Dream Walkers: The Mauve Constellations
Introduction
Let me tell you about reality.
No, not the reality you think you know—the solid ground beneath your feet, the walls around you, the “objective truth” everyone agrees on. I’m talking about actual reality. The fluid, shifting, probability-cloud version that exists in infinite superposition until the moment you observe it.
The Mauves understood this before the other races understood mathematics.
While Scalians were building empires of fire and stone, the Mauves were walking through dreams. While Aurans were mapping stars, the Mauves were mapping possibilities. While Cimmerians were keeping secrets in shadows, the Mauves were keeping secrets in the space between what-is and what-could-be.
They’re dream walkers. Illusionists. Masters of perception and reality manipulation. And here’s the cosmic joke that took them millennia to understand:
You can’t control the future. You can only experience it.
The Mauves spent ten thousand years trying to shape reality to their will. Creating perfect futures. Eliminating bad possibilities. Forcing outcomes they deemed best. They became masters of control—the best in Eclipsia at bending probability, shaping dreams, manipulating perception.
And it nearly destroyed them.
When Noctis disappeared—when the Violet Moon simply vanished from the sky and the dreamveil unraveled—all those carefully controlled futures crashed into a single, chaotic present. The Mauves discovered what happens when you spend millennia trying to control everything:
You lose the ability to handle anything.
But they learned. Oh, did they learn.
By the time Shahrzad Nafisi sacrificed himself to become the Foundation of Dream, the Mauves had mastered the hardest lesson in existence:
True power isn’t controlling the future. It’s accepting that you can’t—and choosing to walk forward anyway.
Physical Characteristics
Skin of Twilight
Mauve skin comes in shades of purple, ranging from deep violet to pale lavender. But it’s not static coloration—there’s an iridescent quality that shifts in different lights and magical environments. Stand next to a Mauve, and you’ll see their skin shimmer through spectrum of purples, occasionally flashing blues or silvers.
Some Mauves develop patterns resembling constellations, dream fractals, or crystalline structures. These aren’t tattoos—they’re manifestations of deep connection to magic and ethereal realms. The patterns shift based on emotional state and magical flow.
In powerful Mauves, skin shimmers with inner light when channeling magic or entering dream states. It’s like watching galaxies form beneath translucent skin.
Skin variations include:
- Deep Violet: Most common, rich purple like amethyst crystals
- Pale Lavender: Lighter, like twilight sky or morning mist
- Iridescent Purple: Shifts colors constantly, rare and powerful
- Crystalline: Skin appearing to have crystal-like patterns embedded
- Dream-Touched: Skin that shimmers with dream essence, extremely rare—these Mauves exist partially in dream realm always
Hair Like Starlight
Mauve hair is deep purple or magenta, often styled in intricate braids adorned with crystals and gemstones. Some weave their hair with dream essence, making it appear to shift and flow like shadows—except shadows that glow.
The hair is naturally fine and silky, moving gracefully even in still air. When powerful Mauves channel magic, their hair floats as if underwater, each strand moving independently, creating hypnotic patterns.
Hair styles include:
- Crystal Braids: Intricate braids adorned with amethyst and other crystals
- Dream Weave: Hair woven with dream essence, shifting like liquid starlight
- Shadow Flow: Hair that flows like glowing shadows
- Starlight Strands: Hair that glows with inner light in darkness
- Crystalline Crown: Hair arranged like a crown of crystals and light
Eyes That See Possibility
Mauve eyes are almond-shaped and captivating, ranging from amethyst purple to deep indigo. They have a hypnotic quality, seeming to see beyond physical realm. Their eyes can see in near-total darkness and detect magical energies invisible to others.
But more than that—they see probability. When a Mauve looks at you, they’re not just seeing you. They’re seeing all the versions of you that could exist. The you that turned left instead of right. The you that made different choices. The you from futures that never were and never will be.
It’s deeply unsettling.
In moments of deep connection with dreams or magic, Mauve eyes glow like amethyst catching light or shimmer like starlit pools. When this happens, they’re not seeing our reality anymore—they’re walking through dreams while their body stays put.
Eye colors include:
- Amethyst Purple: Most common, like the gemstone catching light
- Deep Indigo: Darker, like the night sky between stars
- Violet: Bright purple, rare and powerful, see possibilities most clearly
- Dream-Touched: Eyes shimmering with dream essence, see multiple realities simultaneously
- Crystalline: Eyes appearing to have crystal-like patterns, see through illusions
Build and Movement
Mauves are slender and graceful, averaging 5’6” to 6’2” in height. They have an otherworldly aura that sets them apart—not threatening like Cimmerians, but different. Like they’re not entirely here.
Their movements are fluid and almost hypnotic, seeming to flow between reality and illusion. Sometimes a Mauve’s hand will reach for something and you’ll see the movement before they make it—afterimage preceding action. Sometimes they’ll walk past and leave faint trails in the air.
It’s not magic. It’s that they exist slightly out of phase with reality. Always. They’re tethered to dream realm, and it shows.
Physical adaptations:
- Slender Frame: Lightweight and graceful
- Flexible Joints: Can contort in ways that seem impossible—because sometimes they’re phasing through solid space
- Silent Movement: Natural ability to move without sound
- Magical Sensitivity: Highly attuned to magical energies, can sense magic from hundreds of feet away
- Ethereal Presence: An aura that shifts between realms—you can feel when a Mauve is near, even if you can’t see them
The Weight of Years
Mauves typically live 300-400 years, with Chronomancers and Dream Walkers reaching 600 years. As they age, their connection to ethereal realms deepens. They become more ethereal in appearance—skin becoming more translucent, movements more fluid, voices taking on echoing quality like they’re speaking from far away.
The oldest Mauves, known as “Ancient Dreams,” may merge with dream realm entirely. Their physical forms become indistinct, existing in constant superposition between reality and dream. They don’t die—they transform, becoming part of the eternal possibility that underlies existence.
The Crystalline Domain: Where Dreams Take Shape
Underground Wonders
The Mauves inhabit underground caverns and crystalline caves filled with magical energies. Their domain is hidden beneath the surface, where the veil between physical and ethereal realms is thin. They thrive in environments rich with crystals—places where reality is already unstable enough that possibility bleeds through.
After Book 1, when Noctis disappeared and the dreamveil unraveled, their connection to dreams was disrupted. The carefully controlled futures they’d been shaping for millennia crashed into chaos. But they adapted.
Post-trilogy, they maintain their crystalline homes while embracing free will—learning to navigate possibility without trying to control it. The caves are still magical. Still beautiful. Still dangerous. But now they’re homes, not prisons of “should-be.”
Geographic Features
The Amethyst Geode A massive geode housing Amethyst, the Mauve capital. Not just large—reality-bending large. The inside is bigger than the outside. Paths loop impossibly. Gravity suggests rather than commands. It’s not architecture—it’s crystallized possibility given physical form.
The geode glows with inner light—amethyst, violet, indigo, all the purples you can imagine plus ones you can’t. The light doesn’t cast shadows in traditional sense. It creates possibility-shadows—areas where what-could-be is more solid than what-is.
Crystal Forests Forests of crystalline formations growing like trees. Some crystals are
ten feet tall, others a hundred. They ring with harmonic frequencies when touched, creating music that affects reality. Play the right notes, and dreams manifest. Play the wrong ones, and nightmares do.
The Dream Crystals Specific crystals resonating with dream energy. Enormous formations connected to dream realm directly. Touch one, and you’re pulled into shared dream—conscious but dreaming, able to interact with others who touch the same crystal.
Dream Walkers use these crystals to meet across vast distances. Lovers separated by oceans touch attuned Dream Crystals and dream together. Generals coordinate battles in shared tactical dreams. Scholars share knowledge in dream libraries that don’t physically exist.
The Prismatic Caves Caves that refract light into impossible rainbows. Not just visible spectrum—these caves show colors that don’t exist, wavelengths the human eye shouldn’t perceive. Look at these colors too long, and you start seeing possibilities as colors. The version of you that turned left is blue-green. The version that turned right is red-orange. The version that stood still is transparent.
It’s beautiful. It’s maddening. It’s why Mauves evolved to handle reality differently than other races.
The Veil Thin Points Places where physical and ethereal realms meet completely. Step into a Veil Thin Point, and you’re in both realms simultaneously. Solid ground beneath your feet and dream realm overlaying it like translucent film. You can see both, interact with both, exist in both.
Most races can’t handle this. The cognitive dissonance breaks their minds. Mauves grew up with it. To them, it’s normal.
Climate of Magic
The underground domain has its own climate based on magical energies, not temperature. The air is thick with essence—you can taste magic when you breathe. Crystals provide light and warmth. The environment is stable but shifts with magical fluctuations.
Mauves learn to read magical patterns like other races read weather. They know when dream storms are coming. When reality will be particularly malleable. When illusions will be strongest.
Natural Hazards
- Magical Storms: Storms of pure magical energy that can rewrite reality temporarily
- Reality Rifts: Tears between realms that pull unwary travelers into dream realm permanently
- Dream Traps: Areas where dreams become reality—or reality becomes dream—and you can’t tell which
- Temporal Anomalies: Distortions in time flow—you might age years in seconds or experience decades in minutes
- Crystal Shards: Sharp crystalline formations that don’t just cut flesh—they cut probability, splitting you across multiple timelines
The crystalline domain is beautiful. Wondrous. Lethal. It welcomes Mauves and devours intruders who don’t understand that reality is negotiable here.
Amethyst: The City of Dreams
A Shifting Architecture
Amethyst is carved from a massive amethyst geode pulsing with magical energy. The city exists simultaneously in physical realm and ethereal plane. Buildings shift between reality and illusion. Structures that shouldn’t exist do. Rooms that should connect don’t.
After Noctis disappeared, the city’s connection to dreams was disrupted. Whole districts phased out of reality and didn’t return. Buildings collapsed into probability-clouds. Citizens got trapped in dream loops.
But they rebuilt. By Book 3, Amethyst had been restored—stronger, adapted to function without the moon’s influence. The city learned to thrive on its own dream-connection, powered by the Mauves themselves rather than Noctis.
Post-trilogy, Amethyst reflects their embrace of free will and choice. The city still shifts. Still changes. But now it does so based on collective choice of its inhabitants, not predetermined patterns.
Key Districts
The Grand Library A massive repository filled with ancient scrolls, magical artifacts, and crystal tablets. But more than that—it contains dream records. Crystallized dreams from millennia of Mauve history. Touch a dream record, and you experience the dream as if it were your own.
The library is infinite. Literally. It connects to dream-library that exists across all realities. Every book that could be written exists here. Every scroll that might contain knowledge. Every artifact that someone somewhere could create.
The trick is finding what you need in infinity. That’s why librarians exist—Dream Walkers who navigate infinite possibility to find specific information. The job takes centuries to master. Those who succeed become the most valuable individuals in Mauve society.
The Crystal Spire The tallest structure in Amethyst, reaching toward surface far above. Home to the Council of Spheres. Observatory for studying magical energies and dreams. The most sacred site in Mauve culture.
From the top of the Crystal Spire, you can see possibility itself. Not metaphorically—literally. You see all potential futures spreading out like branches, all possible pasts converging like rivers. You see the shape of reality-that-could-be.
Most people who reach the top go mad within minutes. Mauves train for decades to handle that view without breaking.
The Dream Quarters Residential district built among crystal formations. Homes that exist partially in dream realm. Each home is unique, shaped by its residents’ dreams—literally. Your house grows and changes based on what you dream about.
Dream of a library, and one manifests. Dream of a garden, and it blooms. Dream of more space, and walls shift outward. But dream of nightmares, and your home fills with them. Living here requires mental discipline. Sloppy dreamers wake up in houses full of monsters.
The Illusionists’ District Area where Illusionists train and practice. Filled with illusions and phantasmal constructs. Used for training and entertainment. Always shifting and changing. Mysterious and captivating.
Walking through this district, you never know what’s real. That dragon flying overhead might be illusion. Or it might be real dragon covered in illusion of something harmless. That beautiful palace might be rubble covered in architectural illusion. That empty air might be solid building rendered invisible.
It’s fun for Mauves. Everyone else finds it deeply unsettling.
The Temporal Chambers Chambers where time flows differently. Used by Chronomancers for study. Extremely dangerous. Heavily guarded and restricted. Shrouded in mystery.
In one chamber, you age normally but outside world ages faster—spend subjective hour inside, emerge to find years passed. In another, opposite—spend subjective years while minutes pass outside. Some chambers loop time. Others branch it. One chamber contains all possible temporal flows simultaneously.
Only master Chronomancers enter. Even they don’t always return. Or they return before they left. Or after they’ll leave. Temporal chambers make verb tenses problematic.
Infrastructure
Transportation:
- Shadow Passages: Hidden passages through shadows allowing instant travel
- Dream Gates: Gateways through dream realm—step through in one city, emerge in another
- Crystal Bridges: Bridges of crystal connecting structures, refracting reality
- Phase Portals: Portals that phase between realms
- Teleportation: Some Mauves can teleport short distances through dream realm
Defense:
- Illusion Barriers: Barriers created from illusions—enemies can’t attack what they can’t perceive correctly
- Crystal Shields: Protective barriers that refract attacks into other timelines
- Shadow Guardians: Guardians existing in shadows
- Dream Traps: Traps pulling enemies into hostile dreams
- Reality Rifts: Can create rifts banishing enemies to other realities
Culture: The Philosophy of Possibility
Core Values (Pre-Trilogy)
Control Over Possibility The historical Mauve value. Controlling futures, shaping realities, forcing optimal outcomes. They spent millennia perfecting this, becoming masters of probability manipulation. They saw the future as something to be managed.
This nearly destroyed them.
Core Values (Post-Trilogy)
Free Will Over Control The lesson learned through fire and sacrifice. True power isn’t controlling the future—it’s accepting you can’t and choosing your path anyway. Letting possibilities unfold naturally rather than forcing them.
Exploration Over Domination Exploring all possibilities rather than dictating which becomes real. Understanding that uncertainty isn’t weakness—it’s the foundation of free will.
Harmony with Magic Maintaining harmony with magical energies. All actions considered for impact on magical balance. Magic is sacred, and its patterns guide decisions—but don’t dictate them.
Mystery and Wonder Valuing mystery and maintaining sense of wonder. Not everything needs to be explained, predicted, controlled. Some things are better experienced than understood.
Post-Trilogy Evolution The Mauves learned that control is an illusion. That forcing futures creates fragility. That true strength comes from adaptability, not dominance. They shifted from trying to shape reality to learning to dance with it.
Social Structure
Mauves are governed by the Council of Spheres—representatives from different schools of magic who make decisions collectively. Guided by wisdom and magical expertise, they decide through discussion and consensus.
Unlike pre-Breaking Mauves who tried to control outcomes through predicted paths, the modern Council embraces uncertainty. They make decisions based on current knowledge while accepting that future consequences are unknowable.
Hierarchy based on magical mastery:
- High Dream Walker (spiritual leader)
- Council of Spheres (political leaders representing each magical school)
- Class Specialists (Dream Walkers, Illusionists, Crystal Weavers, Shadowmancers, Chronomancers)
- Skilled Workers (crafters, scholars, spies)
- Apprentices and Young
But even apprentices with insights about magical patterns gain respect. Innovation is valued. Fresh perspectives are sought. The Mauves learned that rigid hierarchy is just another form of control—and control breeds stagnation.
Traditions
Naming Mauve names often include dream or shadow words: Nocturne, Dream, Shadow, Crystal, Illusion. Names reflect connection to dreams and magic. Titles are earned: “Dream Walker,” “Illusionist,” “Chronomancer.”
Coming of Age Young Mauves must complete a trial: enter dream realm and return safely, create a convincing illusion that fools a master, or demonstrate magical mastery. The trial connects them deeply with dreams and magic. Those who fail can try again—but each failure teaches that some people aren’t meant for certain paths. And that’s okay.
Marriage Mauves form partnerships based on harmony and shared exploration. Ceremonies involve entering dreams together, symbolizing shared journey through possibilities. A dream crystal is created together—physical manifestation of their bond, glowing with combined essence.
These crystals are fascinating. They show shared dreams even when partners are apart. If the relationship thrives, the crystal glows brighter. If it fails, the crystal dims. It’s harder to lie to yourself about relationship health when you’re literally holding glowing evidence.
Death The deceased are released into dream realm, their body becoming part of dreams and shadows. Their essence flows with dream currents. Their wisdom is preserved in dream essence. A crystal is grown in their memory.
Death isn’t an ending—it’s transformation. The dead become dreams. Dreams become inspiration. Nothing is truly lost.
Religion: Meethra, the Dream Weaver
The Goddess of Possibility
Meethra manifests as a figure of shifting shadows and shimmering light, her form fluid and ethereal. Her skin is a canvas of deep purples and blues, swirling with iridescent colors that shift like night sky. Her hair is cascade of starlight and shadow, woven with crystals and shimmering dream strands.
Her eyes are like galaxies—filled with stars and nebulae, reflecting cosmos and mystery depths of dream realm. She carries a staff of dream essence and wears robes that phase between shadow and light.
When Meethra manifests, reality becomes optional. Solid things become translucent. Dreams become tangible. Past and future blur together. Possibility itself takes physical form.
Religious Practices
Daily Worship:
- Morning: Meditate on dreams, seek Meethra’s guidance
- Daytime: Shadow communion, feeling her presence in possibilities
- Evening: Reflect on day’s illusions and realities
- Night: Dream meditation entering dream states
Weekly Ceremonies:
- Dream gatherings to share dreams and visions
- Illusion dances dancing with phantasmal constructs
- Shadow communion with ethereal
- Songs of dreams harmonizing with dream essence
Annual Festivals:
- The Great Dream: Celebrating most vivid dreams of the year
- The Shadow Convergence: Honoring shadows and ethereal
- The Crystal Bloom: When crystals resonate with dream energy
- The Temporal Shift: Rare festival when temporal anomalies align
Post-Trilogy Evolution
Meethra’s teachings evolved after the Breaking. Dreams aren’t meant to be controlled—they’re meant to be experienced. Possibilities aren’t paths to force—they’re options to explore. Reality isn’t destiny—it’s choice.
Shahrzad Nafisi embodied this evolution. As the Foundation of Dream, he became the ultimate keeper of possibility—not forcing futures, but holding space for all possibilities to exist until choice makes one real.
Now when Mauves pray to dreams, they’re praying to imagination itself. To the spark of “what if.” To the courage to walk forward without knowing what’s ahead.
Magic and Classes
Illusionist
Role: Masters of illusion and perception
Core Philosophy: Reality is perception. Change perception, and you change reality. But post-Breaking, Illusionists learned something crucial: You can fool the senses, but you can’t fool free will. Illusions convince. They don’t control.
Key Abilities:
- Mirror Image: Creates illusory copies confusing enemies and diverting attacks
- Phantasmal Assault: Summons spectral beasts dealing psychic damage
- Mass Illusion: Creates multiple illusions that confuse and distract
- Reality Shift: Temporarily shifts reality making illusions seem real
- Grand Illusion (Ultimate): Creates massive illusion affecting all in area
Illusionists serve as entertainers, spies, and psychological warriors. They create distractions, deceive enemies, and manipulate perceptions. In post-Breaking society, they also serve as teachers—helping people distinguish illusion from reality, teaching critical thinking through paradox.
Crystal Weaver
Role: Specialists in harnessing crystal power
Core Philosophy: Crystals are solidified possibility. They hold potential energy, magical resonance, dreams made physical. Crystal Weavers don’t force crystals to obey—they convince them. They negotiate with solidified reality.
Key Abilities:
- Crystal Telekinesis: Uses telekinesis to hurl crystals dealing damage
- Force Field: Creates protective force fields absorbing damage
- Crystal Growth: Causes crystals to grow rapidly creating barriers and weapons
- Crystal Resonance: Uses resonance to amplify magical effects
- Crystal Storm (Ultimate): Creates massive storms of crystals damaging all enemies
Crystal Weavers build Amethyst. They maintain crystalline structures, grow new buildings, and repair damage. In war, they’re devastating—hurling crystal shards that don’t just pierce flesh but shatter probability, splitting enemies across timelines.
Dream Walker
Role: Masters of dream magic and exploration
Core Philosophy: Dreams aren’t escapism—they’re alternative realities. Every dream is a possible world. Dream Walkers don’t just visit dreams; they navigate infinite possibility exploring versions of reality that could exist.
Key Abilities:
- Dream Invasion: Enters enemies’ dreams inflicting psychic damage and nightmares
- Nightmare Weaver: Manipulates dreams turning fears into reality
- Dream Shield: Creates barriers of dream essence protecting allies
- Dream Travel: Enters dream realm to travel quickly or escape
- Dream Storm (Ultimate): Creates massive storms of dreams affecting all enemies
Dream Walkers serve as spiritual leaders, therapists, and tactical analysts. They help people process trauma through dream work. They gather intelligence by entering enemies’ dreams. They explore possibility-space mapping potential futures without trying to control them.
Post-Breaking, Dream Walkers learned the crucial distinction: They can see possible futures, but they can’t predict which will become real. Free will makes prophecy impossible. And that’s beautiful.
Shadowmancer
Role: Specialists in shadow magic and stealth
Core Philosophy: Shadows aren’t just absence of light—they’re transitional spaces between realities. Shadowmancers navigate these spaces, existing between what-is and what-could-be.
Key Abilities:
- Shadow Step: Teleports through shadows allowing quick repositioning
- Shadow Bolt: Fires bolts of pure shadow energy damaging and cursing
- Shadow Form: Transforms into shadow becoming intangible
- Shadow Bind: Binds enemies in shadows immobilizing them
- Shadow Storm (Ultimate): Creates massive storms of shadows affecting all enemies
Shadowmancers serve as spies, infiltrators, and guardians. They move through shadows like Cimmerians but with Mauve twist—they’re not just moving through darkness, they’re phasing between realities. A Shadowmancer in shadow form isn’t invisible—they’re probability-indeterminate.
Chronomancer
Role: Masters of time manipulation
Core Philosophy: Time isn’t a river—it’s an ocean. It flows in all directions simultaneously. Past affects future. Future affects past. Everything happens at once, and free will navigates through eternal now.
Key Abilities:
- Time Dilation: Slows time for enemies reducing movement and attack speed
- Temporal Stasis: Freezes enemies in time preventing action
- Time Rewind: Rewinds time for caster undoing recent damage
- Temporal Shield: Creates barriers existing outside normal time
- Time Stop (Ultimate): Stops time for all enemies in area
Chronomancers are the rarest and most dangerous Mauve class. Their abilities are restricted heavily. Manipulating time risks paradox. Create enough paradoxes, and reality unravels.
Post-Breaking, Chronomancers learned they can’t change the past or force the future. But they can navigate time like Dream Walkers navigate possibility—experiencing different temporal flows without being bound to one.
Flora: Plants of Dreams
Dreambloom
Flowers emitting hypnotic fragrance inducing vivid dreams and visions. Glow with inner light. Used in ceremonies and potions. Beautiful but dangerous if overused—too much exposure can trap you in permanent dream state. You’re still technically alive, but you never wake up.
Crystalline Vines
Vines growing on crystals, leaves shimmering with iridescent colors. Channel magical energy. Used for building materials and decoration. Leaves provide light in darkness. The vines have curious property—they grow toward dreams, literally bending toward sleeping minds.
Phase Blossoms
Flowers that temporarily shift between physical and ethereal realms. Used for teleportation and concealment. Rare and highly valued. Used in rituals and magical items. The flowers exist in superposition—simultaneously bloomed and unbloomed until observed. Quantum botany at its finest.
Dream Moss
Moss glowing with dream essence. Grows on structures providing light. Absorbs dream energy and glows with inner light. Used for illumination and in dream magic. The moss records dreams of people sleeping nearby. Touch it, and you experience fragments of others’ dreams. It’s how Mauves maintain collective unconscious.
Temporal Flowers
Flowers blooming at different rates—some fast, some slow. Used to study time and in temporal magic. Extremely rare and dangerous. Used only by Chronomancers. Some bloom backward, unseeding themselves and returning to buds. They’re either fascinating botanical phenomena or violations of thermodynamics. Possibly both.
Fauna: Creatures of Dreams
Crystal Bats
Bats with crystalline wings emitting sonic pulses. Used for echolocation and magical disruption. Intelligent and trainable. Some Mauves form bonds with them. The bats can detect magical signatures, making them invaluable for magical security.
Dream Weavers
Spider-like creatures spinning webs of dream essence. Capable of trapping and manipulating dreams. Intelligent and communicate through dreams. Some Mauves learn to work with them. The webs don’t catch prey physically—they catch them conceptually. You’re not stuck in the web. You’re stuck in the idea of the web.
Psychic Mantises
Mantises with telekinetic abilities manipulating objects with minds and creating illusions. Intelligent and trainable. Some Mauves communicate with them. The mantises see in probability-space naturally. To them, all possible positions of objects are simultaneously real. They don’t predict where you’ll move—they see where you’re moving in all timelines.
Dream Butterflies
Butterflies existing partially in dream realm, wings shimmering with dream essence. Beautiful and bring dreams wherever they go. Used for decoration and dream magic. When Dream Butterflies land on you, you experience vivid daydreams while fully awake. It’s gentle, pleasant, and slightly addictive.
Illusion Cats
Cats creating illusions, forms shifting and changing. Playful and mischievous. Some Mauves keep them as pets. The cats don’t just create illusions—they are illusions that think they’re cats. Or possibly cats that think they’re illusions. Honestly, no one’s quite sure, including the cats.
Dream Whales
Massive creatures swimming through dream realm like whales through water. Gentle and wise. Some Dream Walkers claim to have communed with them. The whales don’t swim through space—they swim through probability. They exist in all places they could be simultaneously, only collapsing into specific location when observed.
Economy: Dreams and Crystals
Currency
Primary Currency:
- Dream Crystals: Crystals storing dream essence, highly valued
- Amethyst Shards: Pieces of amethyst used for trade
- Dream Essence: Magical essence from dreams, valuable
- Magical Items: Often more valuable than currency
Value of these fluctuates based on magical conditions. During strong dream-tides, Dream Crystals are worth more. During magical storms, Amethyst Shards appreciate.
Major Industries
Crystal Crafting Crystal Weavers create weapons, tools, and magical items producing sought-after goods. Crystalline items don’t just hold magic—they amplify it. A crystal staff makes you better mage. Crystal armor protects against magical attacks. Crystal weapons cut through enchantments.
Dream Services Dream Walkers provide interpretation, guidance, and dream magic. Valuable especially for races seeking understanding or healing. Post-Breaking, dream therapy became major export. Other races pay fortunes for Dream Walkers to help process trauma, resolve internal conflicts, explore suppressed memories.
Illusion Services Illusionists provide entertainment, deception, and protection. Employed as spies, diplomats, and entertainers. Their skills are valuable but sometimes feared. Post-Breaking, they also work as educators—teaching critical thinking and perception training.
Magical Items Mauves create various magical items: crystals, dream essence, illusion items, temporal artifacts. These items are used internally and traded externally. A single temporal artifact can buy a kingdom. Assuming you can prove it works without creating paradoxes.
Trade Relations
- With Scalians: Trade crystals for metal (cautious relationship)
- With Chlorans: Trade for healing herbs (mutual respect)
- With Hydrans: Trade crystals for pearls (cautious respect)
- With Aurans: Trade knowledge for celestial observations (cautious cooperation)
- With Cimmerians: Rare trade for information (mutual wariness)
Relations with Other Races
Universal Perception (Pre-Breaking)
Other races saw Mauves as manipulative, controlling, untrustworthy. They weren’t wrong. Pre-Breaking Mauves did try to control everything. They saw other races as variables to manage, futures to optimize.
Post-Breaking Shift
Everything changed. After Shahrzad’s sacrifice and the Breaking, Mauves learned humility. They stopped trying to control others’ choices. They embraced uncertainty.
Now, other races see Mauves as wise guides through uncertainty. Strange, yes. Unsettling, certainly. But trustworthy in ways they weren’t before. Because the Mauves learned to respect free will—even when it leads to “suboptimal” outcomes.
The lesson: Better an uncertain future chosen freely than a perfect future forced on you.
Character Spotlight: Shahrzad Nafisi
The Weaver of Possibility
Originally a Dream Walker who sought to control chaos of prophecy. Through trauma of Sundering and survival on unstable Noctis fragment, he learned that true power lies not in controlling the future but in allowing it to unfold.
Physical Description: 5’11”, deep violet skin with constellation markings that glowed when channeling magic. Hair deep purple in intricate braids adorned with crystals and dream essence. Eyes amethyst that shimmered with inner light. Wore robes that phased between reality and illusion.
Personality: Philosophical, curious, introspective. Initially arrogant—believed he could see best path and guide everyone to it. Trauma taught humility. Learned to ask rather than command. To suggest rather than dictate. To trust rather than control.
Philosophy: “The future isn’t a path to be chosen. It’s an ocean to be navigated. You can’t control the waves, but you can learn to sail.”
Character Arc: Shahrzad evolved from controlling futures to embracing uncertainty. From seeing other people as variables to respecting them as agents. From fear of chaos to acceptance of it.
He was the third of The Six to transform (Day 65). He stepped into the mechanism, his physical form splitting into four simultaneous states before dissolving completely. He merged with concept of Dream and Possibility, becoming the Foundation of Dream.
He exists now in quantum superposition—always dreaming, always waking—holding potential for all futures without forcing any single one to happen.
Quote: “I spent lifetimes trying to control tomorrow. I was a fool. The only moment you can choose is now. Every now. That’s not weakness—that’s freedom.”
The Trilogy: Mauve Journey
Book 1: The Gathering Eclipse
When the prophecy unfolded, Mauves were divided. Dream Walkers saw multiple conflicting futures. Ambitious factions joined Harbingers, believing they could master the eclipse’s power and control the outcome.
Shahrzad maintained a mental network linking leaders of six races, trying to coordinate despite chaos. Mauve illusionists attempted to mask signs of eclipse, believing perception could shape reality.
Then Noctis disappeared. Not shattering—simply vanishing. The dreamveil unraveled. All potential futures crashed into single, chaotic present. Every carefully laid plan dissolved. Every predicted path fractured.
The Mauves learned that control is an illusion.
Book 2: The Sundering
Shahrzad and 15 Mauve survivors found themselves on Noctis-essence fragment—the most unstable of all fragments. Reality shifted constantly based on subconscious thoughts of inhabitants.
Survival required constant mental discipline. A stray fearful thought could manifest monsters. A hopeful one could create food. They learned the hard way that trying to control reality inevitably led to disaster, while guiding it allowed survival.
This period marked shift from arrogance to humility for Mauve people.
Book 3: The Breaking of Fate
At Ancient Fragment, Shahrzad analyzed the options. He realized that Dominion (control) was the trap they’d fallen into before. He voted for Severance, embracing uncertainty as only true freedom.
On Day 65, Shahrzad became the Foundation of Dream. His physical form split into four simultaneous states before dissolving. He merged with Dream and Possibility itself.
He exists now in quantum superposition, holding potential for all futures without forcing any single one to happen. He ensured the new world wouldn’t be bound by destiny but open to infinite potential.
Year 1,047: Unified Humanity
By generation 3 after Breaking, pure Mauves no longer existed. All descendants were mixed—part of all six races. Mauves became part of unified humanity through natural intermarriage and choice.
Dream connection persisted in all descendants. Illusion mastery became shared heritage. Connection to dreams became part of unified humanity.
All humans carry Mauve traits: dream sensitivity, illusion affinity. Mixed with traits from all other races.
The Mauves thrive as part of unified humanity. They explore possibilities as part of all races. They choose free will over control, uncertainty over manipulation.
Their future is unwritten—and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Conclusion: The Gift of Uncertainty
Here’s what you need to understand about the Mauves:
They spent ten thousand years trying to control the future. Became masters of probability manipulation, dream walking, illusion crafting. They could see possible futures and tried to force the “best” ones into reality.
And it nearly destroyed them.
Because here’s the cosmic joke: The harder you try to control the future, the more fragile you make reality.
When Noctis disappeared and the dreamveil unraveled, all those carefully controlled futures crashed into chaos. The Mauves discovered that control breeds brittleness. That forced outcomes create vulnerability. That trying to eliminate uncertainty eliminates adaptability.
But they learned. Through survival on the most unstable reality fragment in existence, they learned to guide rather than control. To suggest rather than dictate. To embrace uncertainty rather than fear it.
And when Shahrzad Nafisi sacrificed himself to become the Foundation of Dream, he embodied the lesson:
True power isn’t controlling possibility. It’s holding space for all possibilities to exist until choice makes one real.
Now, every time a person dreams, Shahrzad is there—not directing the dream, but enabling it. Every time someone imagines a better future, he’s the substrate that makes imagination possible. Every time free will chooses one path over another, he’s the space between options that makes choice meaningful.
The Mauves taught the world the hardest lesson: Uncertainty isn’t weakness. It’s the foundation of free will.
You can’t control tomorrow. But you can choose today. Every today. That’s not a limitation—that’s freedom.
The future is unwritten. The Mauves learned to call that terrifying gift by its proper name:
Hope.
— The Watcher
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