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[WB] Live and Die for my Dreamland

FumeiYuusha

Planetoid
Joined
Sep 25, 2018
-- This is going to be a single post detailing one of the newest worlds I'm building. Post is open for discussion, suggestions, criticism, improvement and extension. --

This post will be split up into 4 sections:
1. History - detailing the world from the first important event up to where the first potential starting point of the RP would be.
2. Characters - A bit more detailed description of the characters mentioned
3. Appendix - A description of keywords and acronyms used
4. Revision - Current version of the post, and what changes it went through.


1. History

The History of Dream Research

In 1957, a researcher named Nathan Kleitman started researching dreams. His purpose was to understand when we dream, why we dream, and how accurately can we recall our dreams. He distinguished two stages of sleep, and called them REM and NREM, an acronym of Rapid Eye Movement, and Non Rapid Eye Movement respectively. He named it as such because his test subjects showed frantic and frequent eye movement during this period of their sleep cycle. Nathan made the connection that the test subjects were experiencing dreams during REM, and NREM was just a preparation phase for them diving into their dreams. He also recognized that the test subjects were much more difficult to wake up when they were in their REM phase, feeling disoriented and unfocused, however when woken up from NREM, they seemed to be much more aware and less disoriented. Kleitman's research set a landmark in the history of dream research, and everyone look back at his work as reference to this day.

It took almost 50 years for someone to make a breakthrough. In 2004, a Japanese University Student called Hitomi Suzuki continued the long line of dream studies, and found that the day-night cycle affects how much we dream too, with dreams becoming more frequent just before and during sunrise. She did not actually manage to find the reason for this, but it seemed that test subjects reported having dreams even during their NREM phase more frequently, and it didn't matter whether they went to sleep during the night, or they just went to sleep a few minutes before sunrise. This not necessarily disproved Kleitman's findings, but rather built upon it.

The Founding of Dreamland Corporation

Through all these years, we've researched dreams only on a surface level. We found the answer or at least a close approximation of when do we dream. Recalling dreams accurately was a bit more of a fishy subject to approach though. How much can you trust what your subjects report is true, or if they just come up with it on the spot? How well can they trust their own memory of the dreams? We still didn't even get close to answer these questions until 2015, when a pharmacist and dream researcher named Robert Peterson managed to create a drug that helped keep our lucidity during dreams, and recall what we experienced much better.

In 2018, Peterson founded his company, Dreamland Corporation. After the success of his first two books "Discovering Yourself Through Lucid Dreaming" and "A Deeper Look Into Dreams", he managed to gain enough fame and success that he could abandon his former job and pursue his real Dream. The company was focused on research, but they sold this new Lucid Pill, although it was heavily monitored in the following years in case there were any side effects. They also provided consultation about dreams, and how to use them beneficially. Journalists named this Dream Diving - When a person enters their dream with a purpose of solving an internal problem, or to improve their emotional and mental status. With some hesitation, Peterson accepted this name for the process, and used it from then on.

It took 3 years for Dreamland to grow big, but it did. They had multiple offices over northern America, one in Japan, Tokyo, several all across Europe, and one in Africa. With help from all across the world, lead researchers and programmers managed to create a certain device that helps with seeing the dreams of Dreamers. This device wasn't made public though, Peterson had big plans. Presenting this before the world had to go perfectly. It was a bit glitchy, and it didn't always work, but most of the time, you could watch someone's dream as if you're watching a movie. Peterson hesitated, wondering perhaps it's better to fix the little bugs in the system, and make it more stable before actually presenting it to the public. He worked closely with Japan over these issues, and improved the device further with their help. They named this device Dream Camera.

In November 17 2021, Robert Peterson passed away. It was a heart attack. Doctors suspected that he overworked himself. Linda Harper took his place as the new head of the corporation. The Dream Camera was updated and much more stable now. However Linda didn't see why this should be publicized. She thought dream research needs to go deeper now, see what dreams actually look like, how humans experience it, and whether we can affect dreams from the outside, whether by speaking to the Dreamer, or giving them drugs during their dream.

The Gate
With Linda Harper in the lead, she started to focus on research using the Dream Camera. Her discoveries lead to finding oddities in dreams that seemed to be constant among all the Dreamers. Strange landscapes that have no reference to the real world, and a large, ominous looking gate. She wanted to know what's on the other side of that gate at all costs.

The one thing scientists haven't investigated more deeply were Nightmares; and it was for a good reason. Terrifying dreams that you'd rather just forget about. Lucid dreaming didn't help, and seeing nightmares on the Dream Camera was unsettling for the whole crew, not just the Dreamer. Whenever a subject tried to approach the Gate on purpose, their dreams turned dark, and nightmarish. Linda insisted that they need to push through this, and perhaps the Gate itself has a defense mechanism of sorts, that's why Nightmares happening are more frequent around it.

It sounded crazy, and many quit over the months, but the seven loyal subjects who dared to keep pushing towards the Gate finally managed to walk through it.

The revelation was huge. Much greater than anyone expected it. The seven Dreamers met each other in the dreamworld beyond the gate. It was a vast desert, a void of emptyness, but they were standing next to each other, and the camera showed that they see each other and can talk to each other. Linda never thought that this will be a possibility, but what did this even mean, and how will this be useful? Either way, Linda knew that this research only started, and they need to investigate this World Beyond the Gate further.


The World Beyond the Gate
For the next year, the seven Dreamers and every employee who knew about this world signed an NDA, never to speak about this to anyone outside of the room. It was too big, too dangerous of an information to get out. After the first opening of the Gate, it was surprisingly more easier to locate and pass through the gate. Every time it became a faster process, almost like the Dreamers have gained an affinity on how to properly find and walk through the Gate, eventually without any Nightmares.

The World beyond was fascinating. While the first steps into this world was mostly realistic, with the desert, Pyramids, a river, suddenly turning into a deep and dark forest. The deeper they explored, the more surreal landscapes they saw. Flying landmasses, water that flows up instead of down, underwater creatures 'swimming' in the sky. One step in the wrong way could take people miles away, turn around and what was behind you changed completely into a new landscape. Picking a flower could turn the whole green grassland into a field of flower petals that float up in the sky. Strange, unpredictable, or at least at first glance it looked that way.

Controlling your own dreams is one thing, but in this World Beyond, Dreamers found that they have a hard time controlling anything. Like the place had it's own will, and they had to fight against it to make anything happen. After waking, Dreamers reported exhaustion and tiredness rather than being well slept. This eventually lead to taking breaks between visits to the World Beyond, slowing down the exploration process. Linda wasn't pleased with this, and wanted to push them to explore more. Then all hell broke loose.

The First Incident
On March 12 2022, the Dreamers went in once again into the World Beyond. One of the seven Dreamers named Kenji Miwata took a wrong step, and ended up in a hellish place. He was trapped in a deep cave with blue glowing crystal-like spikes everywhere. Soon enough, what looked like small, mishapen humanoids with long claws, hunched backs and slender bodies appeared to surround him. In his panic, he tried to run, which made these creatures scream and rush after him. He was caught, and torn to pieces. The screams he made still haunt the observers, even Linda.

However, Kenji's vitals went flat, and even as medics tried to stabilize him, it was too late. Kenji died from a heart attack. The dream he experienced was too traumatizing. This scared the 6 Dreamers that remained, and they wanted to pull out of the test. They were convinced that in the World Beyond, if they get injured, those injuries stay with them, and death would carry over to their real bodies too. While the concept sounded ridiculous and crazy, Linda decided that they should injure each other lightly, and see if their 'theory' stands.

It did. They inflicted a small cut over their hands, and the next time they went to the dream, their wounds lingered. This terrified Linda. What was this world beyond the gate? They still knew basically nothing about it. It would be hard to convince the 6 Dreamers to enter the World Beyond after this, so she decided to let them go if they wished. This world was too fascinating, new and exciting, almost addictive to give up though. Four of the six returned, wanting to continue the research. Even with the dangers they were facing, they wanted to continue.

Dream Diving 101
Now that they knew the dangers of the world beyond, they decided to go in prepared. They needed to learn how to navigate in this dreamland, and what capabilities and limitations they can find. They needed to arm themselves, and defend themselves. Conjuring up weapons and armor, learning how to travel to set locations where they wanted to. They called this 'teleportation' from location to location 'Dream Stepping'. It was volatile at first, and often they were afraid they will end up in a place that will kill them. What they discovered was that stepping to a location they have been before is much easier, therefore Dream Stepping became a useful tool for backtracking, or escaping a dangerous situation.

What they also found out is that they can enter other people's dreams through gates all across the dreamworld. These gates have had distinct shapes, and it's surroundings littered with the fantasies, nightmares and dreams of the people the gate belonging to. This discovery made them reinterpret the whole system of dreaming and came up with different terminologies. They named the World Beyond the Gate the Dreamworld. An apt name, considering their company. The area surrounding gates that lead to other people's dreams were named Dreamlands, a subset of the Dreamworld, and lastly personal dreams were named Dreamscapes, separate entities from the Dreamworld, but all of them connected to it.

Experimenting with these gates and entering other people's dreams started to cause rumors to spread outside. The company had to come out with a statement before things would get too wild. Linda Harper, instead of coming out openly to the public lied, saying that these experiences are nothing to worry about, just an unpleasant side effect of the Lucid Pills. Suggesting that people who experienced such things should come in to their offices for a routine check, and should avoid using the pills for a while. After getting statements of their experiences, some of these people were convinced to join Dreamworld.

The Second Incident
In the late Summer of 2023 a catastrophical event happened. The feed from all Dreamers cut off, and the last thing they saw was a strangely familiar face. Kenji Miwata appeared in front of them, smiling and beckoning the Dreamers. Then the screens went black. Ever since that event, the four Dreamers were in a state of coma, without any way to reach them, or to see what they are dreaming. Linda decided that this little complication shouldn't stop them, on the contrary. She wanted to bring in more people, this time around instead of experimenting and researching the Dreamworld further, she wanted to send these men in with the mission to find the four Dreamers and see what happened with them.

More staff was brought in, they even had to fly a section of the Japanese staff over to directly work on the Camera, and to improve communications with the Dreamers. The biggest invention for the second wave of Dreamers was that an operator could talk with them while in the dreamland, giving them a helping hand on how to proceed, what to do, and to keep them calm even if they are lost and alone. This second wave of Dreamers hopefully would succeed where the first wave failed.


Present Time
After all these years, finally humanity got closer to understanding dreams. What they found was only scratching the surface. The Dreamworld still holds plenty of secrets, and the journey only started. When the second wave opened the gate to enter, there was a mass dreaming, plenty of people reporting seeing a weird gate appear in their dreams. It was far too big of an even to cover up, but Linda decided to stay silent about it, and feign ignorance to the public.

It's only a mater of time until someone outside of the company walks through the gate. It would have irreversible consequences. . .


2. Characters

Nathan Kleitman(Historical)


The first person to seriously research Dreams in a scientific manner. He coined the terms REM and NREM, which are used to this day when describing the phases of sleep.
He died not long after turning 104 years old. He lived a good life, and made great progress in Dream Research.

Hitomi Suzuki(Historical)

Using the knowledge from Kleitman's research, Hitomi expanded on the findings, and helped push forward the research on dreams.

Robert Peterson(Deceased)

Founder of Dreamwold Corporation. Robert was the one who invented the Lucid Pill, and the person who pushed Dream Research forward with everything he got.
In his late 40s, he died of a heart attack while trying to push the Dream Camera project, and introduce it to the world as a technology that can be used to view and record dreams.

Linda Harper

The CEO of Dreamworld Corporation. After Robert Peterson's death, Linda took over the role of leading the company, pushing Dream Research forward just like how Robert would have wanted.
She decided to keep the Dream Camera technology unpublicized, because of the findings she made within the dreamcape.
Currently in her late twenties, Linda Harper is a beauty, a role model, and almost idolized by science students, having a fanbase with both men and women.

Kenji Miwata(Unknown)

One of the original dreamers, died while exploring the Dreamworld. However a few years later he was seen again within the Dreamworld, inviting his fellow Dreamers somewhere before the feed
to the Dream Camera cut off, leaving the Dreamers in a coma, and everyone just guessing what could have happened.

3. Appendix

REM
- Rapid Eye Movement. Historically it was found that this is the phase of your sleep when you dream.
NREM - Non Rapid Eye Movement. Historically it was found that this is the phase of your sleep when you're not dreaming.
Lucid Pill - A drug that helps you control yourself in the dream, better remember it and be an active participant.
Dreamworld Corporation - The company making Lucid Pill, and actively researching the Dreamworld.
Dream Diving - When someone takes Lucid Pill to achieve a certain task within their Dreamscape.
Dream Camera - A device that helps monitor a person's dream. It sends a feed to a monitor, and the person watching receives the Dreamer's point of view, seeing what they see. The technology is a work in progress, and is known to malfunction on occasions.
Gate - A mysterious gate was found within the Dreamscapes of Dreamers. Upon opening it, it lead to a collective Dreamscape, which was called the Dreamworld later on.
Dreamworld/World Beyond the Gate - The vast world that connects all Dreamscapes. No one knows it's origin, whether it is the Earth's Dreamscape, or some kind of God's Dreamscape, or just humanity's collective dumping ground of dreams becoming this pile of madness.
Dreamland - A sub-section of the Dreamworld, usually tied to a Dreamer's Dreamscape. Dreamlands take the shape of the Dreamer's thoughts, fears, desires and personality.
Dreamscape - The personal tiny-dreamworld of a Dreamer. It's a safe space for the Dreamer, their own inner world separate but connected to the Dreamworld.
Dream Stepping - The art of traveling quickly from one location to another within the Dreamworld. It's often unpredictable, but with practice one can learn how to properly 'fast-travel' through the Dreamworld's various locaitons.
First Wave - The original 7 Dreamers who opened the Gate for the first time, and ventured into the vast Unknown of the World Beyond the Gate.
Second Wave - The expedition group that was sent in to the Dreamworld in order to find out what happened to the original Dreamers, whose bodies now lay unconscious within the Research Lab of Dreamworld Corporation.

4. Revision

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1.0Initial Version
 
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