Underlight - GateKeeper Arts

Disciples can manipulate the fabric of dreams, altering the walls of thought to protect themselves and others from harmful evocations, even prevent or allow access to areas of the Dream City.

GateKeeper Arts

Learnable

DreamSeer Arts

Learnable

FateSender Arts

Learnable

SoulMaster Arts

GateSmasher - Given

Meditation - Given

FlameShaft - Orbit 1

Free Action - Orbit 5

Resist Fear - Orbit 10

Protection - Orbit 15

DreamQuake - Orbit 60

Reflect

Know - Given

Newly Awakened - Orbit 20

Drain Essence - Given

Purify - Orbit 25

Reweave - Orbit 35

Restore - Orbit 40

What does it mean to be a Gatekeeper? For those that don't already know, we are the defenders and protectors of the dream. We are masters of the portals and derive our powers from them. With the arts that we have been granted, we can provide long lasting protection to our allies against other harmful arts. When fully protected by a GK, the arts of Scare, Paralyze and Stagger become mere light shows. A skilled Gatekeeper also has the ability to place wards to stop on oncoming enemy, or shatter those wards so that others may pass. Despite having almost nothing but defensive arts, many Gatekeepers are among the best fighters of the city. Since we lack those offensive arts, we are forced to rely on our basic fighting skill. With a blade, flame and Chak in hand, a skilled GK is a worthy adversary in battle and immune to most offensive arts. Those GK's that do not wish to work on their fighting skills will always continue their defender role so that others may continue the fight. From times long ago, those that wished to follow the way of the Gatekeeper proven a honorable sect. During the Nightmare Wars, when mares were brought into the dream and brought chaos and destruction in the city there was need for a protector. Renrut Nek, the first Gatekeeper, seeing all the chaos gathered all of the dreamers that were left and hid them away in the caves of Threshold beyond his study. His honor and dedication toward protecting the dreamers is something that should live with all GK's of the city. While pondering and writing this scroll, it was brought to my attention that another Gatekeeper has shown the same honor and dedication that Renrut Nek did long ago. On the night of August 4th during the Dark Mare attacks in Illapse Keep, this particular GK shined above all and showed what it TRULY means to be a Gatekeeper.

This particular dreamer was Magenta, an honorable guardian of the house DoL. While on ward duty during the attacks, she sacrificed her own DreamSoul, not once, but twice by evoking Soul Evoke for the sole purpose of the keeping the ward up. Magenta should be praised for her dedication as a Gatekeeper of the city of dreams. In honor of this dedication, myself and Lasaimis have vowed to let it be known throughout the city that the portal she guarded shall no longer be just a mere portal into Illapse Keep, but shall now be named Magenta's Gate. This act brings a special tear to my eye since Magenta is my only apprentice. Seeing this can only me overwhelmed to see that I mentored such a great dreamer. In conclusion, I would like to state for those GK's out there that are not satisfied with being a GK should look deep within yourselves and see what a truly great focus we are. To be a defender of the city is a great task that comes with hardships, but in the end, the feeling of knowing that you have done your job makes everything all worth while. Thank you and may the light shine within you all.

Description: This art creates a talisman, allowing the wearer to traverse any wards created by the evoker.

Art Research: A Ward is primarily a portal lock or filter, allowing only those who posses the right of passage (An Amulet forged by the creator of the particular Ward), through that Portal. The center part of a Portal contains a small orange ball or gem which is activated through a combination of the Avatar's touch, and the focusing of the Dreamer's Will upon it. When a Ward is placed over a Portal, this 'activation ball' is covered by the gem you see within the center of the Ward.. The six tendrils you see spreading out from the central gem are what hold the 'lock' in place, by leeching onto the Portal itself. Much in the same way that colours can be added to a codex, so also is the red given to the central gem and respectively to an Amulet. This colouring comes from lucidity, though not enough to warrant any drainage of Elemental Force, instead being drawn from the Willpower as each Element is closely connected.

This Lucidity is what makes the normally solid central gem ethereal when an Amulet is put to it. The Amulet passes through the central gem and to the activator behind it on the Portal, allowing the Dreamer to physically connect with it and then use their Will to pass through, as are the requirements of passage. The drawback of using this Lucidity, is that the Art of Ward is classed aggressively, therefore not allowing it to be evoked within Sanctuary. You will notice when using Ward that the evocation cylinder is both light and dark gold. This is due to the variations in concentration of the twenty points of Willpower required to evoke this Art. These concentrations are used to force strength into the Ward so that it cannot be destroyed by any form of physical damage attack. The unfortunate consequence of this (arguably crude) form of strengthening, is that Ward is not in tune with all forms of Portal.. an example being Inter-Planer Portals, which cannot be Warded.

Art History: Shortly after the Nightmare Wars, when a group of Master DreamWrights led by Syriand the Graceful and Lagumbar Staggern had developed the Portals of the dream itself, it was discovered by the Seekers of Knowledge, they discovered that the ambient essence in a contained area was easier to harness. Their efforts and of course their extremely involved studies in this area led to the spawning of many new varieties of arts for the dream. The first of which the Seekers of Knowledge deemed necessary were the Gatekeeper arts known as Ward and Amulet in order to control access to certain areas for a period of time. This is the history behind the great arts of Ward and Amulet.

Notes: An amulet is basically a part of the evoker, once an amulet is given away, the holder will be able to traverse a warded portal, created by the evoker, for the rest of the dream. Therefore, it is highly advisable that these not be given away at any time or left astray.

Description: This art causes all non-party members in a room to be Staggered.

Description: This art is the basic 'ranged' weapon, of a Gatekeeper, very similar to that of a Chakram. The casting cone, can be used as a reticule for targeting.

Plateau Effect: The projectile varies in strength and color as the art is Plateaued to higher levels as shown below:

Plateau	Damage	Projectile Colour
0 - 9	1 - 4	Cyan/Chalk
10 - 19	2 - 6	Cyan
20 - 29	5 - 10	Cyan
30 - 39	7 - 12	Ruby
40 - 49	7 - 18	Gold
50 - 59	9 - 23	Gold/Fire
60 - 69	9 - 28	Jade
70 - 79	11 - 30	Jade/Teal

Art History: FlameShaft was developed around the same time as the other flame arts, and was the third. It was created by Aethir, who after seeing Balthus and Tenrik's efforts, decided he could outdo them both. Only taking a week, for he had both of their notes, he finally had the skill necessary to control its flame. He then proceeded to teach it to his students, and won the first "Flamewar" by hurling a boulder across the finish line, before either Balthus or Tenrik did.. He was widely acclaimed as a master Gatekeeper for his work.

Notes: While casting the FlameShaft, the evoker must remain motionless, or the art fails.

Art History: Prior history written has Renrut Nek as the creator of Free Action. As this is indeed true, the reasons for it's creation are not what was depicted in the history. What was detailed in the history was only a rumor and what seems to be a joke among those dreamers that knew him and those that enjoyed dreaming with him. The fact is Renrut did have Arthritis in Cloudsbreak and hated it so much he searched for a cure, but that was in Cloudsbreak.

"Free action was developed by Renrut Nek. Renrut had arthritis, and was teased by Karnek for it.
Renrut began seeking a cure for his ailment. Karnek decided that he didn't want to stop teasing Renrut,
so he decided to substitute his notes on paralyze and a strong beer for the arthritis notes. Unaware of
the change, Renrut developed the art. When completed, Renrut called a Ruler's meeting. He was so
confident, he evoked it and started to dance. After the rulers finally stopped laughing, they restored his
broken hip. Renrut departed and left his art behind. It is now the common cure for stagger
and paralyze. The beer in this history later became the foundation for stagger."

You see, Renrut was Illuminated and believed that what effected us in the dream, effected us in Cloudsbreak as well as what effected us in Cloudsbreak, effected us in the dream. And so, his chronic case of Arthritis did indeed effect him in the dream and the knowledge of this was well known by those he called friend within the Dreamstate. Those that were friends with him did tease him about it, but it was all in a joking manner. During this time, the nightmares that to this day still plague our beloved Dreamstate were at the time doing the same. It was with the creation of the art of Paralyze and Stagger that prompted a change in the dream. At first these arts were viewed as a great advantage to dreamers, as they were now becoming widely used against the DarkMares. The dream and those that inhabited it celebrated their uses of the arts themselves, as it proved a great asset in fighting off the Dark Ones. The Dark Ones were defenseless against these two arts, and with this led to many collapses and the weakening of each Dark Mare. Many of us to this day view the Dark Mares as stupid, or not bright. Perhaps the truth is they have knowledge when needed by them. Looking at the fact that they do have a language of their own, it does show some intelligence.

Within history and with what we know today, the Dark Mares are intelligent enough to actually possess the abilities to learn arts that dreamers can learn. It was with this last realization that would show to the dream, that not every advantage would stay as one. Though the arts of Paralyze and Stagger were being used by dreamers widespread against the Dark Ones. It was soon noticed that some of the Dark Mares began possessing these same arts. So, this advantage the dreamers had began to become a disadvantage as well. At the time there was no defense against these arts. With each battle both Dark Mare and Dreamer would collapse. The new advantage became one that the first one to strike with these arts would be the victor. This proved to teeter on advantage and disadvantage from time to time. This is what troubled Renrut more then his Arthritis. Renrut set out to find a defense against these arts. With hopes that the Dark Ones might not learn this art for awhile. We all know now that this would not be the case, but with the creation of Free Action, Renrut was able to neutralize the effects of Stagger and Paralyze in battle with the Dark Ones and hence bring battles against Dark Mares to Chak fire and other arts that proved less damaging to dreamers. Equaling the odds in battle for dreamers was why Renrut Nek created the art of Free Action.

Description: This art is a very rudimentary form of 'Forge Talisman' that creates a basic weapon called the GateSmasher. The blade is the primary close combat weapon of a Gatekeeper (as are variants of this weapon for other arts).

Plateau Effect: For each level this art is Plateaued, casting time reduces, blade duration increases, and the damage associated with it grows, as shown in the following table:

Art History: The blade has been through several changes in its history, all to achieve the goal of perfection. It was first created by the DreamWright Aeson Lore, and his brother, Caidon. The two FateSenders worked extremely hard to bring this useful item into the dream from Cloudsbreak. They saw the need for a personal defensive weapon, able to be had by all, to defend against the terrible mistakes of the Entropy Coalition’s great mistake, ‘The Nightmares’, and for a few other reasons. Upon creating this grand tool, ‘The FateSlayer’, they released their knowledge to the public, and taught all they encountered the art (It so came at a later time, the Master DreamWrights decided that it would be a basic fundamental of the Dreamstate, and allowed all who came into the city, to have the art among their general knowledge). Aeson and Caidon didn’t realize they were only partly finished with the art, however. They had succeeded in presenting to the dream the easiest and best weapon to use by all standings, but had not fully experimented with the art. Had they done this, they would have found the reason that only FateSenders could wield the blade they had created, for any reasonable amount of time, and to inflict damage worthy of noting. The two had created the art using the two elements of their souls, that they had the most of, these being Lucidity and DreamSoul. Knowing that FateSenders Dream-wide had these same statistics in common, more Lucidity than all the others, and about as much DreamSoul, explains why other Foci were unable to take advantage of it’s full potential. Research was then demanded by the city populous, to calm the unbalance created there.

After many attempts and failures by the other three foci, there came another DreamWright by the name of Togus. The Gatekeeper had acquired the notes of the Brothers’ Lore, and (after much analyzing and frustration due to the sloppy and erratic scribbling) discovered the error they had made. He set out to recreate the item using his element, Will, and also his DreamSoul. He had shortly after concluded his research, and brought the ‘GateSmasher’ to the city council, to allow his discovery to be tested, evaluated, and approved for teaching to the general Will focused public (which the FateSending brothers never did). The council quickly approved (being made up at the time of many Gatekeepers), noting the error of Aeson and Caidon in hopes the other two foci would start their research in the art

Notes: The produced blade will dissipate if there is an attempt to drop or give the item.

Description: Allows an evoker to concentrate more effectively on restoring elements. While in a meditative state, the evoker will gain 2 elemental points every 4 seconds.

Art Research: In order to more closely describe the art of Meditation, and how it works, one must establish some definitions and parameters. As listed in the Webster's New World Dictionary - ©1998 scrolls, we have the following excerpts:

When a dreamer becomes inactive in the dream, (i.e., standing around, maybe talking, not evoking any arts or moving), the dream will replenish all stats with a gentle nudge of 1 point per 5 seconds when not in Meditation. When the dreamer evokes Meditation these points are doubled. (See "Numbers" below) At first glance, for all intents and purposes, the art of Meditation could, or should, be any focus except that of Willpower. Meditation being defined as a reflection, a deep continued thought, and a healing function, fits nicely with 3 of the 4 foci. All except Willpower. However, when one looks deeper into the definitions of both Meditate and Willpower one will note that the main feature of the GateKeeper (Willpower) is his strength of mind and self control. We submit here, to you, that the actual doubling of the replenishing forces of the dream, during a meditation, is directly affected by the strength of will the dreamer has. Since it has been pointed out that ALL of the foci can and do meditate, it is only the dreamers with the highest levels of self control that can hold the meditations longer (i.e. plats with extended times). To meditate for 20 minutes straight (level 30-39) is something that requires EXTREME self control, and therefore is only possible by a GateKeeper.

The History of Meditation As all are aware, (those who dream, anyway), the art of Meditate is an art that is given to every new dreamer the moment he slips into the dream for the first time. It is not a learned art, it is instinctive. There is no history of Meditate, there is no new section in which you write this art in your Book of Arts, you already know it. You know it as you know how to breathe, how to give, how to talk, and how to emote. There is room with this art to improve it, of course, as with all arts, but the basic ability to Meditate is known to all... from the newest dreamer to the oldest. To ask a dreamer to give you his version of the history of Meditate would be tantamount to asking him the history of "Breathing".

The "Numbers" of Meditation Meditation, in the beginning, will last 5 minutes. Each successive plat will add 5 minutes. (i.e. level 0-9 = 5m; level 10-19 = 10m; level 20-29 = 15m, level 30-39 = 20m, etc...) Meditation costs 2 will to evoke. When evoked, Meditation will add 2 points to the selected focus every 5 seconds. If the selected focus is maxxed (i.e. 50/50) then the 2 points every 5 seconds will go to the focus that is the lowest from its own max. --- for example--- Dreamer A (Gk) has the following stats, after evoking Meditation:
Willpower - 20/50
Insight - 20/25
Resilience - 25/25
Lucidity - 0/25
DreamSoul - 44/50

If any focus is chosen, besides Resilience, in our example, the Meditation will take that stat to maximum at 2 points every 5 seconds. If our dreamer has chose Resilience, then the Meditation adds 2 points to the focus that has the furthest to go, in our example that would be Willpower. Even though all the Lucidity is gone, the difference from its current to max is less than the difference with the Willpower. When our example's Willpower is equal to the Lucidity deficit, the Meditation will continue to trade off until all are maxxed. Conclusion: Meditation is a simple art. All dreamers know it, all dreamers can use it. However, only the dream's strongest willed dreamers can use it for any extended length of time. Meditation could have been of no other focus than Willpower, when all the facts are known.

Art History: It was not long after the first dreamers had become DreamWrights, but before any had made the status of master DreamWrights that they began developing various Arts. As they developed these Arts, they observed that each of them, when evoked, drew on their reserves of elemental focus. They also observed that when they stood idle for a moment, their elemental focus would regenerate as long as 1 Dream Soul remained. But standing idle was alien to their nature as they were naturally industrious. So, one of the first DreamWrights, his name is lost to us, learned that by chanting "Ooooohm" after drawing on 2 units of Will energies, he could induce a trance-like state. This state enabled him to regain his depleted elemental energies at twice the normal rate. This being so helpful an Art, that it was later designed to be automatically taught to all newly awakened dreamers as they entered Threshold for the first time.

Alternate History: Renrut Nek once had a student, this student was always day-dreaming about everything in the dream, but the task at hand. He would be asked to clean up the study and work area that the students used and always only partially finished.
Renrut decided to help his student my setting a task he would excel at. He tasked the student to find a way to channel his energies he used to day-dream into himself and use that new focused power to better himself. The student agreed and wandered all around trying to find the best and quietest place in the dream to begin his attempts, and settled finally in what is now known as A Quiet Place in Trinity Walk.

There he began to day-dream and tried to focus on what he was to do, not having much success....at this time he never noticed a Bogrom was in the area until it attacked him. He beat the bog but took some pretty serious wounds. He sat down and focused on his day-dreams to take his mind of the pain. He was sitting still for just a little time when he noticed he was almost healed fully.....and that he was kind of looking out of his body.....he stood and took a step forward and wham was back in his body...a bit confused. He ran back to Renrut's study and told his mentor what happened.

Art History: A GateKeeper named Morden, in service to his friend Fillen created protection. Fillen had an odd Curse on him, one which would cause his Arts to randomly misfire, target the wrong Dreamer, or just plain take a long time to Evoke. What was unique is that the Curse seemingly came on full strength a few moments after he awoke, then slowly dissipated through the day, finishing just before he returned to a slumber. With a great deal of effort, Morden created an Art that would deflect Fillens' Curse. So, when Fillen next awoke, Morden Evoked Protection on Fillen. Seeing that it worked, he taught it to his apprentices, and had them follow Fillen everywhere, to keep him protected.

Plateau Effect: Percentage of arts reflected increases...i.e. the chance that an art will reflect is higher.

Art History: The art of Reflection was created long before The Nightmare wars by an ancient DreamWright names Pontious. Pontious was a very well respected DarkMare hunter. In fact many would call on him when a DarkMare dreamed and attacked innocent dreamers. Pontious' skill was matched by none in the dream when it came to hunting DarkMares. Pontious had only one problem when hunting DarkMares, and it was something that he was troubled by sometimes. This problem was the fact that he needed to evoke arts on himself to protect himself from the aura's of the DarkMares and their ability to use effects in their shooting. He would need one to protect him against scare, one against paralyze and stagger etc. All this evoking took time, something he didn't have many times when called on to hunt one or when one walked in a room where he was. So, Pontious decided to do some research on the arts in question... Scare, Paralyze, Stagger, Curse and many others. He came up with and idea and a process to create and art that would not only shorten the time taken to prepare for battle with defensive arts, but also eliminate the amount of focus stats used. When his creation was complete he tested it by evoking it on himself the next time a DarkMare dreamed. He went into battle with only this one protective art on. He found out more then he bargained for when he battled the DarkMare and thus renamed the art from Deflection to Reflection as the art not only protected him from the arts of the DarkMare but also reflected them back onto the mare itself! Creating an offense as well.

Art Research: First let us cover that which the art protects against.... Scare. There are various manners in which this art can be evoked on dreamer and maren avatars. Effect items, pure art evocation and aura effect are the three most commonly witnessed. When an item is infused with the art Scare, there is a greater chance of the victim not succumbing to it, as most dreamers have been around long enough to know to check something before using it. Whether that be by taking a good look at it first, or evoking the art Identify upon it. These items can also be separated into separate categories.. Forged items and naturally generated items. The forged items have been created by a DreamSmith. The Scare effect is bound to the item by the DreamSmith reaching within themselves and taking a bit of what they fear most, then mixing it into the particles being gathered by the art Forge Talisman. These are the most easily found items that have this effect, and the most easily avoided.

Naturally generated items consist of chakrams and cursed Alterors. The Chakram is the easiest to identify, as they are indicated by the secondary color Plum. The cursed Alterors are more difficult to identify, with the only manner of doing so being the use of the art Identify or having the dreamer personally test it. As naturally generated items, they were exposed to a great deal of Chaos in their creation. Their appearance upon the item generating sites are unpredictable at best, although some of these sites are more prone to their appearance than others. This random factor also affects the effect bound to the item. Those with Scare bound to them have, in my opinion, caught something that an unawakened fears and absorbed it. Showing it to the dreamer who uses (in the case of the cursed Alterors) or the dreamer it's used upon (in the case of Chakrams) a glimpse of what causes that fear. The art evocation of Scare opens a passageway through the Dream City to reach the Chaos. In some cases, it will reach even as far as the Deep Chaos, although those occurrences are rare. When it is targeted on another dreamer or on a Dark Mare, the art creates a link from that dreamer's unconscious mind to the Chaos and draws forth that which they fear most, showing it to them to bring about the desired effect. This does not work on lesser mares simply because they lack the intelligence to experience the emotion fear.

The Scare effect aura that several of the Dark Mares have works a bit differently. As these are the more powerful of the nightmares, they bear the aura of the Deep Chaos with them constantly. The reasoning behind this is that they were spawned in just this place, and when spawned or "born" to the Dream that aura remains like an unpleasant odor has the tendency to do with some beings who spend extensive amounts of time around things whose odor is strong. The Deep Chaos being stronger than the Chaos, anyone who gets within a certain distance will see, automatically, that which frightens them most.

Resist Fear, the preventative art used against Scare, has to be powerful enough to block out those things that bring terror into the mind and heart of a dreamer. This also has more than one manner of being effected on an avatar. Forged items, naturally generated items and the art. As these three are so alike in how they protect, we will begin with that. Resist Fear uses a combination of the dreamer's willpower and order from the Dream itself to create a protective "bubble" around the avatar. As the effect takes hold of the avatar, a shield of sorts is formed around them. When the Scare effect attempts to touch them, this protective "bubble" solidifies and reflects it back to the Chaos. This happens so quickly that a dreamer is unable to see it, however those who are protected by it feel a tickling sensation verified by the dream telling them that they "laugh off the fear."

How this effect is brought to the avatar is a bit different for the three types mentioned, however. Forged items take from the will of the DreamSmith who crafts the item and binds it in with the particles. The art itself works similarly, using the will of the evoker and binding it to the avatar it's targeted on. Naturally generated items have passed through what I believe are the aftereffects of other dreamers and unawakened who have overcome the fears shown them. These conquered fears are absorbed into the items and used to help the dreamer who uses the item to overcome their own fears.

Art History: Resist Fear was created by the twin Guardian Keepers, Adelaine and Adelar. Working together they elaborated on Bastian's work, namely that involving the chaos/order relationship inside of Mares. They pondered that since Scare worked on the revelation of Chaos the countering art should focus on Order. Thus, by the evocation of this art we gain a better understanding of the inherent Order around us particularly that which keeps the Chaos in check. Natural order is very reassuring so it counteracts the fear brought on by Chaos. The twins later published their discovery much to the frustration of Bastian who found his "fun" ruined. Apparently he had been having a lot of enjoyment around the House entrances. The twins were not accorded Master status as they developed it from another's work.

Alternate History: It was a young child named Tishan who inspired the art Resist Fear. While others were afraid of most of the large mares, Tishan held tight to her doll, Ruby for comfort. A DreamWright named Artifus took great interest in Tishan, and began working on a new art. Artifus discovered that Tishan's abilities came from the comforting thoughts that Rudy inspired. After some work Artifus created a new art, which inspired dreamers to think of those things which made them feel secure. Thus the art Resist Fear.

Description: Allows the gatekeeper to set a 'return' point (denoted by the first evocation), and enables him to return to that spot from anywhere in the dream (denoted by the second evocation).

Plateau Effect: Evocation time decreases, duration of 'return' point increases

Art History: The art of Return was unheard of before Nightmare Wars, but when Nightmares entered city the Great Combat began. Powerful commanders needed to go through long distances to come from one front to another. It took too long a time to concentrate main forces in the one battle zone, or all Great Warriors to go in House to protect it from emergency alert. In that difficult time was discovered art of Return. We probably will never know name of Great dreamer which created it. History remember only name of the Great GateKeeper which added this powerful art to the Major GateKeeper Arts it was Askold apprentice of Retvizan. He also researched this art and upgrade it and now this art allows to teleport in each (marked before) place, not only into house, as it was at first. Now history will never forget name of this Great Dreamer, created such a powerful art. His name will stay with us forever, as his creation - Major GateKeeper's Art - Art of Return.

Description: This art allows a gatekeeper to shatter a ward on a portal, therefore making it passable by dreamers without an amulet.

Art History: The origins of shatter date back from before The Great Loss, back to the first recorded chaos eclipse. As the eclipse pushed on, the mares strengthened. New power was created and it was power that could be harnessed. Among this was a great strength of Willpower. This allowed new arts that required more power to be discovered. Orterio, Ruler of Gathering of Entranced, knew much of this strength that existed, and he knew how to harness it. While the rest of his house set out to fight off the mares, he studied, and experimented with the art of ward, he studied its abilities, its strengths, but most of all, its weaknesses. He knew that a ward was bonded to a portal with willpower, but if greater willpower was used, that bond could be broken. His studies pressed on until one day after his house had been attacked by a dark mare, the dark mare was strong, it had warded a few of the houses portals, restricting access to its sanctuary. The dreamers had been collapsed that were fighting it, and the mare roamed the house searching for things it could take. Orterio remained deep in the house, absorbed by his work, when he heard the screams of his brothers and sisters somewhere in the house, he stepped outside and found the mare, it was preparing to leave, so Orterio secured all of the exits and warded in the dark mare, he searched through the house to find all of the other members of the house, he found them trying to get into the sanctuary, but the dark mare had warded its entrances. Finally, he thought of something, he would try out what he had been studying. Orterio approached one of the wards, and gathered all of his strength, he concentrated very deeply, he placed his hands upon it with a gold and teal glow, putting all he was into it, a great flash of light and a horrendous shattering sound, thus uncovering the power to create the art of Shatter.

Description: This is the trademark ability of a Gatekeeper. It allows a dreamer to put an impassible ward on a portal, prohibiting anyone but the caster, or a dreamer with the casters amulet to traverse.

Art History: The ancient DreamWright, Renrut Nek, created the art of ward for the sole purpose of having some privacy, as he was bothered constantly by unwanted visitors.

Alternate History: Several have requested that I repost my story of how the earliest GateKeepers discovered Ward, so without further ado...

Once upon a time in the dream, GateKeepers didn't really have any arts of their own, just borrowed ones like blade and flame...
Lagumbar Staggern invented the portal and felt sorry for them, so he told them to watch the new portals and make sure nobody walked off with them...
The GK's were happy to have something to do but even they got bored after awhile...
Now in those days almost every part of the dream had these little 6 legged critters living in them called Plane Squids...
They were harmless and pretty slow... so the bored GK's gathered them up and invented a game where you threw them at the portal and tried to make them stick...
This was great fun, for the GK's anyway, but then Lagumbar came along and found out he couldn't use the portal cause there was Plane Squid stuck in it...
He went off and told the GK's they better unstick his portal before he came back or he was gonna open them a new orifice...
They tried everything...even that trick you use when some dummy touches his tongue to a metal post in the winter and nothing worked...
They could hear Lagumbar returning and were in a panic when the poor squid just sort of melted away...Staggern just muttered "Bloody good thing" and passed through...
After they calmed down, the GK's figured that could be pretty handy in a fight and started gathering up Plane Squids to throw at portals during a war...
Sadly the Plane Squid reproduces slowly in the wild and not at all in captivity and soon became extinct...
So they had to finally invent the substitute art we see today, but that's why Wards look the way they do...

Alternate History 2: Shortly after the Nightmare Wars, when a group of Master DreamWrights led by Syriand the Graceful and Lagumbar Staggern had developed the Portals of the dream itself, it was discovered by the Seekers of Knowledge, they discovered that the ambient essence in a contained area was easier to harness. Their efforts and of course their extremely involved studies in this area led to the spawning of many new varieties of arts for the dream. The first of which the Seekers of Knowledge deemed necessary were the Gatekeeper arts known as Ward and Amulet in order to control access to certain areas for a period of time. This is the history behind the great arts of Ward and Amulet.

Notes: Portals can be warded several times, creating a double or triple ward. This will prohibit a DreamSeer from blending into that portal (since blend can only traverse one portal at a time.) To accomplish this, the gatekeepers must finish evoking the art on the same portal at the same time or create a "Pocket Ward"