Setting & World Info

SETTING BASICS

Beautiful Dreamer's setting is primarily a modern day AU and the story mostly takes place in modern day Japan, circa 2023 onwards. There are two distinct halves of the game setting – the waking world and the Dream Sphere. As of the game's opening, only Dreamers will be able to cross over into the Dream Sphere at will, though there may be events and plot developments that widen that access.

Aside from the existence of the Dream Sphere and its magic, there are no supernatural or advanced sci-fi elements of the game's setting – basically, if it would be jarring to suddenly come across it in a low stakes slice of life show, it probably isn't a part of BD's world, though you can always double check with the mods if you're not sure where something falls. In addition, there is no dedicated "network" within the game universe, though characters can of course use the internet to fulfill a similar need.

Since the game is occupied by all sorts of people, players have the option of apping a character with or without powers when entering the game. For organizational purposes, non-powered characters are referred to as 'Mundane' characters while characters with powers are referred to as 'Dreamers'. Players may also choose to have their characters awaken as a Dreamer during their time in the game or even have a Dreamer lose their powers but continue to play them in the setting as a Mundane character.

For more information about Dreamers and their powers, be sure to check the Dreamer FAQ.

THE WAKING WORLD

"The Waking World" is the world of reality, mirroring our own world circa 2023 onwards. The major divergence point in its history happened around fifty years ago, when humans became aware of the Dream Sphere and the very first Dreamers awakened – thanks to this, there is no secrecy or masquerade surrounding the existence of magic or Dreamers themselves. These topics are public, common knowledge around the world and while varying characters may have varying opinions about it, public opinion on Dreamers and the duties they perform is generally positive.

The city the characters will primarily occupy is Yumemigaoka, in Tohoku, Japan. In-universe, it is the second largest city in the prefecture so players can use the similarly sized Kitakyushu as a real-life example for the city's layout and climate.

As the first place in the world where Dreamers awakened, it has become a sort of capital and central hub for Dreamer culture and community and houses the main headquarters of the Dreamer Union. Because of its size and ties to the Dreamer Union, some Dreamers may either be transferred here or choose to relocate from their home cities and countries

In terms of communication, the dominant language of Yumemigaoka is Japanese and there are no magic/automatic translation functions. Due to how long Yumemigaoka has been a home base for Dreamers the world over, however, the city has become increasingly friendly to foreign language tourists. All signs in Yumemigaoka are in Japanese and English at the bare minimum and your average Yumemigaoka citizen will reliably speak at least comprehensible English or another second language. You may also handwave that your character had some tutoring in Japanese before coming to the city if language barriers would be a problem – or not! Feel free to play with communication as you see fit.

The residents of Yumemigaoka are by and large friendly and polite to the average person. It's rare you'll meet someone who is openly or pointedly hostile, but like any city, you'll occasionally run into people either having a bad day or just a bad attitude. Given how often Dreamers from around the world are transferred into the city, there are occasionally small population booms and the overall age range of the city skews younger, with the majority of working adults falling between the ages of 25-35.

More information about the city of Yumemigaoka can be found on the Waking World Locations page.

THE DREAM SPHERE

The Dream Sphere is the world of magic and imagination that exists alongside the Waking World. More specifically, it is the world of dreams and was born of and shaped by the feelings and imagination of humankind. As of the start of the game, only Dreamers will be able to directly cross over into and explore the Dream Sphere, as it is from the Dream Sphere that they draw their magic. Those without magic may not be able to interact with it directly, but thoughts and feelings in the real world have a huge impact on the Dream Sphere, intentionally or otherwise. As such, its geometry and geography is often in flux, with few places ever truly “stable” and remaining fixed in place as time passes. One of these places is the Slumbering City, a mirror image of Yumemigaoka that exists only within the Dream Sphere. From the Slumbering City, Dreamers may branch out into any number of outlying locations and explore the Dream Sphere as a whole.

Locations in the Dream Sphere are often cast into surreal colours, pastel shades that aren't really fully reflective of the real world and the proportions and geometry of the world are usually just a little bit off. The sorts of environments you can expect to find in the Dream Sphere are fantastical and – well – dream like, usually failing to adhere to any sort of internal logic of laws of physics. In addition, heightened emotions will influence the way that a place behaves; a part of the Dream Sphere born from passionate, angry feelings may be hot and inhospitable while one born from loneliness may be desolate and cold and full of traps, ready to ensure that nobody can ever leave it.

The locations page for the Dream Sphere can be found here.

Zooming out to its broader functions, the Dream Sphere does not have a time cycle matching that of the real world. Time passes much more quickly within the Dream Sphere, with about a 3:1 day ratio with the real world. The sky will change in brightness as appropriate with the time of day, though it doesn't seem to have a sunrise or sunset – a full moon hangs perpetually in the sky, visible no matter where you are in the Dream Sphere. Weather will occur as is seasonally appropriate leading to hot summers and chilly winters, just as with Yumemigaoka.

When in the Dream Sphere, it's possible to eat and drink if you come across food but bodily functions don't occur and it's impossible to fall asleep. If someone is hurt, they can still feel pain and if knocked unconscious in the Dream Sphere, they will be ejected and forced back to the waking world and find that they will have trouble transforming and entering the Dream Sphere for up to a week after being ejected.

Functioning technology within the Dream Sphere is relatively scarce – inert instances of it may pop up around the Dream Sphere, created by people's thoughts, but successful creation of technology related to the Dream Sphere has been extremely limited. As such, there is no internet or network that functions on that side and characters cannot broadcast images of the Dream Sphere back to the Waking World.

The Dream Sphere is occupied by Dreamers, Figments, Torments and Nightmares. Since Dreamers are such a big part of the setting they have their own page – as well as a primer for how to create a Dreamer for your AU – right here!

OTHERS TO NOTE

Dreamers aren't the only occupants of the Dream Sphere. During their time there, Dreamers will have to deal with the influences of Figments, Torments, Nightmares and Night Terrors.

Figments are the forms that the hearts of regular humans take within the Dream Sphere. Most often they appear as barely visible, shimmering clusters of crystal floating about the Dream Sphere. During particularly long or vivid dreams, Figments can begin to take forms reflective of the heart that created them and in rare instances of lucid dreaming, a Figment may begin to fully project as its original self, allowing them to interact with the Dream Sphere, albeit in a limited and short-lived away. In extreme scenarios (real world death or extreme trauma), some Figments can become detached from their original selves and break off into their own entities, wandering around the Dream Sphere in the manner of a ghost. In this state – as well as during attacks or consumption by Nightmares – Figments may also experience a process of 'memory bleed' in which they imprint their memories on each other, though this is a relatively rare and poorly understood phenomenon. And in extreme cases of complicated or very extreme emotions, a Figment can cause the geography of the Dream Sphere itself to warp and take on unusual forms...

Torments, then, are the dark twin to Figments. Dark thoughts and negative emotions can leave their own sorts of imprints on the Dream Sphere and Torments are formed from these imprints. They have no fixed, consistent form but typically appear as small, impish creatures who menace any Dreamers they come into contact with. Torments do not necessarily have thoughts or wills of their own but act on the base emotions that birthed them - a Torment born of anger might be particularly aggressive or one born of loneliness might be persistent in pursuing Dreamers and Figments if it comes across them. While alone they rarely pose much of a threat, but they instinctively gather in hordes and can prove dangerous if they’re able to swarm and catch a lone Dreamer by surprise. Even worse, if a big enough swarm of Torments are able to gather together, they will begin to merge and combine until they form a Nightmare.

Nightmares are what happens when Torments are left to fester in the Dream Sphere. Towering kaiju formed of shifting darkness and negative emotions, they rampage freely through the Dream Sphere in an attempt to find and consume Figments and with it, the hearts that created them. Like Torments, there is no consistent physical appearance for a Nightmare with the only constant traits being that they are large and monstrous. Those attacked by Nightmares will find themselves trapped in their dreams, tormented by visions and dreams created by the Nightmare that consumed them. In worst-case scenarios, a person trapped by a Nightmare may begin to lose their memories and awaken in the real world when saved with no memories of their past self. In contrast to Torments, Nightmares are typically much more animalistic and beastly in their behaviour. A Nightmare's hunger is never sated and it will continue to rampage and consume until destroyed – though even a dispersed Nightmare still has the ability to eventually reform and go rampaging again, so preventing them from manifesting at all is the best cure for the issues they pose.

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