Lorien of the Timeless
Immortal servant to the Arcana, the magic behind all universal laws and forces. Mentalist with domain over the entirety of the human unconsciousness.
Master of the Realm of Dreams, creator of nightmares, and guardian of humanities' memories and emotions.
In the beginning, there was nothing in this universe, save for emptiness.
Gods sprung from the nothingness of the darkness to bring light, and they sealed behind them the abyss from which they had spawned. No life would exist in this beyond, the land which would be known to existence as the Fade. The divine forged their new universe to life, weaving strings of their hair, using muscle and bone to build rock and land, and exhaled their hot breath upon the world to create the first fractals of light. Their tears and sweat carved rivers and oceans into empty valleys carved by kneading fingertips. Then, the Gods created factions amongst themselves to divide their labour and the universe they had created. By this division, they could guarantee that their universe would have the necessary oversight and creation. The Creators were basic builders, designing the prototypes of man, beast, and structure to this new world. Their hands molded the sun and stars and lifted mountains from the dirt. The Creators served as the principle point from which the world would function, acting as the foundation for all human behaviour and activity. They created life from the husks created by the Architects and gave them properties: emotions, sentience, needs, and wants. The Arcane were the strangest of all. They bound the universe with invisible strings, imbuing the world with energy to connect all things, living and non-living. These cords and tethers were the network of blood vessels, the lungs, the beating heart, the nerves, and the brain of the universe. These gods' sciences created magic, the Arcana, a study of universal laws and power.
And while the world had come to understand, know, and love the Creators and the Architects under many names, the power of the Arcane usually went rather unnoticed by many. Over eons of human existence, scholars barely scraped the surface of understanding the elements and forces that came together to form the matter they used to explain everyday life. Concepts of gravity and motion, the forces that bound the subatomic particles of a nucleus, and the existence of polarity were all items they could identify and explain, but it was an impossible matter to control or create them. Over millennia, some existed with an affinity to feel the Arcana, and they tried to pluck the taut strings of being the Arcane used. These gifted individuals saw the circles drawn in invisible sand, and by connecting to the very life force of all existence, they learned how every being and material item was tethered by invisible energies. These students of the universe were, and are, the Arcanists. They carried the great burden of many a name. Some were mere scholars and students of philosophy, while others advanced to planes of new knowledge. It damned many of them, earning them the names of witches, demons, warlocks, and Satanists. It was dangerous to meddle in Godly and mysterious things. After all, these were divinations not conjured for the understanding and comprehension of mere mortal bodies. Many died for the quest of knowledge and power, some by their peers or some by the consequences of their own crafts.
Some students broke the laws of the world meant to serve as rein and bridle to constrain human ability. Elementalists found ways to manipulate material by seeking the threads of the world that ruled fields of matter; fire, water, wood, wind, rock, and metal among many others spoke to their limbs as easily as breath and sweat. They simply sensed the hum of the strings and learned to sing them like Arcane once had. The Mentalists sought control of a far more complicated realm, and oft, it came at a greater cost. Fewer survived conquests of the living mind or body because it was a dangerous place not meant to be understood by many, even other Gods. Thoughts, feelings, emotions, dreams, and nightmares were formed as a complicated marriage between the power of the Arcane and the Creators. Tapping into the mind required balance for a scholar to understand the balance between the powers of Creation and the Arcanic influences on the universe. Their hunt and pursuit of knowledge and power gave rose to the world's most hidden discipline ever. But the Gods knew of their meddling and their investigations; some Arcanists earned immortal status for their toying with the threads of the universe, filling in niches to serve and assist. These servants to the Gods, known as The Timeless, served their purpose in many way by reaping the curses and blessings of power. They were granted immortality and great power, but at the cost of their total freedoms.
Lorien was a Mentalist and a particularly talented Arcanist studying power within the human unconscious with a particular interest in dreaming. He studied under his mentor Kali, who subjected Lorien to sensory deprivation and torture meant to force reactive use of Lorien's Mentalism. While this training procedure sharpened and whet his mind, it did not come without consequence. Physically and nearly mentally broken, the knowledge-seeking Mentalist collapsed in a field. He reached out to the entire universe with his mind, and the effect was disastrous. Lorien's frightening conjuring devastated the universe, and he ripped a hole through reality that severed the seams of the universe and tore at the fabric of everything that has ever existed. The burning, blurring borders between the waking world (the one he knew) created a gateway into the Fade, the total abyss and darkness. The Arcane God known as the Divine Unknown, Ignotas recognised the oneiromancer as a terrible tool better wielded for the good of the universe. She punished him with the dark mantle of Timeless and carved into the universe a dimension that surrounded his gateway; this Realm of Dreams allowed him to physically pass back and forth between the world of the conscious and unconscious freely. Lorien was granted domain over controlling psychic power, particularly in dreams and emotions, and all abstract concepts of the unconscious.
Lorien was a Mentalist and a particularly talented Arcanist studying power within the human unconscious with a particular interest in dreaming. He studied under his mentor Kali, who subjected Lorien to sensory deprivation and torture meant to force reactive use of Lorien's Mentalism. While this training procedure sharpened and whet his mind, it did not come without consequence. Physically and nearly mentally broken, the knowledge-seeking Mentalist collapsed in a field. He reached out to the entire universe with his mind, and the effect was disastrous. Lorien's frightening conjuring devastated the universe, and he ripped a hole through reality that severed the seams of the universe and tore at the fabric of everything that has ever existed. The burning, blurring borders between the waking world (the one he knew) created a gateway into the Fade, the total abyss and darkness. The Arcane God known as the Divine Unknown, Ignotas recognised the oneiromancer as a terrible tool better wielded for the good of the universe. She punished him with the dark mantle of Timeless and carved into the universe a dimension that surrounded his gateway; this Realm of Dreams allowed him to physically pass back and forth between the world of the conscious and unconscious freely. Lorien was granted domain over controlling psychic power, particularly in dreams and emotions, and all abstract concepts of the unconscious. Lorien thus now guards over the Realm of Dreams as its master, and presently has the ability to create and materialise dreams and nightmares, manipulate thoughts, emotions, and memories, send people to sleep, and walk between dreams and visions. This powerful ability lends him access to all thoughts and feelings, particularly repressed ones. He only has basic Elementalism skills, but otherwise wields alone the power of his sharp mind. Unfortunately yet unsurprisingly, the emotional labour and toll of his responsibility weighs greatly, molding Lorien into a gaunt and emotionally stunted man who distances himself from humanity. He is not merely just constantly alone by choice, but suffers from chronic loneliness as someone sure that no one can understand his duties that must always come first. As such, little is known or shared of his origins or backgrounds, but what little he has slipped in infrequent conversations, passed along to other Arcanists, or preserved in historical record from his writings, musings, and documentation of his well-hidden existence. There are whispers of a man who can walk in one's thoughts, turn a man's nightmares inside out to kill them, but he will pass his way quietly through the corridors of a sleeping child's mind to offer them only peace and comfort.
Name: Officially Lorien of the Timeless, but has been known to go by Lorien Gresham on Earth
Titles or Aliases: Lord and Timeless, Oneiromancer, Master Arcanist, Dream-King
Age: Unknown publicly. He has mentioned in some passing the city of Uruk, dating him to the Akkadian empire perhaps. His appearance permanently stuck in an "ageless" complexion, looking both boyishly young and as old as 40. Most probably he had been turned Timeless as a very young adult and had been "aged" into his immortality, thus his strange demeanour, such that he appears in his early to mid 30s.
Sex: Male
Sexuality/Romantic Affiliation: Few partners have been recorded by history or his own admonition. There were rumours of a wife and child centuries ago, now long gone or also Timeless. It is generally considered Fluid as gender, sexuality, and race are trite things for Arcanists.
Height: ~1.83 m (6 ft.)
Hair colour: Dark brown to almost black, styled to match the era. Most frequently, spiked to a slight fringe
Eye colour: A dark, sad blue
Stature: Distinctly thin and gaunt, giving a false impression of weakness
Common attire: Dramatically dark, often black out-of-place cloaks, coats, cowls, and robes. More modern boots are donned often.
Voice: Soft-spoken, a bit hoarse and deep. He speaks methodically and with a lilt to his speech of someone who speaks many languages.
Personality: Quiet, sullen, wise, and brooding. Lorien speaks punctually but with perhaps a flare of dramatics that come with age and power. He sounds tired as one who burdens too much upon himself and refuses aid. His presence carries an air of mystery and surprise, for he is withdrawn and an isolationist.
Headcanons
Crafting nightmares comes more naturally for Lorien than dreams. However, he does not particularly enjoy being blamed exclusively for people's nightmares; they are a reflection of human experience and existence, rather than a product of malice on his part.
Consonants are very infrequent in his vocabulary. His tongue cannot quite modernise.
Lorien strongly resents any undead species
While he is not well-known for jovial cheer and prefers the sidelines of celebrations, he can be lured into socialisation with a book at times
He is excellent at teaching, likely linked to his standing pre-Timeless status. He was a fine Arcanist, and inadvertently, this made him an extraordinary academic of his times.
Despite being shut out from the world by the role, he keeps himself knowledgeable, particularly of scientific developments, by walking through researchers' dreams and thoughts. He is certainly an above-average enthusiast of these dreams in particular.
His wife and son died some centuries ago because he had 'broken' contract with the Arcane by seeking and having a relationship that led him to "abandoning" his station. A demon was sicced from the Fade upon his family. Lorien used his magic to try to hide them in different realms and move them around the world, but eventually, they were slaughtered. This is why he is quite emotionally detached from most of humanity and others, period.He has hidden somewhere in the library of the Realm of Dreams his own books and writings to be seen by no one. However, they are still kept in the Library Of Everything That Never Was and Always Will Be. Only three books have been totally removed by him from the library, but not his own.
Since becoming Timeless, he has not found himself nearly as hungry or thirsty as he did when he was human, and very intermittently sleeps. However, he still requires these for better function, though he cannot be killed by starvation/dehydration, only severely exhausted.
Using the Arcana is not perfectly second nature to him, and he has still shown signs of mild strain occasionally when wielding particularly powerful spells or constructs. However, place him against a non-Timeless Arcanist or even some of his brethren in the Timeless, and he will be undefeated. Some have rumoured that in the last few centuries, he could perhaps rival a minor deity.
He has an audience with several Gods, but loathes ever needing to call upon them. He despises most.
Can be summoned by the burning of a Dreamflower, an ashy version of a lavender-like plant grown in the Realm but that can be transposed to soil in other realms.
Although he may feign cultural illiteracy in some manner, by the very nature of people's dreaming and thoughts, he has been privy to most forms of media: music, television, and obviously books.
Lorien strongly over-uses titles and prefers them to names as a habit of old; names were not so common in his days as much as roles or skills, and being a servant to Gods of many manners also has reinforced this trait.
There is an altar on a metaphysical staircase in the clouds constructed by Lorien from the Arcana that he visits regularly
While he casts easily with no crutch by hand alone, he has been seen to rely on sand, soot, and ash from the gateway in the Realm of Dreams that connects him better to its natural powers. These particulates are extremely magically charged as residuals of this cataclysmic event.
Mun
Character is an original creation with serious inspiration taken from Neil Gaiman/DC's The Sandman and the Netflix adaptation (2022-)
Character is using Tom Sturridge's portrayal of Lord Morpheus as a face-claim, but may use other content by Tom Sturridge for media as well
Writer loves lore :)
EST time zone, 21+, (she/her) or (she/they) please
Selective multiship and definitely multiverse
All plot concepts/ideas can and will be discussed OOC, particularly if triggering or NSFW material planned (if you try to lewd on TL, instant block)
Discord friendly :D
Events / Alternative Universes
modern! alternative universe๐๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ฆ
โ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏโ
human mentalist & ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
ยซa modern event in which
lorien has yet to become timeless
and is a modern nฬถaฬถiฬถvฬถeฬถ arcanistยป
