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Dream Creatures
The ichthyrians are born in Vortex and only exist in the world of dreams. They have twenty spiderlike legs and long, jointed bodies covered with thick shells. The head has two red eyes and a large jaw full of sharp black teeth. Ichthyrians hunt dreamers. They create a link between dream and reality so that their victims are devoured in reality as well as in dreams. They can move unhindered into and out of people's dreams. The dream princes have tamed ichthyrians, and use them as watchdogs.
AGL 2d10 (11) EGO 1 STR 1d10 (5) PER 2d10 (11) CON 2d10 (11)
Terror throw: 0 Height: 100 cm Weight: 20 kg Senses: can track a dreamer through several dream worlds Movement: 5 m/combat round Actions: 2 Initiative bonus: none Damage capacity: 4 scratches = 1 light wound 3 light wounds = 1 serious wound 3 serious wounds = 1 fatal wound Endurance: 90 Natural armor: 2 Attack modes: Bite 15 (scr 1-7, lw 8-13, sw 14-22, fw 23+) Home: Vortex, the dream worlds Number encountered: 10+1d10
ILKUZAHN
The Ilkuzahn are a group of beings that are a threat to the waking world from the dream world. They enter a dreaming mind and use it to manifest in the waking world, coming out only when the victim sleeps. Similar to the thing under the bed or the closet monster, the Ilkuzahn are nightmare beings brought into reality.
Why they come to this world is unknown. They come to kill, terrify, and wreak havoc, as near as anyone can tell. Their passage into this world is marked by a floor-hugging mist that runs through the dream to their exit, similar in principle to the silver cord that connects the subtle body to the waking body. The mist has no effect or power other than the basic significance that the Ilkuzahn are there. Even if discovered, the Ilkuzahn will not harm or allow the harming of their host.
The Ilkuzahn come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Their true form is hideous, but they can take on the guises of humans temporarily.
KAIES
The Kaies are unlike any beings mentioned so far. Unlike the Vacyge of the Likaer, the Kaies don't attempt to terrify or tempt the dreamer; their goal is much simpler. They eat memories and leave the dreamer a blank and dreamless husk.
Within a dream, the Kaies bring up memories from the victim's mind. Then, one by one, they begin to disassemble, destroy, and consume the memory. A Kaie's dream becomes easy to recognize because of the stark reality of the memories. It is unknown whether or not they work together.
The Kaies remain cerfully hidden within Constructs as the dream breaks apart. When moving from memory to memory or wandering the Interstices, the Kaies appear as insubstantial mists with indistinct yet disturbing features. Like the Vacyge, their true form inspires terror.
THE LIKAER
The Likaer enter a mind and tempt the victim. It begins simply, with dreams of long-term goals fulfilled, but goes far beyond that. Soon they begin to dream of insane passions and unnatural acts of self-gratification. Then the Likaer laugh as their carefully staged temptations begin to carry over into the real world.
As with all the nightmares, little is known about the Likaer. They are believed to feed off of the raw emotions that result from their actions. Furthermore, they are the most difficult to drive out of a mind, for their dreams are considered pleasant by the dreaming mind. Dream constructs actively work to oppose dreamwalkers fighting a Likaer. Additionally, the Likaer are believed to be solitary, unlike the Vacyge.
The Likaer appear as beautiful and desirable members of the gender the victim finds attractive. Normally they wear little or no clothing in this guise. Their true form is very different. They are tall, thin humanoids with grotesque grins and strange coloring. The Likaer are not as physically terrifying as the Vacyge, but they are inhumanly manipulative and their grins are unnerving to even the steeliest of nerves.
PSYPHAGI
Psyphagi (singular psyphagus) do not originate in the dream worlds. They are creatures that have been trapped there after losing their physical bodies. Now they are attempting to return to the waking wolrd by possessing the bodies of dreamers. They attack the sleeper in her dream, defeat and capture her dreamed self. Then they take over her body. As long as the dreamer is alive and imprisoned in the dream world, her body will live and be possessed by the psyphagus.
In dreams, a psyphagus looks like a human with totally black and hairless skin. Its eyes are alos completely black, without pupils, and the hands have black claws. In the waking world it is unable to maintain a physical form of its own. It cannot exit the dream worlds through a portal--if it does, it loses all form.
Psyphagi dwell in their own dream worlds, where they keep dreamers in some form of prison--anything from a locked room to a dungeon to a chain fastened in a rock. When a psypahgus has managed to capture a dreamer, no ego throw is necessary to possess her. If the dreamed self is set free, it can expel the psyphagus and regain possession of its body. This is done with an ego throw. If the effect is higher than the psyphagus' effect, the owner gets her body back.
Like all creatures who lack bodies, psyphagi have an insatiable hunger for physical experiences. They can wear a human body out in a few months. When the body dies, the psyphagus returns to the world of dreams.
AGL 3d10 (16) EGO 2d10 (11) STR 3d10 (16) CHA 1d10 (5) CON 3d10 (16) PER 2d10 (1) COM 1d10 (5) EDU 1d10 (5)
Terror throw: none Height: 180 cm Weight: 80 kg Senses: Can see the subtle bodies of humans from several dreamworlds away. Otherwise, as human. Movement: 8 m/combat round Actions: 3 Initiative bonus: +4 Damage bonus: +3 Damage capacity: 5 scratches = 1 light wound 4 light wounds = 1 serious wound 3 serious wounds = 1 fatal wound Endurance: 110 Natural armor: none Skills: Art of Dreaming 75, Automatic weapons 16, Handgun 16, Sneak 16, Impact weapons 16, Sword 16, Unarmed combat 16, hide 16, Language--3 human Attack modes: according to weapon, Claws 16 (scr 1-8, lw 9-15, sw 16-25, fw 26+) Home: the dream worlds
THE VACYGE
A force known as the Vacyge wars to drive humankind mad one by one. They enter a dream in groups and twist the victims' dreams into horrible perversions of reality to batter down their sanity.
Very little is known about the Vacyge. No one knows why they want to drive people mad. No one knows where they came from or how long they have been here. But once they are in a mind, the terror they create knows no bounds.
Normally, they appear as a normal Construct within a dream. When they do reveal their presence, they look like living shadows. More substantial than a shadow, a Vacyge stands taller than a person and a bit more slender, with wild "hair," no facial features, glowing red eyes, and long claws. Even in true form, the Vacyge can inspire fear.
The Shroud
When the Vacyge enter a dreaming mind, a Shroud descends to isolate the mind from the dreamworlds. Because dreams are hugely and impossibly varied, the Shroud creates its own reality using the victim's mind as a template. Evn in your mind the Vacyge are in their own element.
The Shroud then utilizes the victim's natural fears and the Vacyge's terrifying creativity to drive her over the brink and into the pits of stark raving madness.
A dreamer is helpless to the Shroud's effects. A very real nightmare, the Shroud is only recognizable to an experienced Dreamwalker. Comapred to most nightmares, which are random and fragmented, the Shroud holds a much more calculated flow. Additionally, they are much more horrifying to behold.
Firmly embedded within the Shroud, the Vacyge can be difficult to find once they are hidden. They normally appear as something fitting to the nightmare but can be identified. Once they begin to scare a victim in earnest, the Vacyge enter the center of the conflict. Otherwise, their shadow remains relatively unconcealable. If a Dreamwalker looks carefully, a Vacyge shadow can belie their true form.