Dream Net

Sweet Dreams

"What's a dream net?" Miriam put her bag down and sat at her desk.
"It's kind of like a fishing net, only it's supposed to catch dreams instead of fish. You usually hang it near your bed."
Reed nodded. "They're everywhere in Suxad."
"Do you have one?" For the first time, Miriam heard Mat speak directly to his roommate.
Reed himself made no show of this being unusual. "Since I was a baby."
"Does it work?"
"Absolutely. I used to have this nightmare about being kidnapped. And one day, there was a piece of paper stuck in my dream net. I didn't know where it had come from, so I pulled it out. Had the same nightmare the next night, and the next morning, the paper was back. This time, I realized it was the dream, so I left it there, and I haven't had that nightmare since."

Dream nets are a tool used by suxadi and other Vitnu families to contain bad dreams and thoughts. According to the Vitnu tradition, the Night Fisherman taught people to make fishing nets. After he fought with the Forest Walker and cursed the Forest Walker's owls to carry nightmares, the Forest Walker taught the people how to modify the knots in the nets to catch the nightmares, while letting the owls fly free.

Dream nets are always made with cotton cord, using a precise pattern of knots. They are usually unadorned, though the cord may be dyed. Nets can be any size. Most nets are relatively small, about 2 feet on each side, but some can get much larger, taking up an entire section of a wall. It is very common for Vitnu parents to have one made shortly before or after a baby is born. That child will likely keep the net throughout their childhood, but may replace it if it becomes too delicate. Due to the prevalence of the Vitnu in Suxad, many Suxadi families have dream nets, even if they follow a different religion. They are also sometimes found in temples, schools, and even government buildings.

When made correctly, dream nets do function as a type of Dream Magic and sleep aid. It is typically a safer form of dream magic because, like most varieties of Craft Magic, if a dream net is made with the wrong materials or the pattern of knots is woven incorrectly, the effect is usually that it will have no magical properties. In contrast, other forms of dream magic, if worked incorrectly, may backfire, causing worse dreams or even causeing the lines between the dreaming and waking worlds to blur.

Item type

Magical

by Vidar Nordli

by Artbreeder