DREAMTREADER CREED, CONCEPTUS 1

The Waking Mind is a powerful thing in the Temporal world, but it has limitations. While awake, the Waking Mind is active, of course, but the Sleeping Mind is dormant. When you fall asleep, the Waking Mind slumbers, and the Sleeping Mind comes alive and with it come abilities, sensations, and thoughts unlike anything the Waking Mind could ever consider in . . . well, in its wildest dreams.

The Dreamtreader is master of the Sleeping Mind. Unlike the usual dreamer, you will be lucid and much more. Manipulate the Dream world around you, but build your strength slowly, a little at a time. Do not attempt a tree if you have not first created a single leaf. Dare not attempt a storm if you have not first created a single cloud. Create what you know and build from it. Err on the side of caution when you create.

But create you shall: anything and everything your mission requires. To face the minions of the Nightmare Lord himself, summon fire and sword. Run like the wind itself. Call down lightning.

In time, with practice, it will all be within your grasp. Remember this: a Dreamtreader must know his limits. Create too much, too soon, and you will falter. Flying is especially taxing. So many variables for your mind to manipulate. Even the seasoned Dreamtreader will use flight sparingly, for it is quite draining. To fall out of the sky due to exhaustion is not the chief danger as it might seem. Rather, it is the utter depletion of your mental resources, causing deep sleep.

You will slumber within the Dream and be vulnerable to all manner of dangers. Death might be the kindest of things that could happen to one asleep in the Dream.

And so, the Dreamtreader will live by this, the foremost of the Nine Laws: Anchor first. Anchor deep.

When you enter the Dream, resist any temptation that might distract you from anchoring. Your anchor is your tether to life. Lose it at your peril. Stray not far from it. For when you have the need, it is the only real safe place in the Dream. By it, you may return to the Temporal world. Anchor first. Anchor deep.

Be wary of Sixtolls.

Your Personal Midnight is the limit of a Dreamtreader’s stay within the Dream. Spend eleven hours in brave completion of your Dreamtreading goals, but note that there is no natural sixth stroke on your clock. The Nightmare Lord has stolen that. It has become his number now. Once every day and night, he overpowers even the ancient might of Old Jack and strikes Sixtolls. His time waxes then. For that hour, chaos reigns.

The hounds roam free.