The City of 7 Seraphs
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The Children of Dreams
CN preeminent organization
Leaders the Visionaries
Values expanded consciousness, free expression
Nicknames Dreams, Sleepers, Nightmares, Sparkles, Stagehands
Public Goals to declare and celebrate the city's holidays, to maintain kivas for public enlightenment, to manage the city's entertainment industry, to keep the city's legends, to explore the planes
Private Goals the Children wish to use the city as a massive tool for experimenting with and understanding the structure of the multiverse
Allies among fellow organizations, Steamstriders and the Church of Coin
Enemies although they publicly claim to have no enemies, among fellow Parities, they find no common ground with Hands of Burden or Scarlet Sovereignty, and often end up at cross-purposes with the House of Prominence, Everlasting Dawn, and Foreseers; outside of the organization, the wardens' structuring work interferes with their experimental designs for the city
Membership Requirements trained in Craft (any), Knowledge (planes), or Perform (any)
Influence Limitations Each time the adventurers wish to reach a new rank, they must make a breakthrough in planar exploration or art or achieve some task of value to the Parity significantly more noteworthy than the last. Succeeding at a special task more frequently than described below still gains you 1 favor (2 PP) but does not advance you toward the next rank of influence (or increase your Fame).
Special Tasks
Occult Discovery (1 Favor/2 Fame) Once every two months, you can increase your Fame score or take a step toward raising your influence with the Descendants of Dream by making an occult discovery. Exploring a planar destination that required overcoming a hazard or guardian with CR higher than your level satisfies this special task.
Noteworthy Performance (1 Favor/2 Fame) Once every two months, you can increase your Fame score or take a step toward raising your influence with the Descendants of Dream by creating art or performing in an importantly novel way. This requires a successful Craft or Perform check against DC 10 + twice your level.
Benefits
Passive Benefits (Fame Awards)
“Wanderer”—Rank 1 (5 Fame): You can access the Descendants' extensive contacts with performers and their patrons. When within 100 miles of Hyraeatan, a portal to Hyraeatan, or the Lattice, you earn twice as much as normal from Perform (any) and Profession (guide) checks.
“Seeker”—Rank 2 (20 Fame): You gain some fame from your association with the Descendants' famous performers and explorers. When within 100 miles of the city, you gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks.
“Voyager”—Rank 3 (35 Fame): You are taught secret routes among the planes used by elite Descendants of Dream. You can cast shadow walk once per day at your character level.
“Grand Celebrant”—Rank 4 (50 Fame): You become an influential leader of the Parity and gain a +4 circumstance bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks against those familiar with the Children of Dreams. In addition, you can retrain without expending money or favors (or PP).
Favors (Prestige Awards)
New benefits are marked with an asterisk (*). All other benefits are described in the Mastering Intrigue chapter of Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Intrigue or the campaign setting intrigue guide.
Rank 1 (5 Fame, 1 PP): borrow resources (100 gp), case (+15), gather information, sage (arcana, local, or planes +15)
Rank 1 (10 Fame, 2 PP): acquire materials* (350 gp), skill specialization (Craft [any], Knowledge [planes], Perform [any])
Rank 2 (20, 5 PP): acquire materials* (1,000 gp), borrow resources (1,000 gp), command team (1 1st-level aethernaut or bard), put in a good word, retrain (locate trainer), rumor*
Rank 3 (35 Fame, 2 PP): planar transcendence*
Rank 3 (35 Fame, 5 PP): acquire materials* (magic), borrow resources (5,000 gp), command team (1 4th-level bard, 1d4 3rdlevel aethernauts, or 3d4 1st-level cryptics), reciprocal benefits
Rank 3 (35 Fame, 15 PP): retrain (no gp cost)
Rank 4 (50 Fame, 25 PP): borrow resources (15,000 gp), command team (1d4 6thlevel aethernauts or bards; or 5d4 3rd-level aethernauts or cryptics)
Rank 4 (50 Fame, 25 PP): borrow resources (15,000 gp), command team (1d4 6thlevel aethernauts or bards; or 5d4 3rd-level aethernauts or cryptics), demiplane*
New Benefits
Acquire Materials (10, 20, or 35 Fame; 2 PP or 5 PP): The Parity gathers a collection of instruments, costumes, clothing, jewelry, and/or artisan's tools from its stock for the PCs. The PCs can purchase this collection for 1 favor (2 PP) or its standard market price.
At Rank 1 (Fame 5), the combined value is 350 gp or less. At Rank 2 (Fame 20), the value of this collection increases to 1,000 gp. At Rank 3 (Fame 35), the PCs can purchase magic weapons and armor from the military at a 10% discount by spending 2 favors (5 PP). For the purposes of item availability, the Parity counts as a metropolis.
Demiplane (50 Fame, 25PP): The organization adjusts ley lines to create a permanent demiplane for your personal use, as the spell create greater demiplane. Gaining this award again adds to the demiplane as if you had cast the spell again.
Planar Transcendence (35 Fame, 2 PP): You add plane shift to your class spell list as a 5th-level spell and add it to your spells known. You must be able to cast 5th-level spells to gain this benefit.
Rumor (20 Fame, 5 PP): Children performers spread a plausible rumor on your behalf in one settlement or district within 100 miles of the city.
Sage (5 Fame, 1 PP): You consult a sage, who makes one Knowledge check on your behalf.
Children of Dreams Views & Beliefs
The Children of Dreams (often just called Children) study the nature of reality through its expression in the arts and the inspiration of the mind, wakeful and sleeping. Exploring what is by portraying what is not. They claim that the heart of reality lies in Dream and that all things resolute have their origins in that ephemera. They believe everyone an actor or artist but also, and as importantly, an audience. It is no surprise then that the it is in the Children's Shadowed Theatres that one may experience some of the most lavish productions of the stage both uproarious comedy and gutwrenching tragedy.
Beyond the overt presence of the stage and the patronage of many, if not all, of the city's street performers, the Children of Dreams also maintain a large number of public kivas. The large areas are alternating presentation spaces, meditation gardens, and public zones of collaboration. Children patrons will often hire experts on a dizzying array of subjects to "be available" to the public. While some use this affiliation to rise as demagogues, many citizens of the city claim to have been educated solely by spending time in the kivas. If the public spaces' similarity to psychically empowering mandalas are brought up to the Children, they generally give a quick coy smile and move the conversation along.
The deeper complexities of the order revolve around creation, illusion and reality. And those not engaged in expression as art, are often exploring the limits of these concepts. Conjurers and mind-benders find themselves aligned, often times before they realize it, with the group. Adventures of all stripes are often retained for support teams for the Children's aethernauts, explorations into demiplane genesis, or excursions in the realms of Nightmare.
Children of Dreams Game Mechanics
Divided Shade (Vigilante Archetype)
Oneironaut (Aethernaut Archetype)
Planar Pathsinger (CantorACS Archetype)
Psychotrope Guide (Alchemist Archetype)
Sensitive (Mesmerist Archetype)
Storytwister (Bard Archetype)