I don't play BODAN very often, so this really hasn't come up in game play, but I was reading the FAQ (https://querki.net/u/darker/spirit-island-faq/#!.7w4g9jv), and noticed this question/answer:
Can Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares do real damage (destroying cities, etc) with Power X?
The answer, in general, is 'no'. If the Power says "damage" or "destroy", it doesn't matter if it also says that Dahan, Beasts, Invaders, or anything else are doing that damage, the source is still ultimately Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares and is only nightmare damage.
This doesn't make sense to me from a philosophical/flavor standpoint: If BODAN is (ex:) giving some Invaders some nasty dreams that cause them to turn on/attack each other, or is invading the dreams of Dahan or beasts and prompting them to attack the invaders, shouldn't that be real damage and not dream damage?
It's making them dream about turning on each other! Or the Dahan attacking. Or both.
Nothing's worse than waking up from a dream more than once...
Yeah, whatever the Power's text says, in any other spirit's hands the effects would be actually happening on the island - when Bringer uses it, it's happening in the heads of the Invaders while they sleep. Volcanic eruption? Tigers chewing your face off? Disease causing your skin to melt? Floodwater washing away you and your home and everyone you know and all their houses too? Nope, not really - it's all inside your head. But it feels like it's real while it's happening. And then you wake up and can only wonder whether it'll be safe to go back to sleep again. Because other people have been reporting nightmares and it's like they're waiting for you...
I am the Wordweaver...
Basically, I like writing stuff ;)
And yet somehow that volcanic eruption leaves actual blight on the island.
Interesting point -- if the whole thing is just a nightmare about a volcano destroying the island, how does it produce "fictitious" damage, but "real" blight?
It seems like you can't have it both ways -- if BODAN's powers can't do any physical damage to things, they shouldn't be able to do any physical blight, either. And really, they shouldn't be able to *remove* blight, either. A beautiful dream that the island has been cleaned up doesn't mean that the island has in fact actually *been* cleaned up.
And what about the Dahan? A power like (ex:) Razor Sharp Undergrowth or Poisoned Land is supposed to destroy Dahan. The card says "...nor can [your Powers] destroy anything except your own [Presence]," which seems to indicate that those powers would not, in fact, destroy any Dahan. What do they in fact, do? The "destroyed" explorers/towns move elsewhere, but do the "destroyed" Dahan just stay where they are?
(Apologies, BTW, if these issues/questions have been addressed in other FAQs/threads.)
The FAQ is focused on the gameplay, not thematics, so you won't find the thematic answers there. But BoDaN indeed does not destroy Dahan with Razor-Sharp Undergrowth, but does add Blight with a Volcanic Eruption.
Thematically, I imagine one of those scenarios where you wake up from a dream and discover some aspect has mysteriously carried over into the real world. These are pretty popular in fiction.
It also adds to the creepiness, which is a win for BoDaN.