Post by The Salty Void on Jul 30, 2015 4:09:49 GMT
Perhaps one of the most bizarrely varied of any family, it was argued for many years that these creatures couldn't possibly be related even if they did share common abilities. Phantasms looks are dictated by their particular type, but vary drastically from type to type. One looks like a mishmash of a monkey and a cat, another looks like a deer with a false face, and another is an ever weaving spider. It wasn't until some poor researcher stumbled upon a chase... and eventually drank himself to death after writing down confirmation. These creatures could in fact breed with each other.
Of course their looks are only strict while awake. In the dream worlds they can take on any form that suits them, even something more humanoid. Their looks and even behaviors are strange, different while awake, but while asleep they seem a much more collective species.
Phantasms from any rank can induce any type of dream into their victims, but each individual is limited to only two of the categories: Prophetic, Healing, Nightmare, Epic, False Awakenings and Traveling. Some like to mix the two together, perhaps making 'Epic Nightmares' and driving their victims crazy, or perhaps 'Prophetic False Awakenings', where you'll get to see your dull boring life as it'll happen the next day and give you the most ridiculous case of deja vu. The creatures just have two particular types they're very skilled with and either have no potential or no interest in the others.
Prophetic dreams are as they sound, a prediction of something that'll happen to you, the dreamer.
Healing dreams are those meant to alert you to problems with your health or to soothe a stressed mind. They can push you to solve critical problems to help you later in the waking world.
Nightmares are rather self-explanatory, they are dreams meant to explore terrifying realities or situations.
Epic dreams can take on almost any context, they're just so big, vivid and out of this world. On their own they tend to become very adventurous.
False Awakenings are a projection of the dreamer's life. They always begin with the dreamer snapping out of some sort of sleep or day dream to give the illusion that they are actually awake. Dreamer's can almost never tell the difference.
Traveling dreams are unique in that they're not their own dreams at all. This is merely the powerful potential for a phantasm to jump from dream to dream, uninvited, and bring others along. Without skill in this ability, phantasms must either be invited to jump or find some sort of loophole.
reverie, specter, trance, vagary, wraith
Nue- Hunched creatures with ape like faces. They walk on their knuckles to avoid breaking their terrifyingly long claws. Their bodies tend to have a feline grace and look while their tail has a whip like quality to it, and some even have venom leak from the tip. It's not uncommon for Nue to have cat like patterns on their bodies, manes, or even be close shaven like a sphinx. Their faces vary with all sorts of apes and monkeys.
Mara- These simple creatures are mostly horse like, though they rarely look normal. On one end of the spectrum you have ephemeral unicorns, on the other end pure nightmarish creatures with fiery manes or sharpened teeth. Some may even have the ability to turn half their body into a fish. Their looks don't always reflect their specialties.
Baku- creatures with trunks resembling tapirs or elephants. Their tails look like clouds tied to their backsides.
Sussi- a spider that builds dream catchers
Messing- a deer like creature with a human like mask