By: @FredrikSvanberg

Origin

The dreamlords are ancient. Their true origin is unknown but many theories exist. The most popular one seems to be that the dreamlords are lucid dreamers who became so aware of the dreamworld's nature that they managed to enter it completely, abandoning their bodies or turning them into dreams as well. Nobody knows how many dreamlords there are, some say three, other say twenty. The truth is probably somewhere inbetween.

Their numbers fluctuate, as does their power within the dreams, for they wage silent but terrible wars among themselves. Wars over territory, resources, ideology and faith, but with the dreams of innocent mortal sleepers as their battleground and as the spoils of the victors. Particularly gruesome battles have turned sleepers insane, comatose or dead in their sleep while the dreamlords tore their minds apart with their powers. Such events were mostly a thing of the past. The most reckless and ruthless dreamlords have been hunted down and destroyed by those who see it as their duty to protect the sleepers and dreamers. Lord Ego is one of them.

Unlike most other dreamlords who see the material realm as a boring and dangerous place of little interest to them, Ego has left the dreamlands several times in the past to visit the waking world. He is able to do so thanks to his suit of armour which can form a bond with a mortal and allows the two individuals to trade places for as long as the mortal conduit is asleep and dreaming. The armour lets Ego bring along parts of his dream into reality, which means that he's not completely powerless here. The conduit on the other hand becomes a master lucid dreamer, perfectly aware that he is dreaming and capable of altering the dreams in any way he can imagine. To many conduits this is more than ample compensation.

During the first Rikti invasion a magical barrier was erected in order to close the portals to the Rikti homeworld. This unfortunately also blocked off Arcadia and severed the connection to the dreamer conduit, which caused the conduit to fall into a coma. Unable to find the conduit in the dreamlands, since he wasn't dreaming, and equally unable to enter the physical realm, Lord Ego could only find out what was going on through watching the dreams of mortal sleepers. The conduit remained comatose for several years before he suddenly woke up and startled a few nurses by making a wide-eyed proclamation of great portent and destiny. Then he died.

Lord Ego had already located a suitable dreamer to take his place; a young man confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down after a car crash. The new conduit was artistically inclined and had lots of time to paint and draw now that his dreams of an athletic career had been brutally crushed. His vivid imagination and hopes of being able to walk and run again as well as his youth made him a perfect candidate as the new conduit.

Ego visited him in a dream and offered him a chance to live out his wildest dreams, literally. They went on a long journey throughout Arcadia during which the prospective conduit was allowed to experience a fraction of the power he would hold if he accepted the offer. After several adventures, many of an adult and quite unsavoury nature, the young man had seen enough. He accepted and was bound to the armour as its new conduit. He would later come to regret his decision, repeatedly and with horrifying regularity.

Powers

Lord Ego rules his own dreamland called Arcadia. He is practically capable of changing, creating or destroying anything as he desires within this realm, including visiting dreamers and their puny minds. He is able to travel through the dreams of other dreamlords and dreamers, but his power over those realms is limited, especially in the realm of a rival dreamlord. Dreamlords have "diplomatic immunity" when visiting each other, which means that he can't be harmed in another dreamlord's realm as long as he doesn't try to alter the dream first. Other dreamlords visiting Arcadia are similarly protected. "Regular" dreamers do not have such accords and may suffer greatly if they wander into a hostile dreamlord's domains. Arcadia is however a relatively safe place and Ego relatively benevolent, for a dreamlord.

When he visits the waking world he brings a part of Arcadia with him, surrounding him and altering the appearance of his surroundings. Faint music plays, distant laughter echoes, objects take on fantastic shapes and colors and seem to become transformed into exotic materials. The air is full of pleasant fragrances and soothing winds carry along showers of cherry blossom petals or golden leaves of autumn, depending on his mood. When he leaves, mundane reality reasserts itself and everything goes back the way it was. By his power over the dreamworld he is able to alter reality.

Figments of dreams given physical shape and form. Dreams of terrible wounds, death, horrors and nightmares. Blindness and deception. These are his primary weapons. Should he desire he can wrap himself in a cloak of dreams and become invisible. Finally he is able to summon creatures from the dreamworld to fight for him or provide other services as needed.

The dream follows him and protects him. If he wants to affect the waking world he must step out of the dream and risk the threat of attacks but inside it he is practically invulnerable. Expanding the dream lets him protect his allies but not with the same efficiency - attacks into the dream may reach their targets before he can turn them into something harmless. He can improve his allies defenses by creating extra layers of dreams around them; dreams that fade slowly and will need to be recreated ever so often, but which doesn't require his full attention.

The dreamlord has had countless adventures in the dreamlands and in similar places such as the faery realms and the spirit world. Avid dreamers may have met him before, perhaps without recognizing him or remembering him, but when they are once again in his presence the memories of the dreams they shared return, clear and strong. Considering Ego's personality many such dreams are of the intimate kind and are perhaps best not mentioned in public.

Lord Ego's connection to the real world depends upon a dreamer. The individual who acts as his conduit changes from time to time. Currently it is a young paralyzed man bound to a wheelchair after a terrible accident. The previous conduit was a homeless man addicted to several substances of varying legitimicay. Before him was a long chain of dreamers, poets, painters, vagrants, deviants, asylum inmates and prophets. For some periods there has been no conduit and Arcadia was closed to the material world. At other times there have been more than one conduit, such as during World War II when four children hidden away at a relative's house in the countryside found a gate to the dreamlands in a closet.

If the conduit wakes up, Lord Ego is forced to return to Arcadia. If the conduit dies another must be found before Ego can return. While Ego is in the material realm his duties in Arcadia are fulfilled by the dreamer. Some conduits have tried to take over Arcadia in the past, using various methods to trap Lord Ego in the material realm, with varying degrees of success. The current conduit doesn't seem to have any such ambitions but seems quite content to just be able to move freely in his dreams. The conduit's personality reflects somewhat upon Lord Ego and they share memories and ideas freely. The current conduit is impotent and paralyzed, guiltridden and angry at himself and the world. He is also moral and just, and merciful. All of this is focused on and reflected by Ego.

Goals

Enemies

References