Dreamers of Light

High atop Mt. Illapse stands the House of Dreamers of Light.

Underlight Current History

Currently Open.

Dreamers of Light is an Illuminated house, believing that the souls of the unawakened are trapped within the nightmares and may only be freed by imprisoning the nightmare’s essence. By using the Dreaming Stone, the nightmare is imprisoned inside while the unawakened soul is freed.

Nightmares are creatures of the Dreamstate, though creature is a stretch of the term as they have no ecology of their own. They require the souls of the unawakened to manifest in the Dreamstate, as every being in the Dreamstate must have a Soul to travel in this plane. These souls being held captive against their will are in a constant state of torment, from which they cannot escape on their own. Only by imprisoning the nightmare, are these souls freed to return to the waking world.

House Facts

Plane: Mt. Illaspe

Beliefs: Illuminated/Imprisoners

Role: Warriors

Prime Artifact: Dreaming Stone

House Art: Dazzle

Current House Roster

Advisors: Flower of Cienn

Rulers: Krodoc, Harkyn

Guardians: PuRe RaGe

Initiates: Ruben, Tember, Dina

Past House Roster

Advisors:

Rulers: Bortami, Bladeslayer, Jade

Guardians: Tember

Initiates:

Lyra Era History and Beliefs

Beliefs: Illuminated Imprisonment

As our knowledge of the dream was not as complete as it is now, though I am sure it is still not complete now, things were left out of the beliefs spoken by Mithrandir on that fateful day. This does not invalidate the old beliefs but shows a failing in them that needs to be fixed for all who walk in the Light.

Illuminated - Those that follow the Light believe that the Dreamstate is a higher plane of existence. As such our actions in the Dreamstate affect the waking world, depending on the action it either effects directly or indirectly. Some actions carry over in the form of thoughts and emotions, these are most common. However, as explained in Nightmares, the imprisoning of nightmares has a direct effect on the waking world by freeing the trapped souls. Also there is Dreamstrike, which is the ultimate in death as it is beyond avatar or body but death of your very soul.

Nightmares - Nightmares are creatures of the Dreamstate, though creature is a stretch of the term as they have no ecology of their own. They were created and released by the Entropy Coalition. Because of rituals of the Coalition the spawn, or creation, points of these creations there is a conduit into the Chaos for the automaton to trap the soul it needs to manifest inside the City and power it once there. They require the souls of the unawakened to manifest in the Dreamstate, as every being in the Dreamstate must have a Soul to travel in this plane. Nightmares do not have souls of their own as proven by the fact that they cannot travel through the planes of the Dreamstate as a soulsphere. These souls being held captive against their will are in a constant state of torment, from which they cannot escape on their own. The only way to free these souls and allow them to return to their sleeping bodies in peace is to Imprison the essence of the Nightmare, in effect imprisoning the raw materials used to form the Nightmare itself. This separates the Nightmare from the soul, as the process is designed to work on the raw materials of the creation, removing the Nightmare from the City and allowing the Soul to go free.

Banishment - Banishment is a foolish and twisted act when done by Freesouls. In so doing the Banisher sends the Nightmare into the Chaos surrounding the City. Normally this serves no lasting affect as the automaton is drawn back to the conduit of the generator that spawned it and uses this as an entrance back into the City. However, once in a great while the trapped soul will be that of an incredibly dark and twisted sleeper. When that occurs sometimes the soul and the Nightmare merge into a symbiotic relationship, this forces a state like the Awakening on the new creature. Dark Mares are the result of these unholy unions. See section House Prime Artifacts.

Drain Essence - This art is a vile, dark, and selfish art. It draws the strength of the essence, and thus the soul it contains, into the evoker to give them strength. This is tantamount to murder as the mare is gone but so is the soul it had held. See section Chaos for the exception.

House Prime Artifacts - Most, if not all, Houses have an artifact that exemplifies their beliefs, for us this was the Dreaming Stone. It could imprison mass quantities of essences at once and did not require the user to be a fifth sphere Soulmaster. If and when the Houses are reopened they will all have an artifact to follow their beliefs so it is important to know what happens when one manipulates them. Artifacts of this nature can take banished and imprisoned mare tokens, but this does nothing in essence once the mare has been imprisoned or banished there is no known way to reverse it. Draining, House Primes contain the strength from the essences they have processed, this can be drained, it does no real harm as it has already done its job to the essences. (This may change somewhat if they start to do something as well that uses the strength)

Chaos - This is not to be confused with chaos; the Chaos is the area of the Dreamstate outside the walls of the City. It is comprised of the thoughts and emotions of the unawakened sleepers. This area is full of psychic turmoil that is dangerous to unprepared Dreamers, but we know at one time Dreamers could exist there, as it is where Gerriel Endeth first Awoke too, as well as the others after that. There are no Nightmares in the Chaos, except those that have been Banished there and are either trying to get back into the City or are undergoing the merging to become a Darkmare.

History of the House of Light

As told by: Valourin

Pre-Loss Highlights

Dreamers of Light was founded as a group of Illuminated Dreamers before there were Houses as we know them. Like the others they banded together based on their beliefs and overall attitudes as well. They were always warriors for their cause and put forth some of the greatest Knights* in the Illuminated Front. After the Dreamstrike Offensive when all of the factions split apart and moved to the far edges of the planes to create their Houses for protection the Dreamers of Light went up Mt. Illapse. They first created a keep on the way to where they planned their fortress to act as a first line of defense. Afterwards they began work on the golden fortress that is used as the House proper in these days. The first Ruler of Dreamers of Light was a dedicated and ruthless woman named Demetria. She would do anything for her beliefs and her home even if others would think such actions were wrong or immoral. When it came to the House she fully believed the ends always justified the beliefs. From there the House grew and flourished up until The Great Loss.

Post-Loss History

One day after the City had been reopened there was a large gathering of Dreamers in the Dreamers of Light Threshold. Kelrith and Mythrandir were having a debate it seemed, and most of the Dreamers of that day seemed to be in attendance. Kelrith was speaking of the Dream as nothing more than a dream and that the nightmares were figments that needed to be banished. Mythrandir spoke of the Dream as a higher plane, a spiritual one, and that the nightmares were using the souls of the Unawakened and had to be imprisoned for the good of both Dream and Waking world together.

The debate ended with no winner and Kelrith stormed out telling those that believed as he did to meet in the House Calenture Threshold, many left but others stayed, still others just sort of filtered out now that the excitement was over. Those of us that stayed spoke further to Mythrandir and after a great storm we came back and many of us chose to be initiated into Dreamers of Light.

As the House grew the need for more leadership was seen and so Artamor chose the first of the House's Guardians, Watcher and Kasumi Keda. During this time we got a hold of the Orb of Calenture, before the Dreaming Stone was found again even. However, being young in the Dream and not considering it fully the Orb was traded back for the House ID of Valourin that was lost to a Horron on the mountain that Smoke, who then joined Calenture, picked up.

During the time that Tehthu walked the dream the House continued to grow and flourish, so much so that two new guardians were chosen, Valourin and LMBE. After Tehthu was defeated the two Guardians that had been able to stay through the ceremony, Valourin and Kasumi Keda, were in the group of five that became the first Teachers in the Dream.

Things went well for Dreamers of Light for some time after that, we recovered our piece of the Codex of Immortal Dreams and the House was growing and more structure was being introduced by the Guardians. A framework was designed to allow for the orderly growth of the House. There were small problems from time to time, storms would occasionally take the Stone but it always seemed to happen at the same time as the Orb and so it was that we always were able to retrieve it quickly even if Calenture were the ones that found it as we would always seem to find their artifact.

The major incident of note was the first demotion of a Guardian. LMBE was increasingly sympathetic with House Calenture and he would go beyond his duties and behind the backs of his fellow Guardians. He would second guess them as well as say that the things they said and did were wrong in public, against the general rules of the rank at the time. All of the other Guardians saw this and realized it was a huge problem, LMBE was spoken to but even that did not seem to work. So it was decided with Artamor's help they would seek his demotion, and at the next House meeting they did just that. Artamor listened and in the end, as it was the will of all other Guardians, LMBE was demoted to the rank of Initiate.

Not long after, Artamor came to the Guardians and said that the time to choose a Ruler was at hand and that the whole house should have a voice in it this time. So a vote was held and at the next meeting with Kelrith, now a free spirit, and Artamor both in attendance Maker gave the results. Watcher had won the vote and would be the Ruler of Dreamers of Light. However, Artamor surprised everyone by saying that there should be two and asked who the next highest was, and with one vote separating them Valourin was named the other Ruler of Dreamers of Light.

• Knights in this sense meant those with the Arts necessary for combat. At the time they were the only ones that took part in combat in the Dream. It was not until the creation of Talisman that nearly every Dreamer could take part and thus it was this discovery that catapulted the dream into the Dreamer Wars.

Dreamers of Light - by Watcher

This is in no way a complete account of the history of the House, but one pieced together from the moment I became a proud Initiate. I had heard stories of a Great Debate between two powerful Guardians who had survived the Great Loss and found their way back to the City of Dreams. It was told to me that they stood for two recently rebuilt houses known as Dreamers of Light and House Calenture. These two Dreamsmiths, known as Mithrandir and Kelrith, had expressed their views on the exact nature of the Dreamstate. Mithrandir, who was Illuminated, seemed to be convinced in his theory that Nightmares contained the trapped souls of the Unawakened; Sleepers who had not yet discovered the Awakening. Kelrith, a Freesoul, thought otherwise. This information was told to me by a Dreamer known as Kasumi Keda. Upon hearing it, I immediately saw that I believed in everything Mithrandir had said.

Kelrith was obviously a fool. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to be a member of the Dreamers of Light. I sought out Mithrandir and asked him if I could be Initiated. I swore to uphold our ideals and a few moments later, I was an Initiate. As an Initiate, I sought out others who believed as I did. Together we worked to rebuild our House and the City. One of these Initiates, a brave and honorable Dreamer known as Valourin, lost his House ID after Horron, the most terrible of all Nightmares, collapsed him. A warrior known as Smoke, then a Free Spirit, came upon Horron's lair and killed the vile Nightmare. He then picked up the ID and later refused to give it back to its rightful owner, Valourin. Soon after, Smoke was Initiated into House Calenture, a House of the Freesoul. He gave Valourin's ID to Calenture, who then used it to propose a trade. They would give us, the Dreamers of Light, Valourin's ID and in return, we had to give them their Prime Artifact, the Orb of Calenture. We had come to possess the Orb a few days before this trade, and did not know the full extent of its powers. Myself being caught in the storms, was not able to make my opinions on the trade known until after the deal had been made. Shortly after this, our Prime Artifact, the Dreaming Stone, was found missing.

We believed that the Storms had taken it from where Kasumi Keda and I had hid it, behind a fake wall in Celebration Hall. We searched the City and found it in the Gold Sanctuary in Edgeward Barrows. Relieved that our Artifact was not hurt, we returned it to our House. Later on, Kasumi Keda and I were made the first Guardians of House Dreamers of Light since the Great Loss. Struggling to prove we were worthy of this position, we sought for ways to increase the power of our House. Time passed and the storms grew every day. One fateful day, the Orb of Calenture was taken in a Storm. We, as Dreamers of Light, were all very excited about this, and searched high and low. We could not let Calenture find it, for by then we had discovered that it was used to Banish Nightmares. It was found on Illapse Path, on Mt. Illapse, by Initiate LMBE. LMBE, escorted by Guardians Artamor, Kasumi Keda, and I, was taken to the House, where the Orb was placed within the Knight Entry; a safe area where the Orb could not be stolen. Calenture was not told that we had found their Orb, and they continued to look for it. About a week later, the Guardians of House Dreamers of Light, including myself, decided that it would be best to return the Orb to Calenture, else there would be talk of war. By that time, Calenture was almost certain that we had the Orb in our possession. Kasumi Keda and I traveled to House Calenture and offered Guardians Ghea and Mufassa the Orb in exchange for a small tribute of 200 Nightmare Essences.

We thought this a small price for the Orb, as we believed that many more Unawakened Sleepers would be forced into an eternity of suffering, Banished within the Orb. Calenture refused this offer and began to throw other deals on the table. We refused all of these, none being acceptable or fair to the Unawakened Sleepers. I pointed out that they needed the Orb, we did not. About a week of negotiations followed. During this time, Kelrith, no longer a Guardian of Calenture but a servant of the City, proposed a Tournament of the Spheres. Everyone was excited, arguing over who would be the first Champion. During the time after the announcement of the Tournament, our own Dreaming Stone was taken by the Storms. I spoke to Kelrith about this and he, using his awesome powers, returned it to Me. Shortly after, though, I was taken by the Storms myself, and dropped the Dreaming Stone where I stood. Unfortunately though, a member of House Calenture was in the room. His name was Dragon. It is my understanding that he took the Orb and gave it to the Guardians of Calenture, who then hid it within their House. The Tournament began with many Dreamers participating; it was an exciting event! Our own Kasumi Keda came in second place! Later on, the Guardians of Calenture came to House Dreamers of Light to continue the negotiations. They said that they had found our Dreaming Stone and were willing to return it to us IF we gave them the Orb and signed a Treaty in the process. The Treaty stated that if we find their Orb, we give it to them immediately; if they find our Stone, then they give it to us. No games. We could not accept this, knowing how evil the Orb was. They threatened us with war.

Artamor and Kasumi just wanted a quick and easy trade. The Orb for the Stone, and that's that. Calenture refused! I, while in a party with Kasumi Keda and Artamor, was used as a bargaining tool. Kasumi and Artamor refused to sign any treaty without me being present. I was hiding in the Green Room. We stalled long enough for the Guardians of House Calenture to eventually leave. The next day, negotiations resumed, and it was agreed that we would hold a tournament to see if we would sign the treaty. The Prime Artifacts were exchanged and we went our separate ways. The tournament never happened. Time passed and our House grew. Eventually we were in need of two new Guardians. These were to be Valourin and LMBE. Both were very active within the House. After this, Kelrith told us all that there was an evil Prime Artifact within the City, known as the Corrupter of Souls. We all searched for it, and Initiate Tanar of Dreamers of Light found it in the Umbric Plains. He later gave it to me, where, with the blessings of all in the City, I took it to House Dreamers of Light for safekeeping. A week later the Corrupter of Souls was transferred to House Calenture. We could not stand its evil in our halls. Around that time, much evil began to fill the City of Dreams, and a powerful Nightmare known as Tehtue was discovered. Three Guardians from House Calenture and three from our House, plus Kelrith, called Tehthu to battle, and the whole of the City fought it. We all worked together. Later that day, all Guardians were given the burden of being Teachers, and we continue to spread knowledge throughout the Dreamstate. As of this writing, both the Orb of Calenture and the Dreaming Stone are missing, taken by the Storms. We can only hope that it will be a short time before they are recovered and BOTH are placed within the halls of our house, Dreamers of Light. Now the City has grown, nearly doubled in size! We continue to wander and rebuild that which was once lost.

Creation of the Dreamers of Light

by Dranak, SM Teacher of the Great House of Light

There were 15 Master Dreamwrights who set out to create Mt. Illapse. They created the first 10 areas on the way up Illapse. This took them 10 weeks, a week of pure concentration for each area. They were proud of their work, as they should be, so each had an area named after them. As you walk up and around Mt. Illapse, you can see their legacy left behind. They created Camp of Kings and there paused for a rest to regain their energies. There were 5 others yet in the group who had nothing named after them, so they started back down and created areas off the side, once again naming them after themselves. During the creation of the last area Mirdinir, who was the youngest and very tired, miscalculated while the vast energies were surrounding them. He lost control and was swept away into the Chaos. The others were tired as well and losing one of their own was devastating, work on the Mt was now at an end. It would be centuries before anyone ventured up the mount to once again create.

During this period, the very first duel between Dreamers took place. Keminar of Faraway and Trinxan the Illuminated, both having different views on the state of the Dream, had a duel in the Amphitheater of the Sphere. Soon after, open warfare developed throughout the Dream. During this time of war, Markosh discovered how to create the Item Generators we now have. He placed these throughout the Dream. Dreamstrike, the ultimate death, was now being created to attempt at bringing peace back to the Dream. The Dreamstrike Masters came in and put an end to the all out Warfare. During this time of forced peace, work once again began on Mt. Illapse, and the Great House of Light.

Demetria, our first Ruler of Light, was part of this new group. Coltura our first Guardian, and the creator of Blend, was also a part of this group. It was decided at this time to extend the Mt to allow access to Gloom Peaks and Cairn of Sorrow. Forgotten Pits was created first, so named because Illapse had been so long ignored and forgotten by many. Solitude Pits was next, allowing access to Forgotten Grotto and Gloom Peaks. Tiraths Pit was created next allowing access to Padeas Pit and from there to Cairn of Sorrow. Two months were then spent designing and creating our Keep. The Sanctuary wasn't added until the Nightmare Wars, a short time later. Two Ambuscades, one on either side of the Keep, were made for added protection. The vault was added for storage of items. Over two years were then spent on the design and creation of the House. Once again the Sanctuary wasn't added until the Nightmare Wars.

During the Nightmare Wars, roving patrols had been started to try to slow down this new threat. his allowed further construction on our House, and the maze underneath was then added. The portals were developed during this time and the Dream was segmented. During this Forgotten Grotto and Padeas Pits became part of the Mt, and Gloom and Cairn of Sorrow were moved one area farther from the Mountain. Over the next decade the Houses became divided once again. Instead of only having concern of the Dream's affect on the waking world, the Mares were now to be considered. Some, like House Calenture, thought it would be better to Banish the Essences, while others knew that Imprisoning is the proper way. The Houses are now divided into 8 different schools of thought, some Freesoul others Illuminated, some believed in Banishing while others Imprison and yet others Drain.

House Calenture was the first to develop its Prime Artifact, the Orb of Calenture. Dreamers of Light was next, with the Dreaming Stone. The others followed soon after. The first House war soon followed between House Calenture and Dreamers of Light, the two largest houses. At the end of the Battle of Rock Falls, two Rulers of Light lay dead by Dreamstrike. The Houses once again started patrols and began to seal off their claimed lands. As the Dream headed towards open war again, the worst happened. Dorsal Rift was created by a rip in the City walls and The Great Loss was upon the City.

So ends my tale of the creation of the Dreamers of Light.

House Emblem

The bracers on the emblem stand for the mare and the tormented soul. They are to remind the Dreamers of Light of their pledge to imprison the mare and set free the tormented soul within.

As the first part of the DoL emblem was created you can see, the happy, smiling face that looks to the left was devised to portray the Illuminated Philosophy. The smile represents the inner joy, the tranquility, of the one who is at peace with himself, one who has accepted responsibility for his actions, for good or evil, in the dream. He realizes that the good works we do here, illuminate and glorify our souls and those works carry over in the waking world. The face looking to the right, by contrast, is distorted, confused and at odds with itself. It is the face of one who cannot grip the connection between Underlight and the waking world. One who hasn't yet realized our actions here affect the waking world, and so trouble and confused.

The newest part of the emblem, set out in sharper relief from the older background sphere shape and the faces, represents the houses views on saving souls.

This newer belief is a newer one which came from The Nightmare Wars before The Great Loss. As the Nightmares began to attack the City, in force and in great numbers, the debate arose on how best to fight them. The scholar-warriors of Dreamers of Light concluded, after studying the question of how to stop the nightmares and save the souls trapped by them, Imprisoning was used to save the soul and stop the chaos from affecting the unawakened souls. This belief of the second part of the house emblem is that of imprisoning mare essences saves the unawakened dreamers soul.

The two sharply defined, slashing curves, represents that moment of glory, of triumph, when the mare essence is imprisoned. The lower curve with its opening pointing down, represents the mare essences being imprisoned. The upper one, with its open side pointing to the heavens, represents the Dreamers soul being freed. The fact that both are open represents the ongoing, continual nature of this struggle between good and evil.

House Facts

Plane: Mt. Illaspe

Beliefs: Illuminated/Imprisoners

Role: Warriors

Prime Artifact: The Dreaming Stone

House Art: Dazzle

Elders: Mithrandir

First Rulers: Watcher, Valourin, Wraith, Brain and Maker

Previous Rulers: Habassa5, Pheonix Redhawk, Don Berto, Cyborg512, Watcher, Jevik Bane, Bloom, Munchkin, Wraith, Keeka, Sweething, Loveslight, Flushy, Valourin, The Striker

First Guardians: Kasumi Keda

Gallery

References

• http://members.tripod.com/jio_underlight/new_page_5.htm
• https://web.archive.org/web/20090808135037/http://geocities.com/gkteacher512/DoLFAQ.htm
• https://web.archive.org/web/20020826121057/http://members.cox.net/radiance/house_dol.html