For those who seek the Gates of Horn and Ivory

I am no Doctor Schlomo, nor was meant to be. Nonetheless, I have through much diligent effort and dreaming reached a state where my nightmares no longer trouble me, for the most part. I am therefore quite happy to discuss the dreams and fears of others on such a journey. Feel free to Confess your Fears to me, if it pleases you to do so.

There is no charge, but I regret that I can offer no guarantees.

[Edit: To clarify, I’m perfectly happy to answer dreamers’ in-character questions here and to accept Confession of Fears actions in the game.]
edited by Asclepius Unbound on 12/20/2011

I have a question of philosophical nature, doctor. Is the path to these gates determined by luck or fate?

I keep seeing empty frosty hotels. No one’s there to check me in but there’s always someone to shred parmesan cheese on my food.

I’m afraid I’m not a doctor, just a fellow traveller. My answer would be that the path, like all paths, is determined by choice.

I have experienced dreams of ice before. Undertones of loss and emptiness make a great deal of sense in that context, and the hotels remind me of my several visits to the Royal Bethlehem. Have you been? That might explain it. The cheese, I regret, eludes me. Unless you have been in contact with a certain Cheesemonger…?

My good traveller , i didn’t take you for someone averse to risk or commitment. It’s is obvious that it is not us who chose to dream but instead the dreams chose who to smile on to yet in my travels i feel like gambling with my sanity expecting an answer from farther planes is the wrong approach, should i actually start searching instead of relying on the humour of the collective conscience of those poor , lost souls?

Ah, I understand you more clearly now. You are asking not what determines what paths we take, but what brings us to these moments of choice to begin with. I truly believe each of us has made the decision either to pursue the dreams that have come to us here in the Neath, or not. And to dream truly is to search. Have you not yet heard the Voice of the Thunder?

It seems I dream often of fires and storms, lately. Though brutish, I find them oddly preferable to dreams of cold glass and dark water… there’s something magnificent in the fury, don’t you think? One hopes my choice of dreams doesn’t suggest anything improper, though…

I quite agree - in fact, I’ve collected my lecture notes on Fire and Ice into a small monograph. Expect its publication presently.

Magnificent fury? Yes. The sheer roaring passion of fire, storm, and flame, coupled to the elegant restraint and coolness of glass, water, and ice … melting ultimately into a warm relaxed liquid state …

Excuse me, I should go and lie down.

I have lost things - rats, daughters, lovers (apparently they forgot!), money and lots of it. I’ve been to the Royal Bethlehem but I like to avoid it, the cats are too rude. I was, but the cheese is never the kind she made…! So odd.

Odd indeed. And my sympathies on your losses. We all pay a price for Falling.

I quite agree - in fact, I’ve collected my lecture notes on Fire and Ice into a small monograph. Expect its publication presently.

Magnificent fury? Yes. The sheer roaring passion of fire, storm, and flame, coupled to the elegant restraint and coolness of glass, water, and ice … melting ultimately into a warm relaxed liquid state …

Excuse me, I should go and lie down.[/quote]

And here I was concerned about impropriety. My oh my.

I’ve lately been having dreams where I’m surrounded by tomb colonists. I’ve lately been courting scandal, I wonder if this is linked to some fear that I’ll wind up there.

Certainly it seems the fears we have by day can manifest at night, but I have a suspicion that there is more to be learned from dreams of death and the tomb-colonies than about just our own fears…

Have any of my dear correspondents (not that kind!) found their dreams blending together?

[color=00ffff]As this has become a very (entertaining!) in-character thread, I’m sliding it over to the Fabularities forum. Do carry on![/color]

You mean like the ones where I’m playing chess at a funeral held on a sinking ship that’s being watched by whoever lit it on fire? Those did seem a bit odd, now that you mention it.

No, not my dreams blending together. However, I did run into an odd fellow in the swamp once. He almost stepped off the path and drowned, and my “reward” for saving him was some incomprehensible babble… but it all seemed oddly familiar. Recalled visions of a ship at sea, from nightmares long since drowned in laudanum.

I find I cannot close my eyes without returning to the Marches of the Mirror Country, nor open my eyes without their amber light lingering.

The sweet melody of the storm …of course. She seems reluctant to speak with me , alas it’s a matter of time before she stops giving me the cold shoulder. In any case, I’m profusely grateful for the lead my good gentleman.
The burning question now is , what will the sixth city’s inhabitant dream of?

I shall ensure a room at the Royal Bethlehem is reserved for you. In all seriousness, however, I wonder if these mixings of dreams suggest an overflowing of the boundaries of a collective unconscious, or simply a synthesis of the various themes and concepts into a more general burgeoning mastery of dream. What do my fellow travellers think?