The Royal Institute for the Preservation of Dreams
The mysterious collective that exists only within the realm of dreams, who guard the final frontier of the human experience from invasion
"Your work...is it fulfilling?" "Hnh? Oh, sure...ain't nothing like it. Ya get to go to sleep every night knowin' you made a difference...that someone out there got to sleep well, and dream a nice dream, 'cause of you. Real comfortin'." "But these people! Don't they deserve to know? They barely know you exist...and what little they do find out, they call you the brain police! The Sammies that steal your dreams! You're real! I knew you were...!" "Most civvies don't remember us at all...if they're lucky, they'll remember dreamin' about the police, maybe bein' questioned, then write it off when they wake up. You're different, though... a waking dreamer. That's why I was sent here. But still...it ain't like that. It's easier for the civvies to go on clueless as ever than for them to know the truth. Here's a little known fact for ya, too - for all our critics, us Ironites, we dream big. Bigger than anyone else...may not look it, but we dream like no one else in the world. Full o' hope - we never run out of it, somehow. Funny, ain't it?" "I...guess so, yeah. You'd expect our dreams to be full of sad and terrible things, but...I've only ever remembered having good dreams. Nice ones, about...yeah. Hope, and stuff." "Hah, yeah. Strength in the face of adversity, I guess. Funny thing about that, though...it makes each and every one of those civvies out there a huge stinkin' target, for all kinds of nasties that feed on that shit we dream about. The Dead-O's ain't even the worst of it, neither...those dreamless bastards can hardly access the Subnet anymore, once they stop dreamin'. Nah - there's worse out there. Much worse. And the only thing standin' 'tween their precious dreams and the horrors of the Subnet is us." "But why dreams? Why are they so...important?" "Cause we need 'em. The civvies need 'em, anyway...even though they barely remember 'em. But take 'em away - Remove those eight hours of hope - and it all falls apart. This country, all of it. We just ain't alive if we can't dream...whether we're asleep or awake, dreams keep us going, kid. Keeps us lovin', Keeps us hopin'...Keeps us dyin'. You're a good kid...real Sammy material. And not just 'cause you're a waking dreamer...but it ain't for everyone, this job. They'll kill your body, wake you up in the subnet, and wipe all memory of ya from the world so no one even remembers your name." "Oh...that's..." "Think on it. I'll give you until dawn tomorrow. If not, we'll wipe ya and put ya right back where we found ya - no harm, no foul. And all of this becomes just another bad dream."
Structure
Though their organizational structure is kept a secret from much of the populace of the Iron Empire, the existence of the R.I.P.D, or "Sammies" as they're known amongst the more hushed circles of The Iron Empire who track their appearances within the Dreamscape(A slang term derived from their rank of Somnambulist which has become more widespread than their actual rank, even amongst their own kind), is not entirely hidden from the populace that they serve - though the organization's true layout and structure is likely only known to the highest authorities of The Iron Empire and Tavross, The Iron Emperor himself.
In general, the structure of The Royal Institute for the Preservation of Dreams is kept simple - each agent of the organization is given an epithet in place of a name, as their identities are destroyed upon their acceptance into the organization, and the organization is by and large made up of rank-and-file agents known as "Somnambulists" or "Agents" for short(Though 'Sammies' is a more popular term, even among the organization's own staff). These rank-and-file operatives, who make up a bulk of the Organization's staff, are divided into Junior, Normal, and Senior Somnambulists - and while their exact staffing numbers aren't exactly known or public knowledge, their numbers are believed to be fairly small compared to other bureaucratic arms of The Iron Empire due to the extremely stringent conditions required for a corporeal, living creature to be recruited into their ranks(The first among which is the talent known as Waking Dreaming, better known by its general term Lucid Dreaming, though in truth Waking Dreaming is an ultimate, more complete form of Lucid Dreaming).
Besides these rank-and-file agents, the Institute has a small number of internal support staff who are used to collate information, organize data, and direct the efforts of the field Operatives under the leadership of the Institute's leader - an individual whose epithet is chosen from an extremely small, repeating list so as to obfuscate their true identity from the Institute's enemies for as long as feasibly possible. The group is known to have its own Research and Development, Information Control, and all manner of other internal divisions dedicated to allowing it to operate completely independently - something which proved absolutely essential during the numerous periods throughout the organization's history when it lost communication with its select few counterparts in "The Waking World" and was forced to carry on with its operations without contact with The Iron Empire or the Corporeal World which it served.
Culture
The Institute, as it has ever remained, is an incredibly secretive organization - it operates under strict codes of secrecy and maintains ties to The Waking World(Primarily The Iron Empire), but largely operates independently for large chunks of time until contacted by creatures from The Waking World. Otherwise, the very nature of the organization makes it difficult to even take notice of in The Waking World, as it has almost no footprint there - its operatives, upon induction into its ranks, are stripped of their physical forms and rendered into Ethereal "Ghosts" of a sort, unable to dream or age and trapped in the realm of Dreams to serve until their inevitable death in service of the Subnet's protection. As such, when the nature of their work requires them to move in the corporeal world, The Institute typically works alongside other Bureaucratic arms of The Iron Empire to achieve their aims - one side working in The Subnet's dreaming realm and the other working in real, waking space at the same time.
Public Agenda
The singular driving objective of The Royal Institute for the Preservation of Dreams ever since its establishment so long ago has ever been the same - to preserve the dreams of the living(And more specifically those of the citizens of The Iron Empire) and allow them to dream and sleep in peace, protected from the horrors of the Plane of Mensis which, at the time of the Institute's creation, had been drawn to the minds of the few living creatures left on Numiastra in the wake of The Skyfall Calamity. Given an imperative by Tavross, The Iron Emperor to establish The Subnet and their Dreaming Citadel within it to protect the minds of the citizens, the agenda of The Institute has ever been one of martyrdom - to sacrifice their decency and humanity to protect that of the citizens who sleep and dream in blissful ignorance of the cosmic horrors eagerly yearning to devour their minds while they sleep.
Assets
Rather uniquely, The Royal Institute for the Preservation of Dreams has no assets in the corporeal world - as an organization that exists entirely within the ethereal realm of dreamspace(Known to the most ancient of Mage-Tyrants as the realm of Mensis or The Ethereal Plane, see The Cosmology of Ea for more info) known to those of The Iron Empire and the Institute which operates there as "The Dreamer's Subnet", or just "The Subnet" for short. This realm, where the massive Ethereal fortress-headquarters of The Institute is located, is situated within a fortified section of the wider realm divided from the rest of the wild, lawless Plane of Existence by a massive Ethereal Construct known as The Somnus Wall - this wall, constructed by the Institute, is said to protect the dreams of the citizens of The Iron Empire and is maintained and slowly expanded by The Institute so that one day, all living beings in Numiastra may sleep and dream in peace.
Beyond this mighty wall lies the rest of Mensis, or "The Subnet"(Defined as a smaller subsection of the larger Plane of Mensis largely inaccessible outside of Numiastra) - a realm of pure nightmares where the dreams of all other living creatures both alive and dead roam endlessly in search of fresh dreams to feast upon to find conduits into the waking world(That they might know life once more). Here, only the mightiest of Mage-Tyrants could ever hope to roam unprotected(And indeed, whose minds even now drift within the nightmarish ether forming entire dreaming worlds in death) as the beasts of nightmares made manifest and all other manner of horrors seek to ever find conduits back to the waking world - kept at bay largely thanks to the tireless efforts of The Institute and its Somnambulists who work to maintain the Somnus Wall and guard the dreams of the citizens of The Iron Empire, whose collective subconscious has largely formed much of "The Subnet" and its surrounding area over their millenia of existence. These ethereal, maze-like tunnels extending beyond and within The Somnus Wall are said to be excessively confusing and lethal in their design - each one taking the work of countless Somnambulists decades of real-time effort to clear of beasts and horrors so that the wall may be extended ever outwards into the untamed sections of the Subnet surrounding it.
Though confusing for waking beings to understand, the Subnet does not exact correspond to the waking world geographically - not exactly, anyway. Instead, the Subnet, while it does contain portals that lead back to the waking world and vice-versa, is largely a conceptual space carved out of the larger Plane of Mensis by The Institute's efforts(Creating a stable bastion where once was mindless chaos) which was isolated from the rest of the Plane thanks to the Broken Leylines and Circuitbleed that broke magic across Numiastra long ago in the wake of The Skyfall Calamity. Travel within the Subnet, while dangerous enough already, is almost impossible to do in crossings out to the wider Plane of Mensis - the only reliable means of entrance into The Subnet is from the waking world(Typically from the minds of living beings) or via extremely rare and specialized crossings which are typically guarded by the mightiest and most unknowable of horrors.
It is said, as well, that The Subnet is a conceptual construct formed out of the dreams of living beings across Numiastra - and of all of those beings, the dreams of the Ironites of The Iron Empire shine the brightest and can change the conceptual Subnet to the greatest degree.
History
The exact history of The Royal Institute for the Preservation of Dreams is likely never to be known beyond the Institute itself and to Tavross, The Iron Emperor who ordered its founding - from what little is known, however, the Institute was formed many millennia ago after The Ignition of Lumisterra during The Age of Steel; during this time, they were a small organization struggling to grow within the Ethereal dreamscape, supported only by the seemingly bottomless funding and generosity of the fledgling Emperor Tavross. It was not until The Betrayal of Lord Percival that the organization truly came into its own - as the chaos of the waking world resulted in the Institute losing contact with it thanks to the apparent death of Tavross, The Iron Emperor, the organization continued its mission in stoic silence for centuries even as they became more and more separated from the waking world they had been formed to protect; even as they were forgotten by the waking world they continued to protect it and the dreams of its citizens.
It was not until nearly 400 years later after they had lost contact with the Waking World that the newly reborn Tavross, The Iron Emperor, now the mighty Diesel-God he is today, re-established contact with the organization he had formed so long ago and brought them back into the fold. So proud was he, it is said, that the group still stood and continued its mission that he rewarded them with all the support they had yearned for and more.
Martyrs of the Unseen Dream
Founding Date
871 AF
Type
Secret, Occult
Alternative Names
The RIPD, The Sammies, The Institute of Dreams
Demonym
Somnambulist / Sammy
Founders
Parent Organization
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