unknown armies

Oneiromancy

"There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream.

They'd be dead in two weeks." - William S. Burroughs

Oneiromancers are dream-mages who draw magickal power by entering altered states of consciousness. The Sleepwalkers manipulate reality by distorting their own perceptions through sleep deprivation, hallucinogens and altered states garnered through isolation tanks.

Since Oneiromancers lose charges if they fall asleep, most are frequent users and abusers of various stimulants as well as hallucinogens. Some adepts joke that instead of spell books, they use medicine cabinets. Of course, most of the dream-mages are shaky, irritable, paranoid and generally unpleasant to be around...not reall the humorous bunch.

Oneiromancy Blast Style: Oneiromancer blasts are made of dreams, in that they are illusory and any damage done to the victim is temporary. This dream attack must be spoken to the victim ("Excuse me, but aren't those maggots burrowing their way out of your skin?") or simply thought (if attacking someone while inside their dreams) and the victim must also make sanity checks as appropriate. If the target of a blast attack is "killed" by the blast's damage, then the target dies. Otherwise, the victim's wounds will "dissappear" at the end of the scene.

Generate a Minor Charge: Stay awake for more than 24 hours. Take a hit of acid, smoke a peyote button, spend an hour in a sensory deprivation tank.

Generate a Significant Charge: Stay awake for three days. Spend 6 hours in a sensory deprivation tank.

Generate a Major Charge: Beat the record for the longest period of time without sleep. The current World Record is held by Randy Gardner who stayed awake for 264 hours (11 days) back in 1963. Oneiromancers speculate that to break this record would be to raise the bar for future attempts to gain major charges...nobody has done it yet.

Taboo: Practioners of this school have one taboo: they cannot sleep...more to the point, they cannot dream. Falling asleep for more than a half-hour (approx.) will cause the Sleepwalker to lose all of his or her charges.

Random Magick Domain: Sleepwalker magick usually deals with sleep and dreams. Conditions related to sleep deprivation can also be simulated. Dream-mages cannot cast spells that keep themselves or other people awake.

Starting charges: Sleepwalkers start 2 minor charges.

Oneiromancy Minor Formula Spells

 
Nightmare
cost: 1 minor charge
effects: Nightmare is the Oneiromancer minor blast spell.
 
Mister Sandman
cost: 1 minor charge
effects: By throwing a handful of sand, talcum powder or any other similar substance on a person, the mage can put that person to sleep. This sleep will last for a variable length of time depending on how rested the target is, whether they've consumed any caffeine, or other events. Roughly speaking, an undisturbed victim will sleep around five to eight hours.
 
Insomnia
cost: 1 minor charges
effects: This spell counteracts the effects of a good night's sleep. Even if the subject had plenty of sleep, this spell will cause them to wake up groggy, hung over and generally pissed off.
 
Yawn
cost: 2 minor charges
effects: This spell allows the Sleepwalker to momentarily take control of a subject's body. After a successful roll, the dream-mage may cause the victim to perform any simple action -- pull a trigger, yell an obscenity, vomit or stab himself in the leg with a pencil. After performing the action, the victim will regain control and not have any memories of having performed the action.
 
Morpheus
cost: 2 minor charges
effects: Morpheus allows the mage to travel to another person's dreams. If the mage is familiar to the dreamer, he will appear as someone familiar. If the mage and the dreamer have never met in the waking world, the mage will appear as a stranger. While in the dream world the Oneiromancer may communicate with, or cast spells on the dreamer. While inside the subject's dream, the Sleepwalker can influence the dreamworld through his blast spells or through the spell Dreams Made Real. If the subject is injured by the mage, he can force himself awake by making a successful Mind roll.
 
Night Vision
cost: 3 minor charges
effects: This spell enables the Sleepwalker to vanish in dimly-lit areas. If he keeps his eyes closed, he will disappear from sight. If his eyes are open, only his eyeballs and optic nerves will be visible, as if floating throuh space. Upon entering a lit area (or having a flashlight shined on him), the adept will become visible (technically, only those parts in the lit area will become visible).

Oneiromancy Significant Formula Spells

 
Night Terror
cost: 1 significant charge
effects: Night Terror is the Oneiromancer significant blast spell.
 
Dreams Made Real
cost: 1 significant charge
effects: This spell, when used in conjunction with Morpheus, enables the mage to sculpt the reality of a dream (actually injuring the person must be done with blast spells). On a normal success, the mage can alter bits and pieces. On a matched success, he can mold the dream however he wishes (a roll of 01 actually allows the mage permanent access to the dreamer's subconscious...he will never need this spell again to fuck with that person's sense of reality). A matched failure will cause the mage to be attacked by the dreamer's subconscious and a BOHICA will forever lock the mage out of the dreamer's mind.
 
Somnabulis
cost: 2 significant charges
effects: If the mage casts Somnabulis on a sleeping person and then whispers a command in their ear, the subject will "awake" in a semi-coherent state and carry out that command to the best of their ability. Although capable of sight and movement, the person is still functionally asleep and unable to perform any complex actions with any degree of finesse or skill.
 
Synethesia
cost: 2 significant charges
effects: With this spell, the mage can alter his perceptions in strange new ways. He can "see" color, "smell" sound and "touch" smells. This spell can be used to see in total darkness (by replacing sight with another sense), to taste an object without ingesting it or being affected by poisons (by replacing taste with another sense) or any other application that the mage can think of.
 
Moebius
cost: 2 significant charges
effects: Moebius warps time and space, allowing objects (or the mage himself) to displace themselves in the whole time-space continuum. In game terms, this allows the mage to walk through solid objects or cause objects to temporarily "blink" out of existence and reappear shifted in space (allowing the mage to fire a bullet at someone and have the bullet strike them in the back).
 
Paradox
cost: 3 significant charges
effects: This bizarre and potent spell allows the Oneiromancer to appear in two places at once. After a stress check vs. Self, the mage will split into two separate beings. The second self will be a mirror image and only one self can move or speak at a time (though both are aware of each other and their respective locations). Because there are effectively two selves present, the mage can move about it one form while the other remains immobile. The mirrored self and "real" self share attributes, charges, memories and senses but not injuries. At any time, the mage may cancel the spell, negating which ever self he is currently not controlling. A side-effect of Paradox is that the mage's appearance will subtly change if he has control of the mirrored form (this includes injuries, handedness, etc.). The effects of this spell last until cancelled by the mage or until the mage (either self) falls asleep or is otherwise rendered unconscious.

Oneiromancy Major Effects

With a major charge the Sleepwalker could cast any of the above spells with permanent effects or cause elements from a person's dreams to enter the real world. Think Freddy Krueger here...

 
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