Somnus, the Dream-Broker: A Profile
Nexus Lamplighters Guild, Case File 7B-441, Classification: Onyx
Analyst's Foreword: The Concord hunts heretics who threaten the System. The Garden chases monsters who threaten the wild. We hunt the rot in the city's soul. Subject "Somnus" is not a conqueror or a zealot; he is a merchant. His product is a psychic narcotic: a perfect, bespoke dream. He does not kill his clients. He gives them a cage so beautiful they forget the sky exists. He is not a threat to the city's body, but to its will to live. This file summarizes our ongoing investigation.
1. The Subject: "Somnus"
- Identity: Unknown. "Somnus" is a title.
- Affiliation: Independent. Operates a black-market establishment known as "The Somnarium."
- Threat Profile: Tier 3 Yesod Master. Specializes in
PhantasmandDream-Walking. Does not engage in direct confrontation. Threat is conceptual and psychological. - Philosophy (Observed): Somnus's art is a perversion of the Middle Way's introspection. Where they use Yesod to understand the subconscious, he uses it to create a perfect escape from it. He views reality as a flawed, painful dream and offers his clients a "truer" one. His product is not just an illusion, but a perfected memory, a victory never achieved, a conversation that never happened. He is a master of weaponized nostalgia.
2. The Venue: The Somnarium
The Somnarium is Somnus's "dream den," located in the chaotic, ever-shifting heart of the Verdant Ward. It is not a single, fixed location, but a layered phantasm anchored to a series of abandoned apartments.
- Defenses: Infiltration is difficult. The entrance shifts nightly. The interior is a maze of personalized illusions designed to disorient Lamplighter patrols by weaponizing our own regulations and memories against us. Standard
Resonance Jarsare ineffective against the layered complexity of the phantasms. - Method: Clients are given a psychotropic incense ("Lotus Dust") to lower their mental defenses. Somnus then performs
Dream-Walkingto access their subconscious, identifying a core memory of loss, desire, or regret. He then constructs a bespoke, interactive phantasm of that memory, "corrected" to perfection.
3. The Affliction: The Dream-Sworn
The "Dream-Sworn" are Somnus's clientele—addicts who repeatedly return to the Somnarium. Long-term exposure leads to a specific, accelerated form of Hollowing.
- Stage 1 (Disassociation): The client begins to prefer the "perfected" dream-memory to the real one. They become withdrawn and apathetic.
- Stage 2 (Erosion): The client's personality fades as their mind spends more time in the dream-world. They neglect their work, their families, and their own bodies. Physical atrophy is common.
- Stage 3 (The Hollow): The client's identity is completely subsumed. They become a "Hollow Man," an empty shell whose only remaining desire is to return to the Somnarium. We have found dozens of such individuals in the Verdant Ward, physically alive but for all intents and purposes, gone.
4. Standing Orders & Assessment
Somnus represents a unique challenge. He is a creator of victims, not a perpetrator of direct violence.
- Threat Assessment: High. While not a physical threat, his operation is a significant drain on the city's vitality and a source of civic decay. The number of Hollowed individuals attributed to his operation is rising.
- Operational Challenges: The chaotic environment of the Verdant Ward, combined with the Somnarium's layered psychic defenses, makes a conventional raid impossible. The risk of psychic contamination to Lamplighter squads is unacceptably high.
- Standing Orders: All patrols are to observe and report any suspected activity related to the Somnarium. Direct engagement is forbidden without the presence of a Tiferet-aspected adept from the Silent Fulcrum, who is required for psychic triage and to counteract the Hollowing effects. Somnus remains a high-priority target for containment.