Organizations · Religious · Regional
The Dreaming Lord
This religion is meant to be a minor counterpoint, or even a cult, in a world dominated by a polytheistic religion. Religions do not exist in a vacuum, and few worlds are homogenous enough to have only one religion.
Magic Level : V. Low - Especially low 'divine' magics.
Excerpted from the Tome of Midnight:
Hear me, oh my brothers in the night, and know that my words are truth. Hear me, oh my brothers in the dream, and feel the touch of my words upon thy dreams, for they are dictated by Sogna, Lord of the Dreaming and Master of Mortality.
Know, my brothers, know that in this fragile, mortal world of ours there are no gods! Know that our mortal shells and souls are unguided, and know that as we walk this realm, our pitiful selves cannot even aspire to become as the deity that we so desperately need! Tremble, oh ye purveyors of false gods, tremble for thy lie is exposed, tremble, for soon thy flocks shall cast thee into the dreamless abyss, where shall thee be no more than the memory of the zephyr! Given thee was thy chance, oh phantasms of sun and moon, of thunder and fire and rain and stone! Given to thee the chance to prove thyselves our true and rightful lords, and thou hast spurned us, leaving us to rot in this mortal realm!
Yet, Despair not, my brothers in the dreaming, for I bring to you the words of the One who IS! HE is Sogna, the Dream and The Master of All Things Beyond This World, and HE is Truth!
HE speaks to us when we enter HIS realm at night, in the little death we know as Sleep. Sleeping, we are the perfect receptacle of HIS Divine Wisdom, our minds and spirits but clay beneath HIS Touch. Follow ye, then, the wisdom of thy dreamings, so that HIS Will might be done! Please HIM, and ye shall be brought fully into HIS Realm upon the day of thy death, to serve HIM forever more in the dreaming. Please HIM not, and to be cast away shall be thy fate, all thy life and deeds forgotten like the child's dream upon awakening.
(Here, the book breaks into hundreds of tedious recounts of parable-dreams.)
—
Walking the edge between dreams and waking reality, the sanity of the Dreaming Priests is much in question by the rest of reality, and even their followers. However, their illusiory powers and their sway over the dreams of sleeping men is unquestionable, enormous power in a world where magic is hard to come upon.
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There seems to be alot in common here with Autrum Ortus: creepy cult, poetic 'holy' book, half-mad seers & priests, vague & non-public goals.
I'll see if I can get reprint permission from the cult's creator. It's good stuff.
Thanks, Kinslayer... I think. The Cult of the Dreamer is pretty much intended to be a good source of those half-mad seers and priests, both villanous and non, as well as serve an example of how a religion can hold sway in a fantasy world with little more than the power of suggestion: Priests don't have to have access to have a mighty grimore for their faith to be mighty. Holy men Get Things Done(TM), and it's rarely by relying solely on a whispered prayer, especially in a world where a god doesn't feel the need to grant flashy spells in order to retain worshippers .
A declaration of faith for the Cult of the Dreamer, then, might be as follows:
'I believe in the True God Sogna,
not of this world,
but of the next.
I believe in the Truth of the Dreaming,
the mortal Glimpse of the next world.
I believe in the Voice of Dreams,
the words the Lord of the Dreaming
I believe in the passage of man,
From the dreams of parents,
to the dreams of self,
to the Dreams of the Lord.
I belive in the illumination of dreams,
in the end of the dreams of the false ones,
in the bringing of the True Dreams.
I believe in the dreams of the Disciples,
through which all dreams may be Illuminated,
and through which this world may be brought into accordance with the next.
AMEN.'
Subject to deconstruction, our 'Dreamer's creed' establishes the following as tenets of the faith:
First, that there is only one god, Sogna, and that he is not to be seen as a part of the mortal world. Second, that Dreams are a view of the world of Sogna. Third, that Sogna may speak to mortal man by dreams. Fourth, that Dreams are the source, substance, and end of all life. Fifth, (and this makes the religion 'dangerous') that others must be shown the truths above. Sixth, that those Sogna speaks to are the ones whom have been chosen to perform the will of Sogna. In one chanted prayer, then, the tenets of faith are taught, and the church of this god is established.
I am so suprised that nobody has voted upon this one.
There is enough here to build up a solid religion for your world here.
This is a good one - a perfect seed for a cult.