Nightmare Painters
also known as nightmare painter, painters
Hundreds-strong corps of essential workers in Kilahito who patrol the city by night, locate intruding nightmares, and neutralise each one by painting on canvas the harmless shape they want it to take. Routinely celebrated in speeches and on appreciation days, routinely paid little more than rent and pocket money. Many go by their title rather than their birth name, Painter among them. STD:YNP:Ch 1
Known facts
- painting-methodA nightmare painter neutralises an intruding nightmare by painting on a square of canvas the harmless shape into which they intend to transform it. The painting captures the nightmare, diverts its attention, and reshapes it. Cut off from the shroud in its new shape, the nightmare cannot renew, and instead evaporates with a sigh. Painters work in black ink on white canvas; a more closely matched starting shape gives more power.STD:YNP:Ch 3
- ordinary-painters-hold-the-line-the-dreamwatch-will-notThirty-seven painters — every one of them an ordinary worker, never trained for stable nightmares — hold the western edge of Kilahito in a ragged shoulder-to-shoulder circle against the machine's hundred. *We are the Dreamwatch now*, Painter shouts when Tojin asks what to do; the cry passes around the line and they keep painting.STD:YNP:Ch 40
Backreferences
- factNikaro
- factKilahito
- factNightmare
- factAkane
- factTojin
- summarySTD:YNP:Ch 3
- factNightmare
- factNightmare Painters
- factCapstone Paintings
- factNightmare
- factSukishi
- factThe Noodle Pupil
- factNikaro
- summarySTD:YNP:Ch 14
- factPainter Department
- summarySTD:YNP:Ch 15
- factNikaro
- factAkane
- factMasaka
- factIzumakamo
- summarySTD:YNP:Ch 19
- factNikaro
- summarySTD:YNP:Ch 27
- summarySTD:YNP:Ch 32
- factNightmare
- factMasaka
- summarySTD:YNP:Ch 36
- factFutinoro
- factDreamwatch
- summarySTD:YNP:Ch 39
- factThe Shroud
- factNightmare
- summarySTD:YNP:Ch 40
- factNikaro
- factNightmare Painters
- summarySTD:YNP:Epilogue