User:CCRyder95/Unwaking

The Unwaking are an enemy faction found in The Waking Dream. Bound in service to N'Zoth, they are composed of the various races of Azeroth after their sleeping minds have been ensnared while dreaming. As their bodies wither away in the waking world, the Unwaking are trapped in a horrific half-reality, their perceptions used against them as they are twisted into the common foot soldiers of the Nightmare.

Background
The Unwaking were once only known to the earliest druids, and they were the result of curiosity overcoming their common sense. Their bodies sleeping in barrow dens while their minds tended to the Dream, these early druids drew too close to realms stained by nightmare. Their dream-forms became overcome by darkness, their perceptions of reality warped until they could not tell apart the real and the unreal. Worse, their spirits were now barred from their bodies and they could never wake. Their bodies would languish and atrophy unless cared for in the waking world.

This phenomenon is no longer limited to druids. As the Nightmare gains strength, it sinks its teeth deeper into the waking world. No matter the differences between all the races of Azeroth, they all share one thing in common. At one point, they must sleep. Even the undead tire, and their spirits reach out to touch the barest edges of the Emerald Dream. The Nightmare has grown ever cunning, reaching into their memories and cultivating honeyed traps within the Dream; familiar villages, pleasant country sides, mannequins wearing the faces of friends and family, all to seduce and entice the sleepers in. All who enter these cages never leave, cut off from their bodies as their surroundings peel away to reveal the horrors underneath. Spiritual grinders and breakers of will, these oubliettes twist captured souls into Unwaking; the foot soldiers of the Nightmare. Force-fed perceptions and strung up in puppet strings, the Unwaking are trapped in a half-reality, believing they are fighting against forces of tyranny while they are actually played against their former allies.

The longer someone is Unwaking, the deeper their corruption goes and the more powerful they become. All things have fear and all have dealt with tragedy, both personal and cultural. These cultural feels run deep in their blood and stain their collective nightmares, acting as a potent well for N'Zoth. These give rise to superior Unwaking consumed by the fears that run bone-deep in their people, known as Gloams. For example, Unwaking night elves have their race's collective wish for immortality perverted as they rapidly age and decompose but never die. Humans are trapped in a nightmare world of undeath and have bent their powers of the light to become equivalent to the Scarlet Crusade.