Great Dreamer

These enormous spacegoing cetaceans are apparently responsible for the occurrence of whales and other cetaceans, both in space and on worlds with plentiful water. They travel through space in a spherical envelope of airy water, so large that weather patterns occur on its surface, creating the image of an immense elemental whale swimming through the cosmos. Within it swims the Dreamer's “entourage”: 1-3 leviathans, their attendants, and 2-12 intelligent delphinid “knights” of 9-12 HD each.

Like the delphinid, the Great Dreamer is trilaterally symmetrical. Its three eyes, equidistant around the head, shine with reflected starlight.

Communication with the Great Dreamers is not difficult; their broad-band telepathy make conversation easy within a range of 1,000 miles. Their “speech” can be circular, seemingly wandering from topic to topic in a stream of consciousness, but they invariably return to the subject at hand.

Combat: The Great Dreamers do not normally engage in combat; their great power speaks for itself. The aura given off by these beings is so powerful, opponents must save vs. spell at -4 or be caught up in the beauty of the Dreamers' existence.

Against those who do save and still have warlike intentions, a Great Dreamer can also contact the Elemental Planes of Water and Air, summoning 1d8 elementals of 12-16 HD to do its bidding. The elementals either wash or destroy an offending spelljammer; only when its entourage takes severe injury does a Dreamer order its elementals to kill an opponent.

If nothing dissuades an attacker, then he faces the onslaught of the Dreamer's entourage.

In addition to the listed abilities, the entourage members have a sound lance that can stun opponents within a 10-mile range. Targets must save vs. breath weapon or be stunned for 1d4 turns. The delphinids direct their sound lances against one opponent at a time. Larger whales aim at entire vessels, and can also change tones to resonate with a ship's hull, causing a ship to rattle itself to pieces (2d6 hull points of damage per round).

If necessary, the Great Dreamer uses its magical ability to project a giant waterspout from its water envelope. The waterspout has a range of 20 miles. The ship must save vs. crushing blow or be destroyed by the rushing wall of water. Ships that save take 2d10 hull points of damage.

A Great Dreamer's bite can inflict damage according to its Hit Dice. Dreamers of 72-83 HD inflict 3d4×2 hull points, those of 84-95 HD inflict 3d4×3 hull points, and those of 96-144 HD inflict 3d4×4 hull points.

If a Dreamer's attack roll is 2 more than needed to hit, it can swallow its opponent. It can either digest a victim or send him to a destination of its choice. A Dreamer's tail can deliver a crushing blow with damage equal to half its HD. (For example, a 72 HD Great Dreamer does 36d8 damage, or 36-288 hp.)

Habitat/Society: It is unknown whether the Great Dreamer generates its spherical envelop of water and air or opens a gateway to the Elemental Plane of Water. The envelope instantly responds to the Great Dreamer's commands.

These beings remain in the flow, traveling from sphere to sphere, attending to cetacean affairs on many worlds. Every 1000 years, the leviathans of each world receive an audience with the Great Dreamers to report on the events of the previous millennium. They remain for a year before returning to their homeworlds.

Ecology: Though they feel neutral toward humanoids, the Dreamers are always lawful in alignment. They preserve the abundance of life both in the seas and in the endless ocean of the flow. They percieve existence to be a continuous song, an endless paean to life itself. All members of a Great Dreamer's entourage continuously sing this hypnotic song.

Perhaps as a function of this guardianship of life, the Great Dreamers have one final ability: the power to grant immortality to one being, once per year. Usually the champion who receives this honor is a cetacean. Rarely, however, a humanoid who has greatly aided the Dreamers' subjects may receive this gift.