In recent days - some say, ever since the fall of the Necromancer at Three Rivers - something strange has been stirring in Dream. A new edge of fear and wonder touches fever dreams, the visions of Whistful City seers, and the tales of travellers in the furthest reaches of the north, where the Aurora Borealis reaches down to earth and steals away unlucky mortals. Certain individuals are appearing, offering fantastic rewards and threats for trivial or bizarre tasks, and showing unparalleled mastery of Dream. It began with a man clad all in black, but now more such individuals are appearing. Scholars of the most ancient days, before the Naming and Binding War, nod sagely and speak of the Sleepers, a group of Dream powers or perhaps powerful Dream sorcerers: some villains, some saviours, all human on the surface and anything but on further acquaintance. Others mutter darkly that such creatures are not necessarily lost in the mists of antiquity; the Battle of Dream-Bridge was only a hundred years ago… what will the Sleepers bring, or bring back, to the world?
Available to Initiates of The Thousand Arts (or anyone suicidal enough to try to sneak past the watchful eye of the Librarian) in the Library of the College is a book titled “On Dream and the Nature of the Sleepers”, written by Professor Warver. It covers most of that which is known about the Sleepers; the latest (3rd) edition includes a chapter concerning the binding of the Watcher In Black.