From: langmuir@io.com (Chris Langmuir)
Newsgroups: alt.games.whitewolf
Subject: Dream Warps
Date: 9 Apr 1995 22:03:59 GMT
Organization: Illuminati Online
NNTP-Posting-Host: pentagon.io.com
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]

I have heard a bit about dream waprs here and there and I decided to post 
my take on them. This may not be what the official one will be, but I 
like it none the less. So here it is, but first a spoiler for those STs 
who might use it.

DREAM WARP
==========

	Definition: Dream realms that have been infected by one force or 
an other into stable swirling nothinness.  Everyone has a different 
explination to what these are, and most of the time they are bits and 
pieces of all the explinations. Below are some of the explinations by 
several different factions and different supernatural forces.

	Explinations: Wraith obsevers think that these Warps are created 
by the ever expanding tempest, or become gates to the tempest and are 
eventually made into an area where the tempest is all that is left. This 
theory is given substance because it is, on most acounts, connected to 
the underworld and many Mages have been trying to create spirit ships to 
test this theory further.  Many inexperienced mages think this the work 
of Marauders but their elders remind them that this is too stable to be 
the work of a Marauder and they think it is more Nephandi oriented.  The 
Black Furies agree with this, for when they enter one, the few that have 
returned say that they senced the Wyrm there as well as the Wyld.  Some 
Dreamspeakers and some weres think that these areas are battle grounds 
for the Wyld and the Wyrm, hence the corruption and unperdictability.  
The ones that agree with the Wyrm/Wyld thing and asociate with Wraiths, 
or know of them, think that the tempest itself is the Wyld/Wyrm's battle 
ground, for neither are in total control of it.  And others dispute that 
since the tempest is connected with Oblivion, they say it is totaly under 
the control of the Wyrm.  The Order of Hermes agree with the tempest 
theory, even if they know nothing of Wraiths, for they consider Dream 
Warps a portal to an umbral sea.  Some of them consider it to be the sea 
of an other Tellirium, some consider it to be an other realm, but, either 
way, they are the most avid pursuers of creating the unmbral ships. The 
Verbena are suposedly experimenting with changing into a different 
version of a fish that breathes the 'water' of the Tempest but they 
haven't done any field work yet.  When at first the Technocracy 
descovered these thing they waged all out out war, then, after several 
years, many loses and no visible gain, they ruled that it would be best 
to leave these things alone and let the gauntlet protect them.  The 
Nephandi are somehow involved but they aren't telling anyone. The Uktena 
are going to try to create a fetish that will pull the user from the 
Dream Warp so safe exploration can be waged.  Whoever hasn't voiced 
anything here has not done anything yet, being real quiet about it, or 
just don't care.

	Known Facts: Dream Warps like to move, they never fade from 
existance though, they are constantly teleporting are envelloping 
unstable Dreams, the Dream Lords dislike this but just view it as an 
other challendge to get the unstable ones.  It seems that the stable 
dreams, Dream Realms, are unaffected by the Dream Warps or are left alone 
by them.

	Rumors (note: if one looks, these are the most acessible by 
player characters, so they are some repetitions): Some people say that 
they are already ships in the Dream Warps, ghost ships as it were, but 
actually meeting some one who has been in one AND seen a ghost ship are 
slim. Some other people say that these ships some times rescue the ones 
who get lost in the 'tempest' of the Dream Warp.  And if one knows some 
Wraiths or people who know about them or they know about them themselves 
they will probably put twogether the peices and think its part of the 
tempest.  Some people say that the tempest is connected to the Dream 
Warps and the only reason the Tempest exists is because the Dream Warps 
exist and if the Dream Warps didn't exit neither would the Tempest. And 
the rumors continue... (the ST can add anything to the rumor list from 
the explinations if it suits them)

	Cosmology 4: The knowlage of where a dream warp is is always 
imprecise and if the character doesn't make regular checks on where the 
Dream Warp is, the knowlage will become mora and more imprecise. Cruel 
STs or ones who think their characters are taking this knowlage for 
granted can revoke ths priviledge and bring the skill down to four.

	Cosmology 5: Surviving a Dream Warp is not mandatory for this 
level of skill, though major knowlage of the Umbra and the knowlage of 
the site of a Dream Warp is.  Those who have survived a Dream Warp either 
are masters of Magick (either high levels in one or two or lots at about 
3 or 4), very enduranceful (think of swimming in antartica but you die a 
LOT slower) or luckyest people on earth (allowing Gypsies to survive ;).

I may post some story ideas if a lot of them come to mind. Hope you 
enjoyed my little rendering of Dream Warps.

	-- Chris Langmuir