“Gubble
Ability to pass things info between dream states or wakefulness”
On February 16, 2014, I tapped this weird note into my Notes app on my iPhone. It was some nonsense I had been musing as I lay half asleep.
Curious, I Googled “gubble” and discovered it was an old video game which I did not (consciously at least) remember at all. I couldn’t find any other real meaning for the word. On the other hand, ubble-gubble is claimed as a synonym for gibberish. Another related word is gabble.
Well, I guess I failed to gubble the meaning of what I was dreaming into my waking world, eh?
The default character idea for Oneira is a person who has physically passed into the dream world. As such, the passing of things/info into wakefulness could mean two entirely different things.
First, there is just the idea that they still sleep, and dream, even though they reside in the dream world. Like any normal person, much of that information is simply forgotten. Thus, the ability to pass knowledge from your dreaming self to your waking self would be just as useful to them as any of us.
However, in the process of dreaming, these individuals may move around the real in which they live. This may give them insight into the world in which they live in ways entirely unrestricted by space or conscious logic. If they can keep some of that upon awakening, then it might be applicable while awake. Honed to a razor skill, maybe the Oneira could even intentionally scout out areas of dream, and spy on enemies, or even target them with dream-fashioned changes.
Alternately, the Oneira might be interested in passing information to the real world. If you could interact with a terrestrial dreamer, and ensure they remember at least some part of the experience, then you can implant dream knowledge into the real world. For some Oneira, this might be the fulfillment of the simple desire to let their loved ones know where they have gone. Others have more sinister ideas, such as creating feedback loops, wherein their dream domains are strengthened by the minds of terrestrial dreamers.
The ultimate goal of some Oneira might be to transport objects or themselves from the dream world back to the terrestrial one. In the default setting, this is assumed to be something which no one knows how to do. If they knew this trick in the past, then the knowledge is lost. If anyone does know how to do it, they aren’t sharing. As creator of your flavor of the game, do what you will, but realize that the ability to go back to the real world changes everything. The Oneira are less tragic, and the real world of your stories is less believable. As far as we know, humans don’t really transport their bodies to and from other dimensions. Being able to escape to your home on Earth seems more like an end goal for most character.
Nonetheless, don’t be shy if that’s the game you want to run. Perhaps there is an entire cadre of trained agents who move back and forth at will. Maybe they can’t do it so easily, and they depend upon the vast resources of some shadowy agency whose electric matrices flicker the lights with every dimensional jump.