Locations: Morpheus
Locations: Morpheus

One of the first of the other planets to be explored by means of the Gateway Tower was that of Morpheus, second planet from Primus, the sun. It was first visited by Brishen Kara (former Rephidimite courier, former Babelite ambassador to Rephidim) and Feli "Jynx" Kurai (Rephidim citizen, adventurer, and Sylvanian landowner).

Morpheus is significantly smaller than Sinai, with much lower gravity, but sustains an atmosphere by artificial means, thanks to the ancient Sifras. The bulk of the planet is covered with a thick layer of dust that gets blown about like mist, making it necessary to wear breath masks. There are also many structures of crystal and stone that float about, resembling bits of architecture, statuary, etc., of styles familiar to Sinai and alien as well.

Morpheus the planet has some sort of tie to dreams on Sinai -- particularly those of a magical nature (such as those involved with Dream Magic). The structures that float about on Morpheus are created by magically-enhanced dreams on Sinai, as a sort of accidental byproduct, resembling various structures conjured up in the dreamers' visions. At times, non-Dream-Mages may be able to affect the topography of Morpheus as well -- Duchess Eve Kurai (an already quite unusual person with amazingly good luck) and her "fairy princess" dreams demonstrated this fact, as there is a "floating castle" that appears whenever Eve is asleep and dreaming.

At times, apparitions may appear on Morpheus, and it is sometimes possible for wanderers on the planet to observe images from dreams. However, spell-casting does not work here, and it is not possible to deliberately seek out someone's dreams to spy upon.


Morpheus, the God of Dreams Reborn

When Brishen Kara and Feli Kurai first visited Morpheus through the Gateway Tower, they brought with them a broken Sifras artifact that exhibited a sort of "artificial intelligence". This artifact, once brought to Morpheus, was left there, and merged with the Sifras "machinery" there, developing into a self-aware entity that named itself Morpheus, and took an appearance based off of its two "creators", Brishen Kara and Feli Kurai: he appears as a black "bat-cat".

Morpheus the entity has, from time to time, appeared in magically-enhanced dreams, but there is no evidence that he can simply enter anyone's dreams at will. Dream Mages that have had encounters with or who have "spotted" Morpheus have associated him with the Olympian Morpheus that the planet is named after -- the God of Dreams. This comparison is further strengthened by the fact that the Olympian pantheon is comprised of felines, and that the mythical Morpheus -- just like the Morpheus of the mythology of ancient Earth -- was attributed the ability to shift shape.


Gateway Chamber

When someone travels through the "window" that leads to Morpheus, from the Gateway Tower on Sinai, one appears in a matching crystal tower on Morpheus, though this one has a roof, and its windows show views of Morpheus rather than other worlds. One of the windows serves as a portal back to Sinai, and is darkened whenever the Tower is "recharging". If someone approaches this window when it is charged (which takes about a day), it will light up, and show an image of the interior of the Gateway Tower on Sinai. Touching the portal will create a link back to Sinai which will last for a few seconds, long enough for a few people to pass through.

The other windows serve as doorways to Morpheus. Touching a window with a hand will cause it to shatter and spread outward, creating an open doorway. After a few seconds, the shards will appear again, and converge to form a window again, and the cracks will disappear entirely. The mechanism for opening the "windows" appears to be fairly sophisticated, as merely poking the window with an inanimate object will not cause it to pop open. Touching it with a gloved hand is still sufficient to open the window.

The gravity, air pressure and temperature inside the Gateway Chamber are all regulated to be comparable to Sinai standards. As soon as one passes out of the door, though, gravity becomes very light. Typically, when the window is open, "mists" will blow in, then immediately drop to the floor as piles of dust. There appears to be some sort of cleaning system that operates from time to time, as when subsequent visits have been made to Morpheus, it has been clean of any dust until someone opens a window.


The Red Light Tower

One of the landmarks on Morpheus visible from the Gateway Chamber is a tall tower (taller than the Gateway Chamber) with a blinking red light on top. This was found to be part of a crashed starship belonging to a race known as the "Silent Ones". Parts of it are fashioned of a strange alien material that is similar to stone in appearance and texture, but is much lighter, and quite durable. (Quite a bit of it is metal, plastic, etc., as well.) Most of the interior has been taken over by plants that have overgrown the ship from a biosphere in the heart of the vessel, and malfunctioning systems have resulted in several "rivers" of water that have etched their way through the synth-stone, forming an artificial ecosystem. Artificial gravity generators on the ship make it comparable to Sinai gravity in some (but not all) parts of the vessel.

There are several cryogenic capsules -- malfunctioned -- that hold the remains of the crew of the vessel. The crew, members of a spacefaring race known to others as the "Silent Ones", resemble Savanites from Sinai. (This little fact is most certainly not common knowledge on Sinai!) Due to some sort of strange interaction with the strange phenomena of Morpheus, their "ghosts" haunt the ship, at times acting out scenes from their last days, vainly hoping for rescue.

It should be noted that, though some of the systems still work on this vessel, they are unreliable (as demonstrated by the crew's fate), as the phenomenon of Quantum Uncertainty that afflicts Sinai affects Morpheus as well, even though it is not accompanied by the ability to make use of spell-casting.


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