Lannit, the Dreaming Deep

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 Lannit is the only gas giant in my Planetary Romance setting. It is one of the three worlds which commonly house dreaming bodies, along with its moon Bazran and comet-like Amethyst Court. However, it is unique among these: called the Mutable Dream, within its impenetrable wall of wind and pressure is a foggy, wondrous world that shapes itself according to the whims of its inhabitants. And by heaven, do those whims change, for the Dreaming Deep is changes both the perception of time and the minds of its inhabitants. For this reason is it the most dangerous, and most seductive, of all the worlds which hold dreams.

When a person dreams on Lannit, most of the time it is easily forgotten. The mind that dwells most often in their waking bodies need not fear the dangers of that place. But for those whose mind wanders more often than not, the dangers are acute. Artists, Addicts, and the Bright and Good wander through the Dreaming Deep, becoming enamored with its impossibilities and its potential. Eventually they never wake, and they dream forever in an endless irrational dance of becoming and glory. One moment a poet, the next a shoemaker, the next an interdimensional death god, the next a long lost princess, the next a forlorn button popped off a boot.

Perhaps some seventy years hence, they might find a shape amenable to once again dream. They then wake on a different world, in the real solar system, feeling dazed and incomprehensibly solid. But they are no longer the person they were, not even physically, the only thread connecting them to their old lives a continuity continually broken. All of living is new and old to them. A simple piece of toast is foreign, maybe boring, maybe exciting; but all the grandeur of the Emperor is equally as foreign, equally as boring, equally as exciting.

Despite/because of the danger, there is a proliferation of drugs that cause dreams there. The most potent is the actual outer atmosphere of Lannit, but the most common is a cactus that grows on Bazran called Lernira, which picks up some diffuse particles. Such drugs are magically potent, and help sorcerers to power their art (of course at great risk). But many users are simply self-destructive and/or hedonistic. Societies that overuse such substances gain great power at the cost of being by nature ephemeral. Still, some societies of that sort leave behind ruins, which suit well adventuring types.