Dream Walking
Dream walking is a magic closely related to dream whispering. Though in modern magical convention these two magics are considered separate abilities due to their differing uses, there are some people, especially those within the Old Learners branch of the Starku religion, that believe the two magics are actually one-in-the same; this practice of dream walking and whispering combined is known as dream mastery, and has its own social connotations and common practises.
Dream walking is, usually, a rare inherited skill that people are born with. It is an extremely difficult ability for someone to learn and harness if they are not born with the ability, though there are some cases of people learning how to be dream walkers through study. Those that “force” the ability to activate, however, have documented many ill side-effects, including chronic insomnia and an inability to feed well-rested.
The most notable trait of a dream walker, even before they recognise their powers, is that they never have their own dreams. When they are not using their powers, their sleeping minds are completely at rest and empty. Those that have become dream walkers by choice actively must give up the ability to have unique dreams.
Instead, dream walkers (as their name implies) are able to visit the dreams of other people. In these dreams are unable to modify or influence events (a skill reserved for dream whispers) and have no control of what happens or what they see. To access another’s dreams, a dream walker and a dreamer must sleep in close proximity; physical contact being needed by all but the most powerful dream walkers in order to activate their magics. It is also to be noted that dream walkers are able to channel memoryshare stones with their magic and view the memories locked into the stones as if they were walking in a dream.
Because of the way dream walking is used there are many debates on if it is a triggered, active, or passive magic, with different countries having different local categorisations of it. No matter what the categorisation of dream walking, however, it is a well-known fact that it can be used to trigger other magics when sleeping beside another magic user. Most commonly, it can be used to trigger visions in prophets; drawing out their magic into their dreams to see the future.
There are several recognised types of viewing that dream walkers may experience, with two types of dream walking being considered the most common ways for the ability to manifest without interference from other magics. First most common is the dream walker experiencing the dream through the perspective of the dreamer, seeing the dream exactly how the dreamer sees it and feeling everything they feel. Second most commonly, a dream walker may view the dream as a bystander, witnessing the dream as a separate person, without feeling the things the dreamer feels as their own experiences.
Very, very rarely, a dream walker’s abilities may manifest over long distances or even during their waking hours; allowing them to see a person’s dreams without having fallen asleep themselves. This is, usually, only with dream walkers who have very strong bonds with a person whose dreams they have walked in many times before. Documented cases most commonly include spouses and identical siblings.
There is also a single documented case, thought by many to be a hoax, of two dream walkers falling asleep side-by-side and swapping bodies. The validity of this case is difficult to prove, though notes made by those who knew the dream walkers personally seem to conclude it true.