Dreamspeakers
 |
Contents |
The Dreamspeakers were a group of shaman, witch doctors and medicine men. They are a Tradition of mages. They were masters of Spirit magic, such as summoning or binding spirits, necromancy, creating fetishes and travelling to the Umbra.
The Dreamspeakers were formed at the Grand Convocation. Naioba, an African dream-priestess, and Star-of-Eagles, a Powhatan medicine man, saw the Tradition as a brotherhood for shaman from all lands. To the European magi, the Dream-Speakers were a dumping ground for tribal magi who they didn't want to deal with. Native Americans from North and South America, tribes from Africa's endless savannahs and jungles, Australian Aborigines, and pale shaman from the far North were all lumped together in a single Tradition. This offended many non-western magi who weren't shaman, such as the Ngoma and other Crafts, who left the Convocation in disgust.
Star-of-Eagles and Naioba led the Tradition until Naioba's assassination. However, the Dreamspeakers quickly found themselves ravaged by the eras of Exploration, Colonialism and Imperialism. The Spanish conquest devastated the Aztecs and Inca Empire and spread small pox to the Mound Builders, while the Portuguese slave trade ravaged West Africa. Led by a delegation from the Iroquois Nation, many Dreamspeakers left the Council of Nine in protest.
By the end of the 20th century, the Dreamspeakers were a diverse and divided Tradition. They drew members from many indigenous peoples around the world, and were also very involved in environmentalism and ecology.
Dreamspeaker Paradigm
The Dreamspeaker Paradigm was based strongly on Shamanism and Animism. The Dreamspeakers knew that everything in the physical world is imbued with a spirit essence - every rock, tree, river, mountain and animal. By going into trance-states of altered consciousness, the Dreamspeakers could communicate with the spirits. As such, much of their magic was based off affecting the spirit world.
Style and foci tended to vary from culture to culture, but common tools included drumming and chanting, feathers, crystals, bones and animal parts, sacred herbs, sandpainting, ordeals, prayers, amulets, fire, sacred elements, dancing and natural hallucinogens such as peyote, ayahausca or psilocybe mushrooms.
External links
| About • Setting • Rules |
