The Dreamlands are an extensive alternate dimension described in the short fiction of H. P. Lovecraft and other authors, and is considered part of the Cthulhu Mythos. Accessible through a person's dreams in a manner resembling astral projection, dreamers may discover the entrance to this dimension. Experienced dreamers are among the most powerful residents of the Dreamlands, and may become permanent residents at the time of their physical death.
Cosmology
Accessing the Dreamlands ordinarily means finding an unusual stairway during a conventional dream, and walking down the Seventy Steps of Light Slumber, where the dreamer must face the judgment of powerful gatekeepers called Nasht and Kaman-Tha. If judged worthy (i.e. able to survive the dangers od the Dreamlands), the dreamer is allowed to descend the Seven Hundred Steps of Deeper Slumber, emerging in the Enchanted Wood (described below). Entering the Dreamlands in this way leaves a dreamer's physical body safely in the waking world, and should the dreamer be killed during his travels in the Dreamlands, his corporeal body will merely suffer from shock (though this can occasionally be fatal). "Dream death" of this kind makes return to the Dreamlands impossible. Waking up causes a dreamer's "dream self" to disappear, at which time the individual may have difficulty recalling anything learned or experienced during his time asleep (much as with conventional dreams).
Other means of entry into the Dreamlands exist, including ones that allow a person to enter physically. These means typically require passing through very dangerous area both in the waking world and the Dreamlands, and "real" death becomes a risk, but it does confer onto the visitor the prolonged lifespan of the natives, and a traveller's time in the Dreamlands is no longer limited to the duration of a night's sleep on Earth.
Though the term "Dreamlands" typically refers to the dimension accessible by human dreamers, other inhabitted planets apparently have their own dreamlands. Reaching these other realms from the terrestrial Dreamlands is possible, but difficult.
Time does not flow at the same speed in the Dreamlands as it does on Earth. Every hour on Earth represents a week of time in the Dreamlands. As such, a human dreamer can, during a single night's sleep, spend months of time in the Dreamlands. Fortunately, natives of the Dreamlands either have extraordinarily long lifespans or are immortal provided they can avoid injury or disease.
Despite its accelerated time, change occurs rarely in the Dreamlands. Its geography, politics, and population appear to be fairly static. Dreamers, however, are capable of exerting great change over the topography, bringing into existence entire cities with accompanying populations.
The Great Old Ones who figure prominently in Lovecraft's other writings have little interest or influence in the Dreamlands, with the exception of Nyarlathotep. The Dreamlands has its own pantheon of deities, known as the Great Ones, but they resemble powerful immortals more than gods, as they can be wounded, deceived, and seduced by mortals. An aspect of Nyarlathotep evidently presides over the Great Ones.
Geography
The Dreamlands is commonly divided into four continential regions, each named after its cardinal direction.
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The West is where dreamers emerge from the Steps of Deeper Slumber, and is the best documented (possibly also the most inhabitted) region of the Dreamlands. It's most famous cities are Ulthar (where no man may kill a cat), Dylath-Leen (the largest city of the Dreamlands), Hlanith (a coastal jungle city), and Ilarnek (a desert trade capital). It is connected by land to the South.
- The South refers to the southern coast of a continent shared with the West and the islands of the Southern Sea. The South's land-locked and coastal areas are known as the Fantastic Realms for their sometimes nightmarish and sometimes incomprehensible zones. The islands of the Southern Sea are fairly normal, the largest being the isle of Oriab.
- The East is a continent largely uninhabitted, with the exception of the realm of Ooth-Nargai, whose capital Celephais was created from whole cloth and continues to be ruled by King Kuranes, the greatest of all recorded dreamers. Beyond Ooth-Nargai are a series of highly dangerous realms into which travel is interdicted, called The Forbidden Lands.
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The North is a cold mountainous continent, and is notorious for its Plateau of Leng, a violent region shared by man-eating spiders and a race of satyr-like beings (known as the "Men of Leng"). The North also contains a number of friendlier cities, including Inganok, famous for its mining. The deepest reaches of the North are said to hold Unknown Kadath, the home of the Great Ones.
In addition to these regions, the Dreamlands have a number of other notable locales that defy conventional description.
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The Underworld is a subterranean region that runs beneath the entirety of the Dreamlands. Its principle inhabittants are ghouls, who are able to physically enter the waking world from the Underworld through crypts. The Underworld is also home to the Gugs, monstrous giants banished from the surface for untold blasphemies. The Underworld's deepest reaches are the Vale of Pnath, a dangerous lightless chasm inhabitted by enormous unseen beasts called bholes.
- The Moon has a parellel in the Dreamlands, which is inhabitted by the dreaded moon beasts, amorphous frog-like creatures allied with Nyarlathotep. Interestingly, it is possible to sail off the edge of the Dreamlands and through space to reach the Moon.
Sources
Lovecraft himself wrote a series of stories (later called his "Dream Cycle") that either explicitely or implicitely related ot the Dreamlands. They are:
Last updated: 05-27-2005 09:27:44
