The Chromatic Chord

Dream Magic

The Harmonic school of the Dreaming Veil, which begins from the conviction that perception is never neutral. See The Schools of Magic.

Philosophy

Dream Magic begins from the conviction that perception is never neutral. What people fear, desire, imagine, and remember shapes the forms they are willing to accept as real.

Its practitioners treat the mind as terrain and symbol as leverage. They distinguish between cheap deception and true dreamwork. The former hides a fact. The latter changes the frame through which a fact is experienced.

Dream-workers do not simply make anything imagined real. True dream manifestation depends on the deeper laws of The Dreaming Veil: a strong dream-symbol must gain pattern, cross through a thin place, and be stabilized by memory, art, ritual, repeated recognition, or sustained emotional force. Dream Magic can encourage that process, shape it, interrupt it, or help stabilize a fragile manifestation, but it cannot ignore the need for pattern, energy, continuity, and a viable threshold.

Example Places of Study

  • A veiled atelier: An academy where painters, illusionists, and oneiromancers study together; students are warned never to paint the same nightmare twice.
  • The House of Silk Sleep: A dream-temple of lucid work, nightmare defence, and sleep rites, where villages bring the sleepers who will not wake and the children something hunts at night.
  • The Mirror Caravan: Itinerant masters of performance illusion and travelling mind-scenery, welcome at every fair and hired, more quietly, by sellsword captains before a night raid.
  • The Nocturne Theatre: A secretive city school where staged realities train casters; more than one rival has left its stalls unable to find the street door.
  • The Lantern Baths: Retreats where dream-guides teach controlled descent into shared visions over cups of dreamcress; the deepest pool is kept chained, because some who go down in it come back with a sleep that will not lift.

Common Spells

Soft Glamour · Phantom Sound · False Candle · Mask of Ease · Mirror Trick · Dream Dust · Hallway Lengthen · Shadow Bloom · Phantom Crowd · Fear Shape · Memory Lantern · Sleepwalk Path · Lucid Step · Veil of Elsewhere · Borrowed Face · Whispering Bed · Nightmare Snare · Dream Bridge · Symbol Lock · Muse Call · Phantom Pain · Unmake Mask · Dreamwalk · Hall of Mirrors · Waking Mirage · Name of the Hidden Self · Night Garden · Identity Slip · Story Shell · False Dawn · Dream Eater · Veil Collapse · Fond Seeming · Seeded Notion · Oncoming Dread · Tangled Sense

Typical Cost/Power Source (every spell): Usually fed by the caster's mental focus, emotional charge, and the target's perception; dream-state workings also draw strongly on sleep, memory, or symbolic resonance.

Soft Glamour

Purpose/How It Works
Soft Glamour shifts the caster's apparent features slightly without fully changing identity.
Notable Exceptions
Close inspection and touch often pierce it.
Example Use
A fugitive passes the raider-lord's gate as one more tired kitchen drudge.
Casting Methods
Cast on the caster's own face over a few heartbeats; a little longer with a touch to a mirror.
Range/Duration
Self. A short while to most of a day.

Phantom Sound

Purpose/How It Works
Phantom Sound creates a believable isolated noise at a chosen point.
Notable Exceptions
Repetition makes it easier to detect as false.
Example Use
A bandit sentry turns towards a whispered name that was never spoken, and the hostages slip out behind him.
Casting Methods
A pointed finger, a breath; longer through an echo focus.
Range/Duration
A few paces away. An instant, or a few heartbeats.

False Candle

Purpose/How It Works
False Candle produces the appearance of candlelight without heat or fuel.
Notable Exceptions
It gives light-image, not true illumination.
Example Use
A treasure-hunter leaves a false candle burning in a side passage, and whatever hunts by light goes the wrong way.
Casting Methods
A palm flame cast, a breath; a few heartbeats with a lantern focus.
Range/Duration
In hand or close by. A short while.

Mask of Ease

Purpose/How It Works
Mask of Ease makes the caster seem calm, harmless, or familiar to lower suspicion.
Notable Exceptions
Suspicion can return sharply if the target has real cause to doubt.
Example Use
A spy walks through a warband's camp looking too ordinary to question.
Casting Methods
A self-mask cast over a few heartbeats; longer with a charm or perfume focus.
Range/Duration
Self. A short while, at most the length of a long audience.

Mirror Trick

Purpose/How It Works
Mirror Trick redirects attention with a moving double or false motion trail.
Notable Exceptions
It fools sight better than touch or smell.
Example Use
A cornered thief seems to dart left; the sellsword's blade cuts empty air as she slips right.
Casting Methods
A snapped gesture, a breath; longer with a mirror shard focus.
Range/Duration
Self, or a double close by. A few heartbeats.

Dream Dust

Purpose/How It Works
Dream Dust induces drowsiness and lowers vigilance by loosening waking focus.
Notable Exceptions
Strong pain or fear resists it.
Example Use
The guards over a raider-lord's treasure room grow heavy-eyed while the thieves come over the roof.
Casting Methods
A dusting cast over a few heartbeats; a powder or censer rite takes longer.
Range/Duration
A small room or group. A short while.

Hallway Lengthen

Purpose/How It Works
Hallway Lengthen makes distance feel and seem greater than it is, disrupting timing and confidence.
Notable Exceptions
Direct touch or measured pacing may reveal the trick.
Example Use
Bounty-hunters waste time and nerve in a manor corridor that never seems to end.
Casting Methods
A space-stretching cast over a few heartbeats; marking a corridor takes longer.
Range/Duration
A hallway or lane. A short while.

Shadow Bloom

Purpose/How It Works
Shadow Bloom deepens corners into suggestive forms that unsettle or distract observers.
Notable Exceptions
Strong clean light suppresses it.
Example Use
The hut where a captured outlaw is held grows corners that move, and he talks before dawn.
Casting Methods
Cast into a corner over a few heartbeats; a lamp-dimming rite takes longer.
Range/Duration
A room. A short while.

Phantom Crowd

Purpose/How It Works
Phantom Crowd populates a space with false figures, motion, and implied bodies.
Notable Exceptions
Close bodily contact reveals emptiness quickly.
Example Use
Raiders hesitate at a farmstead yard that suddenly seems full of armed kin.
Casting Methods
A broad scene cast over several heartbeats; a stagecraft rite takes a minute's chant or more.
Range/Duration
A room to a courtyard. A short while.

Fear Shape

Purpose/How It Works
Fear Shape gives an observer's private fear a visible outline drawn from their own mind.
Notable Exceptions
It is weaker on disciplined targets who know their fear.
Example Use
A slaver captain's hidden terror becomes a shape in the doorway, and he drops the keys.
Casting Methods
An eye-lock cast over a few heartbeats; longer through a mirror or token focus.
Range/Duration
One target. A few heartbeats to a short while.

Memory Lantern

Purpose/How It Works
Memory Lantern illuminates a recent memory as a waking image.
Notable Exceptions
It shows remembered content, not guaranteed truth.
Example Use
A survivor of the raid shows the elders the faces of the men who fired the granary.
Casting Methods
A brow-light cast over several heartbeats; a lantern or bowl focus takes longer.
Range/Duration
One viewer or a small audience. A brief projection.

Sleepwalk Path

Purpose/How It Works
Sleepwalk Path guides a slumbering target through simple movement without fully waking them.
Notable Exceptions
Dangerous terrain breaks the spell or causes waking panic.
Example Use
A child is led out of a raider-fired longhouse still asleep.
Casting Methods
A hand-led cast over several heartbeats; a whispered bedside rite takes longer.
Range/Duration
Touch, or close presence. A short while.

Lucid Step

Purpose/How It Works
Lucid Step lets the caster deliberately enter their own dream state with awareness.
Notable Exceptions
Fatigue, fear, and interruption can distort entry.
Example Use
A dream-worker goes down into her own sleep to find what has been hunting the village children there.
Casting Methods
A self-sleep cast over many heartbeats; a prepared sleep rite takes a short ritual.
Range/Duration
Self. Until waking or disruption.

Veil of Elsewhere

Purpose/How It Works
Veil of Elsewhere overlays a scene with another apparent environment.
Notable Exceptions
Strong smell, touch, and temperature cues may contradict the illusion.
Example Use
A wounded sellsword trapped in a collapsed mine sees a sunlit orchard instead of the dark, and stops screaming.
Casting Methods
A scene veil cast over several heartbeats; a space anchor rite takes a minute's chant or more.
Range/Duration
A room or limited area. A short while.

Borrowed Face

Purpose/How It Works
Borrowed Face creates a more complete illusion of another specific person.
Notable Exceptions
Voice, gait, and close intimate knowledge still matter.
Example Use
An assassin walks into the feast hall wearing the face of the lord's own cupbearer.
Casting Methods
A face-copying cast over several heartbeats; a mirror and token rite takes a minute's chant or more.
Range/Duration
Self. A short while to most of a day.

Whispering Bed

Purpose/How It Works
Whispering Bed seeds suggestive dreams in a sleeper.
Notable Exceptions
It plants direction more easily than exact commands.
Example Use
A wavering sentry dreams, three nights running, of leaving the postern unbarred.
Casting Methods
A bedside whisper over many heartbeats; a pillow or sheet rite takes a minute's chant or more.
Range/Duration
A sleeping target. One night.

Nightmare Snare

Purpose/How It Works
Nightmare Snare traps a target in recursive fear imagery that stalls action or sleep.
Notable Exceptions
Risky and often considered cruel or abusive.
Example Use
An enemy caster is reduced to panic by the same impossible corridor repeating around them.
Casting Methods
An eye-lock cast over several heartbeats; a sleep rite takes a minute's chant or more.
Range/Duration
One target. A few heartbeats if awake, longer if asleep.

Dream Bridge

Purpose/How It Works
Dream Bridge establishes temporary shared dreaming between several sleepers.
Notable Exceptions
Shared dreams transmit fear quickly if one participant panics.
Example Use
Scattered kin of a besieged hold meet in one dream to plan the breakout.
Casting Methods
A group sleep rite, a short ritual; a bed-circle rite takes longer.
Range/Duration
A sleeping group. One sleep.

Symbol Lock

Purpose/How It Works
Symbol Lock hides truth behind a recurring symbolic form that must be interpreted or dissolved.
Notable Exceptions
Those ignorant of the symbol may never recover the truth.
Example Use
The way to a buried hoard is hidden inside recurring images of red birds and broken stairs.
Casting Methods
A symbol binding over many heartbeats; a full image-lock rite takes a short ritual.
Range/Duration
One memory, object, or scene. From part of a day to years.

Muse Call

Purpose/How It Works
Muse Call triggers inspiration by summoning unstable but fertile inner imagery.
Notable Exceptions
It can also trigger obsession or distracting idea-flood.
Example Use
A skald forces out the song of the battle before the victory feast, and does not sleep for three nights after.
Casting Methods
Breath and focus over several heartbeats; a studio rite takes a minute's chant or more.
Range/Duration
Self, or a willing artist. A short while to most of a day.

Phantom Pain

Purpose/How It Works
Phantom Pain convinces the body it has been struck, chilled, burned, or cramped without full physical injury.
Notable Exceptions
Hardened minds can partly disbelieve it.
Example Use
A brigand drops his blade when illusory fire races across his hand.
Casting Methods
A directed cast over a few heartbeats; a touched trigger takes a little longer.
Range/Duration
One target. A few heartbeats to a short while.

Unmake Mask

Purpose/How It Works
Unmake Mask strips away nearby glamours, projected faces, and lesser identity veils.
Notable Exceptions
Strongly anchored disguises resist partial stripping.
Example Use
A lord's dream-worker strips the borrowed faces from the spies at the feast.
Casting Methods
A sweeping stripping cast over a few heartbeats; longer through a mirror focus.
Range/Duration
A small area or one target. An instant, with a brief aftereffect.

Dreamwalk

Purpose/How It Works
Dreamwalk moves the caster through dreamspace towards a chosen sleeper or dream-signature.
Notable Exceptions
It is dangerous without prior link or strong mental discipline.
Example Use
A dream-guide reaches a child lost in recurring nightmares.
Casting Methods
A descent into sleep over many heartbeats; a linked token rite takes a short ritual.
Range/Duration
Across the dream realm. Lasts for the sleep journey.

Hall of Mirrors

Purpose/How It Works
Hall of Mirrors forces a target to confront several versions of the self at once.
Notable Exceptions
It can heal insight or break identity depending on context.
Example Use
A prince sees coward, tyrant, martyr, and heir arguing in the same reflective hall.
Casting Methods
An eye or mirror cast over several heartbeats; a chamber rite takes a short ritual.
Range/Duration
One target or a small group. A short while.

Waking Mirage

Purpose/How It Works
Waking Mirage maintains illusion in full daylight and under active scrutiny.
Notable Exceptions
It is costly and difficult to hold against touch and contradiction.
Example Use
A breached gatehouse stands whole in the besiegers' eyes while the defenders wall up the gap behind it.
Casting Methods
A strong scene cast over many heartbeats; an anchored illusion rite is a long rite.
Range/Duration
An object up to a building front. A short while to most of a day.

Name of the Hidden Self

Purpose/How It Works
Name of the Hidden Self reveals a deep private truth through symbolic image or dream speech.
Notable Exceptions
The revelation may be metaphorical rather than explicit.
Example Use
A hesitant initiate finally sees the image that explains their calling.
Casting Methods
Guided introspection over many heartbeats; a dream or mirror rite takes a short ritual.
Range/Duration
One willing or restrained target. A brief revelation.

Night Garden

Purpose/How It Works
Night Garden creates a large semi-stable dream environment with coherent internal imagery.
Notable Exceptions
Emotional shock can make sections mutate or collapse.
Example Use
Healers give the survivors of a massacre one night in a quiet garden instead of the burning hall.
Casting Methods
A space-shaping cast of a minute's chant or more; a full dream chamber rite is a long ritual.
Range/Duration
A room to a hall. A short while to most of a night.

Identity Slip

Purpose/How It Works
Identity Slip blurs a target's certainty about who they are, softening a rigid sense of self for brief manipulation.
Notable Exceptions
Highly dangerous and often abusive; can cause dissociation.
Example Use
A lord's dream-worker makes an impostor stumble over the name he stole.
Casting Methods
An eye-lock cast over a few heartbeats; a rite of touch and a whispered name takes longer.
Range/Duration
One target. A few heartbeats to a short while.

Story Shell

Purpose/How It Works
Story Shell builds an illusion in which every detail follows one story, so the deception holds itself up.
Notable Exceptions
Contradictions crack the shell quickly.
Example Use
A bandit chief rides into a false parley, and every banner, guard, and campfire of the waiting lord's camp agrees with every other.
Casting Methods
A narrative weave over many heartbeats; a stage or room rite takes a short ritual.
Range/Duration
A whole scene. A short while to most of a day.

False Dawn

Purpose/How It Works
False Dawn gives exhausted minds the sensation of hope, morning, or renewed beginning.
Notable Exceptions
It should not replace real rest indefinitely.
Example Use
Survivors endure one final night watch under a borrowed sense of dawn.
Casting Methods
A group morale cast over several heartbeats; a lantern rite takes a minute's chant or more.
Range/Duration
One group or a room. A short while to most of a night.

Dream Eater

Purpose/How It Works
Dream Eater consumes a dream and takes fragments of its emotional residue or imagery into the caster.
Notable Exceptions
The caster may absorb fear, grief, or obsession with it.
Example Use
A dream-worker devours a child's repeating terror so the child can finally sleep cleanly.
Casting Methods
A sleep-touch cast over many heartbeats; a bowl or mask rite takes a short ritual.
Range/Duration
One sleeper. One dream consumed.

Veil Collapse

Purpose/How It Works
Veil Collapse violently drops all active dream-forms in an area, ending illusions and dream overlays at once.
Notable Exceptions
Sudden collapse can disorient allies as well as enemies.
Example Use
Storming a dream-worker's hold, a hedge-mage strips away every false wall in one brutal reveal.
Casting Methods
A forceful stripping cast over several heartbeats; a bell or shock rite takes a minute's chant or more.
Range/Duration
A room to a courtyard. An instant collapse.

Fond Seeming

Purpose/How It Works
Fond Seeming overlays the target's perception of the caster with warmth, trust, and lowered social threat.
Notable Exceptions
It is not mindless obedience, and targets often feel violated once the seeming breaks.
Example Use
The gate-warden waves the stranger through because she suddenly seems entirely reasonable.
Casting Methods
Voice and gaze over several heartbeats; longer through a perfume or token focus.
Range/Duration
Conversational distance. A short while to most of a day.

Seeded Notion

Purpose/How It Works
Seeded Notion plants a plausible course of action so that it feels like the target's own good idea.
Notable Exceptions
Outlandish, self-destructive, or obviously alien notions fail more often.
Example Use
A patrol captain decides on his own to inspect the east yard instead of the open gate.
Casting Methods
A spoken cast over many heartbeats; a whispered symbol trigger takes a breath.
Range/Duration
Conversational distance. A short while to several days, depending on the notion.

Oncoming Dread

Purpose/How It Works
Oncoming Dread projects a shape of terror directly into the target's imagination so retreat or paralysis feels immediately necessary.
Notable Exceptions
Battle discipline, rage states, and deep familiarity with terror blunt its effect.
Example Use
Hardened raiders still break when they see their own death coming down the hall towards them.
Casting Methods
A shock cast over a few heartbeats; a little longer through a mask or lantern focus.
Range/Duration
One target or a small group within sight. A few heartbeats to a short while.

Tangled Sense

Purpose/How It Works
Tangled Sense floods the target with incompatible cues, emotional misfires, and dreamlike uncertainty until deliberate action breaks down.
Notable Exceptions
It is messy around allies and weaker against singular-minded targets.
Example Use
The shield line turns on itself because no one agrees where the enemy actually stands.
Casting Methods
A wide cast over several heartbeats; a bell, smoke, or mirror rite takes a minute's chant or more.
Range/Duration
A small group or a room. A few heartbeats to a short while.

In the Writers’ Guide

See Also