer to recover a point of Willpower as though she’d fulfilled a Vice, in addition to that normally gained from dreaming.
	+ If the Intensity roll is an exceptional success, the stress relief dream allows the dreamer to recover all her Willpower, as though she’d fulfilled a Virtue.
* **Sleep Teaching**
	+ Much of teaching involves more than simply the flow of information — most students learn in different ways. These techniques are what allow the students to truly process the information on a subconscious level. An oneiromancer may take advantage of the easy access to the subconscious of a dreamer to augment the learning process, crafting a dream that serves to teach the dreamer.
	+ Jokingly referred to as “montage dreams” by some changelings, a single sleep teaching dream acts as a full day of learning on a given topic.
	+ If the Intensity roll is an exceptional success, the sleep teaching dream actually grants the dreamer an experience point that can only be spent to increase the given Skill, Merit or Contract being taught.
	+ A dreamer may not gain additional such experience points for that Skill or Merit again, until the first experience point has been spent increasing the trait in question.
* **Nightmares**
	+ Though most oneiromancers rarely use dreamscaping to create nightmares, many changelings enjoy tormenting their fetches with horrible visions of their inevitable deaths.
	+ Dreamscaped nightmares are treated as normal nightmares, in terms of the effects of their Intensity on a dreamer.

## Dreamweaving

Creating dreams outside of a sleeper’s mind and storing them in an appropriate object for later use. One of the true benefits of dreamweaving is that any dreamer may experience the dream — not simply one to whom its creator is bound by Wyrd. Thus, a vessel that holds a woven dream may be used by any changeling, fetch or human bound in a dreaming-tasked pledge. This allows oneiromancer-craftsmen of tremendous skill to weave dreams into vessels and sell the fruits of their labour — many Goblin Markets boast several sellers of dreamweave vessels. It is worth noting that an oneiromancer can dreamweave for himself; being outside of his actual dreamscape allows him to create an idealised dream for himself to experience.

* An oneiromancer who wishes to use dreamweaving must find an appropriate object to serve as a vessel for the dream.
	+ The object’s nature must be appropriate to the kind of dream he desires to create, and will most likely feature in the dream itself somehow.
	+ A soft, cuddly teddy bear might be an excellent vessel for a healing sleep dream, while a clown doll with a sinister grin and missing one eye serves perfectly for a nightmare.
	+ Oneiromancers often use objects that can be in contact with the sleepers while they are asleep: stuffed toys, blankets, underclothes and jewellery are all popular objects, as are small things that might be tucked up under pillows.
* Once the vessel is chosen, it is invested with a point of Glamour.
* Within an hour of investing the vessel with the Glamour, the oneiromancer must begin creating the dream the vessel holds.
	+ This is similar to dreamscaping, except that the oneiromancer is not resisted by an active psyche — the oneiromancer is literally sculpting a dream into an empty void. The process for doing so is far more intense, however, requiring a great deal of time; after all, there is no innate dreamscape to draw upon for the form of the dream in the vessel, so it must be far more carefully created.
	+ This is a process then can take days.
* Extended **Intelligence + Empathy + Wyrd** roll to create this dream, with each roll taking one day.
	+ The successes on this roll accumulate to form the Intensity of the dream contained in the vessel.
	+ In order to unleash the dream, the sleeper need only lie down to sleep with the object in contact with her. This causes the dream to unweave in her psyche naturally, as though the dream were naturally hers. Thus, the dreamer does not fight the onset of the dream.
* If the dreamer is unaware of the vessel as the source of strange dreams, however, the Intensity of the dream is opposed by a **Resolve + Composure** roll as the dreamer enters sleep.

* **Wyrd-Dream**
	+ Serves as a means of transferring the use of a Contract to the dreamer.
	+ Only dream woven vessels are capable of containing such powerful dreams — the complexity is significantly beyond the ability of most oneiromancers to effectively weave while within a dreamscape. It is said, however, that some True Fae are capable of weaving Wyrd-dreams in the dreams of those they’ve poisoned.
	+ Creating a Wyrd-dream:
		- Investment 1 Glamour into the the vessel.
		- Activation of the Contract to be captured and placed within it.
			* The normal Contract roll is made as normal; if the Contract’s activation was too weak for the oneiromancer’s liking, he must allow the Glamour within the vessel to fade, as it is already tainted by the first use of the Contract. Of course, activating the Contract a second time receives the normal one-die penalty for trying the same action in consecutive turns, and the vessel must be prepared again with another point of Glamour.
			* Only Contracts that can be used on targets other than the Contract’s user may be invested into a Wyrd-dream: thus, Contracts that permit shape changing and other effects used only by the wielder cannot be granted to others.
		- The target number for the dreamweaving is at least equal to the number of successes rolled on the activation of the Contract. Most oneiromancers create much higher Intensity dreams, to account for any reductions in Intensity that may occur as a result of an unknowing sleeper’s Resolve + Composure roll reducing its power. When the Contract activates in the dreams of the sleeper, it is as though the oneiromancer used the Contract, with a number of successes equal to the original successes rolled for the Contract, or the Intensity of the dream, whichever is lowest. If the sleeper gets a resistance roll of some kind, those successes are subtracted from the Contract’s success as normal.
		- These dreams always reflect the nature of the Contract in question. A Contract that grants some kind of blessing or luck might be represented by an idyllic dream in which fortune smiles on the dreamer, while a curse or Contract with negative effects likely manifests as a nightmare (though without the above mechanical notes to nightmares — the use of a negative Contract on an unwitting dreamer is bad enough).
* **Personalised Dreams**
	+ If the oneiromancer knows a specific dreamer well — having used the “Learn about the Dreamer” dream riding action on multiple occasions, or has known the dreamer for years — the final Intensity of the dream is increased by the oneiromancer’s dots in Empathy or Wyrd, whichever is greater.
	+ This bonus applies only to the dreamer it is intended for, however; if the bonus is used on a dreamer other than the one it was intended for, reduce the final Intensity of the dream by a similar amount. Many changelings create such “emergency” vessels for those the changelings protect, placing healing or protective Contracts into them, or providing vessels with soothing dreams.
* **Analysing Vessels**
	+ A changeling can ascertain that an object is a dreamwoven vessel.
	+ The target number equals the Intensity of the dream within it, and each roll requires 10 minutes of study.
	+ **Roll**: Extended Wits + Composure + Wyrd

## The World of Dreams

Dreams share a connection with the Hedge and Faerie, on some level. Experienced oneiromancers understand that the stuff that makes up the Hedge and that which forms dreams are similar, sharing a connection through the Wyrd. In both environments, the Wyrd is strongly manifested, embodying past and future, destiny and fate into one strange, interconnected whole. In many ways, dreams act as the microcosm to the Hedge’s macrocosm. The dreams of thinking creatures can be manipulated because they share, in some way, in the nature of the Hedge and Arcadia itself. Ancient pacts that allow the Fae to cross through the Hedge also permit those who share in their fae nature to touch the dreams of mortals.

The only thing that sets the rules of a dreamscape is the mind of the dreamer himself. Anything is possible within its boundaries, and only another mind — guided by its ties to the Wyrd — is capable of altering that dreamscape. Wyrdtouched minds are always capable of oneiromancy, the art of manipulating their own dreams (sometimes called lucid dreaming by modern enthusiasts). More than that, they are capable of altering the dreamscapes of others, if they are invited into those dreams through the use of a pledge that includes the dreaming task aspect.

## Lexicon

**Oneiromancy**: The practice of lucid dreaming. Changelings and other creatures of the Wyrd are capable of applying these techniques to the dreams of others, however.

**Oneiromachy**: Dream combat. Only those capable of wielding oneiromancy may engage in oneiromachy.

**Oneiropomp**: A changeling or other creature that enters the dreams of another. Skilled oneiropomps are capable of discovering the approach of the fae through the signs the oneiropomps find in the dreams of mortals. Oneiropomps are also capable of helping those whose dreams these changelings guard to find more meaning and fulfilment in their dreams.

**Oneirovores**: Creatures native to the Hedge or Faerie that consume the dreams or dream-selves of mortals.

**Dream phial**: An object that holds a changeling’s created dream; going to sleep with a dream phial releases the dream into the sleeper’s mind as he slumbers. Created through dreamweaving.

**Dream riding**: The oneiromantic art of entering a dreamscape and altering it slightly as the dream progresses, allowing the dream to unfold mostly normally, with only slight changes according to the desires of the oneiropomp.

**Dreamscape**: The wholeness of a dream, made up of the environment, creatures and occurrences within the dream; everything in a dream except the dreamer or visiting oneiropomps. The art of creating a whole dreamscape is called dreamscaping.

**Dream warping**: The strange and unholy manipulations of mortal dreams capable only by the True Fae, capable of turning mortals into sleepwalking slaves, sources of Glamour and Willpower and other terrible feats.

**Dreamweaving**: The craft of creating dreams out of Glamour, instilling them into dream phials.