This is going to be a Q&A thread as well as a continual exploration thread of Zödra, I will not be posting all of my Zödra dreams here, as that would be too many, but I will post ones that answer questions and that I find interesting.

So, I have recently been working more on world building. Using my incubation and induction, I have gotten a pretty stable version of a world down that the residents call Zödra. It is a persistent dream world, but it doesn't follow the rules of the rest of the dream worlds. One of the reasons is that I am not extremely good at creating persistent realms the way that I have seen others do, so I have had to compensate with things that I am good at. If you have any specific questions as to how I have made this world, feel free to ask. I will provide a short explanation here, but this first post is mainly going to be how I discover new things about it, I will continue adding, changing, and maneuvering things until it is a good representation of Zödra.

Lets get this in a way that kind of makes sense
Some Rules and Regs

Zödra is a persistent dream world, meaning that it is world that is a dream, but also persistent. It is not a "Persistent realm" as they are considered to be real by the inhabitants and are a "real world" within the dream, with many different rules that apply to the realm. For instance if I wanted to go to a realm that was like Zelda, Characters would be able to do things that Hylians would generally be able to do. Things like Magic, Gorons, and the like would be normal. Zödra is not like these, as it has the same rules as a dream world. I could run into a Goron there, or an angel, or Buffy the vampire slayer. The rules of dreams apply. However, there are a few rules that override this.
If a person in Zödra is not aware that it is a dream, their actions are not persistent
If I become lucid in a dream, I am automatically in Zödra, because it is my default dreamworld. In fact, all of my dreams happen there, and if I run into a character like Jason, everything that he does is persistent, but everything I do is not. It is a weird rule, but it is one that I have observed, not created. If a DC discovers that it is a dream, it becomes persistent and can make persistent changes to the dream environment as well as to themselves. Very self explanatory, this includes creating a place of residence, gaining powers like that of a dreamer, and killing other DCs.
Something about location
It seems like if you fall asleep in Kansas, you will dream in Kansas or any fictional place. If you fall asleep in Japan, you will fall asleep in Japan, you will dream in Japan or any fictional place. It is a very weird confusing thing that I noticed works when I change where I am sleeping just a little or a whole lot. This applies to non lucids as well.

These are just as I said, observed and general rules. I could be wrong about them as I haven't been told anything about this, I have just been able to visit and enjoy and observe.

Persistent Characters

Friends
There are three main Zödra characters that I have noticed.
Jason
Much much stronger than me, I think that he is based on "hukif" by all things that I have talked to him about. He often is more of a bully in dreams, but I realized that in dreams he just didn't respect me because I was so much weaker. After killing quite a few enemies, I was able to earn his respect and even have been asked by him to go on missions with him. He has some interesting powers, but I will probably write them later.
My dad
Has mainly been teaching me lessons and abilities. Only been on one mission with him, and everyone was there at the time. He originally told me about Zödra being "Zödra" and downloaded 75 years of Zödra newspapers into my head. I thought at first that he wanted me to take over and become the protector, but I am not so sure now.
My sister
Could be evil, after a little looking back, I am more worried about her. She seems to learn at the same pace that I do, almost like "Gary"
She may have actually killed the other "12 versions of myself", but that is also another story I will put on here.

Foes
Witches
So far the witches have been everywhere. Very few of them work together, but I have had to dispatch 3 at once before. They are generally girls and haven't heard a guy one called a witch before, so I imagine that they are either "Wizards" or something like that. They are DCs that realized that it is a dream and are seemingly hellbent on killing other persistent DCs. When killing a non persistent DC, it is like killing an NPC, they just respawn, they may look a little different.

Neutral
So when I was in Japan, I met plenty of people that realized that they were dreaming and were more like explorers, they didn't fight for the greater good or for the worser... bad? They just existed and had all sorts of dream powers. Many many more of them than there are in Kansas. Maybe just due to the fact that there is a lot more DCs in dream Japan due to the higher concentration of people.

There are others like "vixen", "The old man", or "Japanese raised wife", but I have only seen those in few LDs, and it has been a long time. Will talk about on request.

It is interesting to see these "dream signs" throughout my dreams, lucid and non lucid alike.

Only ways I have found to get out of Zödra
Wake up or go to sleep. one level down or one level up is not Zödra. this being said, I can lay down, close my eyes and teleport to another place in Zödra without falling asleep in the dream.

Just some random interesting things inside Zödra
Fake Memories
This seems like something I can fake or create, and I decide whether or not they are persistent. For instance, if I want to be able to turn into a sun, I could create a fake memory of myself doing that, and that memory doesn't have to be a persistent idea or place, it can just be a "fake memory" since it is a dream power I have.
This being said, if I want to, after creating a fake memory, even after waking, I can then decide whether or not that is a persistent thing.
I can even have a fake memory in a non lucid and then decide that this is a persistent thing, because I make the freaking rules since it is a "dream world" and I can bend them in many ways.

More about waking changes
When I wake up, I am usually left with many questions about dreams. In fact, after I met Jason for the "first time" I looked back in some LDs and dreams and realized that Jason (or someone like Jason) had been there before. This made his appearance change me from 1 to 3 appearances of him in the past. After giving him a name and more dreams that I believed him to be in, he showed up quite a few times, following his characteristics and even talking about things that I had decided were him before. So when it happened, I seriously doubt that that was Jason, but because I wanted it to be him and thought it would be cool and more fun to enjoy that later, I forced the connection. Old man is the same way.
This dream I eluded to before is actually about my doppleganger, er kind of, my girl doppleganger.
This is why I incubate dreams. - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
This happened before I learned any major rules of Zödra and while leaving a huge mark on my mind for awesome adventures. I realized that it could work in Zödra since there are 14 connecting "dimensions" or "realms". I have only been to two of these. While this was just a random occurrence in a dream, I can make it connect and make this an awesome overarching goal. I think that this ability is actually mine since I am better at incubation than I am at induction. I have been incubating for 10 years and LDing for almost 4. Incubation also has always included dream chaining and dream control chaining in my book. When I first learned to incubate powers, I was easily able to bring those powers into more dreams after the first time I accomplished it, as well as the plots. While bringing a plot from a previous night has been hard work, I think that I am taking the right steps into making the plots always connect. Okay, a little off topic, back to topic. So one big plan is to find her and help us come to terms with the other versions, maybe fix it and save my lives, maybe switch, I really don't know. I will just probably decide in dream.

The non persistent DCs have a good space program
LOL. I actually realized I was dreaming the other day right before being beamed to Mars. I was able to check out the base that they had there and shop for some shoes for the ride back. They can't beam back, so I was wanting to check the spaceship out. When they said I needed shoes and told me I could buy them, I thought that was hilarious and had to check out the store. It had like 5 different pairs of shoes. lol.

The Mall
Definitely the best part of Zödra so far, anything that you could ever want in a mall. If it is something that you could buy in waking, you can steal it or produce fake money, but if it is something that doesn't exist in waking and you want it, you are buying from a "persistent DC owned establishment" and need to either trade real money (money obtained through goods or services rendered) or services. I have very little money, so I usually just accept the quest that the DC tells me to do in order to get the money. Also, any mall that I have been to in dreams ever is connected to the mall, no matter where it is at, so I can always go to a place that I have been before, or I can basically create a store with the things that I need through expectation. I have bought quite a bit of things here. Most notably, my white katana, that still has yet to reveal its true potential as a sword, but I love it.

Friends that "know" it is a dream
You have probably had those adventures with friends of yours that know it is a dream and you guys have a "shared dream", then you wake and realize that it was complete bogus? Apparently they do not stay lucid after that, as they are erased and replaced with their "waking replica" if this makes sense. The only ones that haven't been are the ones that don't say it is a shared dream, they either say "this is a dream" or "You are the dreamer" I don't think that thinking that you are the dreamer is the same as knowing it is a dream for them, because they are not the dreamer. Does that make sense? They need to know the truth.

Persistent Realms within Zödra
I can create an entire persistent world within Zödra inside of things like video games and the like. Most Persistent worlds that are completely persistent need a persistent entrance, and having a world that is semi persistent, it creates a more stable way to get into the other worlds. I keep going back to the same video games and things like that. Since I am lucid in the dream, it makes them persistent due to the realm rules.

This helps
Zödra, and this whole thing is kind of making me extremely comfortable in my dream world. This is very important for LDing. It seems to be a major way that I realize that it is a dream, because I recognize previous dream elements.

I mainly made this thread because of my dream last night that I was able to hack into the Zödra mainframe and change the skin of the world. Me and a friend of mine that thought he was dreaming (so as you know, he will probably not be aware of this next time) flew around and kept changing the skins. I recognized a lot of previous dreams, but mainly the "atmosphere" of the dreams. We entered in a few words, and some random numbers. the words made a huge difference in "atmosphere" pertaining to the word used, while the numbers were more like changing the color pallet of the dream. I ended flying past Ronald McDonald and thinking that was hilarious. My friend told me that I should fly faster and I made a huge U-turn and Ronald attacked me during it. I sped up and accidentally hit him, killing him. I am kind of worried that it will destroy all the McDonald's Restaurants in my dream world, but it should be one of those things that I can control and expect them to still be there. I often send DCs to McDonald's to grab me some fries or other food.



Let me know if you have any questions about anything, I will be answering and adding and revising as things come up. This is going to be a Q&A thread as well as a continual exploration thread of Zödra, as I said before, but if you want help creating persistent realms, ask specific questions.