Somnolum — Lore Wiki

The Lucid Guard are an order of dream-warriors who maintain consciousness while navigating the Dream Tides. They wear mirrored masks that reflect the subconscious projections of others, preventing the guards from being influenced by ambient dream energy. Each guard carries a Totem, a small physical object from the waking world that serves as their anchor to reality.

Somnolum exists as a vast ocean of condensed dreamstuff, a semi-liquid substance that responds to the subconscious thoughts of anyone nearby. The surface appears as an endless twilight sea with no horizon, where the sky and water merge into a single gradient of deep indigo and pale gold. Islands form and dissolve based on the collective dreaming of nearby sleepers. Permanent settlements can only exist in Dream Anchors, locations where a powerful dreamer chose to never wake up.

When enough fear concentrates in one area of Somnolum, the Dream Tides tear open into a Nightmare Rift. These are raw wounds in the fabric of the dreamscape that leak terror-infused dream energy into surrounding islands. The creatures that emerge from Nightmare Rifts are not monsters in the traditional sense but crystallized fears given form.