Dream Gate

While dreams are the series of visions within the mind of one who is sleeping, Dream Gates are the transport...although unlike normal slumber, the dreamer's body is physically taken into the dream state.

Structure
Dream Gates are, in essence, similar in design to Time Gates – the user is transported to another location sometime in the past or future. Unlike Time Gates, however, Dream Gates utilize the subconscious. Much like Time Gates, a Dream Gate's physical manifestation has been reported as being "a large blue circle, almost flat, that I could see swirling creatures inside".

Unlike most normal dreams, those within the Dream Gate have everything in the native language of the dreamer.

Returning To Reality
Originally, it was believed that ending the dream was as simple as returning to the place you began the dream. This was later proven to be untrue, and leaving was simply a matter of willpower.

Dream Gates have a very interesting property – they can make the events into reality should they benefit the greater good. Oddly, as Allura McCoy notes, most dreams about death were seemingly ignored while those regarding Susan Wise and/or Lavos appeared to be disposed of entirely.

Research
As such, Dream Gates were quite a subject on research. While Allura was not the first to study the phenomena, she was nonetheless quite influential in helping to understand them. Her thesis was on them, and she subsequently wrote several books on the subject.

Tourism
Allura notes in her thesis and books that "Tourism", the act of an awake bystander (a "Tourist") getting into a Dream Gate before it closes, had only been attempted a few times since research on them began. While several Tourists never returned, those who did became various kinds of deranged.

In A Collection of Testimonies, Allura includes those of several deranged Tourists...including, frighteningly, several children. While the Tourists mostly rambled and spoke non-English, all claimed that the Dream Gate becomes rather vicious to those who somehow remain once the dreamer leaves. It would hence be logical, Allura notes, to believe that those who never returned were killed by the Dream Gates.

Still, this did not stop Allura from testing this herself, taking a running sprint into various dreams of Daniel Benfield. She barely managed to leave with her wits intact, and documents her experiences in The Dangers of Tourism.

Comatose / Brain-Dead
Despite over 2,000 years of research, the effects of Dream Gates on the comatose and brain-dead are unknown. While certainly unconscious and likely dreaming, there are no records of any Dream Gates appearing near these people.

While it is possible for them to enter by Tourism, it is not likely to do much of any good.

Unconscious
Further, there are no records of Dream Gates being associated with those who are knocked unconscious, although in many cases they do fall asleep.