The Dreamwalkers hunt Undead and Necromancers across the Old World. They are all servants of Morr, and believe that the God sends dreams to guide them to evils that must be crushed. Most bands of Dreamwalkers are formed around a Priest of Morr, and the Temples of that God support the group. In the Empire, the Amethyst Order also backs it, and more than a few Amethyst Wizards are found in its ranks.[1a]
Only people with a particular devotion to Morr are allowed to join the group, and only those willing to devote much of their time to rooting out and destroying the Undead want to. As a result, it is not a large organisation, but its members are very dedicated.[1a]
Purpose
The Dreamwalkers exist to fight the Undead, defeat Necromancers, and destroy Necromantic texts, to prevent the appearance of more Necromancers in the future. Greenskins and the Ruinous Powers are, as far as the Dreamwalkers are concerned, somebody else’s problem, as are the sins and sufferings of the living.[1a]
History
Most members of the Dreamwalkers believe that its foundation is lost in the mists of history; this is because the group has never particularly bothered with recording its own history, and because of its fragmented structure, as described below. The handful of scholars with an interest in such things, and a considerable number of old Vampires, know that the first group of Dreamwalkers consisted of a Priest of Morr called Bartolf, an experienced mercenary called Hieronymus, and a woman, variously described as an actress, whore, and thief, called Philomelia von Hagendorf. They formed their group in 1681 IC, and, even among those who know this much, most assume that this was in response to the Night of the Restless Dead.[1a]
In fact, the three met two weeks before that terrible night. All three of them had been suffering from terrible nightmares, in which they were pursued by hordes of Undead monsters, risen from their graves and set free to ravage the land. They also each dreamed of an isolated roadside tavern in Hochland, and of meeting the other two there. Bartolf was convinced that the dreams were a message from his God after they continued for a week, and so was the first of the three to arrive at the tavern. Philomelia was next, and the dour and practical Hieronymus the last, when he was finally unable to resist the urgings of the dreams.[1a]
There are no records of what they did before and during the Night of the Restless Dead. The tavern where they met was destroyed, and even its precise location was lost. Members of the Dreamwalkers speculate that the three could have prevented the mass rising of the Undead, but that they failed. Unless some lost document is uncovered, however, no one can now know for certain.[1a]
What is well established is that the three split up after that dreadful night, each of them recruiting a small number of followers and travelling to a distant part of the Empire to continue their fight with the Undead. All three of them claimed to still receive guiding dreams from Morr, and, at least according to the surviving records, those dreams were surprisingly accurate.[1a]
The group sustained itself through the following centuries of chaos, and even spread into other lands of the Old World. Recruits were chosen for their dedication and competence, but every band was required to have at least one member who, in the opinion of at least two existing bands, was receiving prophetic dreams from Morr. On the whole, the Dreamwalkers were quite strict about this, although mistakes were inevitable.[1a]
The Wars of the Vampire Counts are remembered as the greatest failure in the group’s history. Dreamwalker after Dreamwalker had dreams warning of the rise of Vampires, and the bands set off to defeat the menace. Almost all of them were destroyed, and a few were even turned by the Vampire Counts. Some tried to take their warnings to the authorities, but they were laughed at as madman, or burned as heretics; even the tiny handful who were heeded found that the authorities of that time lacked the power to do much.[1a]
Two figures from this time are remembered today, and held up as examples: Elisinda the Black, and Benedicta the Radiant.[1a]
Benedicta the Radiant was a former mercenary, who fought for years as Benedicta until she was the sole survivor of her company after it was thrown against a Necromancer. She found herself plagued by prophetic dreams, and followed them to destroy many Undead. She favoured fire as a weapon, which gave rise to her name. Before the Wars of the Vampire Counts formally began, her dreams led her into what would become Sylvania, where she disappeared. Elisinda the Black was a young Priestess of Morr, serving in the Temple in Altdorf. She had spoken against the Dreamwalkers, accusing them of selfish delusions and possible heresy, but her influence was limited. In 2009, she started having dreams of seductively powerful creatures coming from the East. She believed her own propaganda, and ignored the dreams for weeks, but as they repeated every night, she finally left the Temple, determined to find out what they meant.[1a][1b]
She came out of Ostermark just ahead of the Vampire armies, carrying the head of Benedicta von Carstein, who had been Benedicta the Radiant, and seeking a member of the Dreamwalkers she had seen in her dreams. For the rest of her life, she was a tireless member of the group, finally dying at the Siege of Altdorf, in 2051.[1b]
Elisinda’s influence became greater as she became older, and the present threat of the Vampire Counts lent weight to her arguments. At her urging, the Temples of Morr formally recognised the Dreamwalkers as a group chosen by Morr to fight the Undead. Her crucial argument was that the dreams, sent by Morr, set the Dreamwalkers apart from freelance Vampire Hunters, and demonstrated the direct blessing of the God.[1b]
The Dreamwalkers remained on the fringes of history, taking little direct part in the Great War against Chaos. However, they did destroy a number of Necromancers who hoped to take advantage of the anarchy produced by the threat, and this valuable service did not go unnoticed; the group has been linked to the Amethyst College since Teclis founded it.[1b]
For members of the group, “history” is a set of stories of heroic battles against the Undead, featuring many different bands of Dreamwalkers and not linked into any sort of general narrative. As the few scholars of the group’s history have noted, this is quite possibly because, in the grand scheme of things, the group seems to have been largely ineffective, having failed to grasp its two opportunities to make a large difference to history. Better, then, to concentrate on the small victories, and maintain hope.[1b]
The Dreamwalkers Today
The Dreamwalkers are made up of a number of small groups, called bands, each of which operates independently most of the time. Each band forms around an individual who has prophetic dreams from Morr, and its activities are guided, in large part, by those dreams. The bands share information and resources with one another, and may pass on requests for help. Bands do not have the authority to give orders, but they are expected to monitor other bands, and raise concerns if a band does not seem to be paying enough attention to defeating the Undead.[1b]
The Dreamwalkers are an obscure organisation, not a secret one. Members rarely announce their membership, largely because hardly anyone has heard of them, and claiming membership in an obscure organisation that has a lot to do with the Undead is often bad for your health. Most Priests of Morr, and all Amethyst Magisters, are aware of them, and while personal attitudes vary widely, the Dreamwalkers are officially condoned, although not actively supported. Of course, even active support from the Temple of Morr and a College of Wizardry would be little help against Witch Hunters with the backing of the Cult of Sigmar, which provides another reason for members of the group to be discreet.[1b][1c]
New members often assume that it must be vital to preserve secrecy, to stop Vampires and Necromancers hunting them down. The (slightly dispiriting) truth is that hardly any Undead or Necromancers care enough about the group to put any effort into opposing them.[1c]
Structure
As described above, the Dreamwalkers are split into a number of bands, each of which is largely independent of the others.[1c]
Every band must include at least one person who receives prophetic dreams from Morr. Bands with two or more such people are encouraged by other bands to split into bands with one dreamer each, so that the organisation can cover more ground. This pressure, and the rarity of people with such useful dreams, means that bands with more than one dreamer are very rare.[1c]
Beyond that, the structure of a band is up to its members. The dreamer is usually the leader, but not always so, particularly if there is also an Amethyst Magister in the band. A band may consist solely of the dreamer, but most have a small number of associates. The largest band on record had twelve members, although anything over six counts as “large.” Bands that do not include at least one competent warrior tend to be very short-lived, or to dedicate themselves to gathering information and looking for a warrior. Sometimes, bands ally themselves with other adventuring types to get the necessary firepower, and this can work well, as long as the allies are sympathetic. Indeed, since bands are allowed to determine their own structure, the difference between a member of the band and an ally can be difficult to determine.[1c]
From the perspective of the rest of the organisation, the important difference between a member and an ally is that only a member should be in contact with other bands of Dreamwalkers. Allies should not know the identities of members outside the band with which they are allied. On the other hand, Dreamwalkers are encouraged to be in contact with several bands, and are required to be in frequent contact with at least three. Each band sends reports on its activities, and any useful information it has uncovered, to bands it is in contact with. Occasionally, other bands check on the accuracy of these reports, often because of a dream, and this is the group’s main way of finding corruption in the ranks. Bands have been found allied with the Ruinous Powers, blinded by the need for power to take the fight to the Undead, and even allied with one Undead monster or Necromancer against others. Very occasionally, a band is found simply taking it easy and making up its reports, but that is extremely rare.[1c]
Although there is no formal rank within the Dreamwalkers as a whole, informal respect is very important. Bands guided by accurate dreams and which score victories over the Undead find their recommendations and requests taken very seriously by other bands, while those whose dreams are inaccurate may find themselves being investigated to make sure that they really do have a dreamer. Bands who fail in their battles with the Undead tend to be dead, at least briefly. Even successful bands find that other bands investigate them, to make sure that all their stories are true; most unmasked corrupt groups are discovered because their records looked very good, and suspicions were raised.[1c]
Outside the Empire
The Dreamwalkers are strongest within the Empire; that is where they were founded, and their alliance with the Amethyst College does not extend beyond its borders. However, individual bands are allowed to wander as their dreams lead them, which means that the group has a presence in all nations of the Old World. Bands are discouraged from wandering so far that they lose contact with all others, which has kept them confined to the Old World for now, but it is always possible that they might spread.[1c]
The group tends to be strong where the Cult of Morr is strong, which essentially means Tilea. Kislev and Bretonnia pay little reverence to the God of the Dead, and his Cult is not strong enough in Estalia to compensate for its distance from the Empire. No matter where they are, bands act in much the same way. Morr’s dreams might change their language to suit the area, but their message is the same.[1c]
Goals and Motives
The Dreamwalkers want to see the Undead, and Necromancers, expunged from the world. If this has to be done one zombie at a time, so be it.[1c]
Of course, the Dreamwalkers know that there are more Undead than Dreamwalkers, and that the Undead have time on their side. They try not to let this get them down, however, and instead look for ways to be more efficient in their elimination of the menace. This has led a significant number of them to study modern weapons, as gunpowder can be very effective against the corporeal Undead.[1c]
However, most Dreamwalkers recognise that, if the menace is to be finally defeated, that can only be done by eliminating the ability to create Undead. Thus, they are particularly keen to eliminate Necromancers and necromantic texts. Destroy a zombie, and you’ve destroyed one zombie. Kill a Necromancer, and you’ve pre-emptively destroyed every zombie he would ever raise. Burn a necromantic book, and you’ve destroyed every zombie that would have been raised by every student of that book.[1c]
What is more, going around the Old World burning books does not make you many enemies. It’s almost normal behaviour, and the owner of the book is hardly going to be able to publicise the fact that he is angry because you burned his necromantic tome. Books, even necromantic ones, also tend to be rather less dangerous than active Undead. For all these reasons, given a choice, most Dreamwalkers would spend their time hunting down books and burning them.[1c][1d]
The dreams are the complicating factor. Almost all Dreamwalkers believe that Morr sends them dreams to tell them what to do, and these dreams often urge courses of action other than hunting books. Since Morr’s guidance is what motivates most Dreamwalkers day to day, they do not ignore these dreams. In practice, other bands assume that a band spending too much time looking for books is either ignoring the dreams, or does not have a genuine dreamer, and so investigate. Thus, almost all bands spend a lot of their time confronting Undead and Necromancers directly.[1d]
Since Dreamwalkers do want to stop the rot at its source, they almost always follow up on the appearance of Undead, determining why the Undead appeared, whether there was a Necromancer involved, and, if so, where he is. The aim, always, is to kill the Necromancer and burn his books. This can be difficult if the Necromancer is influential in his community, or a powerful Vampire in his own right, and so some bands arrange for damning evidence to come into the hands of Witch Hunters or other groups with powerful backing.[1d]
This raises another problem for the group, and one that they must bear in mind at all times. Their official standing is a little unsteady; even the Cult of Morr only tolerates them. Thus, unlike Witch Hunters, they are granted no leeway by the authorities if they kill the wrong people.[1d]
There are few towns that get angry with people who kill lurching, rotten corpses, but if the Necromancer who animated them was popular, things could get ugly. Most bands do not let this deflect them from their duty, and still kill any Necromancers they find. However, Dreamwalkers tend to be very careful in deciding whether someone is a Necromancer. They simply cannot afford to kill everyone to avoid the risk of leaving a Necromancer alive, and thus may give a suspect the benefit of the doubt.[1d]
Those bands who have rarely been proven mistaken in this tend to see themselves as morally superior to the Witch Hunters, being more careful to avoid targeting the innocent. Those bands who have seen a number of people they allowed to live continue a Necromantic career, on the other hand, tend to envy the Witch Hunters their freedom to take no risks with the security of the community in the future. There is, as a result, a trickle of people leaving the Dreamwalkers and joining the Templars of Sigmar; the fact that most Dreamwalkers are genuinely devoted to Morr keeps this trickle small.[1d]
Dreams
The dreams that come to a band’s dreamer are the most immediate motivation for that band. Bands only stay together as long as they believe that the dreamer really is receiving messages from Morr, as who would ignore a message from their God? The vast majority of dreamers also believe that they are receiving divine instructions, and certainly the dreams seem to be more informative than pure chance would suggest.[1d]
Of course, the skeptical might suggest that, if someone spends his waking hours studying the Undead and searching for clues as to where they might be, his dreams will reflect that. When those dreams are interpreted in the light of such knowledge and research, it is, perhaps, not surprising that they lead to monsters more often than not. Most bands can, however, point to at least one occasion when the dreams revealed something new, something important that they could not have learned otherwise. They hold that people who dismiss this as pure luck show insufficient faith in the Gods.[1d]
If the dreams do come from Morr, his plans are deeper than mortals can comprehend, because they often send bands off in apparently random directions. While this is only to be expected, it does mean that explaining the activities of the Dreamwalkers in terms of their professed goals is often quite difficult. They often fail to follow obviously superior strategies, and waste time dealing with minor infestations of Undead. They do this, however, because their God has told them to.[1d]
The Vampire Counts
The Vampire Counts are, to the Dreamwalkers, an abomination upon the face of the earth that should be cleansed with fire at the first opportunity. In principle…[1d][1e]
In practice, they find that their dreams lead them in other directions, so that they cannot concentrate on developing the strategies that would be needed to bring down such influential Undead. Further, those Dreamwalkers who are led to take on Vampires often repeat the experience of Benedicta the Radiant, and find themselves turned, or at least killed. The fact that most bands know this, and know that they would likely face the same fate, may, just possibly, subconsciously influence their interpretation of their dreams.[1e]
Symbols and Signs
The Dreamwalkers do not use secret signs as much as some other groups, and they do not have a formal badge. Members know other bands personally, and are personally introduced to further members as it becomes necessary, and the group is spread so thinly that it has never been necessary for members to recognise other members on first meeting.[1e]
Dreamwalkers do tend to follow two conventions in clothing, however. First, they usually wear black. This is sometimes explained as being a tribute to Elisinda the Black, but it is more likely that it is simply a reflection of the Morrian preference for the colour of mourning. While Dreamwalkers do not explicitly tell new recruits to wear black, it is normal to express disapproval of a new recruit’s outfit until he moves to the appropriate colour. Most members are aware that black is, for some reason, the right colour to wear.[1e]
Morrian vestments are also black, but Dreamwalkers only wear priestly vestments if they are actually Priests. Otherwise, they wear black clothes in a different style, out of respect for the agents of the God.[1e]
The second convention is not even recognised by the membership. Almost all of them wear a visible symbol of Morr, because they are all devout followers of the God and wish to express that allegiance. Because wearing such a symbol is unusual in most countries, this makes them notable.[1e]
As a result, Dreamwalkers stand out in a crowd, particularly if a band has more than a couple of members, and a handful of very knowledgeable Necromancers have used this to avoid the group’s attentions. More experienced bands know this, and make a determined effort to dress differently when trying to gather information, but even they are likely to revert to black when “off duty,” and very few of them go so far as to hide the symbols of Morr.[1e]
Membership
The members of the Dreamwalkers are all Morrians who are dedicated to fighting the Undead menace. The group is overwhelmingly Human, because Morr is not a popular God with other races. Somewhat surprisingly, it is also heavily middle class. In part, this reflects the popularity of different Gods within various social levels. However, dedication to destroying Undead requires a certain distance from the struggle to survive, which tends to exclude the lower class, and it is socially very difficult for Imperial nobles to distance themselves from the popular Cult of Sigmar. There are numerous exceptions, of course, but most members were raised in relative prosperity.[1e]
The dreamers are the skeleton of the organisation, holding together each band. They are also somewhat more diverse in background than other members, because Morr can send prophetic dreams to anyone. As noted below, a Priest of Morr must certify each dreamer as genuine, which means that prejudice has an effect. The group has never excluded women, though it has gone through periods of discouraging them; at present, however, women are treated fairly equally as candidates. Prejudice against the lower classes has been endemic, and prejudice against foreigners has helped to ensure the Dreamwalkers are mostly of Imperial stock. None of these facts represent formal requirements, however, so there have always been exceptions. A few dreamers from atypical backgrounds have spent quite some time, usually with the help of a contact in the Dreamwalkers, finding a Priest who was willing to approve them.[1e]
People who join up to accompany the dreamers fall into three broad classes. The largest is made up of those who have survived an encounter with the Undead. While these people can have any background, they often turn to martial careers in the interest of surviving future encounters. The smallest group is made up of Amethyst Magisters. The College does not disapprove of its members joining the Dreamwalkers, and membership is no bar to advancement in the College. However, activities with the Dreamwalkers are also no help in the struggle for political power within the College; the magister could eventually become a Wizard Lord, but he would be isolated within the College. Obviously, Wizard Lords are extremely rare among Dreamwalkers. Finally, there are many Priests of Morr in the bands. There is a higher proportion of miracle-working Priests than in the Order of the Shroud, because the miracles of Morr are very useful in fighting the Undead, so those Priests with access to them tend to survive. It is also not unusual for long-standing members of the group to feel the call of the God, and become Initiates or Templars, even if they do not progress to become Priests.[1e]
Membership in the Dreamwalkers is generally not consistent with continuing in a normal job, or having a family life. The dreams can take the band anywhere, at any time, so members must always be ready to leave. Many recruits lost their normal lives to the Undead in the event that drove them to join up; the others almost always lose them within a year or so through simple neglect.[1e]
The Raven Knights
The Dreamwalkers and the Raven Knights are different organisations, despite their very similar purposes and shared devotion to Morr. The Raven Knights do not rely on dreams to guide them in their battles against the Undead, and they are generally skeptical of the claims of the Dreamwalkers. While, naturally, they concede that Morr does speak in dreams, they mock the idea that he acts like a militia captain, despatching orders to the sergeants to govern their daily activities.[1f]
The Dreamwalkers do not like being mocked, and suggest that the Raven Knights lack respect for the will of the God. They have suggested this to their contacts in the Cult of Morr, and are partly responsible for the Raven Knights’ problems with the Order of the Shroud. Still, it should go without saying that if members of the two groups find themselves facing the same Undead, they cooperate until the enemy is defeated—but generally no longer.[1f]
Recruitment
The formal conditions on joining the group are very simple: any follower of Morr who wishes to fight the Undead may join. Informally, things are a little more complex.[1f]
Recruitment to a band is at the discretion of that band, except that the dreamer has the right of veto, as the dreamer has direct access to the will of Morr. It is normal for dreamers to reject candidates they do not like, because fighting Undead with someone you loathe is a recipe for disaster. Even if the dreamer does not object, almost all bands demand a probationary period, to test the candidate’s mettle. This period is generally long enough to make it difficult for the candidate to go back to his old life, and since it is never over until there has been at least one battle with the Undead, it can be fatal.[1f]
In practice, there is very little difference between being a probationary member and being a full member, and quite a lot of bands use this as one of the tests. A recruit who does not mind not being a full member, because he still gets to battle the Undead, is very likely to be accepted, while one who complains about not being fully accepted is likely to be rejected, as being more interested in status than the mission.[1f]
Recruitment of a new dreamer is more involved, because anyone can say that Morr is sending them prophetic dreams. There is one easy case. There is a miracle known to the Cult of Morr, Guiding Dream, which grants prophetic dreams to the caster. Miracle-working Priests with access to that miracle are automatically accepted as dreamers.[1f]
There are other dreamers, however, as Morr does not restrict his guidance to his Priests. These cases are harder to verify, because dreams do not come with a certificate of authenticity. The Dreamwalkers’ rule is that any candidate dreamer must be accepted as genuine by a Priest of Morr who is not a member of the group. Naturally, most Dreamwalkers who think they have found a new dreamer go to a friendly Priest to get that approval.[1f]
However, most Priests are cautious about authenticating a dreamer. Doing so means, in effect, declaring that someone is a prophet of Morr, albeit in a limited sense, and even if the formal meaning attached to such a declaration is quite limited, Priests still want to avoid being wrong. Thus, most Priests insist on a period of examination first.[1f]
They look at two aspects. First, the candidate’s devotion to Morr, and to the destruction of the Undead, is scrutinised. The Priest may devise tests of faith, as well as watching daily behaviour very carefully. Second, the accuracy of the dreams is assessed. The Priest takes down records of the dreams as related by the dreamer, and then compares them to what actually occurs. There is always a large element of judgement involved in this, and no one expects every dream to be significant, but most Priests require at least a handful of obviously prophetic dreams before they will declare the dreamer to be authentic.[1f][1g]
Obviously, assessing a potential dreamer is a substantial investment of time and effort, which means that the Priests doing so are all friendly to the Dreamwalkers. This means that they often err on the side of approving new dreamers.[1g]
Member Benefits and Responsibilities
The Dreamwalkers do not have a wealthy or powerful patron, so the benefits of membership are mostly subtle, and many of them are the flip side of the responsibilities. Nevertheless, there are definite reasons for joining, beyond moral support.[1g]
First, members of the Dreamwalkers can claim accommodation in Temples of Morr, and stay free of charge for a “reasonable” length of time. The Priests are not required to feed the band, or to give them good accommodation, but it must be acceptable. If there is a known Undead problem in the area, the reception is normally very good, and a grudging welcome often improves once a Necromancer is unmasked.[1g]
Second, bands can call on other bands for help if they face a particularly difficult problem. It normally takes a little while for the help to arrive, so this is not an option in emergencies, but reinforcements of experienced Undead hunters are hard to come by for most other people.[1g]
Finally, bands receive the reports written by other bands. These reports form one of the primary responsibilities of the Dreamwalkers.[1g]
After every encounter with the Undead, a Necromancer, or even a Necromantic book, the band is required to write a report giving all relevant details, and send it to all of the bands they are in contact with. These bands, in turn, copy the report and send it on to the bands they are in contact with. Copying takes time, and so bands are encouraged to keep reports short and to the point; most are naturally inclined to do so in any case. In addition, most bands wait a while after receiving a report, to see if any of their other contacts will also send a copy, and thus minimise the number of copies they have to make. This means that the reports do not spread very quickly.[1g]
Each band is required to maintain a base where these reports can be sent. This is almost always a friendly Temple of Morr, although bands with Amethyst Magisters in their ranks sometimes use Colleges of Wizardry, and a few bands have reports sent to a friendly innkeeper, normally one who can handle himself if the Undead take too direct an interest. The Dreamwalkers make no rules about what to do with the reports. Almost all bands read them, because there is often valuable information about their enemies contained within. Many then burn them, because they do not want to have a stock of texts about the Undead. Most burn at least some reports, although many bands keep the most useful-looking. A few even copy the most important points into a book, but that level of clerical effort is unusual. A handful keep everything, and there is said to be at least one Temple of Morr that has been the registered base of a band of Dreamwalkers almost since the beginning, which holds possibly the greatest repository of lore about the Undead in the Old World.[1g]
As mentioned earlier, some bands also check that the reports they receive are accurate. This is not a formal duty, but it is recognised as a reasonable thing for a band to do. In some cases, a band checks because the Undead were found close to their base, and they want to make sure that the threat has been completely removed. In other cases, however, they check because they have doubts about the accuracy of the report, or even suspect the reporting band of collaboration with the Undead, or with dark powers of some other kind. A few bands spend as much time checking up on their colleagues as they do hunting the Undead; this is particularly common among bands that have had an encounter with Witch Hunters.[1g]
New members of the Dreamwalkers are told that membership gives them no special privileges with respect to the law, or to Witch Hunters, and that the group cannot help them if they get in trouble. One effect of this, the group’s caution about getting the right people, was mentioned above. More generally, bands are expected to be discreet, and to present evidence to the authorities to justify their actions, when possible. In most cases, this is enforced by self-preservation, but some bands take it upon themselves to make sure that none of their colleagues are engaged in activities that might bring the Witch Hunters down on the whole organisation. This informal enforcement is all that there is, however, so it is probably not completely effective.[1g][1h]
The tradition of bands aiding one another has given rise to a secondary custom. Every so often, at the discretion of the dreamer, a band is expected to invite other bands to a dinner party. This party may be held in a Temple of Morr, but it is more common to rent a room in a tavern or inn.[1h]
Some of them are supposed to be simple dinner parties, an opportunity to talk shop and for everyone to become familiar with the local members. While no band is expected to be able to accept every invitation, a band that never went would draw suspicion.[1h]
In part, this is because the ordinary dinner parties are a cover for the real purpose of the gatherings. Sometimes the host band announces a major problem at the dinner party, and asks for help from the assembled Dreamwalkers. It is a awkward to refuse at that point, and a band would need a really good reason to do so. Most, however, are eager to help; they live to fight Undead, and now they have the chance to do so alongside their closest allies in the battle.[1h]
Secrets of the Dreamwalkers
The Dreamwalkers do not have a secret inner circle, or aspects of their past that are deliberately hidden; the structure of the group simply does not support such things. There are, however, a number of truths about the organisation that most of its members do not know, and this ignorance could cause them serious trouble.[1h]
Corruption
Corrupt bands are much more common than the Dreamwalkers think. Even the members of corrupt bands do not realise how many of them there are—the corruption is not organised. Fighting Undead is difficult and dangerous, and bands are generally willing to accept any assistance that looks reasonable. When the problem is really serious, many bands are willing to accept assistance that is clearly dangerous, because of the importance of dealing with the problem.[1h]
In the least serious cases, bands find themselves linked to organised crime. Bands that become small Cults of the Ruinous Powers, generally Tzeentch, Khorne, or Nurgle, are the most common example of corruption. A few even form alliances of convenience with individual Undead. The main reason this widespread corruption goes unnoticed is that most corrupted bands remain discreet, and continue hunting Undead. In most cases, they continue to receive guiding dreams, although the source of those dreams may have changed. In short, the bands do nothing to arouse suspicion, and so their evil remains unnoticed.[1h]
Even with the rampant corruption, there are essentially no bands that just pretend to hunt Undead. The privileges of membership are not attractive enough to draw frauds; the least active bands are simply those whose members have aged, and gone into semi-retirement.[1h]
Insanity
A worryingly high proportion of Dreamwalkers are mad. Encounters with the Undead are not good for sanity, and the need for discretion keeps most members from seeking treatment, even if it would work. Add to this the fact that, “the voices in my head told me that there were zombies here,” is standard operating procedure for the group, and you have a perfect environment for raising lunatics.[1h]
The environment also directs the lunacy; most mad Dreamwalkers have Profane Persecutions or Venomous Thoughts, taking the specific form of believing in a conspiracy of Necromancers or Undead, or that everyone round the character is either Undead or in their power. Such characters can even continue in the Dreamwalkers for some time before anyone notices. Some fall victim to Body of Rot, believing that they are turning into an Undead monster; such characters do not normally continue as Dreamwalkers.[1h]
Terrible Failures
The history of the Dreamwalkers is littered with bands that failed to prevent a major catastrophe. The original members did have a chance to prevent the Night of the Restless Dead, and several groups could have stopped the Vampire Counts before they were able to go to war. On a smaller scale, the history of the Empire is filled with Necromancers and Vampires the Dreamwalkers tried to stop, but couldn’t. Members who learn too much about the history of the group might well conclude that it is a complete waste of time.[1h][1i]
That may, however, be a mistake. If a band prevented a catastrophe, then, obviously, there would be no catastrophe. Not even the band in question might realise what would have happened if they had not intervened. Certainly, there would be no way to be sure from the reports and other remaining evidence. This, at any rate, is what the Dreamwalkers who know the truth tell themselves, to avoid giving in to despair.[1i]
Allies
The Dreamwalkers as a whole do not have any allies; the group has no central authority that could agree to alliances. Individual bands, however, very often do have allies, and those that don’t are strongly encouraged, by other bands, to find some.[1i]
Some people are allied to the members of individual bands, but do not want to join the Dreamwalkers for various reasons. The most obvious reason is devotion to another God, or simple reluctance to get too close to Morr. This sort of relationship is completely acceptable to the organisation, and quite common. Non-members should not be allowed to read the reports, and are not invited to the dinner parties, but anyone who wants to help in the fight against the Undead is welcome to do so.[1i]
A significant number of bands have an alliance with a Witch Hunter, though with varying degrees of closeness and cordiality. The Witch Hunters are most interested in finding the works of Chaos, and are often pleased to have allies they can alert to problems with the Undead; they cannot ignore such abominations, but dealing with them would take time away from the hunt for the servants of the Ruinous Powers. The Dreamwalkers, in turn, get information, and some degree of cover for their own activities. Allied Witch Hunters, while they would naturally burn the Dreamwalkers were there evidence of corruption, actually require evidence; looking creepy, wearing black, and being seen in graveyards are not good enough evidence for an ally, although they might be for an enemy.[1i]
Most bands would like an alliance with the local authorities, and make some tentative overtures towards forming one. This is only occasionally successful, generally after the area has faced a serious threat from the Undead, which the Dreamwalkers faced down. That is, bands can generally form such alliances only after they would have been really useful. Still, when they can it gives them more leeway in their investigations, and backup from the watch or militia if they are facing an army of the restless dead.[1i]
For similar reasons, most bands try to cultivate alliances that can provide significant quantities of muscle on short notice. Those bands lucky enough to have plenty of funds pay court to mercenary captains, others, as mentioned above, make deals with the criminal underground. In these cases, the Dreamwalkers typically have little to offer, which makes building an alliance rather difficult.[1i]
Within this, alliances with groups of people who have found themselves pulled into adventures are the most common. As an added bonus, such groups often feel some sort of duty to defend wider society from terrible threats; the ones that are just in it for the money simply refuse to join an alliance.[1i]
The Cult of Morr
A lot of Priests of Morr have doubts about people who spend their efforts on hunting down Undead, particularly if they claim to be personally guided by the God. Thus, the Cult as a whole cannot really be counted as an ally of the Dreamwalkers. On the other hand, the Cult, at least in the Empire, officially does not disapprove of the Dreamwalkers, a contrast to its attitude to the Raven Knights, so that individual Priests and Temples are at liberty to have better relations without risk of any sort of official censure.[1i]
As a result, Priests and Temples of Morr are common allies for a band, and local units of the Black Guard sometimes help out. Away from the local Temple, however, Priests tend to provide the minimum hospitality, and stay out of the band’s affairs as much as possible.[1i]
It is quite possible for a group of con artists to abuse the hospitality of the Temples, by claiming to be Dreamwalkers. Very few con artists even know that the group exists, however, and most of those who do find out do not know enough to be convincing. As a result, there are very few people taking advantage, and even those who do get nothing more than a roof over their heads, so the Temples maintain the practice. There is at least one genuine group of Dreamwalkers that started off as con artists. Their “dreamer” suddenly started having recurring nightmares about the Undead, and after the dreams came true all of them suddenly discovered a deep and profound faith in Morr. They have managed to embed themselves into the network, but if anyone ever looks too closely into the question of who, exactly, recruited them, they are going to have difficult questions to answer.[1i][1j]
Enemies
The enemies of the Dreamwalkers are Undead and Necromancers. This is hardly surprising. However, there are very few Necromancers working to destroy the whole organisation. In the first place, most Necromancers do not even know that they exist. The Dreamwalkers are much more discreet than the Witch Hunters, and Necromancers are not generally inclined to pass on warnings to others of their kind. Some do know, of course, and most intelligent Undead find out within a century or so, generally as a result of being attacked.[1j]
Of those who know, a few do want to destroy the whole group, but even then they are the exceptions, for three reasons.[1j]
First, the organisation of the Dreamwalkers makes it very hard to destroy them as a whole. You would have to destroy every band individually, and do it faster than the bands were recruiting. What’s more, you would have to cover the whole of the Old World to make sure you got them all.[1j]
Second, that same organisation makes them a minor threat. The Dreamwalkers are, essentially, a lot of small groups hunting Undead, and very few of those groups pose a danger to a powerful Necromancer or Vampire. Most of the Necromancers and Vampires who know about them are powerful, so they regard the Dreamwalkers as like cockroaches; if they come across them, they squash them, but trying to eliminate them entirely is a waste of time.[1j]
Finally, because the Dreamwalkers rely on dreams for guidance, it is very easy for wizards to manipulate them, using them against their enemies. Some Necromancers take advantage of that, and react badly to other Necromancers trying to destroy their unwitting agents.[1j]
The Raven Knights
The Raven Knights are not exactly enemies of the Dreamwalkers, but they are hardly allies. Raven Knights tend to think that the Dreamwalkers’ methods are foolish, and resent the tacit approval that the other group enjoys from the Cult of Morr. Raven Knights would not fight Dreamwalkers, and they would work together to overcome a Necromancer or Vampire, but politically they are opponents. Raven Knights speak against the Dreamwalkers to Priests of Morr who will listen, trying to undermine them. Unfortunately for the Knights, the Dreamwalkers are currently in a stronger position with the Cult, and they use that position to undermine the Knights.[1j]
This is, of course, blithering idiocy. The two groups should be working together, if not actually merged into a single organisation; if they were, the Vampire Counts might really have something to worry about. But pride and tradition mean that the Undead can sleep easily in their graves for a few more days.[1j]