Gateways

Gateways are characters who serve as "gates" to other worlds. They literally are two separate, distinct, and often very different personas whose lives are inextricably entwined. One might say that these two personas, one in Olmarin and one in Oltair, are actually the same person living in two very different worlds.

Dreams
A Gateways' two lives, or "personas," are connected by dreams. When the Gateway persona in Olmarin falls asleep, they awaken as their counterpart in Oltair, and vice versa. While awake in either world, the other world seems like nothing more than a very detailed dream.

For example, take these two Gateway personas, Zaleila the fairy and Andrea Taylor:

Although Andrea recalls Zaleila's experiences, she remembers them only as vivid details in a strange dream. When Andrea next falls asleep, she awakens as Zaleila, and the roles are reversed. Zaleila believes that Andrea is nothing more than a dream. This constant switching leaves both women wondering which is real and which is the true dream. It's the same terrifying question all Gateway personas face.

Gateways can only "switch worlds" when one persona becomes unconscious, either through sleep, being struck unconscious, or by taking medication or other sleep aids. Whenever a Gateway persona becomes unconscious, they wake up as their other persona in the other world.

Workarounds
There are only a few rare ways to bypass or manipulate this system. Gateways who wish to switch worlds faster can take sleeping pills in Oltair or drink soothing tea in Olmarin in order to fall asleep faster.

Gateways in Olmarin also have a rare option to sleep without dreaming by brewing tea with the difficult-to-obtain Thomalium herb. This will enable the Gateway to remain as their persona in Olmarin and not to wake up in Oltair the next morning.

Personas
Gateways consist of two separate lives. These personas may or may not be similar to one another at all. Gateway personas can be (and typically are) different races, different ages, and sometimes even different genders! There seems to be no correlation as to how similar the Gateway personas must be, although they are always connected. It was once thought that only certain people were Gateways. However, it has been shown that most people have connections to the other world.

The exception to this would be those in Oltair who have contracted a strange phenomenon known as the pariah virus. This virus seems to be the key factor determining whether someone is connected to Olmarin or not. A large portion of Oltair's population have this virus, which seems to do nothing in the world itself. It has baffled scientists for decades.

Connections
Gateway personas are connected in several important ways. As previously stated, Gateways are linked through sleep/dreams. It is as of yet unclear if Gateway personas truly dream and it is simply the realm of unconsciousness that links them, if both Gateway personas are dreams, or if one is a dream and the other is a "real" person. At any rate, both personas act as real people in real environments with real problems.

Gateway personas share each others' memories and experiences. Each persona remembers what the other personality did (although the memories tend to get fuzzy after only a few moments of being awake, just like a dream).

Once Gateways reach advanced stages of awareness, Gateway personas also share wounds; if one persona breaks a bone or receives a cut, the other persona will awaken with the same wound. This seems to suggest that Gateways are connected in body, if nothing else... which has raised speculation as to what would happen if one Gateway personality were killed. However, no one has yet killed a Gateway, so no one knows the answer to that question for certain.

Awareness and Progression
The original Gateway thread suggested that a Gateway's personas could become more and more connected and thus progress until they were literally the same person. A Gateway progresses by becoming more aware of their persona and by believing that their other persona is real.

Gateways go through various stages of progression and awareness:


 * Stage 1: Unawareness - Gateways begin completely unaware of their other persona. This is before a Gateway's dreams begin to connect them to the other world. For some Gateways, this period is longer than others.


 * Stage 2: Dream State - Gateways begin to have dreams that connect them to the other world. Contact with and awareness of a Gateway's other persona begins at this stage. However, awareness is limited, at best. Gateways acknowledge their other persona as a character in their dream or, at best, someone who loosely represents them in their dream. They can only remember bits and pieces of their other persona, usually only the last few things their persona did before their other persona fell asleep.




 * Stage 3: Questioning - Gateways begin to ask questions about their personas and the other worlds. This stage either loops back to Stage 1 or 2 if the Gateway deduces that the personas are nothing more than a dream, or advances onto Stage 4 or 5 if the Gateway begins to entertain the possibility that the dreams are real. For some Gateways, this period is longer than others. Some Gateways completely skip this step and move directly onto Stage 4 or 5.


 * Stage 4: Acceptance or Rejection - After the questioning stage, Gateways either believe their other persona is real or believe their persona is a dream. At this point, accepting Gateways advance onto Stage 5. Rejecting Gateways move to Stage 2 or even Stage 1.


 * Stage 5: Union or Separation - At this final stage, Gateways believe that their other persona is real. This stage leads to two separate paths, however. Gateways who believe that their other persona is themselves but in a different world enter into the Union state, in which the two personas completely merge into one person. United personas are one single person and therefore can perfectly recall experiences and memories either persona experienced. They also share any knowledge and abilities that either persona possesses. This includes anything from survival skills to trivia to fighting abilities. Gateways who believe that their other persona is real but a different person, however, enter into a special state called the Separation state. In this rare state, Gateway personas split into two separate people and are no longer connected by the Gateway dreams, therefore becoming ordinary beings rather than Gateways.