The Vale of Sleep

The Vale of Sleep is also known as the Place between places. It is believed to be adjacent to the Shadow Lands of the Dead, and that all who go there must pass through the Vale, first. Not just the mortally wounded enter the Vale, however. All those who fall into non-magical slumber also enter it, for a time.

While the Vale often appears to be a large and continuous unlit forest, the Vale is divided into two different realms: the Dreamscape and the Nightmare Lands. 

The Dreamscape is a vast space ruled by a beneficent being known as Reme or Rayam. It is a place of wisps and clouds which often form into different shapes and terrains based on the mind and experiences of the people in it. 

The Lands are riddled with vines or webs which try to hold those who are within its borders and prevent them from leaving. They are ruled by the Nightmare Man and his Nightmare Court from its center. His court includes Hypnos, Mullonga the Witch, the Rainbow Serpent, Morpheus, and the Ghost Dancer.

Reme the Healer

A tribal goddess of the Nandi people, Reme was supposed to represent the power of healing and recuperation. She was often depicted as a winged elf who would carry off those grievously injured in battle and grant them protection in her eyrie - only returning them when they were recovered. For that reason, those who are comatose are often said to be “Resting in Reme.”

There is some crossover in the veneration of Reme as the elves also have a figure in their own legendarium by nearly the same name. As one of the Avariel (first generation elves) Rayam was said to be a daughter of Aerdie Faenya who did not traffic with those who were bound to earth, but nevertheless brought healing to the exiled in the twilight following their battles.

When the Grand Temple of Peakshadow was instituted, the cult of Reme had widespread support and was accreted into the worship of the many gods in the person of Neroia, daughter of Ninlee, also goddess of healing. While the trappings of Neroia were affixed to the person of Reme, they could not supplant her cult. The name Neroia never caught on outside of temple’s own scholars. Reme’s name and role were well-established among the populace.

After the God War of 5108, the Remedians (Priestesses of Reme) converted wholesale to the Church of Westrun and disavowed the actual worship of their pagan goddess, but they did not forsake their considerable skills. Now holding themselves out only as sages of herbs and the healing arts, those who invoke her name operate their so-called Remeyries in cities and large towns across all Four Lands. Some of the Sacred Sisters of the Church of Westrun will serve a dual role in the Remeyries as healers and surgeons, but there are many Remedians without any such connection to the church. 

Clare of the Valley

Clare of the Valley is the goddess of fidelity, devotion, and love. A one-time mortal woman whose soldier husband died while returning from war, she now lives undying in her mortal body. 

When Clare's husband died within sight of his home, Death took the opportunity to take her husbands body to experience mortal life temporarily. Death felt the affection and ministrations of Clare and at first believed he had known what it was to be loved. By the end of his experiment, he slowly realized that Clare only had feelings for her husband.

When Death realized Clare did not love him, nor even truly know him; he cast off the husband's body and left her a widow.  

Despite her not knowing him, Death found that his love was real. He truly loved Clare, and he has loved her ever since. For this reason, he has never permitted her to join him for fear that she would discover his deception. Worse than not loving him, he fears she might come to hate him. 

Because she is never claimed by Death, she would have been consigned to continual aging and eventual decrepitude. Her darkened veil is the gift of Reme who took pity on her and granted her a permanent boon to reverse all aging.

    Simply put, Clare cannot die. She is immortal because Death will not claim her. She is the patroness of true love and fidelity for married couples.

Beddas the Diseased

Heimos took Caliah from the home of her father and he took her against her will. By her he had Morven and she was slain by the having of that child. When Morven was grown, she followed the manner of her father and abducted Guffrey, and made him her prisoner. Guffrey sired Beddas, Morven's son. But the child was sickly and like unto death. 

Then Morven appealed to Reme, promising to never again work evil among the mortals of the world. Along with his mother's promises, Reme took pity on the newborn child, and gave him a magical ring imbued with her own healing power. But as Beddas aged, it became apparent that Morven worked her evil through her son, and in this manner his sicknesses returned, though he could not succumb to them. 

Beddas appears as a living nightmare in his true form. He is pox ridden and his skin is covered with sores and open wounds. He smells of rotting flesh and sometimes leaves pieces of himself behind when passing. He is in a state of continually dying. However, he has the magical ring of Reme (regeneration) which is able to counteract his appointed death.

The touch of Beddas can inflict any disease known. And he delights in afflicting children, especially. As long as he is present, a disease will progress abnormally fast. Out of gratitude to Reme, however, he will not remain where her name is invoked, or her symbol is displayed.

Beddas also cannot stand the bright sun or any wind of gentle breeze or faster, either of which causes sufficient damage to negate his ring of regeneration. Such conditions will cause his form to dissipate. For that reason, he prefers darkness, dampness and fetid air.

Reme the Healer, the Remedians and their Remeyries

A tribal goddess of the Nandi people, Reme was supposed to represent the power of healing and recuperation. She was often depicted as a winged elf who would carry off those grievously injured in battle and grant them protection in her eyrie - only returning them when they were recovered. For that reason, those who are comatose are often said to be “Resting in Reme.”

There is some crossover in the veneration of Reme as the elves also have a figure in their own legendarium by nearly the same name. As one of the Avariel (first generation elves) Rayam was said to be a daughter of Aerdie Faenya who did not traffic with those who were bound to earth, but nevertheless brought healing to the exiled in the twilight following their battles.

When the Grand Temple of Peakshadow was instituted, the cult of Reme had widespread support and was accreted into the worship of the many gods in the person of Neroia, daughter of Ninlee, also goddess of healing. While the trappings of Neroia were affixed to the person of Reme, they could not supplant her cult. The name Neroia never caught on outside of temple’s own scholars. Reme’s name and role were well-established among the populace.

After the God War of 5108, the Remedians (Priestesses of Reme) converted wholesale to the Church of Westrun and disavowed the worship of their pagan goddess, but they did not forsake their considerable skills. Now holding themselves out only as sages of herbs and the healing arts, those who invoke her name operate their so-called Remeyries in cities and large towns across all Four Lands. Some of the Sacred Sisters of the Church of Westrun will serve a dual role in the Remeyries as healers and surgeons, but there are many Remedians without any such connection to the church.