Lore: The Dreamers

The Dreamers are a constant nuisance for the peoples of the world, and a grave danger if allowed to congregate in large enough numbers or marshaled through a rouge magic wielder. The Dreamers are lesser undead, and unlike other types of this species they are clumsy and easily dealt with in single combat. The danger of the creatures comes from their immense numbers and their propensity to arrive almost anywhere at any time if the conditions are right.

The Dreamers are born of a curse cast upon Humanity in the waning days of the Necerach Wars of the 3rd Cycle. After the Purging of Mons-Gar by the Paladins of Vilhmae, The Ythrian Legion and the Pridesmen of Mounbreath the Mystispotentate of the Necerach's, the most powerful wizard of their race wove a magical disease into the fate of humankind. This was the Curse of Constant Death, dooming every human who has died to be cycled into the ether during waking hours and in the dead of night cast back into the realms to walk in agonizing hunger and carry a lust for true death. These damned souls, attack anyone they find in their yearning for a final release, with each new death their form deteriorates, only finding true rest after experiencing violent death a thousand, thousand times, when their corporal form finally dissolves into nothing.

The faiths of the world have found rituals and magical wards to stave off the onset of the Curse on their deceased, many merely lower the specifications of the curse allowing a Dreamer to be killed a fraction of the time before final death. Other peoples had sought to counteract death entirely, thereby avoiding the Curse's effects, such as was attempted by the Scintillians. Though of course, this would have its own unforeseen consequences.

Dreamers only appear in the evening, or if a place is shrouded in near total darkness, which when coupled with their similar likeness to a sleepwalker has lead to their name.  The cultural impact of the spell has been severe, shaping city planning, mercantile trade routes and almost every aspect of consideration for life in many societies around the world. While many magical practitioners and students around the realms have looked for ways to end the Curse of Constant Death no group or single wizard currently in existence bears the raw talent and knowledge needed to reverse such a spell, for the curse weaves in and out of dimensions constantly stealing the souls of the freshly dead and punching momentary holes in the fabric of realities.

In the end, the Dreamers are viewed with a great deal of pity and slaying a Dreamer is seen as an act of kindness. Though the use of the Dreamers for personal gain by the casting of lesser necromancy spells to assuage or redirect the creatures is generally seen as tantamount to cannibalism or multiple murder, and individuals who indulge in such activities are hunted down by a great many militaries and guilds around the realms. Typically such individuals exist as social outcasts, only on a handful of occasions have larger organizations sought to marshal groups of Dreamers to boost their numbers in martial ventures and each time such groups are obliterated by multi-national alliances. For the resistance to exploiting the creatures is so ingrained in the culture of many nations that the disgust at the idea typically finds a way to transcend religious or political differences.