"Scattersomnia": A Disease of the Wise and Drowsy Wanderers

Link to article: "Scattersomnia": A Disease of the Wise and Drowsy Wanderers.

@import url(https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Playfair+Display+SC:wght@400;700;900&display=swap);
@import url(https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Texturina&display=swap);
@import url(https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Recursive&display=swap);

/* == LICENSING ==
 * Background Images, Colour Variables, and Fonts Are All From:
 *	The Dreamers' Library Theme by LAN 2D
 * Source Link:
 *	https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/component:dreamers-theme
**/

/* ==== HEADER AREA ==== */
/* == COMMON == */
 :root { /* == FLOPSTYLE: LITE + CENTERED HEADER == */
    --header-title: "The Wanderers’ Library";
    --header-subtitle: none;

    --lgurl: url(https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/local--files/component:dreamers-theme/Oma-logo-22042013_300pp.png);

    --onyx: 20, 20, 20;
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 :root { /* == DUSTJACKET == */
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    --mono-font: "Recursive", sans-serif;

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 #content-wrap {
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}

 #page-content {
    padding-top: 1.5rem;
}

 @media (min-width: 768px) {
 	 #page-content {
    	font-size: initial;
    }
}

/* == SITE BANNER == */
 div#extra-div-1 {
    background-image: url(https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/local--files/component:dreamers-theme/baloon-bg.png);
    background-size: auto 140px;
    mix-blend-mode: normal;

    z-index: 1;
}

 #header::before {
    opacity: .9;
}

 #header h1 a::before {
    font-family: unset;
    -webkit-text-fill-color: rgb(var(--bright-accent));
    text-shadow:
    	0 0 10px black,
    	0 0 20px white;
}

/* == SIDE-BAR == */
 #top-bar .open-menu a {
    color: rgb(var(--bright-accent));
    background: rgb(var(--dark-gray-monochrome));
    border-color: rgb(var(--bright-accent));
}

/* ==== CONTENT AREA ==== */
/* == INFO BAR == */
 .info-container {
    --barColour: rgb(var(--onyx));
    --linkColour: rgb(var(--pale-gray-monochrome));
}

/* == PAGE RATING == */
 div.page-rate-widget-box .rate-points {
    border-color: inherit;
}

/* == FORMATTING | [GENERAL] == */
 #page-content h1,
 #page-content h2 {
    justify-content: start;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;

    text-align: left;
}

 h1 {
    font-weight: 900;
    letter-spacing: 1px;
}

 h2 {
    font-weight: 400;
}

 #page-title {
    display: none;
}

 #main-content hr {
    height: .125rem;

    background: rgb(var(--dark-gray-monochrome));
}

 #main-content .entry hr {
    height: .0625rem;

    background: rgba(var(--white-monochrome), .75);
}

 a,
 a.newpage,
 a:visited {
    color: rgb(var(--alt-accent));
}

/* == CUSTOM DIV BLOCKS == */
 .entry {
    margin-bottom: calc(5rem / 3);
    padding: calc(5rem / 3);

    background: rgba(var(--pale-gray-monochrome), .25);
    --pale-gray-monochrome: 149, 178, 149;
    border: 2px solid rgba(var(--white-monochrome), .75);
}

 .wanderers-memo,
 .section,
 .footnotes-footer {
    padding: calc(4rem / 3);

    background: rgba(var(--pale-gray-monochrome), .25);
    border-color: rgba(var(--white-monochrome), .75);
    border-style: solid;

    overflow: auto;
}

 .wanderers-memo {
    --pale-gray-monochrome: 178, 176, 149;
    border-width: 2px;
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 .section,
 .footnotes-footer {
    margin-bottom: .2rem;

    --pale-gray-monochrome: 141, 165, 141;
    border-width: 1px;
}

 .lightweight {
    background: rgba(var(--dark-gray-monochrome), .25);
    border: 2px solid rgba(var(--white-monochrome), .25);
}

/* == FORMATTING | [SPECIAL] == */
 .fancyborder {
    border-image-source: url(https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/local--files/component:dreamers-theme/greyborder.png);
}

/* == SITE FOOTER == */
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 #footer a,
 #license-area,
 #license-area a {
    color: rgb(var(--bright-accent));
}

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    margin-top: 0;
}

```
display: none
```

```
lightweight
```
```
wanderers-memo
```
```
entry
```
```
section
```
```
indented
```
```
section
```
```
fancyborder
```
```
section
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indented
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indented
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indented
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```
indented
```
```
section
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```
indented
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```
blockquote
```

[[div style="display: none"]]
[[include :scp-wiki:theme:flopstyle]]
[[/div]]
[[include :scp-wiki:theme:dark]]
[[include :scp-wiki:theme:dustjacket-sigma]]
[[include :scp-wiki:component:centered-header-sigma-9]]

[!-- CSS is located at the bottom. --]

[[include :scp-wiki:component:preview
|text=This is a tale of what I found during my lost fortnight in the far reaches of the Stacks, with nothing but my rucksack (containing more space within than without), my phantasmal feline Buckwheat, and my own sense of direction.]]

[[include :scp-wiki:component:info-ayers
|lang=en
|page=scattersomnia
|authorPage=/floppyphoenix
|comments=[[div class="lightweight"]] 
**“Scattersomnia”: A Disease of the Wise and Drowsy Wanderers** 
**By:** [[*user Lt Flops]] 
**Published on 15 Mar 2020** 
----
This article is part of the forthcoming **Weaving Imperceptible Threads Continuity Hub**. 
[[/div]] 
----
[[include :scp-wiki:more-by:lt-flops]]
[[/div]]

[[=]]
[[module Rate]]
[[/=]]

@@ @@

[[div class="wanderers-memo"]]
= **Wanderers’ Memo**

Hello! This is my first time penning a Page in The Library! Here’s hoping my excitement doesn’t carry me too far away, as this topic is severe. I am ever hopeful that others who have encountered what I describe will be able to voice their own experiences.

[[>]]
-- Wanderer Lampyra@@ @@
Member of a fledgling cell of the Serpent’s Hand,
“The Watchers of The Lost Glade”
[[/>]]

[[/div]]
----
[[div class="entry"]]
+ “Scattersomnia”:
++ a disease of the wise and drowsy wanderers

@@ @@

[[>]]
**A Plague of Thought,
A Crook on the Lookers,
Nightmare-Walkers (By the Oneiroi),
and Fuck Wanderer Tenebris for Misleading Me**@@ @@
,,(Though, I’m grateful their deceit allowed me@@ @@
the opportunity of finding this on my own,
so I might help others),,[[footnote]]Highly unorthodox. This bears all the old hallmarks of a first-time document, indeed. I will have to ask you to present your __{{Record of Archivist’s Assent}}__ before going ahead with this draft. -- Elder Edralan[[/footnote]]^^,@< >@^^[[footnote]]Nice try, but I found this on my own. I won’t allow anyone to gatekeep my own experiences. -- Lampyra[[/footnote]]@@ @@
[[/>]]

  [[div class="section"]]
= **Conspectus**

This is a tale of what I found during my lost fortnight in the far reaches of the Stacks, with nothing but my rucksack (containing more space within than without), my phantasmal feline Buckwheat, and my own sense of direction. I had been a member of the Serpent’s Hand living in The Wanderers’ Library for only six months to that point.[[footnote]]Before then, I had a dispute with my family and fled via Way to somewhere safe. But let’s keep it on-topic. -- Lampyra[[/footnote]] I was in a vulnerable place, inside. Then, someone with a track record for misleading our fellow Hand members (//screw you//, Tenebris) tricked me into an adventure I could never dream of getting into. I stepped through a forbidden Way and found myself hundreds of millions of rows from the Commons.

    [[div class="indented"]]
All shelves were dilapidated there, bearing Books likely unread in centuries. The verdancy[[footnote]]Mostly [[[*https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/field-guide-to-the-shelves-volume-one#toc13|stop weeds]]]. -- Lampyra[[/footnote]] was off-putting, in streams of thick vines and overgrowth, and it wasn’t long until I realized how much trouble I was in. No Librarians would answer my call.[[footnote]]Not that I //wanted// them to, anyhow. I can only imagine how crushing “I told you so” might feel coming from a Docent. -- Lampyra[[/footnote]] I found one building -- an old settlement, likely built by a long-dead expedition party -- where a sense of unease filled my chest. It is there that I speculate an entity, known by Oneiric Folk as a “nightmare-walker”, had stalked me. When I was unaware, it jumped into my head, nesting in my subconscious mind.

I spent that next week foraging for scores of disembodied knowledge and sustenance; reading and retrieving forgotten texts; and exploring with Buckwheat, to no avail. Another group (who wish to remain anonymous) found me there, and via complex working, opened a Door back to my home. I showed no symptoms of its tendrils -- except for intermittent, fearful fluttering -- until I returned.

And then, it took me.
    [[/div]]
  [[/div]]

  [[div class="section"]]
= **Illustration**

    [[div_ class="fancyborder"]]
[[=image https://scp-wiki.wdfiles.com/local--files/scattersomnia/thanks-lissie.png width="640px"]]

= //This is the place where I first felt it. My photo-clairvoyant friend, Lissiefang, produced this image from my memory, in my stead. I was unfortunately unable to capture a photo myself. The Serpent knows I could never afford a camera that takes vital energy snapshots, so this will have to do. (Thanks, Liss!)//
    [[/div]]
  [[/div]]

  [[div class="section"]]
= **Knowledge**

**Traits**

    [[div class="indented"]]
A “plague of thought” is a malignant being that inhabits your psyche, latches onto your dreams, and sucks them dry. It is an intrusive negative thoughtform fuelled by a cynical, alien Mindscape that knows what you fear and robs your life of its joy. It assumes innumerable shapes and sizes with a motif of endless, fractal spirals. One can nary identify it until it is too late.

Those Wanderers who know a thought plague experience an immense mental valley in which they might feel downtrodden and discarded. It starts with a light throbbing -- or even, a strange numbness -- behind their eyes. As the plague grows, they experience a lasting ego death. Those around them become unable to identify them as they once were. They sense realistic hallucinations of those who have similarly fallen, reaching toward them, pleading for help, or mercy. And then, like a tide, one’s physical form recedes and diminishes, wisping away from the Overworld.

The thought plague, satiated by its latest feast, returns to its nightmarish abode, and awaits another who might happen across its imprint.
    [[/div]]
----
**Nature**

    [[div class="indented"]]
Stressors come with an interconnected world. Through both **(A)** the Internet and **(B)** the vast, shared psychic space we sapients can access with the most basic of neurobiological function, we feel more a sense of togetherness now than at any other time in history. And yet, still we find ourselves anxious and alone, thrown to the wayside with poisonous depression and uncertainty. Separating into ideological tribes more distant than the oldest peoples of antiquity. In rare instances, this triggers what is known as [[[scp-5990|a fatal, psychophysical expansion]]], especially now in the Unmasqued Age.[[footnote]]A time period coined by [[[researcher-nyka-s-file|Wanderer Jacques Nyka]]] to describe the status quo that exists after the shattering of the Veil. People living in paranatural communities, those of us known as “capables”, and even (and especially) the surviving fae, consider this a new Golden Age -- unfelt since the felling of the Old Nälkän Empire (c. 1150 BCE). -- Lampyra[[/footnote]]

This is not quite that. “Scattersomnia” -- a nomenclature I developed with the others in my group, to describe the wretched ways these ideatic miscreants prowl -- affects some of those same people, but only those whose guardians raised them to believe they were naturally gifted. Those “smart cookies”; those naïve ones in their merry ways; those of us who succeeded young, peaked early, and fell hard. Those whose dreams were dashed are the most vulnerable, as the nightmare-walker sees them clearest.
    [[/div]]
----
**History & Associated Parties**

    [[div class="indented"]]
An endless slew of scattersomniacs lived and fell across human history. I believe some famous ones include painter Vincent van Gogh and poet Edgar Allan Poe. The most recent one we suspect, seer and former Jailor-aligned psion Samara Maclear, frequently experiences nightmares of [[[what-lurks|a vantablack Gate]]] and [[[scp-4190|an ambling, indeterminate silhouette]]].

The Oneiroi disavow the nightmare-walkers. Though they are both the same in kind, the latter’s minds became warped after millennia spent basking in the nightmares at the bottom of Man’s misery. They are shells of what they once were and plague the Waking World incessantly, having nowhere else to go.
    [[/div]]
----
**Approach**

    [[div class="indented"]]
A nightmare-walker is not to be pitied. They are wretched, and act in wretched ways. A nightmare-walker is to be subdued with stronger thoughtforms. The help of a capable telepath might do, if temporarily.[[footnote]]Thanks again, Lissie. You saved my life. -- Lampyra[[/footnote]] There is little else one may wield to fight against them, except maybe [[[scp-3002|the spirit of oblivion]]] that lives deep in sapients of some worlds, seeded by [[[scp-2000|cursed, impossible machines]]].
    [[/div]]
  [[/div]]

  [[div class="section"]]
= **Observations & Stories**

    [[div class="indented"]]
I am the only one in my circle[[footnote]]The Watchers of The Lost Glade, of course. Only thirty-strong thus far, but we are growing. Sure, think the name flaunty; I find it charming -- Lampyra[[/footnote]] who I know to have felt this. I ask all who have experienced the cursed fate of the nightmare-walkers to join your voice with mine.
    [[/div]]
  [[/div]]

  [[div class="section"]]
= **Doubt**

    [[div class="indented"]]
There is little doubt. I have seen it. The nightmare-walkers are here, in droves, howling from behind the tarp strung against the cosmic wall. I have already invoked their name, and I fear my voicing of their discordant, collective spirit of pain has cast forth their image where all may see.

I’m sorry.

But with your strength, all ye who tread here, we might defeat them.
    [[/div]]

@@ @@

[[>]]
Or so I hope.

-- Lampyra
[[/>]]

  [[/div]]
----
[[footnoteblock title=""]]
~~~~
[[/div]]
----
[[=]]
[[module Rate]]
[[/=]]

[[include :scp-wiki:component:license-box]]
=====
[[div class="blockquote"]]
**Filename:** thanks-lissie.png
**Name:** Beelitz Abandoned Building - edited.jpg
**Author:** Photo and panorama by [https://www.flickr.com/photos/wendelinjacober/ Wendelin Jacober], some editing by [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:W.carter W.carter]
**License:** [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) - Public Domain Dedication]
**Source Link:** [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beelitz_Abandoned_Building_-_edited.jpg Wikimedia Commons]
**Note:** Edited by [[*user Lt Flops]]. Modified with the Photoshop “Oil Paint” filter.
[[/div]]
=====
[[include :scp-wiki:component:license-box-end]]

[[module CSS]]
@import url(https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Playfair+Display+SC:wght@400;700;900&display=swap);
@import url(https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Texturina&display=swap);
@import url(https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Recursive&display=swap);

/* == LICENSING ==
 * Background Images, Colour Variables, and Fonts Are All From:
 *	The Dreamers' Library Theme by LAN 2D
 * Source Link:
 *	https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/component:dreamers-theme
**/

/* ==== HEADER AREA ==== */
/* == COMMON == */
 :root { /* == FLOPSTYLE: LITE + CENTERED HEADER == */
    --header-title: "The Wanderers’ Library";
    --header-subtitle: none;

    --lgurl: url(https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/local--files/component:dreamers-theme/Oma-logo-22042013_300pp.png);

    --onyx: 20, 20, 20;
}

 :root { /* == DUSTJACKET == */
    --body-font: "Texturina", serif;
    --header-font: "Playfair Display SC", serif;
    --title-font: var(--header-font);
    --mono-font: "Recursive", sans-serif;

    --white-monochrome: 252, 252, 252;
    --pale-gray-monochrome: 161, 161, 161;
    --gray-monochrome: 79, 79, 79;
    --dark-gray-monochrome: 82, 82, 82;
    --bright-accent: 235, 235, 235;
    --medium-accent: 163, 162, 160;
    --dark-accent: var(--dark-gray-monochrome);
    --alt-accent: 253, 206, 175;
}

 body {
    color: rgb(var(--bright-accent));
    background: rgb(var(--dark-gray-monochrome));
}

 #content-wrap::before {
    content: "";
    position: absolute;
  	height: 100%;
    width: 100%;

    background-repeat: repeat-x;
    background-image: url(https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/local--files/component:dreamers-theme/greyglow3.png);
    opacity: .7;
}

 #content-wrap {
    max-width: 100%;
    margin-top: 0;
    padding-bottom: 1rem;

    background-image: url(https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/local--files/component:dreamers-theme/backgroundfinal4.png);
}

 #page-content {
    padding-top: 1.5rem;
}

 @media (min-width: 768px) {
 	 #page-content {
    	font-size: initial;
    }
}

/* == SITE BANNER == */
 div#extra-div-1 {
    background-image: url(https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/local--files/component:dreamers-theme/baloon-bg.png);
    background-size: auto 140px;
    mix-blend-mode: normal;

    z-index: 1;
}

 #header::before {
    opacity: .9;
}

 #header h1 a::before {
    font-family: unset;
    -webkit-text-fill-color: rgb(var(--bright-accent));
    text-shadow:
    	0 0 10px black,
    	0 0 20px white;
}

/* == SIDE-BAR == */
 #top-bar .open-menu a {
    color: rgb(var(--bright-accent));
    background: rgb(var(--dark-gray-monochrome));
    border-color: rgb(var(--bright-accent));
}

/* ==== CONTENT AREA ==== */
/* == INFO BAR == */
 .info-container {
    --barColour: rgb(var(--onyx));
    --linkColour: rgb(var(--pale-gray-monochrome));
}

/* == PAGE RATING == */
 div.page-rate-widget-box .rate-points {
    border-color: inherit;
}

/* == FORMATTING | [GENERAL] == */
 #page-content h1,
 #page-content h2 {
    justify-content: start;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;

    text-align: left;
}

 h1 {
    font-weight: 900;
    letter-spacing: 1px;
}

 h2 {
    font-weight: 400;
}

 #page-title {
    display: none;
}

 #main-content hr {
    height: .125rem;

    background: rgb(var(--dark-gray-monochrome));
}

 #main-content .entry hr {
    height: .0625rem;

    background: rgba(var(--white-monochrome), .75);
}

 a,
 a.newpage,
 a:visited {
    color: rgb(var(--alt-accent));
}

/* == CUSTOM DIV BLOCKS == */
 .entry {
    margin-bottom: calc(5rem / 3);
    padding: calc(5rem / 3);

    background: rgba(var(--pale-gray-monochrome), .25);
    --pale-gray-monochrome: 149, 178, 149;
    border: 2px solid rgba(var(--white-monochrome), .75);
}

 .wanderers-memo,
 .section,
 .footnotes-footer {
    padding: calc(4rem / 3);

    background: rgba(var(--pale-gray-monochrome), .25);
    border-color: rgba(var(--white-monochrome), .75);
    border-style: solid;

    overflow: auto;
}

 .wanderers-memo {
    --pale-gray-monochrome: 178, 176, 149;
    border-width: 2px;
}

 .section,
 .footnotes-footer {
    margin-bottom: .2rem;

    --pale-gray-monochrome: 141, 165, 141;
    border-width: 1px;
}

 .lightweight {
    background: rgba(var(--dark-gray-monochrome), .25);
    border: 2px solid rgba(var(--white-monochrome), .25);
}

/* == FORMATTING | [SPECIAL] == */
 .fancyborder {
    border-image-source: url(https://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/local--files/component:dreamers-theme/greyborder.png);
}

/* == SITE FOOTER == */
 #footer,
 #footer a,
 #license-area,
 #license-area a {
    color: rgb(var(--bright-accent));
}

 #footer {
    margin-top: 0;
}
[[/module]]

"Scattersomnia": A Disease of the Wise and Drowsy Wanderers

Module Styles

Inline Styles

Includes

CSS Classes

Page Source