The City of Dreams

The name given for the dream city of Underlight.

The City of Dreams

The City of Underlight began humbly. When at last the first Dreamers developed the ability to form solid matter of the essence, the first thing they constructed was a room. This room provided refuge from the swirling chaos of the dream and allowed the Dreamers to finally get to know one another. Over time this fabled room became the Hall of Voices, for it was there that people from every part of Cloudsbreak could speak and be heard.

The original Dreamers became known as the Dreamwrights, for they had developed the ability to mold the Dream to their wishes. They added other rooms, all designed to educate the newly Awakened in the ways of the Dream. Eventually they developed the Courtyard of Awakening, weaving its essence in such a way that it would serve as a beacon for the newly Awakened. Now whoever experienced the Awakening would naturally be drawn to the small complex of rooms called the Citadel.

Eventually a protective outer ring of rooms was built around the Citadel's perimeter, serving as the Threshold between it and the chaos. So was born the City of Underlight, and from that point it only grew bigger. The Dreamwrights had become the Master Dreamwrights, and their ability to form matter out of the essence began to take on finer forms. Rivers and lakes were created and mountains were thrown up to the sky. A rich and diverse land was laid forth by the Master Dreamwrights. As more and more of the people of Cloudsbreak awoke into the Dream, they found a world they could at last share.

The Awakening became more common, and soon nearly every inhabitant of Cloudsbreak had attained the Dream. In a strange twist of irony, the Dream became the focus of everyone's lives while their existence in the Waking World was seen as a regrettable necessity. This importance of the Dream over the Waking World led many to question its purpose and nature. Two schools of thought emerged: Freesoul and Illuminate. The Freesoul believed that the Dream was a dream with little or no direct influence upon the Waking World. The Illuminated believe that actions in the Dream produce results in the Waking World of one kind or another. A philosophical debate grew out of these differences, culminating in the heated discussions at the Totality Summit, where Keminar of Faraway and Trinxan the Illuminated ended their differences in a duel in the Amphitheatre of the Sphere.

As the Master Dreamwrights grew old or receded into privacy it was left to the Dreamers they'd fostered to determine the course of the Dreamstate... and so ended the centuries old peace that had reigned in the Dream.

Reference

• http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/dranak/Histories/history-cityofdreams.htm