Overview
Though the world of Myth contains within it several religions, many of them polytheistic, it is commonly believed by most races that the world as it is perceived is a result of the actions of a single powerful divinity known as Wyrd. Before the creation it is held that the universe was home to many dark gods, whose origins and goals are unknown; indeed, of the main races that populate the world, only the Ghôls even remember the names of these Old Gods. It is not clear what form, if any, the universe had at this point in time, but its structure would be dramatically altered when the god Wyrd awoke from the One Dream, an event which was followed by the creation of the world of Myth. This act angered both the Old Gods and a separate deity by the name of Nyx, prompting the latter to clash with Wyrd. The great volcano Tharsis is said to be one of the scars of this battle, which Nyx ultimately lost. The Old Gods would enact their own revenge upon Wyrd, however, as they purportedly destroyed the One Dream, the source of his power, splintering it into forty-nine pieces and spreading these fragments across the world.
The Legacy of the One Dream
Aside from his role in creating the world itself, Wyrd's primary legacy within the present-day workings of Myth is the existence of Dream spells. The Forty-Nine Dreams of Wyrd that resulted from the One Dream's shattering each represent powerful magical knowledge that cannot be obtained through study alone. They are the ultimate pursuit of all mages, though they are so rare that even the most powerful arcane practitioners within Myth, the Avatara, may go their entire lives without discovering even a single Dream spell. It is believed that each Dream is tied to a specific rune stone, and that they can impart their knowledge to anyone lucky enough to find them. This is unfortunately just speculation, however, as precious few have ever learned to cast Dream magic, and of those that have, precious few are interested in divulging the means by which they learned the practice.
Many in Myth's magical circles hold that in the unlikely event that a single individual is able to obtain the knowledge of all forty-nine Dream spells, this person would quite literally change the face of the world. Opinions on what would happen were the Dreams to be combined ranges anywhere from the redemptive to the apocalyptic, though debate on the topic may be somewhat moot given the extreme difficulty of locating even a single Dream spell. Furthermore, the prevailing theory that Dreams are imparted through rune stones leaves open the possibility that some of these stones might already be destroyed, or may be in the future, making it impossible to reconstruct the One Dream.
Notable Dream Spells
The Confinement Dream
The Confinement Dream, which forms an unbreakable tether between a target and a nearby surface, was said to have been used against The Watcher during the third era with the intent of permanently trapping him beneath the Cloudspine mountain range. Exactly who it was that wielded the spell against him is unknown, but most theories point toward The Deceiver. Given the famously sour relationship between the two, this seems a likely enough explanation, though if The Deceiver does in fact know the Confinement Dream, his nature would never allow him to admit it openly.
The Dispersal Dream
Named most likely for its ability to "disperse" large groups of people, the Dispersal Dream causes a magical detonation that can chain back and forth indefinitely between targets provided that the targets are close together. It is the only Dream spell known to have been possessed by multiple individuals simultaneously, as it was not only known by Alric the Avatara, but also by all Shades within the armies of the Dark, which would suggest that the undead mages shared the location of its rune amongst themselves.
The Rotting Mist Dream
The Rotting Mist Dream is a spell which has yet to be discovered by human mages, as the rune stone that supposedly holds its knowledge, the Crom Cruach idol, is an object of veneration fiercely defended by the Ghôls. Since there are few who wish to travel deep within hostile Ghôl territory in order to find the Crom Cruach, or to face the retaliation that would surely follow its desecration, it is currently unknown what the Rotting Mist Dream actually does, or whether the Crom Cruach is in fact its rune stone.
The Whisper Dream
The most feared of Shiver's considerable arsenal of spells, the Whisper Dream is a spell against which there is no defense. The caster is able to literally enter the dream world of their opponent, wherein they can attack their victim upon an ethereal battlefield where they have the upper hand. The Avatara Rabican was able to defeat Shiver during the Great War in spite of her command of the Whisper Dream, though this he was only able to accomplish by discovering and exploiting her propensity for extreme vanity.
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