Qlippoth

Sometimes called shadows, aberrations or simply monsters, qlippoth are one of the more common forms of "wildlife" in the Duskscape. They are dream beings; creatures of limited intelligence, made of pure dreamstuff. Usually bedecked with rows of spasming legs, painful-looking mandibles or extra eyes, the qlippoth are aspected to nightmares, the opposite of their more pleasant, languid cousins, the Spharai. It is not uncommon in the Near Umbra to see these shadowy things skittering about. Though they can sometimes take very dangerous forms, the vast majority seem to be small, shy and mostly harmless.

Appearance

See also: Qlippoth Image Gallery (External)

or alternatively: Sheoldred Image Gallery (External)

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Qlippoth can and will take any imaginable (and unimaginable) form, so long as it brings about feelings of fear or anxiety.

Nature

Qlippoth seem to be tied to the Duskscape Regent of Nightmares and Horror, Sheoldred. They're so common in her Nascent Realm, Apprehensia, that the world seems to be made of them.

Though able to cross The Veil into Waking Materia, qlippoth show little interest in doing so.

Waking Materians can bond with these aberrations as familiars (indeed, this is common practice for cultists of Sheoldred), though their minds are deeply strange things, outside the ken of most Waking Materians, so this is often ill-advised.

Dreamreivers

Though the vast majority of qlippoth are small, shy, harmless things, a rare few grow into dangerous monsters that hunt Duskscape locals and Waking interlopers, however even these creatures cannot harm sleeping souls or their physical hosts, only torment them. Even rarer, and far worse, are the "dreamreivers": qlippoth that spontaneously develop the ability to parasitize quintessence from their prey, and even introduce oneiromantic contagions among the Waking populace. These include various types of sleeping sickness as well as waking insanity. It is a supremely important duty of Dreamshepherds—mortal swords of Auron Surai—to hunt down and eliminate these creatures as they arise. Though less familiar with tracking in the Duskscape, the Dreadnoughts of V'Shaat—paladins of bravery—are dire enemies of anything that lurks in the darkness.