Delphine

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The dark, labyrinthine tunnels that wind beneath the ground are home to all manner of secrets. The stone passages are narrow and damp, rivulets of water trickling down and sparkling dully in the dying light cast from the candles and torches of lost passersby. Indeed, these catacombs are largely unexplored and many who venture into their depths are unlikely to return to the surface. Instead, they blunder aimlessly through the maze of tunnels, bracing themselves against walls as they stumble forward through the darkness long after their light sources have burnt out. Some find themselves here of their own volition; their curious minds driving them forward. Others are prisoners of the clan above – traitors or thieves cast below and left to their fates. The rough stone against their fingers eventually gives way to something akin to string woven tightly across the walls of the passageway. It wraps around the entire diameter of the tunnels, effectively muffling sound and providing a soft padding underfoot. The threads of this enormous, underground web strum and vibrate with the movement of visitors; a trap waiting to ensnare any prey who stumble into its grasp.

The tunnels eventually empty into a cavernous room, its surface covered by the same substance that adorns the passages. Between stalactites, enormous swaths of webbing drape delicately from the ceiling, while the floor is littered with web-enrobed bones and a hoard of shimmering gemstones. Several cocoons hang from the roof of the cavern as well, sometimes appearing to shift and struggle briefly before stilling once more. She always keeps herself hidden, sometimes hovering upon a delicate expanse of web in a dark corner or clinging to the ropey ceiling above. She waits until her prey is sufficiently ensnared in her trap, occasionally shaking at the strings to entangle them further or secreting more of the thread-like substance from her tail. Once she is satisfied, she descends.

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Some would call Delphine a creature of beauty. Her eyes sparkle in the darkness like a crown of rubies and her form is draped with elegant tatters of web-like fabric sewn carefully with tassels and beads and bright gemstones. She wears a pearlescent collar that gleams unnaturally, as if it were emitting a faint glow of its own. She swings gracefully as she traverses her tangle of webs, arachnid-like appendages carefully treading across the strands as she approaches. Others look up to see a monster with far too many beady red eyes and the unnatural limbs of a spider stretching from her back.

She scutters towards her prey, carefully brushing a hand across their cheeks and humming a soft lullaby as fangs extend from her jaws. She’s always gentle, grazing her victims with a painless bite. They hear the sounds of her lullaby as venom courses through their veins; the effects akin to an anesthetic that dulls their consciousness and forces them into a deep slumber. Their eyelids droop shut as she hums, their heartbeats and breathing slowing as they slip into their dreams. Dreams. That’s what she’s after. Indeed, she siphons them away from her prey, keeping their bodies tightly wrapped in silken cocoons until their physical forms succumb to starvation or their minds are sapped away. Regardless, all that remains is a shell, an empty husk of a dragon entwined in the creature’s webbing. Then, she pulls the strings and the shapeless cocoons weave tightly around limbs and necks and wings, forming a mummified puppet from the remains.

“Delphine. Delphine. Delphine.” It was a dream-eater’s name, spoken three times that would summon them onto the earthly plane. Delphine was no different, the call wrapping around her, pulling her close to the waking world with the promise of a meal. Indeed, she would come to devour nightmares, siphoning away the bad dreams along with whatever else she could pull from mortal minds. Once she was satisfied, she would slip away once more, her form dissolving like smoke as she drifted out of existence.

Then everything changed. The familiar beaconing of her name pulled Delphine close to the barrier that separated her incorporeal world from that of the physical plane. The dream-eater pulled herself through the fabric of reality, rearranging atoms to create a body, but there was no nightmare-ridden dragon pleading her to dispose of their bad dreams when she arrived. Instead, she was trapped within the confines of a circle on the ground formed from a raised line of ash and lime. Delphine became aware of something heavy and constricting around her neck as well, cold and metallic where it wrapped against her skin. She hissed in agitation. The trip between realities, coupled with the energy required to pull matter together into an inhabitable body left Delphine drained and ravenous for whatever nightmare that her summoner would offer. She would settle for peaceful dreams or thoughts if there were no nightmares available, but this time, even those were out of Delphine’s reach. The drake before her was obscured by shadows, its voice dull and monotone, and when the flickering candle-light flashed across its eyes, they appeared cloudy as if they belonged to a corpse.

Delphine carded through her summoner’s consciousness, but she found nothing. There were no nightmares or dreams, not even a flicker of consciousness. Void of thought and emotion, it was as if the mind of this drake were simply a shell, the entire dragon a puppet whose actions were directed by tugs on a set of unseen strings. The dragon remained silent, stepping forward to break the line of ash before it crumpled onto the ground. Delphine stepped free of the circle, angry and ravenous as she inspected the corpse, but there was no trace of the being who summoned her. The dream-eater clawed unsuccessfully at the metal collar adorning her neck, but it only seemed to tighten as she did so, constricting until she gave a cough and was forced to leave the ornament alone.

Delphine tried to leave the earthly plane. She focused her remaining energy on the barrier that separated worlds, pressing against its membrane-like surface as she willed it to give way and let her pass. Instead, the barrier recoiled against her and she was pushed back into the body she had created and tethered to the physical plane. Eventually, she retreated into solitude deep within the Earth, spinning her webs among the tunnels and waiting for prey to fall into her grasp. She haunts the catacombs, disposing of any intruders or traitors that the clan above sends her way. She is certainly not the only creature who resides here, but the others tend to respect the dream-eater’s territory, steering clear of the tunnels marked by thick swaths of webbing. She gets unusual guests from time to time, a peacock spider or other small, insect-like creatures who makes themselves at home upon her webs. They keep the dream-eater company for a time, but their existence is often transient and the majority either move on or expend their lifespans. Sometimes, Delphine wishes that someone else would come; another of her kind, perhaps, for the dark tunnels are a lonely place, even for her.


There are occasions when the faint resonance of music can be heard coming from somewhere deep in the tunnels as well – a melancholy string of notes accompanied by an ethereal voice singing softly into the darkness. The dream-eater pulls on a thousand puppet strings, her servants leaping forth to strum the strings of webbing into a symphony as the dream-eater herself dances somewhere deep below the Earth.

Part II: Duet

Delphine’s symphony lured a great many drakes into her grasp, but one day, she felt the strings of her great web vibrate as if someone else were walking upon them. She’d gotten used to the occasional sway of webbing under the foot of a small insect, but this felt like something much, much larger. Curious, but also nervous about what or who could so boldly be traversing across her web, Delphine tucked herself away and waited from a secluded hiding spot behind several stalactites. “Excuse me? Hello!” a voice came out of one of the tunnels as a vibrant green Nocturne appeared, walking with ease across Delphine’s webs. Confused, the dream-eater kept herself hidden, peering curiously down at the drake from her hiding place. “Gorgeous set up you’ve got down here,” the voice continued as the green dragon wandered about, moving with ease across the webs and glancing around the cavern as if she were searching for something. “Sorry to intrude like this, but I believe Elizabeth made her way down here and I’ve come to fetch her. Meal-time and all, you know?”

Delphine continued watching as one of the spiders she hosted as a guest excitedly scurried towards the Nocturne, leaping onto her scales. “Ah, there you are!” the green drake said happily, “let’s go home, Elizabeth! Oh, and thank you for taking care of her!” The Nocturne said, projecting her words around the cavern to an unknown listener. “You have a beautiful voice as well by the way, sometimes we can hear your singing from all the way up above!” With that, the green dragon turned and waltzed back across the webbing, exiting through one of the tunnels, her voice echoing as she continued to talk to the spider.

It was a few weeks later when the spider called Elizabeth ventured back into Delphine’s cavern. This time, the dream-eater descended before her, carefully extending a hand towards the small arachnid and scooping her up. “Elizabeth, is it?” The spider appeared to be listening, fixating her eight beady black eyes on Delphine. “Please, can you take a message to your friend for me? I’d much like to see her again”.

When Lydia came, it took all of Delphine’s courage to descend from her hiding place. She was a creature of ambush by nature and she’s never appeared to someone like this before – someone who had the option of running away. “What if she thinks I’m a monster?” Delphine fretted before the Nocturne’s arrival, pacing back and forth across her web. “If she sees me and just runs away?” Still, Delphine needed a friend. Most rumors made dreameaters out to be solitary creatures, but many were in fact social beings who often formed alliances to hunt and share prey together. It was the comradery that Delphine missed more than anything.

“Hello? Delphine, is it? I received Elizabeth’s message! She said it was of the utmost importance that I come back here and meet with you and to be honest, any friend of Elizabeth’s is certainly a friend of mine!” The mention of friendship made something ache in Delphine’s chest and despite her fear, she nervously forced herself to emerge from her hiding place and scuttle gingerly towards the Nocturne. The green drake froze, and her eyes widened, but she made no effort to run and the two stared at each other for some time before an unusual sound came from Lydia’s throat. A gasp, perhaps? It sounded almost like. . .

Before Delphine could finish that thought or speak, the Nocturne’s excited voice echoed through the cavern once more, “Goodness, you are one of the most beautiful creatures I’ve ever met! Delphine, I had no idea, honestly. I mean, sure Elizabeth spoke fondly of you before, but I figured you enjoyed your space down here – didn’t want to intrude on that, you know? But now that I’m here, it is quite nice to finally have a chance to meet you!” In her excitement, Lydia had unfolded an additional pair of limbs that had previously been tucked neatly against her sides and Delphine came to realize how similar the two of them were, each with arachnid-like legs and a love of webbing and spiders.

Those who knew Lydia often wondered where she would disappear to for days to weeks on end, but it was sometimes nice to have a break from her overly eccentric and bubbly nature. Still, there were occasions when other drakes would disappear around the same time as the Nocturne. Perhaps a messenger who was supposed to arrive and deliver letters or goods from another clan, or a prisoner taken from one of the holding cells. The expected parcels would be stacked neatly in Lydia’s lair, or perhaps a set of keys to one of the rusted prison cells would be found on the Nocturne’s desk. The drakes that disappeared, however, would never re-emerge. Regardless, it was usually someone who showed a dislike of spiders, perhaps treading upon one on their way inside or scoffing with disgust and slapping one off the wall of their dark prison cell.

If anyone asked Lydia, she’d simply shrug. “Sure, I saw the messenger! Rude fellow, nearly trod upon Walter on their way in! I just invited them down to see an old friend and haven’t seen them again since!” She was honest, at least, always smiling. “Right, the prisoner in cell 2? I paid him a visit, sure”.

Delphine never had access to so much food before. It was brilliant, really. “The way out is right over here!” she’d hear Lydia’s voice echo from down the tunnels and feel the gentle sway of web under the Nocturne’s feet before another, much clumsier creature followed suit and inevitably tangled themselves in Delphine’s trap. The dream-eater would descend and wrap her prey, spinning them into a cocoon of silken threads before the bite came and they drifted off into slumber. They could hear someone speaking, a voice talking about ridding the world of one more arachnophobe. “You should have seen what they almost did to Gerald! Really, it was quite inconsiderate.”

There is still a song that echoes up from below as well, but often now there are two voices singing a duet. It is no longer melancholy and sad, but still haunting for it beacons and lures drakes down into the depths of the catacombs with promises of an ever-lasting dream. Or perhaps, a nightmare.

(LORE BY: awaicu)

A Dreameater devours the nightmares of all manner of dragons and beasts and It cannot be summoned without caution. Ancient legends say that if a Dreameater is not satisfied after consuming the nightmare, he or she may also devour one’s hopes and dreams.

More commonly Imperial dragons in appearance it’s not unheard of to see other breeds but to a lesser degree. They favour items that extenuate their nightmarish appearance, dark or cursed objects are their most treasured. The oldest of the Dreameaters are usually mottled with scars from their numerous battles for control of their respective groups, battles of dominance and supreme leadership with others of their kind.

Legend has it, that if a dragon or beast wakes up from a bad dream they can call out to a Dreameater repeating it's name three times and it will appear. It is known that the Dreameater will come into the lair and devour the bad dream, allowing the dreamer to go back to sleep peacefully.

However, calling to the Dreameater must be done sparingly, because if he or she remains hungry after eating someone's nightmare, they may also devour the hopes and desires as well, leaving the afflicted dreamer to live an empty life. A Dreameater can also be summoned for protection from bad dreams prior to falling asleep at night and talismans are often kept close to sleeping quarters to help ward off the bad dreams.

Often mistaken for dragons possessed by the shade they are avoided by all within a lair until called upon. The fact that they have never confirmed or denied that they are possessed by the shade has not helped them to fully fit into any clan.

Due to their movements and appearance other dragons fear them as shade emissaries, their presence often causes hatchlings to become afflicted by nightmares due to their appearance meaning that they are called forward more often then they should be.

Jupiter type:
Quieter than their cousins they tend to prefer to avoid fights though it is not always possible. They tend to have a gracefulness about them in all that they do and have at times proven to show off their gracefulness to it's fullest advantage in hopes of attracting a mate.














By:Rahkali