🝊 WHAT IS SOMNIA?
Somnia is an invite only panfandom roleplay set in a surreal, post-apocalyptic world haunted by a god-like being called Sleep. Characters arrive through dreams and awaken transformed— physically, mentally, and spiritually— into vessels of her infection.
Here you'll find horror, intimacy, memory, and the slow erosion of identity, blending elements of psychological horror, dream logic and body horror into the game.
Somnia draws inspiration from the music and lore of Sleep Token, as well as their graphic novel Teeth of God, elements from The Last of Us, Annihilation, James Cameron's Avatar, Resident Evil, Stranger Things and more.
🝊 WHERE DOES SOMNIA TAKE PLACE?
Somnia takes place across two overlapping realities: a crumbling, post-apocalyptic physical world and the deeper, surreal dreamscape that is shared between characters.
When your character is first pulled into Somnia, they're drawn through the dreamscape: a boundless realm shaped by Sleep's will. When they wake up, they're in the real world of Somnia: a physically ruined version of Earth, twisted by her touch. This is a landscape torn apart by some great, forgotten disaster, all collapsed cities, overgrown highways, flooding skies, and the husks of what once was. In some places, it's almost normal. In others, it's been dream-touched, warped by broken logic, impossible geometry, or magical rot.
The two worlds bleed into each other. Sometimes dreams spill into waking life. Sometimes reality bends without warning. It's unstable, shifting, and always a little wrong. The world of Somnia is shaped by the Murmur, by magic, and by the people inside it. As characters bond, transform, and explore, new zones will open, revealing more of this broken place and the deeper, stranger things lurking beneath it.
. . . You know. Like New York.
🝊 WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT FROM THE GAME?
🪢Eldritch/psychological horror, survival/apocalyptic horror, fictional religious elements, body horror, occasional nsfw/sexual content and emotional challenges with low energy break months to recoup in between
🪢A vast dream world that slowly reveals itself and a post-apocalyptic waking world.
🪢Dream-logic environments and dissonance
🪢Optional bonds
🪢Themes of intimacy, belief, decay, and transformation
🪢A soundtrack-driven structure using Sleep Token's music
🝊 WHAT ARE VESSELS?
Upon arrival, each character is transformed into a Vessel. They are otherworlders who have been drawn into this one by Sleep and changed in the process. Every Vessel takes on one of two forms:
Tokens are altered into beings of psychic or metaphysical power, capable of strange magic and perception beyond reality.
Offerings are transformed into monster-like forms— part bestial, their bodies reflect the trauma and dreams they carried into the world.
🝊 WHAT IS THE MURMUR?
The Murmur is the lingering psychic connection between all vessels. It is how they speak in dreams, how they feel each other's pain, and how Sleep's influence spreads. It is not a network anyone chooses to join— it simply exists.
Players can explore The Murmur as deeply or lightly as they wish, but know that it will always be present.
🝊 WHAT ARE TETHERS AND CONVERGENCE?
Tethers are emotional and spiritual bonds between two characters— whether romantic, platonic, toxic, codependent, or something different. These bonds give mechanical and narrative benefits, but also come with vulnerability: emotions bleed across Tethers, and proximity strengthens them.
When a Tether grows deep enough, it may become a Convergence— a permanent and overwhelming connection that changes both Vessels in irreversible ways.
🝊 CAN MY CHARACTER TETHER WITH CREATURES OR THE LANDSCAPE?
Yes! Optional mechanics allow your character to form temporary or permanent Tethers with local flora, fauna, or strange environmental features. These come with insight, power, or companionship— but overuse may lead to signs of Succumbence.
🝊 WHAT IS SUCCUMBENCE?
Succumbence is the process of giving in to Sleep's infection. As a Vessel draws deeper into The Murmur through overuse of their power, too many Ambiental Tethers, or too much emotional erosion, they may begin to physically and mentally change.
Succumbence is slow, gradual, and often ugly or beautiful. It may be a chosen path or a tragic one, but it is not immediate and never irreversible— until the final stage, when a Vessel becomes a Host: fully consumed by Sleep's will.
🝊 HOW LONG DOES THE GAME RUN?
Somnia is structured in phases tied to Sleep Token's discography. The Prelude Phase uses early EPs, singles, and covers to introduce Sleep, NPCs, the infection, and the world's crumbling boundaries. Then each full-length album spans about more or less one year of gameplay:
🪢Sundowning: The slow collapse of Sleep's illusion. NPCs begin to interact more with player characters through game events, player characters may begin to rebel.
🪢This Place Will Become Your Tomb: Sleep's retaliation and the word's descent into psychological and physical ruin. The Murmur deepens, and bonds are tested.
🪢Take Me Back to Eden: Sleep's reckoning and NPC's counterattack. The world threatens to reshape; vessels face their final forms, dreams, or deaths.
🪢Even in Arcadia: An Epilogue . . . Or the beginning of another chapter. Do you think The Cycle Must End or The House Must Endure?
The total planned runtime at the moment is approximately 3.5 to 4 years, with narrative break months between arcs. This can span a little more or less depending on player run plots, suggestions and character choices. This estimate may be subject to change (or not!). We'll see what the future holds :)
🝊 HOW DO I JOIN?
Start with the Invite page and ask for a Mod invite or get an invite from an existing player that has been in the game for at least a month. Then keep an eye out for our Test Drive Meme to get a feel for the game, Reserves and then Apps!
🝊 IS THERE A NETWORK?
In a way! Every Vessel arrives with a mask, blindfold, or veil— a symbolic object bound to their transformation. When worn, it grants access to a shared psychic space we're going to be very original about and call it The Network.
Through it, Vessels can communicate over distance— like whispering across a void or leaving behind a memory for someone to find.
Mechanically, the Network allows characters to send:
🪢Telepathic messaging, brief and intimate like thoughts or texts
🪢Illusory voice communication, where a vessel hears another's voice in their mind
🪢Projected apparitions, resembling the speaker’s form in a dreamlike facsimile, like a waking hallucination or VR
Masks and blindfolds are not merely tools; they are sacred conduits. The more emotionally charged the message, the more vivid— or distorted— the transmission.
🝊 HOW DOES DEATH WORK IN SOMNIA?
Death in Somnia isn''t permanent— but it's serious.
There are ways to come back, either through necromancy (by other player characters with the right abilities) or with help from certain NPCs. That said, dying should never feel like a "reset button" or something casual. It's a major event with real consequences just as the real world, and it's meant to mean something every time it happens.
You can't bring yourself back. Another character, either a Token who knows necromancy or an NPC, has to make the choice to do so. That means death always involves some form of outside intent and consent. Characters who return from death will always come back changed. This can look a lot of different ways:
🪢 They might keep visible injuries (e.g., always-bleeding wounds, stitched scars, signs of rot).
🪢 They could lose an important memory and feel incomplete (a person, a place, a moment they treasured).
🪢 They might show more permanent signs of Succumbence (extra limbs, plant growth, strange eyes, tendrils, fungal growths,etc).
🪢 They might feel emotionally dulled or disconnected.
🪢 They might hear the Murmur louder than before, and have trouble tuning it out.
These changes are meant to reflect the fact that your character has died and returned. You can decide what this looks like, but it should always be noticeable. It should be clear to others that your character has been through something intense and should avoid similar fates.
🝊 WHAT TYPES OF CHARACTERS ARE APPABLE?We currently allow OCs and Canon Characters. We do not allow CRAUs.
🝊 GIVEN SOME SONG VIBES FROM SLEEP TOKEN, IS SOMNIA SEX/SMUT FRIENDLY OR MORE HORROR-GEARED?
Considering the nature of Sexy Token when it strikes, yes, you can assume that the occasional nsfw prompt or perk can be found in events to reflect that vibe (especially when certain acts could power up Tethers, count as rituals or worship), but these are completely optional. What the game really focuses on is horror! Also a note that characters under the age of 18 should be kept away from these prompts.
🝊 IS THIS A MONSTER TRANSFORMATION GAME?It could be if that is what your heart desires. If you dig the setting but don't want your character turning into a fullblown monster, then a good vessel option for you would be a Token, where they take on a mage archetype rather than a creature.
🝊 DO I NEED TO BE A FAN OF SLEEP TOKEN TO PLAY?Absolutely not. But I hope you'll enjoy the music and the little nerd space we've made out of it. Worship.
🝊 ARE THERE ANY AGE CAPS FOR CHARACTERS?16+. Any younger than that will be considered on a case by case basis, since we are aware that child characters in horror settings exist (Attack on Titan, Stranger Things, etc). We'll be asking for a reason as to why they'd fit into the setting if they are younger than 16 and will make our decision if they will be a good fit for the game or not.
QUESTION INDEX
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and also, incidentally, probably totally unrelated, what's the general status of prophylactic and contraception tools in the good ol' City That's Very Sleepy Now manhattan......... what has survived the Sleepocalypse
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let's get to the point, first: no, vessels cannot get pregnant. anyone with a uturus and ovaries will realize upon arriving in sleephatten and within a few months to notice, they've stopped ovulating and will no longer menstruate. this has something to do with the "lunar anomaly" mentioned in the notes found throughout the murmur. more info on that and a more biological explanation will arrise if characters dig towards that.
so, what about sex? is it just pointless?? uh, absolutely not! any form of intercourse is a sacred ritual for vessels, whether they know that deep down or figure it out themselves, and this is because sex is at its core an act of intimacy and a moment of inescapable tethering with one another. partakers will likely tether long before they do anything because of the nature of attraction, so going into kissing, and then . . . well, the rest? wowza. characters will connect mentally and emotionally, strengthening that bond profoundly during, and it only gets better if it's with the right person. they will share sensations, emotions, everything— there has been a history of tethers through sex becoming so strong that the vessels become a converged pair rather than simply a tether after. someone might want to ask the npcs some time ..............
tokens will notice their magic amplifying during and at its height of strength some hours/days after partaking, while offerings will feel similarly— calmer, aware of their senses and at a cusp of power that lasts for hours after, sometimes even days depending on the match. the exchange is at its greatest potential when done with a token-offering pair, or two offerings one token, or two tokens one offering, etc— as long as there is in some way both a token and offering in the mix, the act(s) will be, quite literally, mindblowing.
usually offering-offering and token-token pairs do well, just note that their "power ups" will last significantly less, only an hour or so after.
EDIT: I ALMOST FORGOT!! how silly of me. yes, offerings may have heat/rut cycles based on the animal they may be aligned with. there has been past history of vessels aligning their horniness with the lunar cycles, too. it all depends on what you want as a player.
contraceptives might be found in the remains of pharmacies, but some might be damaged if the packaging has been exposed to poor conditions. still, since there's no light right now, its possible to find them undamaged.