Astral Projection

Astral projection is a technique which allows human users to project their souls into oneirosea while awake.

Overview

When a human has a vivid dream, their soul detaches from their body and drifts to oneirosea. Astral projection is the art of replicating this process while awake, using self-hypnotic techniques. Similar to dreaming, this process sends the soul to oneirosea, connected to the body through a tether. However, since the user remains awake, their mental world is not projected around them, and they are free to explore oneirosea without being constrained to a small area. The technique can be ended at any time at the user's will, upon which the soul travels through the tether and back into the body. This is possible even if the body has been moved.

Astral projecting souls appear as indistinct, vaguely humanoid wisps, usually pale with a tint of the user's aura color. However, experienced users of the technique can manipulate the appearance of their soul, to disguise themselves as something else or form limbs for fine manipulation.

While astral projecting, the user's body remains in reality and appears to be asleep. The user is unaware of anything that happens to or around their body, unless they have other abilities which would give them this knowledge. However, it seems that experienced users have a limited ability to detect pain or other strong stimuli. If the body is killed, the technique ends immediately, and the soul is forced back into the body where it dies as well.

Since the process generates a tether, a demon can swim through the user's soul and into their body in order to possess it. In fact, without a mental world to protect the soul from this intrusion, astral projection could be considered even more dangerous than dreaming. However, since the user is fully lucid while the technique is active, they can simply end the technique if a demon approaches, pre-emptively preventing possession.

It is not possible to astral project into reality, since souls are ephemeral and cannot exist in reality without being protected by a body. However, there remains a common misconception that astral projection can be used to spy on others in reality.

Usage

Since astral projection is merely a modified form of dreaming, even those without mist manipulation powers can learn to use it. As such, it is sometimes not considered a power at all.

In historical times, humans were known to use this technique to meet up with others in oneirosea and exchange information. A thousand years ago, oneirosea was significantly smaller, so it would have been possible to astral project, quickly travel to the equivalent of another continent, speak with users of astral projection there, and return near-instantaneously by ending the technique. While this is still possible in present day, oneirosea's increase in size would make the same journey much longer. Also, modern technology can accomplish similar feats with less time and risk, making it somewhat obsolete.

Labyrinth agents frequently use astral projection in order to observe and research oneirosea.

Techniques

Portal Generation

Advanced users of astral projection can bring small physical objects into oneirosea with them. This is accomplished by modifying the tether to make it function as a wormhole, and physically passing the object through it from the end in reality. Objects sent in this way cannot be bigger than a few centimeters in diameter, but the length limit is less strict. As such, Labyrinth has developed a number of surveying tools which can be disassembled into cylindrical rods, transported, and reassembled in oneirosea.

This technique was invented by Labyrinth's agents within the past five years. Its existence is a heavily guarded secret, especially from their rivals at Alcyon Corporation. However, stories about shamans from early history trading with each other in oneirosea imply that this technique may have been invented by other groups in the past, then later lost.