strange dreams are made of this
Feb. 13th, 2005 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonSlept in FAR too late this morning, but at least had a cracked-out dream come of it:
I had a dream of a planet with futuristic technology (laser weaponry, high speed transportation between cities/continents) but highly stratified "feudal" type of social structure (kings and queens set apart from the rest of the population, nobles who functioned as high-powered executives, a creative/entertainment class). Interactions between the social classes were governed by intricate rules and traditions, and some of the only people who could move easily between the classes were a special group of courtesans.
I was watching several stories unfold, one after the other, about this group of highly trained, nomadic women who solved crimes on the orders of the kings and queens and paid their expenses by offering "companionship" to the high powered exec nobles who would put them up in ritzy penthouses for the duration of their stay in a city to solve a crime. After solving a crime, they would take a high speed transport to another city for their next assignment, while the noble with which they stayed would destroy all traces of their time in the city, destroying all clothing, furniture, papers, etc. left behind. Though the courtesan spent all of her "off-hours" with the noble as a sexual partner/"date" for attending social engagements (kind of like the role of "companion" on "Firefly")/informal security/drinking buddy or whatever the noble's taste dictated, the noble never knew what her mission was.
One courtesan was assigned to seduce a scientist to find out what kinds of secret projects he was working on. Another was sent to the aid of another noble to find out why another courtesan, his mistress, had gone mad and accused him of murder, theft, etc. Still another was assigned to guard one of the queens during her confinement and ultimately midwifed the birth. Ultimately they fell in love and the courtesan consoled the queen when her child was sent to another court, never to be seen again (in this universe, royal children were sent away as toddlers to be raised in the kingdom into which they would later marry). With the exception of the last I never did see the crimes solved - it just kind of faded out to the woman clearing out her penthouse and going to catch a transport.
The scientist-seducing courtesan completed her work and was sent from New York, to Moscow, to somewhere else (I'm not entirely sure that the city names weren't just shorthand for the mythical cities invented in my mind). For some reason this "universe" was whole, clear, and realized, even with a lot of holes in how "the other half" lived. Each courtesan's story was like a separate book in a series, a series of mysteries with a lot of other details about technology and social structures thrown in.
The other curious detail was that the skies were yellow, and usually filled with blue gray clouds - industrial pollution or just a rainy planet?
I had a dream of a planet with futuristic technology (laser weaponry, high speed transportation between cities/continents) but highly stratified "feudal" type of social structure (kings and queens set apart from the rest of the population, nobles who functioned as high-powered executives, a creative/entertainment class). Interactions between the social classes were governed by intricate rules and traditions, and some of the only people who could move easily between the classes were a special group of courtesans.
I was watching several stories unfold, one after the other, about this group of highly trained, nomadic women who solved crimes on the orders of the kings and queens and paid their expenses by offering "companionship" to the high powered exec nobles who would put them up in ritzy penthouses for the duration of their stay in a city to solve a crime. After solving a crime, they would take a high speed transport to another city for their next assignment, while the noble with which they stayed would destroy all traces of their time in the city, destroying all clothing, furniture, papers, etc. left behind. Though the courtesan spent all of her "off-hours" with the noble as a sexual partner/"date" for attending social engagements (kind of like the role of "companion" on "Firefly")/informal security/drinking buddy or whatever the noble's taste dictated, the noble never knew what her mission was.
One courtesan was assigned to seduce a scientist to find out what kinds of secret projects he was working on. Another was sent to the aid of another noble to find out why another courtesan, his mistress, had gone mad and accused him of murder, theft, etc. Still another was assigned to guard one of the queens during her confinement and ultimately midwifed the birth. Ultimately they fell in love and the courtesan consoled the queen when her child was sent to another court, never to be seen again (in this universe, royal children were sent away as toddlers to be raised in the kingdom into which they would later marry). With the exception of the last I never did see the crimes solved - it just kind of faded out to the woman clearing out her penthouse and going to catch a transport.
The scientist-seducing courtesan completed her work and was sent from New York, to Moscow, to somewhere else (I'm not entirely sure that the city names weren't just shorthand for the mythical cities invented in my mind). For some reason this "universe" was whole, clear, and realized, even with a lot of holes in how "the other half" lived. Each courtesan's story was like a separate book in a series, a series of mysteries with a lot of other details about technology and social structures thrown in.
The other curious detail was that the skies were yellow, and usually filled with blue gray clouds - industrial pollution or just a rainy planet?
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-13 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-14 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-14 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-14 02:44 am (UTC)I typed this here mostly for "storage" purposes - I tend to forget dreams if I don't write them down. If I have time (unlikely, regrettably), I'll try and write down some kind of "framework" for this society and figure out whether I want to write alone or with friends.
If a RPG, are you interested?
no subject
Date: 2005-02-14 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-14 04:17 am (UTC)Wowza!
Date: 2005-02-18 05:17 am (UTC)(Hah...now you know how it feels. ;)
Seriously, though, your dream provided me with a good few hours of entertainment in the airport yesterday, as I elaborated on it in my imagination waiting for the plane to arrive. The story of a companion on her first assignment out of academy...thanks!