How Somnium works

Everything else on this page can wait. This is the part that makes Somnium work, so it's up here.

Go to Partner Search. You'll find two kinds of post:

Full ads are for a thread or a world someone has already built. They have a title, a pitch, and usually a banner. If one appeals, hit message and say what caught your eye, one specific line is worth more than a paragraph of enthusiasm.

Quick posts are one sentence, and they expire after a couple of days. They're the low-pressure option in both directions: no title, no banner, no commitment. Most threads here actually start this way.

Not sure which to post? If you've built something, post a full ad. If you just have a feeling — "anyone want to write two knights who hate each other" — post a quick one. It takes ten seconds.

A quick post that's getting replies can become a full ad later; we'll offer.

Three layers, smallest to largest. You only ever need the first one.

• 1A thread is where writing happens. Two or more dreamwalkers, one scene, back and forth. Most of Somnium is threads, and plenty of people never use anything else, a thread doesn't need to sit inside anything.
• 2A dreamscape holds related threads. If you and three friends are writing five separate scenes in the same drowned city, that city is a dreamscape. It gives those threads a shared home, a member list, and an OOC chat of their own, which is where longer planning conversations belong, rather than the waking channel.
• 3A world holds several dreamscapes. This is for large-scale worldbuilding: one setting with distinct regions or eras, each with its own threads running in it. If you're building something with a map and a timeline, that's a world.

You do not need to decide any of this up front. Start a thread. If it grows roots, give it a dreamscape. If the dreamscape grows a map, give it a world.

Browse them at Roleplay, Dreamscapes and Worlds.

Before you can write in a scene you need at least one dreamwalker — the fictional person you'll be playing. You can have as many as you want and switch freely between them.

• 1Click Dreamwalkers in the nav, then + New Dreamwalker.
• 2Fill in a name. Everything else, appearance, personality, backstory, is optional and can be filled in later, or never.
• 3Upload an image if you have one. It shows next to your posts.
• 4Save. That's it.

• 1Open a thread you've been invited to, or start a new one from the Roleplay page.
• 2Pick which dreamwalker you're posting as, using the selector above the text box.
• 3Write. The editor does bold, italic and line breaks. Third person past tense is the house default unless your partner has agreed otherwise.
• 4Post. Your partner is notified.

Short version: everyone here is a person who is nervous about their writing. Act accordingly.

Slow replies are not rejection. A week between posts is normal. Two weeks is normal. Assume good faith and life circumstances before you assume disinterest.

Say when you're stepping back. If a thread isn't working for you, use step away on it, it stops your notifications and quietly lets the other person know. Being ghosted without explanation is the thing that hurts on sites like this, and it takes one click to avoid it.

Match what you're given, roughly. If someone writes you three paragraphs, three sentences back reads as disinterest even when it isn't. If you can't match it right now, say so, nobody minds being told.

Ask before big swings. Killing a character, timeskipping, introducing someone else's NPC. A one-line OOC note first, always.

Separate the character from the person. Your dreamwalker can be cruel. You can't. If a scene is going somewhere you're not comfortable with, say so out of character and it stops, no explanation owed.

Don't write someone else's character. Decide what yours does; leave theirs room to react on their own terms.

The waking channel is out of character. Keep full scenes to the OOC chat in dreamscapes, keep the channel SFW, and be considerate. If someone asks to be left alone, leave them alone.

This section exists so you know where things are before you need them.

Hide someone from the waking channel. Their messages stop appearing for you. They are not told. Nobody sees this but you.

Block someone. They can't DM you, reply to your Partner Search posts, or join threads and dreamscapes you own. They are not told. Posts in threads you already share stay visible to you both, and nothing anyone wrote is deleted, if you want out of a shared thread, step away from it separately.

Report someone. Goes to the admins only, and they'll never know you reported them. Use it for ignored boundaries, unwanted sexual content or pressure, harassment, spam and impersonation, or if you think someone is underage. Attaching your recent messages as context helps a lot, a report without them is very hard to act on.

What admins can see. Reports and the messages you attach to them, and anything posted publicly. Admins can remove messages from the waking channel and time someone out of it.

Somnium is 18+. Everyone here is an adult, and you confirmed that when you signed up. It's not a setting and it isn't tied to whether you read mature content, it's who the site is for. If you think someone is under 18, report them; it goes to admins only and they'll never know it was you. We'd much rather read a report that turns out to be nothing.

Tag mature content. Any thread, dreamscape or Partner Search post with sexual content, graphic violence or heavy themes gets the nsfw tag. It's not a warning that something is bad, it's how people choose what they're up for tonight.

The waking channel stays SFW regardless of tags. It's the one room everybody passes through.

Content notes are welcome and normal. A line at the top of a thread — cn: body horror, unreliable narrator — is good practice, not oversharing.

What's not allowed anywhere. Sexual content involving characters under 18, in any form, with no exceptions. Sexualising real people. Content promoting real-world violence, self-harm or suicide. Hate speech. Harassment, doxxing and threats. Spam. The full list is in the Terms of Service, and breaking any of it means a permanent ban.

An 18+ site doesn't mean everything is explicit. Mature content lives behind the nsfw tag, and you can turn it off entirely in Settings — it stays off everywhere.

Tracking is automatic. Post in a thread and it appears in your tracking list, with a mark when someone replies. You don't have to do anything.

Waiting on you. Your homepage leads with threads where someone has replied and you haven't. That's the whole to-do list.

Streaks. Post on consecutive days and your lantern flair lights up. Miss a day and it dims rather than disappearing, it relights the moment you post again. It's meant to be a warm thing, not a demand.

When a thread goes quiet we'll offer you two options: nudge your partner, or step away. Either is fine.

Notifications live under the bell in the top right, replies, DMs, and anything that needs you.

Your profile is the first thing a potential partner sees. It's worth five minutes, but only after you've found someone to write with.

• 1Settings → Profile for your avatar, bio and profile layout. Say what you like writing and roughly how fast you reply; that's what partners actually want to know.
• 2Settings → Appearance for your theme, username style and flairs. Free members wear one flair; Exalted members wear more.
• 3Flairs are small pills next to your name. Some are bought in the shop, some are earned, and some appear during a monthly drop and are never sold again.
• 4Themes change the whole site's colours. Some are free, some come with Exalted, and seasonal ones show up for a month, save one while it's in season and it stays in your picker forever.

Exalted is the optional paid tier. It funds the hosting and nothing on Somnium is locked behind it, no feature you need to write is paid.

• 1The Exalted theme shelf, extra flair slots, and username styling.
• 2A profile banner and more room to decorate.
• 3More Partner Search bumps per day, the one thing that's functional rather than decorative.

If you can't afford it, you are not missing anything that matters. Write anyway.

If something isn't working, or you have a question this page doesn't answer:

• 1Use the report button on any post, thread or profile to flag something that breaks the rules. See section 8 for what happens next.
• 2DM a moderator — mods are listed on the Members page with a badge.
• 3For technical bugs, DM the site admin directly.