The Raikothin design buildings, and probably other things like vehicles and machinery as well, using lucid dreaming. The Vankarha Antalin, "Order of Dreamers", trains its adherents to remain conscious in dreams and to internalize their knowledge of principles of aesthetics and engineering. In some cases, they learn to personify their knowledge of certain fields to create archetypes whom they can call upon to do particular jobs. Nevri has learned to represent his knowledge of dreaming as a walrus, and his skill at mathematics and engineering as the god Truth.When they told Nevri that he'd won the commission to design the new embassy to Elwynn, he spent the afternoon celebrating. In the evening, he returned to his yurt and got to work.
He sipped the special tea his wife had brewed for him. Most of the ingredients were obscure to him; he knew it contained a rare Hyperborean weed of the genus datura, and that the bitter taste was tonic, but he couldn't have said what gave it the almost syrupy consistency or why it had the faint but unmistakeable aroma of chocolate.
He meditated for a while, searching for the cold clear core of his being. Three times, he performed the asana of Turning Shadows Into Rain, and then another cup of tea. Then a lighter meditation, simply counting his breath. With each in-breath, he envisioned Eliria, the City on the River. For nine heartbeats, perfectly still, he held the vision, and then With the out-breath, he released it and grounded his mind back in the yurt.
When his drowsiness became unbearable, he turned on a CD of Sidlin flute music, put on warm socks, and climbed into his immaculately made bed. He lay supine, with his feet angled slightly above his head, put on the eye mask, and began to fall.
How long he fell he could not say, but by the time he drifted, feather-like, onto the ground, his drowsiness was gone, replaced by the bite of the wind and the feel of the grass on his feet. The sky was slate-blue above him, filled with puffy cumulus clouds ever so slightly whiter than was natural. Mountains towered in the distance. Far away, a blue heron cried. He couldn't quite remember where he was, or how he got here.
Something was tattooed on the back of his left hand. He strained, trying to make it out. The letters seemed to shift and dance with each passing moment. He performed the asana of Turning Shadows Into Rain. The letters stabilized. They read: "ALL VISIONS FADE, BUT EARTH DOES NOT FADE".
As he finished reading them, the letters faded. Was Nevri dreaming? He turned to the aurorae that flickered on the horizon. He held his breath. The aurorae stopped flickering. He crouched, raised his hand above the grass, willing life into it. The grass grew three inches.
So he was dreaming, lost in the world of Beauty-Unmixed-With-Truth. <i>Kai</i>, he whispered, a prayer of thanks for the sudden enlightenment. He felt an electric twinge on the back of his right hand. There was a tattoo there, too. It read: IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, ASK THE WALRUS.
Nevri turned around three hundred sixty degrees. There, in front of him, was the walrus. "Excuse me," he asked. "Where am I?"
"The City on the River," said the walrus. It spoke with Nevri's voice.
"Eliria," said Nevri. "I remember." As he remembered, buildings rose from the ground, the Elirian skyline he had studied so well.
"You're here to design a building," said the walrus. "The Raikothin embassy to Elwynn. It will go there." It motioned with a flipper to an empty lot.
"I understand," said Nevri. He turned around three hundred sixty degrees. The walrus was gone. Then he began to raise the embassy.
As he imagined each wall, each room, it sprang forth from the ground. Where an element was dissonant, he stared at it, willing it to self-correct, and the forms subtly changed, bringing the piece back to harmony.
As the embassy rose, he stopped imagining, letting the structure build itself. The sky, the mountains, the grass, the neighboring buildings, the lot itself - these flooded the nascent embassy with structure and purpose. Twice, the blue heron suggested improvements, and once the aurorae redesigned a doorway. Nevri just stood and watched, lost to himself.
Nevri turned around again, and the walrus returned, as if it had been there all along.
"Is it good?" asked Nevri.
"It may be," said the walrus. "Why don't you ask Truth?"
"What?" asked Nevri, scandalized. "But this is the world of Beauty-Unmixed-With-Truth! He's not allowed in here!"
"He is if you bring him," said the walrus.
Nevri thought for a long time. He thought of all the theorems of engineering, of load-bearing parts and stresses and warps that he had studied until they became part of his very being. Then he turned around, three hundred sixty degrees and opened his eyes. The walrus was still there. Beside him was a young black-haired boy, staring at the embassy disapprovingly.
"It will not stand," said Truth. "Watch." He pointed his finger at the building. Two of the arches subtly warped, then there was a loud CRACK and an entire vault fell. The rest of the building quickly followed.
"Then help me," said Nevri. "Build with me."
Truth nodded, and once again the building began to rise, as spectacular quite, but now more slowly, more subtly. With a few more arches, and a slightly wider base. In a few instants, it had regained its former glory.
"Will the building stand?" asked Nevri.
"Take me with you," said Truth. "See for yourself."
Nevri spun around, opened his eyes. The walrus remained. Truth was gone. He looked at the building, calculated stresses and loads. All the math checked out. Some of the domes were rather flamboyant, the style was not one he recognized, but it would stand.
A cold wind began to blow.
"It's time to go now," said the walrus. "Take me with you. And don't forget the building."
Nevri spun around one last time. This time, the walrus and the building were gone. In their place was a hot air balloon. Nevri entered and began to rise. Up over the city, up through the unnaturally white clouds, until the sky lost its blue, then lost its black, then lost all reality.
A small pad of paper, and a pencil, sat on the dresser beside the bed. The architect began to sketch the wonderful building he had seen in his dream.
Yes, I saw Inception last week. Yes, I've lucid dreamed myself, but only once or twice. No, I didn't use datura, as I am not crazy. The only thing I was able to do successfully during my dreams was make the grass grow, which is why Nevri uses it as his reality test.
