The Unformed

The Unformed are primordial creatures that have survived the end of the Dreaming-World and managed to burrow their way into the next. Their time at the precipice of Oblivion has seen them warped beyond reckoning. Nothing remains of the dream that birthed them and the Unformed

Beyond Existence

The Unformed have no one shape. They come from different worlds and their original forms have all been corrupted by their passage between Dreams. Without exception, they are alien and terrifying. Most, but not all, are humanoid or quadrupeds but their bodies aren't always made from flesh or behave as the flesh of others. Unlike most things in Quentriandal, the Unformed have no story to call their own and no theme that define them. They steal and borrow, forming a patchwork quilt of ideas that become a body stitched together in similar fashion.
Many of the elements they've made their own comes from worlds long since forgotten and alien to the current denizens of the Dreaming-World. The most ancient among the Unformed have even passed through several incarnations of the Dream and become more and more twisted with every new incarnation.

The Arok
Deep within the Slumbering Seas, the Arok has made its home in the bones of whales and the wrecks of the ships it has sunk. The Arok combine aspects of an octopus, a shark and a crustacean if described by someone with a phobia of all three. Despite its aquatic preference, it has shown no trouble moving on land with its multitude of tentacles and skittering legs.
For an Unformed, the Arok's motivation is simple: it hungers. The time it spent between Dreams was a long period of near starvation and the creature had to eat its own flesh to survive. Its patchwork appearance is in part due to these large gaps in its being, which it has filled in with essence stolen from others.

Unformed Minds

Just as their bodies have changed, so too has the mind of the Unformed broken and been reassembled by their transit through annihilation. They are driven by terrible compulsion and mad insight. With no story that anchor them to the Dreaming-World, the only other being who can come close the Unformed in sheer unpredictability is one of the Awakened. Each Unformed is a unique individual and they all possess different goals, but none are ever good for the denizens of Quentriandal.

Unformed can and do speak. Sleepers react poorly to this and even Awakaned feel a great unease

Some seek to survive, though such survival often mean the predation and corruption upon this current incarnation of the Dream, while some mad few seek to break the cycle entirely. Out of all the creatures in Quentriandal, it is the Unformed who may possess the greatest insight about the true nature of the world, though they are cannot share it. Despite their madness, they are cunning and powerful creatures, possessing abilities that warp the very Dreaming-World. Some create their own little worlds, far from civilization while other construct servants and slaves.

In the Dreaming-World

As soon as we entered the village, we could tell that something was wrong. There was this.. Smell in the air and the way the villagers shuffled about, stooped and crooked, made me wary to stay any longer than we had to.

— Chandra, Awakened Hunter

The Unformed are rare monsters but their influence is always keenly felt when discovered. They lurk in forgotten and dark corners of the world, sometimes deep in slumber. A dangerous few, capable of insidious planning, even burrow deep into the heart of civilization and corrupt Sleepers into servants.
But despite their power, the Unformed can not act without consideration - although some are too mad to do so, being little more than rampaging titans - as the Dreaming-World rejects them. The Awakened always seem to be pulled into Stories that lead them to battle the corruption of the Unformed and powerful creatures can form to fight the alien invaders who do not conceal their presence. Even if the Unformed are powerful enough to survive such assaults, and they often are, the Unformed thrive in undiscovered darkness.

What Dreams Are Made Of

The bodies of the Unformed are twisted and corrupted dream-matter. They are no longer just flesh and blood, but have survived to fade beyond that. As such, the Unformed can be incredibly resilient and capable of astounding feats of regeneration or physical prowess.

Nightmare Terrors

Nightmares are the embodiment of the darkest parts of the dream, subconscious fears and lurking horrors within the mind of both the Sleepers of the world and the Dreamer herself. It is a poor sign then that even Nightmares show fear when facing the Unformed. As terrible as Nightmares are, they are a part of the world, but the Unformed are wholly unnatural intruders.
Read more about Nightmares

Sleepers show extreme aversion to the Unformed. Only those with a most fearless Story will stand to face them, while most will flee.
Worse, the presence of an Unformed can cause a Sleepers to go mad. The creeping taint of a Unformed cause Sleeper to act strange, almost as if they are malfunctioning.