Reverie

So little in the waking world is worth enduring when dreams can grant unending bliss... Why wake at all, when dreams are here to hold us?

— a dreamer

The boundless city of Reverie is one of very few permanent settlements known to exist between the drifting sands of the Dimension of Dreams. Unlike most of the Dimension, Reverie is only rarely visited by chance. For the most part, all who visit Reverie have heard of its splendour in the waking world, and have sought it out in their dreams with intent.

Reverie's Joy by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

More unusually, the city allows these visitors. Dream-realms do not often wish for intentional travellers, private and mysterious as they are. Most that allow guests are traps laid by nightmares, painted in bliss only on the outside.
Reverie is instead a city that welcomes dreamers with open arms. It serves as a shelter for those hiding from the pains of life, and allows rare comfort for those in the grip of tragedy.
It is a peaceful place, free of the nightmares stalking the outer realm - and while its guests are welcome to leave at any time, few wish to. For that is the dark secret behind Reverie: it is too kind of a realm. Too full of peace, too much a refuge.
Mortals who enter do not feel the drive to leave, and only awaken when their bodies remind them to. The feeling of such utter peace is addictive; each night, they long to spend longer and longer within Reverie's halls. Inevitably, this forms an obsession that seeks ways to prolongue these brief slices of serenity.

It is too common a story for a scholar to learn of Reverie, to visit once, then twice, then fivescore times - and then to plunder alchemical supplies in search of sleeping agents so that their dreams may last. Too often, these prolongued slumbers lead to coma and death in search of a peace that will never remain.

Mortals are not the sole inhabitants of Reverie's bliss. Psychopomps frequent the city's streets to aid the slumbering souls, in one way or another.
Their appearance can be a stark reminder to the dreaming that they mustn't give in to Reverie's unintentional allure. Yet, so too can their appearance be their purpose: to collect a soul who dreamed so deeply that they would never again awake.
The psychopomps tasked with handling Reverie are somewhat different from their death-touched kin, and are named for their role as the Oneiroi. Though they have far deeper sympathy for the mortals they watch over, they are nonetheless ruthless when the time comes to perform their role.
Never has a psychopomp been caught up in Reverie's bliss, but often do they take part in the healing nature of the realm. They may not be creatures of dream, but they are not present to disrupt the bliss. The gift they offer is a final one, and they would see mortals enjoy all they can before it needs to be given.

Oneiroi by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

History

Whomever crafted this realm did so with love for mortalkind. I hope that no matter who or what they are, they know their love still grants us peace.

— dreamer

Not much is known of Reverie's past. It sprang up from the dreams of a deity in the distant past, before mortal histories truly began. No new power flows through Reverie's halls save for that which each mortal brings in the night; the deity that crafted these ancient halls has long since abandoned them, and little sign of who they were remains.

Name-Bonding by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

In the absence of deific control, each mortal that visit leaves their own mark on Reverie.
It is through mortal minds that the city has grown so spectacular. Though it is the deity's long-departed power that holds the realm together and maintains the rules of its reality, it is mortals who create all within the land.
Some favoured parts of Reverie have stood for milennia, changed again and again by mortal visitors.
As with all dreams, too, time flows differently within Reverie. Two dreamers meeting may never realise who the other is in the waking world, and in truth, may hail from entirely different places in history. One may see traces of one's first visit in one's last, traces that were never there in the interim.
The Dimension of Time cares little for the goings-on of dreams. In this sense, Reverie has no history: all that it is and has ever been may be experienced at any point in time.

This does suggest that the deity responsible for Reverie's creation may, in some fashion, linger in its timelost history. No accounts exist of an encounter - though perhaps any encounter with a god would be presumed to be naught more than a reverie.

Dreamer's Halls by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Alternative Name(s)

City of the Blissful Dreams

Type

City

Population

Unknown

Location under

Dimension of Dreams

Ruling/Owning Rank

True God

Memories of Reverie

Dreams are not generally remembered by their dreamers, and time in Reverie is dulled only a little slower than a usual dream. Few remember strong detail of their time within - even the colours are faded in memory.
Yet all awake with impressions of what they saw within. Perhaps they recall speaking to a brilliant expert, and retain the ideas they shared. Perhaps they recall a mother's touch, soft and calming. Perhaps they remember love, if their life is so bereft of it.
Faces, names, detail - all fades away as the psychic connection breaks and returns their mind and soul to the waking world.
Feelings, sensations, emotions - these? These remain.

Mirrors on Mirrors by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Points of Interest

Reverie cannot be contained in brief explanation. Its landmarks are myriad, shifting with each and every visit. Despite this, some few seem consistent across mortal visits; they may have been early creations in this dreaming city that are sustained by all who visit, or they may be constancies in mortal mythos that are reiterated upon each visiting. Supposedly, the realm one visits upon arrival in Reverie is most closely linked to the dream one would otherwise have; with some of Reverie's more constant marks, this connection is obvious.

Falling Waters

For every nightmare of gasping breaths, for every person choking awake on water that does not truly exist... there is peace.

— dreamer

Themes of water and drowning are common across mortal dreams, and commonalities breed realms within Reverie's lands. There is no desperate nightmare in the lands of the Falling Waters, though - where once these nightmares would hold a nasty bite, the waters of Reverie soothe that agony. They are warm and gentle, reminiscent of the comforts of the womb moreso than any mortal realm. The waters shimmer with a faint glow, and pastel rainbow shimmers in the cascading falls.
It's not uncommon for those spending life at sea to wish for the calmer tides of Reverie's shores. Pirates and merchants, merfolk and mariners - though no more than a silhouette to others within Reverie for the most part, it is they who spend the longest dwelling in calming shores, hoping to erase the bitter adrenaline of the sea's merciless fright.
Even those terrified of the ocean find some measure of calm here, where the water is safest.

Falling Waters by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Soaring Heights by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

Soaring Heights

For every plummeting dream sending you stumbling awake, for every person screaming in fright from a mind's fall that can never be experienced... there is peace.

In total opposition to Falling Waters stand the Soaring Heights: cliffs and towers - ever different, each time - that defy gravity in their stunning heights.. and provide flight to all who appear in their realm. Though flight is common throughout Reverie, those who suffer from nightmares of falling, flying, and being chased often appear in Soaring Heights, where they may chase spectral creatures through the endless skies and around an obstacle course that never ceases to amaze.
It is also frequently a place of solace for those dreaming of an end. To plummet from space and have the time to think during the fall is to have time to process one's situation, and the freedom of this grants some the rare chance to reconsider their plans. While Reverie is a captivating realm that frequently sees mortals find their end in search for its boundless joy, it is nonetheless also a place that offers help and safety to those who need it, and Soaring Heights has seen more saved than slain in dreams.
Too many are relieved to understand that their tragedies do not need to be resolved with death.

Teeth Unending

Wasn't this meant to be a realm of dreams, not nightmares? I suppose for every peaceful dream, for every brutal nightmare... in the end, there are always teeth?

— confused dreamer

Not all dreams are gentle. Some are harsh, some are emotional, and some are full of teeth. Unfortunately, the constant presence of teeth in dreams has caused them to gain a foothold (or mouthhold?) within Reverie, where tooth-palaces filled with endless hallways craft odd structures of dental delight. Those who arrive in the Teeth are typically gripped with fear and anxiety, and the utter confusion of palaces of teeth is often enough to jolt them out of their dismay.
If the toothsome architecture is not enough to amaze, then the realm's inhabitants may impress on their own. Semi-sentient dream constructs - perhaps animate dreams, perhaps imaginary beings like the rest - shaped like caricatures of feyish teeth put on comedic shows, and regularly descend on the castle in a fit of plaque, as they say. These 'fits' are wonderful for leading them to new dreamers, who find their nightmares fading from memory when greeted with a little tooth-person with a top hat and an abashed request for help, as the teeth do get lost. Constantly. The ever-changing realm doesn't help.

Teeth Unendi-- TEETH??? by Hanhula (via Midjourney)

You have read these words before in your gentle dreams. Listen. You mustn't forget. Awaken.