The Perfected Land

All throughout the planes, there are those dreaming of their perfect paradise, a world of peace and bliss and endless luxury. More than one faction has been built around this idea — and more than one faction has collapsed under the burden of realizing it.

But the Sign of One has a unique approach to this eternal problem. You can find that approach is nestled in the rolling hills of Amoria, in Elysium, in the new planar headquarters of the Sign of One, The Perfected Land

Description

The Land, as locals call it, is a place for imagining perfection. As such, it is located at the center of a wide, empty, flat field. The houses here, rounded like minaret spires but squat on the ground, are made of a honeycombed white limestone, and they cluster in the center of this largely featureless plain, whose otherwise tallest plants are the occasional patch of sunflowers. For being considered the new faction headquarters, it isn't exactly a large place, but it doesn't need to be — most of the Land is in the mind.

See, inside most of these houses you will find people. And most of the day, when you find them, they will be sitting cross-legged on one of the lovely woven rugs, their eyes open and unblinking, as if in a deep trance. The whole village is eerily still and quiet, with the buzzing of insects and distant birds chirping and the rushing of wind being the loudest noises. But if you were to sit yourself down somewhere, stare off into space, and simply imagine the world as you think it should be…you will suddenly find yourself transported.

It will be like a dream, but more solid, more real. The buildings and the field all fade away, replaced with an expanse of white sand, under a brilliantly illuminated starry sky. And here, you will find the other people in town, going about daily activities like eating lunch and washing clothes and even sleeping. You will have passed the threshold, and entered the Perfected Land.

This dream world, entered into in collective by those meditating in the village, is a world created and maintained by the town's mayor. Most of the town's residents live here nearly full-time, living lives apart from the physical world. They only wake up once a week or so to bathe, eat a bit of nourishment, and sleep in the real world — apparently, it's difficult to get true rest in the dream land. The Mayor apparently takes a break only once every three or four months, and the goal of everyone is to live in the dream town as long as possible. The peaceful glades of Elysium offer one of the only places in the multiverse that such peace can be attained and maintained, and the Sign of One has used this to begin building a town out of the hopes and dreams of the populace. The ultimate goal of the town is to bring the dream world into concrete reality, through sheer force of will, and for that they are actively recruiting.

Visiting

It's quiet. It's peaceful. It's generally fairly happy. A visitor to this location will have a peaceful place to dream their biggest dreams, but all are encouraged to take a tour of the dream-land version of the Land, and to linger there a while, if they are able.

Entering the dream world takes a DC 12 Wisdom check, and if successful, you can remain there for one hour per point of Wisdom bonus (minimum 1 hour). Visitors don't seem to gather the same proficiency in imagining themselves in the utopia that natives have, but if one hopes to talk or interact with anybody, going into the shared dream is the only way.

There are a few services outside of the dream world that cater to the needs of the populace. An inn called The Signpost is said to "point the way" to the dream world, and also provides food and drink and lodging and some limited equipment to those who have little interest in that utopia. There's a small team of white-clad workers who operate out of the Signpost and make sure the larders are filled and the militia is awake. These Towntenders have given up their place in Utopia — by choice or by force — and find joy in helping others' truths be realized. They're all a little blank and automaton-like, and quite homogenous in how they approach visitors. Rumor has it that they have had their minds burnt out, and that this is the risk of entering the dream land. The rumor is that by entering the dream land, your mind belongs to the Mayor and the other dreamers, and, if they deem you unworthy or disruptive, they can simply sear your mind, changing you, imagining you differently. 'Course they could also just be well-trained and well-organized.

A traveler might find themselves attracted to the town to learn from the many sages that dwell in the Land. As a place of great peace and cooperation, the Land draws scholars and artists looking for their next big masterpiece, or their next big thought. Especially prominent here is a resident githzerai monk by the name of Zupthi (female githzerai/Monk (way of the four elements) 10/Sign of One/Neutral), who spends most of her time teaching students martial arts, in the dream world. It seems to translate pretty effectively to the waking world as well — those who learn and train hard in the dream Land can do what they trained to do in reality.

Notable Figures

The town's mayor is an aasimar man named Kent (male planetouched (aasimar)/Warlock (celestial tome pact) 5/Sign of One/Neutral Good), a warlock who trucks with the celestials. Kent is also the founder of the city, and it is his good relationship with the Guardinals here that has allowed the town to flourish. The celestials believe that Kent is working for the betterment of all the residents of the Land, and of the worlds beyond the Land, by imagining a utopia fit for mortals, as Elysium is a utopia fit for immortals. They hope to see his experiments succeed, and they're happy to intervene on behalf of the town's mayor if he needs their help.

Of course, Kent and most of the town's residents would never leave their dream land long enough to call for help. That role — and the role of the maintenance of most of the city — falls to a reliable bariaur named Ingrid (female bariaur/Ranger (beastmaster) 3/Sign of One/Chaotic Good). Ingrid leads the Towntenders. She was once a member of the dream just like most of the people here, a merchant there selling crafts she and her guild-mates simply dreamt into existence. When a fellow dreamer approached her imaginary craft store and couldn't pay with the imaginary coinage used in the dream land (the sod was apparently one of Zupthi's monks, having taken an imaginary vow of imaginary poverty), she simply imagined a duplicate item for the sod, and gave it to him gratis. The law in the dream world didn't like this much, as in Kent's vision, a utopia is a place where someone's creativity can make them rich, and if folks just dreamt up duplicates all the time, no one could collect jink off of selling their imaginary crafts. She was tried and expelled from the dream world, and folks who know her say she hasn't quite been the same. She's numb, unconnected, a little shut-off, like she's been drugged. She doesn't seem to have an ounce of creativity in her, but she still wants the utopia project to succeed, so she's helping it along by supplying the town with what they need — food, water, cleanup, maintenance, it all falls to Ingrid to organize, and the other Towntenders — most of which have that burnt-out quality — to do.

Hooks

Bad Medicine

The avoral healer Samberre travels Elysium looking to apply his lore of medicines to the mortals who are traversing the planes, and in those travels, he stumbled on the Perfected Land…and was immediately horrified. The burned-out quality of the Towntenders was a phenomenon he recognized as a psionic malady that locked away the minds of those afflicted, turning them into contented automatons. Only when he proposed the healing to those in the dream world, none of them even seemed to notice he was there. His fellow guardinals shrugged and said that the town was by and large orderly and good, and it was not their job to intervene on behalf of the mortals unless they were causing trouble for others. Samberre took to healing some of the Towntenders, feeling that it was his obligation to make those damaged better in some way. None have come back totally whole, but Samberre has learned enough to know that what passes for justice in the dream world looks a lot like a crippling punishment from the outside, and he wants to put a stop to it. His plan is to send a few planewalkers in, using a mostly-rehabilitated Towntender as a guide, and have them convince Kent and the law-and-order in town to stop crippling those that break their laws. This isn't likely to be a tale the town higher-ups are interested in hearing: if you can't expel the unwanted from your utopia, how is it an ideal place? As Samberre experienced, the townsfolk have ways of just…ignoring…those who don't already conform to the ideals of town, so it might take a strong will to even be heard.

A Dream Deferred

There is a group of four pilgrims in Sigil who aren't members of the Sign of One who want to go live in The Perfected Land, having heard about its wonders from some Signers. The issue is Elysium itself: the group was originally 12, but everyone else was lost to the idle bliss of the plane, and gave up on the goal of utopia. These four escaped, and are interested in reaching the Land from elsewhere in Elysium (since they aren't Signers, they can't use the portal that the Sign of One controls), but they need to be protected along the way…mostly protected from themselves, and from the plane's alluring influence. There is a hiccup in this plan, though — even after reaching the Perfected Land, one of the pilgrims has a fairly disturbing idea of what a perfect utopia is like, and when this one enters the Land, all will turn to worship him as a god. He believes that this will be best for everyone involved, as he believes that he is the only true being in the multiverse — not unlike many Signers. It's not evil…but it might make everyone in the Land a slave to this one pilgrim's will, if he can dream it to be. And if he can't, well, is the Land really perfected, if it's not perfected for all?