Tel'aran'rhiod
This class was written by Kira Gaidar
[Board Intro/Signup Message]
[Lesson One]
[Lesson Two]
[Lesson Three]
[Lesson Four]
[Lesson Five]
[Final]
[Pass Notice]
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Kira al'Haram Gaidar
Hello all! My name is Kira al'Haram, and I am the Ji'alan'tar that will be teaching Dreaming, Dreamwalking, and Tel'aran'rhiod. We will cover the more in depth areas and uses of the World of Dreams, and also a few advanced Dreaming tecniques for memory, control, and predicting. I will be grading your progress as we go, so please try your best! If you have any questions, post them with your sign up.
OOC: I would like fairly decent length post, at least half the length of mine, though not too long. If it is too long, well, I might take a while to grade, now won't I? Thanks for joining and I hope you enjoy the class! The first lesson should be up soon.
Please start your own threads under the tacked up Lesson. I will reply to you on that.
Please fill in these requirements for the sign-up sheet:
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Lesson One
The classroom is dark, with many large floor pillows strewn about the room in groups. At the center of each cluster is a circular table, low to the ground, with a stack of books and writing utensils on each. There are no windows in the room, and the only light comes from a few dim candles suspended from the ceiling. Herbs hang on a rafter at the front of the classroom, though they are hard to see in the dim light.
A girl stands at the front of the classroom, her golden eyes glinting whenever she moves her head. Behind her is an overstuffed arm chair that seems to fade into the background. It seems to whomever is in the room that the girl is merely a statue, but the glowing eyes give her a strange mix of real and unreal. In the distance, a bell tolls signaling Low.
Suddenly, the girl moves, and smiles at the students before her. "Welcome to Dreaming, Dreamwalking, and Tel'aran'rhiod. I am Kira al' Haram, one of the Tower's resident Wolfkin and the teacher of this class. Please pick a pillow around one of the tables and take a seat so that we may begin."
She looks around carefully, moving to light a few more candles. Kira settles onto the arm chair and waits for the students to quiet down. "Today, we will be discussing some ground work that is necessary before we try any Dreamwalking or Dreaming. Those of you without a Dreaming Talent will be given a ter'angreal while in this classroom to reach the World of Dreams safely." The students had settled themselves now, so she continued speaking.
"Please each take a book from the center of the table, because this is what you will do your research from." Kira stood, walking to the center of the classroom where she was more easily seen.
"Tel'aran'rhiod, also known as the World of Dreams, the Wolf Dream, the Living Dream, the Unseen World, and the Dream, contains it's dangers as well as it's uses. Any hurt received while in Tel'aran'rhiod will still be there upon waking. To die in the Dream is to die in the waking world. To put yourself into the Dream physically is to lose a part of yourself, the same if you dream yourself to firmly situated there. If the part of yourself in the Dream grows too strong, the flesh will weaken and die."
Kira paused, looking around the classroom at the faces looking at her attentively. "Now that you know the dangers, are you still willing to continue? If you are not, then there is the door. Tel'aran'rhod is not for the weak of heart." She waited, adn when no one left she smiled. "Good. Then we will continue."
"In Tel'aran rhiod, there are many things you can do that you could not do within a normal dream. One thing is searching with need. This is done by Aiel Dreamwalkers to find water, but can be used to find anything if the need is strong enough. Another thing that can be done in Tel'aran'rhiod is make and unmake nightmares. Often times, a person's nightmare will enter the Dream and stay there, catching unsuspecting Dreamwalkers. To disband a nightmare, you must make yourself believe that it is not there, and that everything is the way it should be. Travelling can be down in the Dream also, but we are not going to do that in this class."
"The other thing we will do in this class is actual Dreamwalking, which is done in the emptiness that a person's normal dreams haunt."
"No, I want you to tell me two things that we can do in the World of Dreams, as well as two dangers. After that, you are dismissed."
Lesson Two
Kira sat in the arm chair at the head of the class, a wolf stretched out lazily beside her. A book sat open on her lap, a quill lying on the page she had been working on. She put the book away carefully underneath her chair, then stood up, stretching her arms as she did so.
Soon, the students started arriving, so she remained standing for a time, waiting for the right moment to move.
"Welcome once more, class. Today we will be learning to sleep when we wish. Now, we won't be neccessarily going into the world of dreams today, but you will learn how to fall asleep fast, or even to sleep while talking. It is a valuable skill." She walked to the door, quietly shutting it, making the room darker. "If everyone would please take a position where they are comfortably, it would be very helpful in this lesson. That is why we have pillows instead of chairs." Kira smiled, looking around as many of the students lay down.
After they had settled into their positions, Kira began to speak in a smooth, hypnotic voice. "Please close your eyes now. Concentrate on you feet. Feel your toes relaxing, your muscles untightening. Your whole foot is relaxed, and hard to feel. The sensation has moved up your legs as you move your concentration there, willing the muscles to relax. Next, your hands. The feeling has gone out of the, They are unable to be moved. Your arms feel the same way, limp and comfortable. Your entire torso has become limp, and you feel yourself sinking into whatever surface you're on. Your neck muscles are unable to support your head, as they have gone limp and cannot seem to function. Now, your mind will rest as you calm yourself, thinking of the void." She paused. Not all Warders or Warders in Training used the void, though a far amount did. She knew that channelers did, however. "There is a blankness, and all emotion, thought, feeling, sensation, has been put away. All troubles are gone."
Kira looked around quietly, watching the majority of the students sleeping. Some had been unable to concentrate correctly the first time, but that was normal. She waited for a few minutes, gladly seeing that the ones unable to sleep at first had drifted off with the extra time. "Good, class. Wake now," she said in a loud commanding voice not unlike what she used when sending a beginning rank off to do chores, or recieve punishment.
The students became awake easily, as they had been not very far into sleep. A very few had to be shaken awake, but their classmates solved that problem with much fervor.
Kira smiled, beeming around at her students. "Now, you can follow the same process, but do not assume the void. It will keep your mind concious while the body sleeps, allowing you to speak or tell what you dream. We will not do that today, but you should try it tonight, as long as you have someone watching you. This state also allows the bodies to recover from extreme fatigue while the mind continues thinking. It is a valuable skill out in the wild where you need to be 'awake' at all times. This allows you to be ready to move at an instant. In truth, you are only half asleep."
"To speed up the process, concentrate on all of your muscles relaxing at once, rather than the seperate steps I said to you. iT is much harder to do, but once you learn how you can fall asleep almost immediately. This also is a very valuable skill, especially if you are going into Tel'aran'rhiod. Most visiting there wish to have a time limit, and the faster you fall asleep, the more time in Tel'aran'rhiod you will have."
"Tomorrow I want to know how your two trials went, both the Fast Sleep and the Half Sleep. Dismissed."
OOC: Write an in class section and a later on section, but please be brief after the first time of explaning how to fall asleep. You don't need to write every step three times
Lesson Three
Kira smiled, glancing around the classroom breifly before shutting the door, signalling the start of the lesson. She swept to the middle of the room, th ebeginning of a deadly grace showing in her movements.
"Welcome, class," she called out once they had situated themselves. "Today we are going to enter Tel'aran'rhiod, so those of you without a Dreaming Talent or Wolfkin abilities need to come to me and get a Dreaming ter'angreal. I will be assigning this ter'angreal to you for the duration of the class period only, so do not try to take them. I will be writing down which one you take and telling you how to work it when you come up, so please form two lines, one for channelers, and one for non-channelers."
She waited while the two named groups sorted themselves out, then asked the Indigo Aes Sedai who had agreed to loan ter'angreal to her class to start with the non-channeler pile. Kira worked on the channelers, saying many times over, "Just a thread of Spirit, dear." That's what most of them took, Spirit; when her pile ran out the remaining channelers moved into the line with ter'angreal that didn't require channeling to work.
Once those that needed it had been assigned a ter'angreal, Kira moved back to the center of the classroom, thanking the Indigo profusely for her help. "Alright, everyone. I hope you practiced how to fall asleep when you wish," she said, looking at the faces that showed guilty looks. "But today we will not need that talent. Since it is a skill not easily mastered right away, I have made a small drink that will have you asleep in two blinks of an eye." Kira smiled. Actually, it was a little longer, but she used herbs that were readily available. Now if she had used the more uncommon ones... ah how fast they would sleep.
She went around to everyone, handing out little cups she had obtained from the kitchens. In it was a liquid that looked and smelled like tea, but a taste would prove it rather bitter. She saved a cup for herself, and went back to her armchair.
"As soon as you drink this, you will start falling asleep. You are to hold this room firmly in your minds eye, concentrating on everything around you. The World of Dreams will automatically take you here."
"On the count of three, everyone will swallow their drinks, no matter how foul. It should only be a little bitter, but the mint I put in should almost cancle that out. Now, one, two, three." Kira tilted her cup, drinking the entire contents in one swallow. Soon, she was drifting over te barrier that seperated the World of Dreams from the regular dreams a human had.
The room seemed lighter when Kira came to the Dream, seeming to glow in the erethral light that was always present in Tel'aran'rhiod. The unseen eyes were always there, but Kira quickly ignored them. Soon, her students began arriving, suprising sitting in the same areas they had been before.
"Good, good, you've all made it. Now, follow me, carefully thinking of only your lesson. Anything else could be dangerous. As you walk, make sure to concentrate on your clothes. They will change often, but the more concentration you use, the easier to keep them the same. After enough use, you won't need to concentrate on them at all. Now, go explore your rooms and the kitchens, makign sure to change your clothes at every hall, just to work on control. When you are done, come back and create a stool by knowing it is there. Just tell yourself 'There is a stool' and imagine it firmly in your mnds eye."
OOC: Have your character get a ter'angreal if they need one, drink the potion, and get to Tel'aran'rhiod. Explore while having your character concentrating on the clothes, then create a stool. End lesson.
Lesson Four
L"Okay, today we are going to go over things we can do in the Dream World." Kira walked out of the shadows of the dimly lit room, her hands folded at her waist. "The ter'angreal you used last lesson are still at your seat, so please do whatever is necessary to activate them now. The drinks to put you to sleep are on your tables, one for each of you. Please drink them now, focusing your mind on this classroom."
Kira quickly put herself to sleep while standing, keeping herself half awake while still in Tel'aran'rhiod.
After all the students had successfully gotten into the Dream reflection of the classroom, Kira walked around, feeling very solid, but knowing that she looked misty to the students. "Today we are going to focus on things we can do in Tel'aran'rhiod. Please attend me closely."
Kira walked away from the center of the classroom towards the door, where she glanced out carefully before pulling it closed. "In Tel'aran'rhiod, things can be found with need. If your need is great enough, the Dream will take you to it." Kira glanced around, her golden eyes glinting in the ethereal light of the Dream. "I want all of you to fix your mind on the need of rooms. Think to yourself, 'Need, sleep, lodging, need, rooms,' ect. It should take you to a room. Once in a room, try narrowing your search by thinking of something less common, like comfort, or luxury. If you keep those thoughts long enough, you will shift closer and closer to the object of your need. Aiel Wise Ones use this to find water in the Waste. Please focus on your need now, and after you have gotten to your rooms, please come back to this room by emptying your mind and picturing this room as you do when you are falling asleep."
She watched as the student's eyes closed, and they disappeared one by one hopefully going to rooms. Some came back quickly, while others took a while, but eventually all came back safely, which was a relief to Kira. Once, one of her wolf friends hadn't come back when they used this technique together, but only because they hadn't agreed to meet up after the search.
"All right. I hope you all found the object of your need. If you didn't, you can try again at the end of the lesson."
"Now, we are going to make objects, and things. We are going to envision the Warder Yard now, as it is larger than this room and safer to practice in." She closed her eyes, and instantly was in the Warder Yard, where her students soon arrived.
"Please make sure there is a clear space around you, so that what you make doesn't hurt someone else." Kira moved a little away from one of the Warders in Training so that she had about two arms lengths between herself and the trainee. "Now, clear your mind of thought. Remember how you made the stool in the last lesson, and use the same technique to make a dog, or a horse. There is an animal in front of you. Its feet are planted firmly on the ground, and it is real," Kira began in a monotonous voice, droning on as the animals began to appear.
"Well done," she told those that had succeeded. "Everyone who was unable to make an animal, try again now. Also, I assume you were unable to make a stool in the last lesson, so you will have double homework." She kept a straight face when groans were issued from those unable to create their creatures.
Soon enough, though, everyone had an animal in front of them, be it horse, dog, cat, or even grolm. "Now we are going to unmake them. This process can work with nightmares you stumble across, trees, anything. Just tell yourself firmly that everything is as it was, and fix what the yard looked like before your animal arrived in your mind's eye."
The animals disappeared one by one, some students needing more time than others to undo the creations they had made. Once they were gone, Kira began to speak once more.
"Our last topic for the day will be your appearance. In your last lesson, you focused on changing your clothes, and this can be applied to any part of your body." Kira paused a minute, and she quickly thought of herself looking like the student next to her.
"In Tel'aran'rhiod, we don't need the One Power in order to create illusions. We can do it through our perception of ourselves. Imagine yourself looking like the person next to you for a minute; stare at them until you could swear they are really what you look like. Then, create a mirror like you created the stool and look at yourself in the mirror."
"Once you are done and I check you off the list, you may wake up and leave the classroom. It is getting late in the Waking World, and you may have classes early in the morning. Also, those of you who were unable to create and animal on the first try, please make a map appear in front of you when I come around and show on it the Grey Tower and your home town."
Lesson Five
"Today class, we are going to be splitting up into groups. Those of you with a Dreaming Talent or other abilities that allow you to enter the World of Dreams unaided are to go to the right side of the classroom, while everyone else is to take their ter'angreal and go to the left side."
The students began to re-arrange themselves, passing Kira who stood at the center of the classroom. She turned to the left, and looked at the wolf lounging on a pillow. Sister, are you ready? she asked the wolf, glancing at the students.
I am, Running Wind. The young ones are safe with me.
Kira smiled, then addressed the students. "You are to activate your ter'angreal and drink your sleep mix, if it is necessary, and go to this room in the World of Dreams. This wolf, whose name is Dust Storm, will be sitting on the chair at the front of the room. She will take you around the Dream, showing you how to travel while dreaming. As I said in the first lesson, you will not travel the Dream in the flesh, but you will learn the basics while sleeping. First, you will travel while running, then flying. T the end, please come back to the classroom and wake up. Only drink a few sips of your mixtures, and take the rest back with you to fall asleep for the night."
After talking briefly to the wolf once more, Kira turned to the right side of the room where the other students sat. "We will be going to the World between the Dreams, where the normal dreams of sleeping mortals lie. Everyone take your cup, and instead of taking the step into Tel'aran'rhiod, think of yourself going halfway. You are not going into your own body, but instead think of a black nothingness where many points of light are visible. There, you will wait. I will find you, and you will follow me. It will feel funny, because you will have no body, but you will know I am there. Once in the Blackness, we will look at both a shielded dream and an unshielded dream. If you get pulled into the dream, just remember how we got rid of the animals. Tell yourself firmly it is not real, and it is a dream, and you should return to the Blackness. If that doesn't work, I will get you out. Be careful if a dream is coming towards you, because it is either someone you love very much or hate very much, and they return the feeling. I cannot save you from those dreams, and you will be in their control until you wake."
"Let's go."
OOC: People without the Talent, please show yourselves going to Tel'aran'rhiod, meeting the wolf, and walking out of the classroom. The wolf then starts running, and you run to follow, where you realize you can travel miles with every step. Soon, you catch the wolf, and she jumps into the air, flying. You follow her once more, seeing the land briefly. After that, you visualize yourself back into the room, where you will wake.
People with the Talent, show how you get to the Blackness, me meeting you, and the watching of the dreams. Explain what you think the differences are, and give one problem we face, be it a Dream drifting towards you or getting pulled into the dream you are watching. If you get pulled in, please NPC Kira coming and fishing you out. If a dream comes zooming at you, flee the Blackness or else let yourself be pulled in. If you get pulled in, I can't get you back out, so you are stuck there until the Dreamer wakes. Also, tell a little of what you watched in the un-warded dream.
Final
"All right, class. Today is the last lesson, and your final besides." Kira looked around from her armchair at the front of the room. Dust Storm was sprawled lazily beside her, paws outstretched towards the class. Both girl and wolf stared with unblinking eyes at the class around the tables.
"You will be going into Tel'aran'rhiod without me, after telling me two safety warnings from lesson one. After you return from the World of Dreams, you will tell me three different things you did, be it traveling, making things, unmaking things, changing your image, or going to the Blackness to view a dream. Please do not take long, and Dust Storm will follow you to make sure you are actually doing something. Since she cannot talk to most of you, I feel you will still be considered unaccompanied, but since she can talk to me, I'll know if you are actually doing your final or goofing off."
Kira smiled carefully, her eyes glancing at some of her more rambunctious students. "Remember also that nightmares walk the Dream, and you must unmake them when they come."
OOC: For the final, tell two safety hazards, fall asleep naturally, or else get a potion from Kira, go to the World of Dreams, and do three things. You will run across a nightmare as one of those three things, so that will test your unmaking abilities. If anything goes wrong, NPC Dust Storm getting you out somehow. If you have the Talent, feel free to enter the blackness after the nightmare and watch a dream, or get sucked into one. These are both viable options.
Pass Notice
This email is to certify that the bearer has successfully completed
"Dreaming, Dreamwalking, and Tel'aran'rhiod", written and graded
by Kira al' Haram, Sa'Ji'alantar. This can be used as a Raising
Requirment for beginning ranks, or to obtain a Dreamwalking Abitlity
if no other abilities have been recorded.
Kira al' Haram
Sa'Ji'Alantar
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