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This world is not real. It is but a precarious dream, a reflection of what could have been if the real world hadn't ended sixty years ago.
In this world, we know of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 as the closest that the Cold War had escalated into nuclear war, an international catastrophe that was barely averted in time. But reality was much crueler. Strategic nuclear weapons were detonated all over the globe as the Third World War ensued, the devastation forcing supernatural powers that had long since hidden in the shadows to reveal themselves. And as if the planet itself was crying out in agony and lament, an otherworldly black tar surged forth from deep within the earth, drenching all in its unfathomable darkness. Within months, the human race was practically extinct. But that of course could not have been the end of our story.
Perhaps in response to the darkness that had engulfed the world, or perhaps simply to the unprecedented degrees of suffering and death, divine light rained down from the skies to protect the souls of those who perished in the apocalypse. As the countless lost souls ascended to heaven, from within their last memories and regrets coalesced a singular wish… The wish that none of the horrors and loss in the past months ever happened; the wish to go back to how things were. And thus, this dream was born, a global collective dream in which the world never ended. Unwilling to accept the truth, the initial inhabitants of this purgatorial world-dream subconsciously blocked out all memories of the reality that they left behind, while those born in the dream would never have a chance to know that any reality existed other than their own.
But a grand illusion of this magnitude, born from forces beyond human understanding, is not so easily maintained. And where there are dreams, there are nightmares. The collective subconscious desire for an unperturbed normal existence enforces the "rules" we expect, but the dregs of the collective human psyche sink and accumulate in the Mists of Oblivion beneath the Dream, from which beings of Nightmare arise. During the day, the Dream is virtually impregnable, but at night, when consciousness gives way to dark impulses and desires normally buried and hidden, the sleeping Dreamers may become vulnerable to the influence of Nightmares. No direct physical harm is apparent, but the mind is another thing altogether, wounded and warped and maybe even broken altogether.
Fortunately, not all are helpless against the darkness. Some have the potential to see the Dream for what it truly is, and manipulate the psychic energies that make up this false reality. Tracing their origins back to supernatural secret societies that have existed throughout history, these Lucid Dreamers have formed the Dreamguard, a secret organization dedicated to preserving the Dream and protecting Dreamers from the forces of Nightmare.
You have been one of the Dreamers blissfully unaware of the true nature of your existence, until very recently. Unbeknownst to you, an incredible power slept deep in your soul, among the greatest of powers the Dreamguard have ever seen. Because of this dormant power, you were targeted by creatures of Nightmare, your mind dragged into a distorted Nightmare Realm when your body was asleep. By reflex, your power burst forth to drive away the monsters, even as the Dreamguard arrived in perhaps unnecessary rescue. Now aware of the truth of this world, you feel that you have little choice but to join the Dreamguard, so that you can learn to harness your powers and protect those important to you.
And who knows… If you master your powers, you may have a chance to glimpse into the real truth behind all this. If anyone can, it is you.
This world is not real. It is but a precarious dream, a reflection of what could have been if the real world hadn't ended sixty years ago.
In this world, we know of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 as the closest that the Cold War had escalated into nuclear war, an international catastrophe that was barely averted in time. But reality was much crueler. Strategic nuclear weapons were detonated all over the globe as the Third World War ensued, the devastation forcing supernatural powers that had long since hidden in the shadows to reveal themselves. And as if the planet itself was crying out in agony and lament, an otherworldly black tar surged forth from deep within the earth, drenching all in its unfathomable darkness. Within months, the human race was practically extinct. But that of course could not have been the end of our story.
Perhaps in response to the darkness that had engulfed the world, or perhaps simply to the unprecedented degrees of suffering and death, divine light rained down from the skies to protect the souls of those who perished in the apocalypse. As the countless lost souls ascended to heaven, from within their last memories and regrets coalesced a singular wish… The wish that none of the horrors and loss in the past months ever happened; the wish to go back to how things were. And thus, this dream was born, a global collective dream in which the world never ended. Unwilling to accept the truth, the initial inhabitants of this purgatorial world-dream subconsciously blocked out all memories of the reality that they left behind, while those born in the dream would never have a chance to know that any reality existed other than their own.
But a grand illusion of this magnitude, born from forces beyond human understanding, is not so easily maintained. And where there are dreams, there are nightmares. The collective subconscious desire for an unperturbed normal existence enforces the "rules" we expect, but the dregs of the collective human psyche sink and accumulate in the Mists of Oblivion beneath the Dream, from which beings of Nightmare arise. During the day, the Dream is virtually impregnable, but at night, when consciousness gives way to dark impulses and desires normally buried and hidden, the sleeping Dreamers may become vulnerable to the influence of Nightmares. No direct physical harm is apparent, but the mind is another thing altogether, wounded and warped and maybe even broken altogether.
Fortunately, not all are helpless against the darkness. Some have the potential to see the Dream for what it truly is, and manipulate the psychic energies that make up this false reality. Tracing their origins back to supernatural secret societies that have existed throughout history, these Lucid Dreamers have formed the Dreamguard, a secret organization dedicated to preserving the Dream and protecting Dreamers from the forces of Nightmare.
You have been one of the Dreamers blissfully unaware of the true nature of your existence, until very recently. Unbeknownst to you, an incredible power slept deep in your soul, among the greatest of powers the Dreamguard have ever seen. Because of this dormant power, you were targeted by creatures of Nightmare, your mind dragged into a distorted Nightmare Realm when your body was asleep. By reflex, your power burst forth to drive away the monsters, even as the Dreamguard arrived in perhaps unnecessary rescue. Now aware of the truth of this world, you feel that you have little choice but to join the Dreamguard, so that you can learn to harness your powers and protect those important to you.
And who knows… If you master your powers, you may have a chance to glimpse into the real truth behind all this. If anyone can, it is you.
