Data and Dream

Overview

• Data is the essence of information. It provides structure and definition. It is logic.
• Dream is the essence of empathy. It provides intuition and insight. It is emotion.

Light and Darkness are not the only forces at play in the world. There are other Worlds in which Light and Darkness are not the overriding factors in their existence. These worlds, the Data World and the Dreaming World, offer great vistas and serve their own purpose in the grand cosmology.

Commonalities

Data and Dream are not tied to the moral components that make up Light and Darkness, but they are universal constants in their own right. Data and Dream both help make up parts of what make a person whole (Data is Body, Dream is Heart, while both have a part in the Mind)

This means that one can have an ‘alignment’ on both the ‘DD’ Axis (Data-Dream) as well as the ‘LD’ Axis (Light-Darkness). This is also displayed in canon materials in both Data (Virals, Security Programs) as well as Dream (Nightmares, Dream Eaters). Additionally, unlike Light and Darkness, it is a simple thing to not have any particular relationship to Data or Dream. Most brings don't really particularly have an affinity one way or the other. The main exception, of course, are entities who come from those realms...

Relationships

Data and Dream do not have an antagonistic relationship like Darkness and Light. They do not seek to destroy each other. They are, however, resistant to intrusion by the opposite force. This is why you do not see Programs in the Dream in general, nor Dream Eaters on the Grid. One could certainly dream of Programs or the Grid itself, or create a Program that mimics a Nightmare, but these are facsimiles and not true representations of those entities. There are occasions where Data may leak upon the Dream and vice versa, but such instances are extremely rare, usually only occurring in places that one or the other has taken total sway of the physical realm.