Meet the Luminaries: Liara
Liara, human dreamknight. Art by Raphael Ferreira Braga.
It was the same thing again. Every time she found rest, the visions danced in her mind. A world where magic was muted and dim, where humans crossed the skies in steel leviathans, where beastlings and elves were nowhere to be found. Liara was struck, as always, by those conflicting certainties within her, that she somehow both knew this strange land intimately and yet had never set foot there in all her life.
As always, when her eyes flittered open and sleep departed, so did the details and particulars of that other world. But bits and pieces remained.
When she was a child sleeping near the warmth of old Bert’s forge, the half-remembered visions had lent surprising insights into little things: ways to make a more efficient hinge, designs for locks and keys more effective than anything currently available in the City, once even a suggestion for an alloy that made iron more flexible and durable. The sleep-addled details were never clear enough for her to remember exactly how she knew these things, but they did prove consistently true when put into practice.
It was through those strange memories that Liara had first discovered her potential as a dreamknight. She’d seen it, somewhere, a vision of heroic men and women girding themselves in colorful armor that seemed otherworldly and gave them unique powers. As she thought of that strange memory and imagined herself having such power during her waking hours, she felt the Dream flowing into her, and instinctively she allowed her memories and imagination to blend with that energy.
The air ripped and the taste of ozone filled her mouth as plates of glimmering metal and lengths of sturdy cloth suddenly draped about her. Her arms swelled with strength, her heart with courage. She did not know what purpose this power had come to her for, nor could she say with any certainty that it was actually connected to the visions that danced through her mind in her sleeping hours. She did know that it would allow her to find new answers, though.
Gird in Dream armor, possessed of a reputation for creative problem solving fueled by secret knowledge, Liara became a highly sought after delver. She was eager and happy to take every opportunity to explore the boundaries of the Dream, and she quickly developed a positive reputation. Expeditions guarded by Liara the dreamknight always came back to the City, usually laden with new riches and ideas. Whatever Liara seeks, she has not yet found, and she still eagerly ventures forth in search of a shining future.
