I return this time to talk about the DreamKeeping Society of Owls.
The Dream Keeping Society of Owls is a mystical tradition. They are found the world over with individual cells operating in different areas. The size of a given cluster of them ranges from a single individual, to up to 4 different owls representing different areas of the essences (Weave, Moment, Space, Truth).
Owls are, trained as waywalkers from the point of their induction. The first things a Dreaming Owl Master teaches her student are how to make a personal persistent fold in Dream, and how to walk partly in dream and flesh so that they can more easily find the places where nightmares form. These are the places where the weave of the great web grows thin and the nature of the horrors seep through staining hope and joy, bringing depression and fear.
Once they master this technique, as well as how to mend the weave and banish the weakest of breachers, they are send to walk the world and find a community to caretake. They don’t stay long long in any one place as they make most people uncomfortable. Their focus on battling such dark things make them a bit disconnected from most people. Their eyes constantly flit about, seeing things that no one else can. They are dripping with the Mysteries and their power is a constant reminder of how dangerous the world beyond truly is.
As they travel from place to place, investigating the lost and wild areas of the world they invariably also accumulate a vast trove of old lore. They share this old lore whenever they can and so the people know them to be storytellers of great knowledge and skill. They are also trained in the use of medicines. They are neither as skillful healers as the doves, nor as wonderfully outrageous entertainers and storytellers as the jays. They are however skilled at both enough to do in a pinch. More importantly they are extremely practical and are better teachers than both. In fact the Doves and Jays in a area will regularly visit the local owl to gain lost knowledge of healing and lore which they will, in turn, perfect.
The Owls are skilled in the Mysteries of the essences. In fact they are the most magical of the great societies. Their skill with the essences allow them to do the outright most impossible things imaginable. By bending space, moment, truth, and the weave itself, they are able to meet the breachers on their own territory and lay them low.
They can intercept breaching attempts and send them back through to the otherside. When they come across things that they can not handle alone, their great ability with the essences allows them to call for help and gather assistance in extremely short order.
Of all the Great Societies, the Owls are the most skilled in stepping and will often speak to others in Dream. Reveal truths by stepping into the past through the River, and spy on the evil that men do through Shadow and along the Road.
The signature items of the Owls are their dream blankets. They appear to be feathered cloaks, normally brown, white, or gray with large eye-like spots on the back which they wear in their travels. These cloaks can be spread upon the ground and used as door ways, allowing them to step freely among the traveling lands. They are also used to retrieve things from, or place things in, their personal Dream. They are also known for their wing shaped fans known as Wind Blades and the martial form known as “The Dance of Moth and Flame.”
The Owls are favored by the song Han-Wi, they are the Society created by Uhdaal – Thunder Brouther of the South, Prince of Owls. In times of great need Uhdaal will give his power to one person among the owls, naming them DreamWalking Servant who leads the people to new levels of enlightenment. The last DreamWalking Servant lead the 12 on the Trail fo Dream and Shadow and brought back the Rites of Peace and Stillness that have since quieted the Woes and brought prosperity to the people.
To say someone “Walks in Dream” is to suggest that they have taken up the Dream Blanket and walks the path of an owl. It is used in some areas also as a derogatory term to suggest that someone is crazy or senile. it is also considered taboo to wake a sleeping beggar who seens to be talking in his sleep. The general belief is that said beggar might actually be an Owl doing battle with something terrible. Instead leave him food and coin in silent thanks just in case the life he saved was yours.
Next time. . .The Society of Trouping Jays .