(met-uh-sim)

Meticem are memetic beings that exist naturally in Adrem, Grand Consciousness. They are created from many thoughts weaving together and gaining sentience. A number of times, Meticem are able to help weave together thoughts to create new Meticem. While the process is arduous, this is what forms their idea of family.

They are not able to shapeshift at will, instead changing their form as they grow with experiences to mimic what is in their heart. For some Meticem, metamorphosis is a centuries long process, while others seem almost mercurial in how quickly they change shapes.

All Meticem, regardless of how they form, descend from The Unborn Dream. From The Embryo of Self and Other, The Unborn Dream weaves all parts of Adrem including the Meticem. To maintain balance within the Grand Consciousness, The Unborn Dream weaves two types of Meticem; Vedah (dreams) and Hadev (nightmares.)

While beings from other realms might see Vedah as good and Hadev as bad, this could not be farther from the truth. Both Meticem work in tandem to ensure the balance of Adrem is kept, as is their purpose. Should The Unborn Dream become too content, it may die. Should any emotion become too great, it may awaken, possibly shattering all of Adrem.

Vedah are tasked with creating dreams which may be strange, wonderous, or baffling. They do often grant dreams that are pleasant but their purpose to to maintain memories by allowing others to process the thoughts in their minds.

Hadev are tasked with creating nightmares to cause anxiety, discomfort, or sorrow. Many times this can be experienced as a nightmare that was just unsettling enough to cause a being to wake up, though other times they might fill a nightmare with such emotion that the being will not want to sleep. This is done to harvest the negative emotions to present to The Unborn Dream, and is not malicious.

The Sustainers are Meticem that are neither Vedah or Hadev, some of the first Meticem to ever exist before even dreams and nightmares. The act as a council to ensure that The Unborn Dream is adequately supplied with equal parts positive and negative emotions. They are the closest thing to leadership Meticem have, though they are guides rather than rulers.