Oneirosea

This article is about the parallel dimension. For the anime series, see Oneirosea (series).

Oneirosea is an alternate dimension which parallels reality. It is where demons reside.

Overview

Oneirosea is made of mist, so its landscape and appearance varies greatly depending on the time and concentration of mist. However, generally speaking, oneirosea resembles a foggy, blue-toned forest with leafless trees. There are often white flecks in the air, which resemble floating plankton or marine snow.

Being a realm of dreams, physics and other natural laws do not work consistently in oneirosea; some parts of it will have different "rules" than others, meaning those in oneirosea can sometimes perform physical feats not possible in reality.

Size & Location

Oneirosea parallels reality, so each place in oneirosea corresponds to a place in reality. However, the connections between these places are not straightforward, and can change from time to time. On average, oneirosea seems to be "smaller" than reality - in other words, walking between two points in oneirosea is faster than walking between the equivalent points in reality, to the point that walking to the other side of the planet may only take one or two hours. Therefore, those who are capable of physically visiting oneirosea can use it as a shortcut for long-distance travel.

Studies show that due to the increase in global human population (and therefore in mist production), oneirosea has increased in size compared to the past. It is possible that oneirosea will eventually grow bigger than reality.

Accessing Oneirosea

When a human has a vivid dream, their soul drifts out to oneirosea. However, their dream generates a temporary mental world around themself, so it is impossible to see its usual forest-sea terrain. Lucid dreaming can allow a user to turn their mental world transparent, but the user still cannot leave the bounds of the mental world to explore the wider oneirosea.

Astral projection is a technique for projecting one's soul into oneirosea. This allows the user to explore freely.

Physically entering and exiting oneirosea is more difficult. Currently, it is only possible by travelling through a moon pool.

Locations

Zones

Alcyon Corporation defines five distinct zones of oneirosea. "Deeper" zones are more removed from reality, and thus denser with mist and home to more powerful demons. In order of depth, these are the Sunlight, Twilight, Midnight, Abyssal, and Hadal Zones.

Shallower zones are brighter and have less tree cover, and vice versa. The sunlight zone resembles a featureless white field, dotted with occasional trees. Meanwhile, the abyssal and hadal zones are so heavily wooded that they resemble pitch-dark, intricate tunnel systems.

Benthic Zone

The Benthic Zone is a special, "wandering" zone of oneirosea, and the one inhabited by the most powerful demons. It is connected inconsistently to the other zones and constantly shifts around, so it is possible to suddenly enter it even from the Sunlight Zone. Communication technology often malfunctions in the Benthic Zone. Those who wander into this zone are often trapped with no way to contact Alcyon Corporation, and must somehow escape on their own.

Lairs

Strong demons can influence the appearance of oneirosea over time. If a demon stays in the same place for a long period of time, that part of oneirosea becomes the demon's lair. These lairs vary in appearance depending on the demon's personality and characteristics, and can resemble anything from a deep ocean trench to a modern city. If a demon leaves its lair, it will gradually lose its special characteristics until it fades back into an unremarkable part of oneirosea.

The lairs of powerful and well-established demons are consistent and distinctive-looking. Thus, they are often used as landmarks by those navigating oneirosea.

Inverted Castle

Main article: Inverted Castle

The Inverted Castle is Corbel's lair. It resembles a giant upside-down castle, and serves as the base of operations for the changeling invasion faction.

Dreams

See also: Human#Mental World

Certain vivid dreams take place in oneirosea, and these become landscape features for as long as they are active. From the outside, these dreams appear as enormous spheres jutting out of the landscape. The surfaces of these spheres are permeable, so anyone could physically walk into them and witness or interact with the dream.