Hippocrates' Dream Warriors, or Hippies for short, are a Tragos of Satyrs who specialize in rescuing special individuals from mental institutions.
In the mid-'70s, when people began to visit their shrinks almost as often as they visited the bathroom, psychiatrists and psychologists acquired a power that they did not have before: trendiness. Housewives with addictions, businessmen with sexual dysfunctions, and schizophrenic teens no longer felt "abnormal" taking their places on the proverbial couch to discuss their mothers and the dreams they never even shared with their husbands, wives, or best friends. If you didn't have a weekly appointment with the foremost psychologist in town, you were a nobody.
A good number of people were committed to asylums in the '70s, and many of these doomed souls were there because they spoke openly about their pre-Chrysalis visions and sensations. More sane than the Banality-ridden doctors who committed them, many mortals were incarcerated for relaying conversations with rabbits, visitations by unicorns, or other fantastic events that they knew had happened and refused to deny.
During this time, a particularly remarkable satyr named Nikos of the North noticed what was happening. His lover died when Nikos couldn't rescue him from an asylum in time. This incident gave Nikos a cause to swear that he would do all that he could to save others from a similar fate. He fought his way through school to earn a doctorate in psychiatry; no small task as he had to constantly combat the Banality that accompanied his studies. At night he lived like a wild man in order to offset the darkness that stalked him during the day. He finally succeeded in finishing and took a job at the local mental hospital.
He then founded this unique tragos. Many of the satyrs in the Dream Warriors follow Nikos' steps with his guidance and aid, though not all have the strength and courage to endure. Those who get too close to slipping into the Mists during training withdraw from the program and become supporters for those who do make it through.
Hippies, as they are known, have taken positions in more than thirty mental hospitals across North America. They serve as guardians in some of the most dangerous and horrific places, watching for those who have been committed wrongfully. They search for those who are not crazy but who have in fact glimpsed a bit of the world's wonder and been misunderstood.
The hardest part of their quest involves determining whether a patient is truly insane or not; a process which isn't always as cut-and-dry as one might imagine, especially considering that a few weeks in a mental institution itself could drive a sane person mad. Once a patient's sanity has been confirmed, the guardian attempts to free them. Depending on the Dream Warrior's position at the institute, this "freeing" might involve filling out some forms or staging a break-out. Many Hippies go to outer limits and take extreme risks to save people.
