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𝐟𝐚𝐪
ASK.
🝊 WHAT IS SOMNIA?
🝊 WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT FROM THE GAME?
🝊 WHAT ARE VESSELS?
🝊 WHAT ARE TETHERS AND CONVERGENCE?
🝊 HOW LONG WILL THE GAME RUN?
🝊 HOW DO I JOIN?
🝊 IS THERE A NETWORK?
🝊 WHAT ABOUT HOUSING? HOW WILL THAT WORK?:
🝊 WHAT TYPES OF CHARACTERS ARE APPABLE?
🝊 GIVEN SOME SONG VIBES FROM SLEEP TOKEN, IS SOMNIA SEX/SMUT FRIENDLY OR MORE HORROR-GEARED?
🝊 IS THIS A MONSTER TRANSFORMATION GAME?
🝊 DO I NEED TO BE A FAN OF SLEEP TOKEN TO PLAY?
🝊 ARE THERE ANY AGE CAPS FOR CHARACTERS?
🝊 CAN I CHANGE MY OFFERING/TOKEN TYPE?
🝊 CAN I CANON UPDATE MY CHARACTER?
Somnia is an invite panfandom roleplay set in a surreal, post-apocalyptic world haunted by a god-like being called Sleep.Here you're likely to play with the intimacy, fantasy, deep sea horror tropes. Somnia draws inspiration from the music and lore of Sleep Token, as well as their graphic novel Teeth of God, elements from The Last of Us, Annihilation, James Cameron's Avatar, Resident Evil, Stranger Things and more.🝊 WHERE DOES SOMNIA TAKE PLACE?
Somnia takes place within the Fifth Dimension. New characters are drawn into this world through bodies of water in their own worlds by the entity Sleep, who promises to lead them into a new world void of pain and suffering. Your character's real body remains comatose in her Waking World, while your character's soul will be trapped with other Vessels in a strange, mirrored realm of the Waking World they were pulled into.
The game is currently in its second arc, which takes place within The Interstice: a flooded, distorted reflection of Manhattan that exists within the Fifth Dimension. Once a post-apocalyptic city, the Interstice has been warped into a cold, submerged landscape of the city that mirrors it, home to pitch dark waters, parasitic growths and aquatic creatures.
Characters are currently trapped within the Interstice, with no known way to return to their home worlds. More information about the Interstice and its history can be found here.
🝊 WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT FROM THE GAME?
🪢Deep sea horror, eldritch/psychological horror, survival/apocalyptic horror, fictional religious elements, parasitic horror, body horror and occasional nsfw/sexual content.
🪢An aquatic-themed setting.
🪢Fantasy themes, with optional monster transformation OR a magic cast to choose from.
🪢Bond mechanic.
🪢Plot focused/driven.
🪢An event structure using Sleep Token's music as inspiration.
🝊 WHAT ARE VESSELS?
Upon arrival, each character is transformed into a Vessel. They are otherworlders who have been drawn into this one by Sleep and changed in the process through sharing a fragment of the entity to survive the setting. Every Vessel takes on one of two forms:🝊 WHAT ARE NIGHTMARES?
Tokens are altered into beings of psychic or metaphysical power, capable of magic beyond reality, while Offerings are transformed into monster-like beings. Players are allowed to choose what they want their character to arrive as, along with the choice of subclass or randomization. Should you have specific questions regarding a Token or Offering, please leave a comment on the linked pages themselves, under the proper top level.
Nightmares are familiars meant to aid Vessels through travel and companionship, and will manifest any time after a Vessel's arrival. Formed of a black, slimey substance, they may solidify enough over time, developing distinct personalities shaped by their bond with their Vessel. This reflects emotional resonance between them. After one month of presence, a Nightmare may take the form of an animal that represents its Vessel and may become solid enough to be touched, bring items, be ridden and even shield or defend their Vessels. During their first month of adaption, they may be allowed to switch and test different forms until they find their primary animal form.🝊 WHAT IS THE MURMUR?
The Murmur is a lingering psychic connection between all Vessels. It is how they may speak to each other from a distance, how they feel each other's pain, and how they may interact more intimately with the environment. It is this world's "network". More information of how the Murmur works can be found here.
🝊 WHAT ARE TETHERS AND CONVERGENCE?
Tethers are emotional and spiritual bonds between two characters— whether romantic, platonic, toxic, codependent, or something different. These bonds give mechanical and narrative benefits, but also come with vulnerability: emotions bleed across Tethers, and proximity strengthens them. When a Tether grows deep enough, it may become a Convergence— a permanent and overwhelming connection that changes the Vessels involved in irreversible ways. Foe morinformation on Tethers and Convergence, visit here.🝊 CAN MY CHARACTER TETHER WITH CREATURES OR THE LANDSCAPE?
Technically, yes, but this will not come without consequences. In the Waking World this was easily possible with less chance of Succumbence, but in the Interstice, the effects are inverted. It is much more dangerous to tether with the local wildlife, making Vessels more vulnerable to the effects of Succumbence.🝊 WHAT IS SUCCUMBENCE?
Succumbence is the process of the body unable to support the active fragments of the Lunar Seed within them, corrupting the individual in the process ina similar way that infection does. Those who cannot immediately contain the power become Hosts (mindless zombified husks), and Vessels usually go througha different process: They gradually become Succumbra, if they are an Offering, and Succumbentia, if they are a Token. As a Vessel draws deeper into emotional erosion, they may begin to physically and mentally change.
More on Succumbence can be found here.
🝊 HOW LONG WILL THE GAME RUN?
Somnia is structured in phases tied to Sleep Token's discography. The Prelude Phase used early EPs, singles, and covers to introduce the world and its relevant NPCs. Then, each full-length album spans about more or less one year of gameplay:🪢Sundowning: The slow collapse of Sleep's illusion. NPCs begin to interact more with player characters through game events, player characters may begin to rebel or delve further into the lore to reveal the truth of the world. This arc has already come to its end.
🪢This Place Will Become Your Tomb: Sleep's retaliation and the word's descent into psychological and physical ruin. This is our current arc, where characters must work together in a new setting to reverse the effects of Sleep's upper hand.
🪢Take Me Back to Eden: Considered the final "active" arc. Sleep's reckoning and NPC/Player character counterattack happens here. How players choose to fight will determine the outcome and length of the next arc.
🪢Even in Arcadia: An Epilogue . . . Or the beginning of another chapter. Do you think The Cycle Must End or The House Must Endure?
The planned runtime at the moment is approximately 2 more years, though it may be a bit more or less depending on how the playerbase handles the remaining arcs.
🝊 HOW DO I JOIN?
Start with the Invite page and ask for a Mod invite or get an invite from an existing player that has been in the game for at least a month. Then keep an eye out for our Test Drive Meme to get a feel for the game, Reserves and then Apps! It's that simple.
🝊 IS THERE A NETWORK?
In a way! Every Vessel arrives with a mask, blindfold, or veil— a symbolic object bound to their transformation. When worn, it grants access to a shared psychic space that we mentioned earlier: The Murmur. Through it, Vessels can communicate over distance much like a tech based network would allow.
Mechanically, the Murmur allows characters to send:🪢Telepathic messaging, brief and intimate like thoughts or texts.
🪢Illusory voice communication, where a vessel hears another's voice in their mind.
🪢Projected apparitions, resembling the speaker's form in a facsimile, like a waking hallucination or VR in front of them.
Masks and blindfolds can take on any form that may be the easiest for the Vessel to use. It can also change form throughout their time here.
🝊 WHAT ABOUT HOUSING? HOW WILL THAT WORK?:
Despite the literal size of Manhattan, it is considered incredibly dangerous to try and live on your own in this setting— characters will be highly encouraged, both by NPCs and the hazards around them, to stick closer together while they're in the Interstice. However, past locations that have been built over time by veteran characters during our first arc may potentially be used as resting spots during our journey out. If you have a location you'd like to note, please comment here with the proper information, and it may be used in future events.🝊 HOW DOES DEATH WORK IN THE SETTING?
In the Waking World, death was a permanant ordeal that could only be remedied by the Necromancer subclass or dodged by Wraiths. Now, within the Interstice . . . It happens a little differently! Death is no longer permanent, but it does not come without consequence. Because Vessels' souls are anchored within the Interstice, they cannot truly die there. Instead, when killed, their souls are briefly expelled from the setting and return to their comatose bodies in the Waking World.
This return can be terribly traumatic. A Vessel will suddenly awaken in their own body, as though waking in the middle of surgery after the anesthesia has begun to wear off. They may panic, struggle, or attempt to pull free from their binds, only for the Vessel to lose consciousness once more. For more information on this process, you may look into the drop down summary below:
CW: PARASITIC BODY HORROR, TENTACLES, SUFFOCATION/SENSORY DEPRIVATION, BODILY PENETRATION
Sleep's blackened tendrils that had pulled them into her Waking World are invasive. They can wrap characters up like spider's prey, slip inside open mouths, or even pierce through torsos to reach their souls. Players are free to pick and choose which elements of this prompt, if any, they would like to play with, and how graphic they will be.
Eventually, their soul is pulled back into the Interstice. However, each death leaves the Vessel increasingly vulnerable to Succumbence, allowing the black sludge and its parasitic influence to take deeper root within them.🪢FIRST DEATH: The Vessel experiences the traumatic awakening in the Waking World before being returned to the Interstice. The effects of Succumbence are minimal.
🪢SECOND DEATH: The Vessel spends less time conscious in the Waking World and returns to the Interstice significantly more corrupted, with Succumbence taking a much stronger hold.
🪢THIRD+ DEATH: The Vessel is no longer able to return unchanged. They return to the Interstice as Succumbra or Succumbentia, depending on their nature.
🝊 WHAT TYPES OF CHARACTERS ARE APPABLE?
We currently allow OCs and Canon Characters. We do not allow CRAUs.
🝊 GIVEN SOME SONG VIBES FROM SLEEP TOKEN, IS SOMNIA SEX/SMUT FRIENDLY OR MORE HORROR-GEARED?
Considering the nature of Sexy Token when it strikes, yes, you can assume that the occasional nsfw prompt or perk can be found in events to reflect that vibe (especially when certain acts could power up Tethers, count as rituals or worship), but these are completely optional. What the game really focuses on is horror and fantasy! Also a note that characters under the age of 18 should be kept away from these prompts.
🝊 IS THIS A MONSTER TRANSFORMATION GAME?
It could be if that is what your heart desires. If you dig the setting but don't want your character turning into a fullblown monster, then a good vessel option for you would be a Token, where they take on a mage archetype rather than a creature.
🝊 DO I NEED TO BE A FAN OF SLEEP TOKEN TO PLAY?
Absolutely not. But I hope you'll enjoy the music and the little nerd space we've made out of it. Worship.
🝊 ARE THERE ANY AGE CAPS FOR CHARACTERS?
16+. Any younger than that will be considered on a case by case basis, since we are aware that child characters in horror settings exist (Attack on Titan, Stranger Things, etc). We'll be asking for a reason as to why they'd fit into the setting if they are younger than 16 and will make our decision if they will be a good fit for the game or not.
🝊 CAN I CHANGE MY OFFERING/TOKEN TYPE?
You can! We only ask that you wait three months after every change before changing again, and make sure you let the list mods know about the necessary information by commenting to the Taken List with the change!
🝊 CAN I CANON UPDATE MY CHARACTER?
You can as well! Characters will temporarily coccoon into a goopy-slime pupa of sorts, and will emerge with their new updated memories when they are ready. It could take anywhere from a day to more depending on player.
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figured it's a good time to ask, since new characters will have a whole previous arc's worth of info to contend with, and what info is ICly available vs OOCly available gets harder to keep track of as folks come and go! it would be nice to know what can reasonably be shared with incoming newbies ☺️
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Changing Offering/Token:
Do we no longer necessarily have to wait for tdms/app cycles to change so long as it's been 3+ months since we last changed?
Canon Updates:
Can the PCs still share canon updates as a form of mini player event option or is this no longer possible? (A group of us are discussing canon update and it seems our understandings differed on whether canon update events took place in a dream or the real world that was "warped" into a dreamlike state. I always thought canon updates were basically dream shares/unintentional dream walks, so I wanted to check on the dealie just in case since the Dream World is inaccessible.
Thank you c:
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2. you're correct in that thought! dreamshares are still possible between vessels, so canon updates in theform of mini player parts are still also possible (thank you for reminding me of that, so i'll add it to the faq!). what we no longer have is one's reality warping and gamewide dream events (unless it comes up again!).
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relatedly, if an artificer were to acquire the mechanical parts to build something like the PASIV, could that potentially be done?
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it could, potentially, but characters are going to have a pickle on their hands! the upside: the interstice mirrors sleephattan in just about everything including items that could be found. the downside of this is that most, if not all parts, will be in some degree waterlogged. characters will have to come up with a plausible solution to that to be able to build one.
(but you guys have the brains, and the magic— i'm sure you can come up with something c: )
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Ardyn ate some of the black fungal sludge at the One World Trade Center. He's just kind of a fucking freak like that. While I did play it off as no immediate effect (other than tasting icky) due to his natural regeneration, I figured I should check if this would do anything Fucky Wucky to him in the long-term. (I'm also open to whatever fun consequences of his actions there may be!)
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ardyn what hath you done...... ya nasty. before being drawn into the interstice, ardyn may feel ill at most for a few days, though things might feel a bit strange inside. maybe he's got a bad bug? once they are in the interstice, ardyn may notice that he is much more susceptible to succumbence, and sensitive to anything mold-slimy. there may be something more going on, but you'd need to investigate a bit. i believe maria was trying to study that line of curiosity......... :)
go that way if you'd like!!!!! and if you have a plan, come back to me for the deets!!
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1. Sirius already has similar visions of the Interstice connected to his dreams. Would the new flashes be worse for him? Or happen more often?
2. Since he was recently trapped, and bound in tendrils when Two and Three opened a rift with their ritual, would he recognize the sensation and put the pieces together that Greed has been pulled into the Interstice? If so, would it be possible for him to push his connection to the Interstice so the dream bleed lasts long enough for him to see if he can interact with the place? If he can, he would try to call out to Greed during one of his flashes of the Interstice to see if he can confirm he's alive. Would anything come from his attempts?
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2. he can realize this has happened, yes, and he could try to push the connection— but a successful call to reach greed will cause him be forcefully pushed out by sleep. she will choke him and drain his life force to the point that it will hurt and laugh, gentle despite the anger in her touch to say something along the lines of: you really have an itch for her, don't you? have patience. soon.
he will not be able to do this again.
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