Realms

When people first discovered the Other Realms, people thought that they were just dream worlds that were unusually vivid.  But when people managed to bring the occasional artifact from those dream worlds, some people began to take notice.  Some people were just curious about the new objects.  Others were curious about the worlds that these came from.  And others just wanted the power that these artifacts would give them over the Non-Awakened, as the normal people would be called.

After studying the Other Realms, the Awakened came to a general consensus for how to categorize them.  The most basic one is called an Untapped Realm, a realm where the Chaos has been shaped by someone unconsciously into something usable, even if it's not usable by the person who created it.  These realms do have rules and order to them, even if it's not inherently obvious to any visitors.

A Tapped Realm is a Realm that an Awakened person has consciously visited and can pull power from.  Typically a person visits their own Realm in their dreams, but over time they learn a way to visit it while conscious, whether it be as simple as climbing through a mirror or as complicated as high diving into a pool during a full moon.  It is important to note that, while it can be complicated to visit a Realm, it's never difficult per se.  Anyone can show someone how to visit their Realm, should they trust someone else enough to invite them in (or perhaps just to show off how tough their Realm would be to invade as a show of strength).  These realms also strongly identify with the person who created them, in one manner or another.

And the final Realm is a Chaos Realm.  The Tapped and Untapped Realms are more just islands in the sea of the Chaos Realm, with human imagination and willpower having forged something useful or powerful from the raw, seething Chaos.  Although some scholars prefer to call it a Potential Realm, due to the fact that this "Chaos" could be created into anything, but most people use the name Chaos.

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While each Awakened has a little power they start with based on their personal Tapped Realm, most eventually desire more.  The safest way is to just work on cultivating their own personal Realm, making it bigger and more impressive.  The bigger and more powerful a realm, the more abilities its owner can have.  However, every realm has its own theme, and thus the owner is limited to what kind of abilities it can get.  Someone who's Tapped Realm is an undersea base isn't going to get a Flying ability, for example.

The other way is to get abilities from other Awakened.  Sometimes it's peaceful, like in a trade, but most often it involves raiding other Realms for their abilities.  After all, most of the time, it's hard to trade something that doesn't have a physical form.

When it comes to raiding other Realms, Tapped Realms, despite what one might think, are actually the safest to attempt to raid, assuming they can figure out how to get in.  This usually involves shadowing the individual until they to into their Realm.  Tapped Realms are safe because, while Tapped Realms are defended by the owner or a self-defense system, getting "killed" in a Tapped Realm merely kicks the invader out to the real world with a really nasty migraine.  Of course, once they're in the Realm and have dealt with the defense, they still have to find out what would grant access to the ability they went for in the first place.  A Flying power could be a cliffside, a flock of birds, a sense of vertigo, or anything else that could be appropriate for the Realm.  Fortunately for the owner of the Realm, if a power is stolen, the Realm will eventually recover it (quicker if the owner works at it), letting both the Owner and the Invader have the same power.  Still, stealing is generally frowned upon, and an Invader can generally expect some sort of revenge in the future.

An Untapped Realm doesn't have an owner, so they are generally easier to invade, but they are more uncertain.  Given they are unowned, an invader can't tell what the Realm will be like or what abilities they could gain within.  The defenders in an Untapped Realm also tend to be more fierce because they are uncontrolled.  It's easiest to think of the defenders in these Realms as wolves.  In an Tapped Realm, the wolves are on leashes and controlled, so an Invader doesn't have to worry about them outside of a set of circumstances.  In an Untapped Realm, it's like invading a wild wolf's den.  They're fierce, territorial, and will fight to the death.  Again, an Invader that is "killed" in an Untapped Realm is ejected forcefully back to the real world, but without the leash to keep them in check, the defenders can follow them out to continue the assault.  Hopefully it's obvious that death in the real world is much more... permanent than in a dream realm.

While it's possible to invade into the Chaos Realm, an invader would have to have a special combination of arrogance, bravery, and ignorance to do so.  While it is possible to do so, navigating the Chaos is difficult and any sort of nightmare creatures could assault the invader.  Most people who invade into the Chaos Realm do not make it back, and the few that do are either blessed or cursed with a knowledge that no sane person would desire.

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Artifacts are the tools (physical items) from the Dream Realms that give the Awakened their powers in the real world.  All abilities that can be gained have a representation in the Dream Realm, and they are generally classified into four categories.

Class 0 Abilities are almost always Artifacts, and they are low power.  Class 0 Abilities are generally referred to as Meta Artifacts and usable by everyone due to their low power level, unless a Class 3 Ability says otherwise.  A bottomless bottle of shampoo that always gives the user perfect hair would be a Class 0 Ability.  Mechanically, they generally are Features or Feats.

The rest of the Classes can vary greatly in power level from Ability to Ability.  Only the Class 0 Abilities have a defined power level (low).  They are classified by who can use them.

Class 1 Abilities are usable by most people, although they all have a class of people that they won't work for.  A pair of gloves that let the wearer do extra damage that is not usable by boxers would be an example of a Class 1 Ability created by someone who wanted to win a fight against someone better than them.  From a GM's perspective, Class 1 Abilities will generally always be usable by the PCs.

Class 2 Abilities are usable by only a group of people.  A pair of shoes that give the Jumping ability that can only be used by plumbers would be a Class 2 Ability.  It's generally assumed that most PCs won't be able to use randomly discovered Class 2 Abilities unless they put forth some effort to be able to do so.  A PC that becomes a plumber in the middle of the game would be able to use that even if they couldn't when they first got it.

Class 3 Abilities are usable by a very limited group of people, either by natural ability or willingness to use it.  A sword that grants immortality by forcing the owner to kill one innocent per extra month of life could, in theory, be used by anyone.  Most people wouldn't be willing to use it.  An Ability that grants slowfall but can only be used by olympic class divers would also be a Class 3 Ability.

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A PC begins with a Headquarters that is their Realm.  The player must choose a theme for their realm.  A realm should either influence what powers are available for the owner, or the realm should be influenced by the powers the owner has.  As an example of the former, an owner with a nuclear fallout shelter might have the Immunity: Radiation, Damage (with guns), and Weaken (radiation sickness) Abilities.  For the latter, an owner that has a powerset akin to the Predator (Invisibility, Movement: Trackless, Senses, or other things like that) might have a forest Realm that is designed to disorient and confuse Invaders, making them easy to pick off.

A starting PC has three abilities, and the player should be able to justify how they are related to each other or the headquarters.  The association doesn't have to be totally logical (these do come from dream realms, after all), but they do have to be consistent.  A PC could have a treehouse with a fantastic arcane and technological labratory, representing the character's naturally inquisitive nature and how the character tends to isolate themselves when they get really into their work, and it could give any manner of Abilities as long as it ties into one of those listed qualities above.  Jumping for getting in and out of the treehouse without a ladder.  Summon for bringing magical creatures into the world.  Comprehend: Programming Languages or Feature: Fast Reader for computer research.  Just because a theme is required does not mean that the player can't go wild with that theme.