Secrets of the Dreaming Dark

Secrets of the Dreaming Dark is an anonymous work written in Aklo late in the Age of Darkness. It supposedly contains methods for contacting agents of the Dominion of the Black and describes formulae and rituals capable of summoning neh-thalggu, neshmaals, and various other alien creatures.

The first half of the book is devoted to conflicting reports on hundreds of worlds said to exist within or be touched by the Dark Tapestry. The remainder of the book is split between rare and dangerous spells, a few frenetic passages regarding various Great Old Ones and Outer Gods, and a series of verses detailing 61 different individuals' dreams—each accompanied by a date and a cause of death. The last 32 pages of all seven remaining copies are almost completely blotted out, with only a handful of words left unobscured: "house," "home," and in one case, "firmament" written in red.

History

In ancient Osirion, Queen Neferuset was exposed to the Secrets of the Dreaming Dark as a child, and shortly thereafter became an oracle of the Dark Tapestry. Though she wished to be interred with her dwarf-skin-bound copy, a defiant advisor burned the book and scattered its ashes across the desert.

Another copy of Secrets of the Dreaming Dark is known to have been the final tome procured by Gaius Beaulenard, noted Opparan scholar on the subject of the Dominion of the Black. Following his mysterious death in 4612 AR, this copy was sold to an unknown collector.

Within the Cathedral of Embodied Wisdom, in Nidal's capital city of Pangolais, lies the secret of an original copy of the work's location.

The last known copy to have surfaced—incomplete though it was—was found in the hands of the Rahadoumi wizard Balthus Hunclay after he relocated to the town of Belhaim, Taldor.