Morpheus; Daniel Hill, Dream: The Sandman.

Not all of the Olympians came back just as they had been, some had been warped by modern mythic interpretations of their existence, and for none was this more true than Morpheus, god of dreams. Thanks to the graphic novels of 'The Sandman' series, Daniel Hill, modern incarnation of Morpheus, was among the strongest of the reborn Olympians and arguably the most independent of the modern pantheon. He no longer even considered himself PART of the Pantheon, but above it, greater than, something better: a truly immortal being who was quite a bit older than the Olympians and would exist long after they ceased to be.

He was half right. The faith and ideas of mortals influenced the shape of their gods and for none was this more true than the God of Dreams.

Attired in robes of white, skin and hair pale as milk, and wearing a mighty emerald around his neck, "Dream of the Endless" as he called himself now was far more potent than most of the other Olympians. He carried a small pouch filled with Dream Sand, that could put any mortal to sleep and bestow pleasant dreams or horrific nightmares at his whim. He also controlled a realm of dreams where he built dreamscapes and populated them with figments from his fevered imagination, and with each person who joined his cult the realm of dreams grew. Already he had replaced Fiddler's Green, creating a place within 'The Realm of Dreams' called Gambian Valley, a great jungle fringed and mist wreathed vale where resided a tribe of amazonian elves that would capture men who came to their calm oasis in the midst of the savage wilds and either breed with them or sacrifice them to their goddesses at the man's discretion...

This was one of several centers to 'The Dreaming', another being the 'Grand Castle of Dream' and it was there Morpheus spent most of his time.

Most, but not all, he was still half mortal, weather he admitted it or not, and he had to return to the mortal world to eat and use the toilet, for which he and his followers had taken over an almost abandoned town in the heart of Colorado grazing country where they maintained a classic cult of personality; in total defiance of the approach favored by most of the reincarnated gods and goddesses.

The Key difference was that unlike most who claim to be incarnations of gods and draw followers to themselves that they keep in socially isolated and restricted compounds, Daniel Hill could back up his bluster with true power, and the conditions in the town and surrounding ranches were not the horrific squalor and normaly associated with such institutions.

The "Children of The Emerald and Sands", as his followers called themselves had largely been recruited from other cults by challenging their former leaders to duels of magical might, which of course the true god won, banishing his rivals to the realms of dream where they starved to over several weeks. The new converts were then winnowed by exhaustive interviews and polygraph tests, finding the pedophiles and other predators: then publicly casting them out into the waiting arms of law enforcement.

In a way the cult was a utopia. Everyone partook of the sand of dreams each night and slept soundly and pleasantly. , Physical or Mental , and Child Molestation were quite simply NOT TOLERATED: all were grounds for immediate exile and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. The ranches and farms that ringed the town, now renamed Danielton Colorado, ensured everyone had enough to eat and clothes to wear, if it was mostly wool and leather that was the order of the day as opposed to cotton, even in high summer. The cult had grown to 700 adult members and another 200 children, so socialization was not really that limited, even if contact with the outside world was forbidden to any but specially trained 'Dream Speakers'. In short, as far as cults went, the place was nigh paradisaical.

However, all that said: the bedrock it was all built on was a lie.

Daniel, while he was a god, was not immortal. Ageing far more slowly than most mortals, but aging none the less, now 33 years old he looked and felt 25, but the tide of years was starting to tell on him, with his indolent lifestyle and lack of a fitness regimen he was no longer the waif thin man with the piercing black eyes he had been when the rest of the town was bought out from under it's 76 remaining residents and they were either to sell or semi- into joining the cult.

The problem with this was Daniel had bought into his own hype: he thought he WAS Dream of the Endless, second of that name, and would go to great lengths to preserve that self image. However, shortly that idea and ideal would be put to it's greatest test, and either emerge purified, reforged, and honed to a razor edge, or go down in flames: and it all centered around Daniel's wife....