{"id":6098,"date":"2026-09-19T15:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T14:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/?page_id=6098"},"modified":"2026-09-19T15:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T14:26:17","slug":"dream-characters","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/notes-on-dreaming\/dream-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"Dream Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The dreaming world is like an ecosystem of different species of dreamers. Other people report these characters; my innovation is merely that I have named them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first, most common type are non-lucid dreamers. You might thing of these are NPCs. You can walk up to them and say, “Hey, did you know we are dreaming? This is a dream!” and such a dreamer might respond, “I thought it was two o’clock.” They simply cannot reply appropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second class is you: a lucid dreamer with limited sight outside the dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next come dream guides, characters of superior lucidity and magical ability. They teach lessons about the dreaming world and take dreamers to parts that would otherwise be inaccessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belonging to the same class are companions and netherlings. They also have enhanced lucidity and magical powers, but they are not teachers. They seem to be there as engineers of your adventure, but their motivations are obscure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally come characters that are so lucid, they are inhuman. They are barely perceptible, and when they are, it is usually as a patterned disturbance to the dream. There is a level of superiority which is essentially unfathomable. Someone once told me of a dream in which he perceived a disturbance in an apartment wall, like a psychedelic pattern that evolved. It noticed that he could notice it. It began emitting soft multi-coloured marbles that drifted toward him and bounced gently off his head. He understood that the entity was trying to communicate with him, but it was simply too alien.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a<\/figure>
\n

Dream Wraiths<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wraith is not just a ghost; it is a ghostly doppelganger. It lives in a supernatural world and it has supernatural powers. It is self-delusional, reckless and wilful. And then you wake up.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Dream Guide<\/a>s<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some dream characters know you are dreaming and want to help you.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Dream Companions<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get in. I know a really cool dream!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Netherlings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all sentient dream characters are nice. But even they must follow the rules.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Apprentices and Allies<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A society based on overlapping pair-wise relationships in networks of pairs<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The dreaming world is like an ecosystem of different species of dreamers. Other people report these characters; my innovation is merely that I have named them. The first, most common…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4486,"parent":4716,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6098"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6098"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6100,"href":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6098\/revisions\/6100"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earlywithdrawal.net\/tolton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}