Nightmare Defense

Nightmare Defense:

Nightmare defense, or nocturnal protector, describes a role and a system function in which a single system member, or a team of system members, are tasked with the role of defending sleeping headmates from nightmares and nightmare entities.

Nightmare defense teams have multiple ways to protect sleeping headmates from the effects of bad dreams. Some defense options include wiping the sleepers' memories of a nightmare, soothing the sleepers, or otherwise rescuing them when they're mid-dream by waking up the sleeper(s) or body. They can also try flipping the script on a nightmare during its runtime by turning it into a sweet dream, standing guard so that no nightmares reach them whatsoever, or even fighting the causes of a nightmare head-on.

Because of the nature of this role, a team of headmates on nightmare defense can include nightrojects, somtives, nightwatchers, night guards, dream-seekers, and headmates that fall under a nocturnal umbrella.

Related Terms/Roles
Nightmare entity: A nightmare entity is an umbrella term describing non-sentient beings and the cause of a nightmare in a headspace. This can be something small and non-sentient, like a dream shard, or an artifact left behind by the "antagonist" of a nightmare that had been defeated. A non-sentient nightmare entity may describe the brain's interpretation of a person from the external world, another abstract representation of a sleeper's anxiety, or an in-system event that ravages a headspace.

Nightmare wielder: This role describes a system member whom has the power to create, or otherwise wield or take control of, a nightmare. This describes a strategy in which a system member can flip the script and take control, or even pause or delete the nightmare itself during runtime.

Nightmare navigator: This role describes a system member who is well versed in navigating the function, usual location(s) of, and the categories of nightmares. For example, a system member may be well-versed in navigating the nighttime version of a headspace region that often sees nightmare entities inhabit it, which can trap sleepers in predictable places so that a rescue can be carried out. They're related to scouts in that nightmare locations are often closed off during the daytime, or when the body is awake.

Nightmare location: A nightmare location is a term used to describe a setting in the headspace (if a system has one) that sees the effects of, or origins of nightmares and/or nightmare entities the most. It can be as major as a city, or as quiet as a meadow. They can either be a source of bad dreams during the nighttime, or a common setting in a nightmare regardless of being the source of them.

Nightmare rescue: Nightmare rescue, or a nightmare rescue team depending on the amount of headmates with the role, describes a nocturnal role in which nocturnal protectors find and pull one or multiple headmates out of a nightmare state. This could be as small as warping them to a safe region of the headspace, or waking up the body, all depending on the severity of the nightmare.