COUNCIL HAS YET TO DECIDE FATE OF RUNAWAY FUGITIVE

By: Arial

The Council of the dream world has yet to decide the fate for one particular runaway fugitive.

In December, it was announced that well-known and polarizing dream world figure, Lucid, was the person behind shutting down a large and dangerous unauthorized portal. This portal was bound to explode, and likely cause a lot of damage and casualties, but according to the DPF, Lucid came just in time to shut it down completely.

It was rumored that this remarkable deed would have led to the Council of the dream world to reconsider Lucid's overall status. The high body is capable of issuing him a pardon which would ultimately absolve any remaining charges and completely clear him from future punishments. However, according to the DPF, the Council would not make such a decision until this year.

While it's been about a month and a half since that event, the Council has been up to their usual duties, but have been strangely quiet on a decision regarding Lucid. While they stated a decision would come sometime this year, it’s not sure when it would come.

“Normally, they’d make a decision quickly, but they’re not really moving this time,” Carlos, a resident from the Colombian enclave told me, “It doesn’t feel like they’re interested.”

“Maybe the Council is going to announce something this month?” Jiangshi, a resident from the Chinese enclave said, “I’m sure they’re busy with other matters, but a Lucid decision may come soon enough, probably.”

The Council has not pronounced itself regarding any decision, but legal analysts say that steps could be taken at a lower level, such as within the DPF itself.

“Whether or not Lucid gets pardoned is hard to say, but it can start at the DPF,” Quinnley, a professor at the Academy said to me, “The Detective Investigation Agency, which handles investigations into criminals, can drop the ongoing charges against Lucid at any time. While they can’t pardon him, it’s certainly a step forward.”

Dropping charges against criminals is at the discretion of the chief of the DIA, which right now, is currently Tsukanai Daiki. The chief himself has not hinted at anything yet, and when the Tribune reached out to his office, we received no comment.

It’s unclear whether the DIA will drop the charges against Lucid or if the Council will ultimately pardon Lucid. Stay tuned with the Subliminal Tribune for the latest developments.

POSTAL SERVICE GETS BACK ON TRACK FOLLOWING BLACKOUT

By: Roman

The Dimension Postal Delivery Service is getting back on its feet and to its normal standards following November’s blackout.

For about a month, the DPDS was unable to receive, distribute, and organize postal material in the rural dream world due to the snow storm and blackout. It took a while for post offices to reopen and resume back on their usual schedules. 

And while the resuming of the postal service in the rural dream world started off sluggish, things are looking better and getting back to normal pace.

“We started off slow during the initial recovery process, but we were lucky to have had assistance from the Pole distributing and receiving postal material during the holiday season,” DPDS chief Kaige said, “That was then, and this is now. I’m glad to report that all of our offices are open again and business goes as usual.”

Chief Kaige said that all machinery and other aspects of regional DPDS offices were inspected following the recovery. While some offices experienced some damages from the snow storm, these have been fixed.

“Some offices had some machines damaged, or even parts of the building,” the chief said, “We got to work quickly to fix them up and things are good again.”

Residents are reporting that mail services are seemingly back to normal.

“I remember there was a point in time where my mail wouldn’t come, and granted, I was cooped up in my home because of the storm,” Romana, a resident in the rural dream world told me, “Eventually once everything was over, my delayed mail started coming in portions, even if it was late.”

“I missed a lot of mail at the time of the blackout, but things are looking normal again,” Flavius, a resident in the Apartments said, “Mail was late, but it got here. I’m grateful for all of the workers in the DPDS who worked around the clock to sort everything out.”

Chief Kaige says that the DPDS is expected to conduct more inspections in the coming months to ensure a smoother postal service.

“We’ll be making sure all of our offices are up to date, clean, and working correctly to ensure a smooth mail service in the coming months,” the chief said, “After a long month of recovery, I’m proud of the work we’ve done at the DPDS and I look forward to continuing our work in ensuring all residents get their mail sign, sealed, and delivered on time.”

For more information about the postal service, track packages, or more, please visit the DPDS’ website.

Q/A: Ask Nate

Dear Nate, how exactly does time work in the dream world?

By: Kloch D.

Hiya Kloch! Ah, time, what a great construct! Created by humans as a form of keeping track, time in the dream world shouldn’t really matter. However, we too need to be organized while keeping track of the seconds, hours, weeks, and years that go by. Luckily, we have a solution for that!

The dream world operates under something called “Coordinated Universal Time” or UTC. In the real world, this invisible line is essentially halfway between all time zones there that can be used as the standards for all the other zones. Because of this, the dream world is able to set a uniform and consistent time and date for all dimensions across the dream world! Whether it’s five o’clock at the Island or five o’clock at the Motel, it’s still the same!

There are some problems with this though. Unlike the real world, the dream world does not have a day or night cycle. This means that while it may be “midnight” at the Plaza, it might be “noon” at the Pool despite it being the same universal time! Dimensions work differently in terms of day and night depending on where you go, but the time and date will always be the same!

And how do we format time and date? The date is formatted typically as MMDDYYYY, so we would say December 31, 2023 or 12-31-2024. As for time, we go from 0 to 23 for the hour and is formatted as XXh XXm; so for example, if it’s five o’clock in the morning, you would say 05h 00m or if it’s twenty past 8 o’clock at night, you would say 20h 20m. 

Time can be a little confusing in the dream world, but I hope this helps you out in any way! As a reminder, it’s important to always carry some form of time-tracking device on you. Whether it be a watch or your own cell phone, it’s important to stay up to date- pun very much intended!

Dear Nate, what are the dark corners of the dream world I hear about sometimes?

By: Krie P.

Hiya Krie! I’ve seen you’ve heard about the infamous “dark corners” of the dream world. You might think this is just some urban legend or some story to keep people away from exploring too deep into the dream world, but it’s very much real! However, are they actually corners of the dream world? I will explain!

The “dark corners” of the dream world is really a nickname given to areas of the dream world that are much darker and sinister than the regular parts of the dream world. As humans dream, many of these dreams can be collectively peaceful and be a part of a shared memory or experience. Of course, sometimes these peaceful dreams can turn into more scary dreams…nightmares, so they are called.

Well, there are areas of the dream world that represent these nightmares. Perhaps you may know them as “places you’ve seen in your nightmares” or the like. And since these areas are darker than regular areas, there are definitely strange and illegal things going on in these places. Of course, this is also where criminals tend to reside and hide from the authorities.

In areas like these, regular residents of the dream world don’t like passing by or visiting. The feelings of these dimensions are darker and more frightening. You really get a sense of dread going into these places! Back when Lucid was my partner in the DIA, some of our assignments had us go into these “dark corners” to track down suspects. Often, we would encounter very strange and intimidating people, but we’d always find our person(s) of interest!

DIA and DPU agents are typically the main authorities you will encounter in these areas as they may get dispatched after getting a tip or assignment to investigate activity. IAA agents will also be in these areas, but they are undercover and hard to identify unless they show you their badge. It takes a lot of courage to go into these areas, but besides the DPF, bounty hunters- like Sylveran- also tend to visit these areas often in search of criminals. Brave people!

I wouldn’t recommend going to these areas as they’re quite strange. It’s not necessarily easy nor hard to go there anyway, but you’re better off in a safe area where you may not find yourself in trouble. Who knew collective human nightmares could also manifest in the dream world? It’s not all nice down here…avoid the scary places!