Living Nightmares

Horrors of the mind

This particular condition is also an important proponent of the theory surrounding The Inner world, and the properties to how it happens also fuel Psycho-Materialism. Essentially uniting the two fields in a common idea.
At it's core, "Living Nightmares" is an umbrella term, and deals with the idea of nightmarish creatures/forms/enviromental changes, manifesting themselves in reality. These manifestation usually occur as a result of a repressed shadow lashing out, or a conscious mind having a stressful episode prompted by something making them relive their trauma.
One of the most basic forms of a living nightmare is the idea of "night terrors", night terrors are also acts of Psycho-materialism conducted by the inner working of your mind to make you face something internal. Usually conjuring up a creature that looms over the conjurer, and in some occassions, wants to physically cause them harm. These are considered basic, because they are not actually real, but merely projections only percieved by you and no one else, but is still believed to be a product of the mind.
The more extreme kind are the ones that occur during times of great distress in higher conscious minds. Here the individual can cause the very landscape to change and alter, with some monstrosity embodying a certain trauma or demon manifesting itself and can now physically cause disaster to both the person and others. Typically the strength of the living nightmare varies depending on the mind of the one who spawned it, which in many cases is quite weak from relentless traumas both real and potentially imagined, and are swiftly dealt with before they can cause too much harm.
It is said that these manifestation occur because of scars on the psyche, which is then hijacked by the shadow who forces you to face a monster representing your mind, with the goal being to intergrate or overcome an obstacle preventing you from achieving wholeness.
An odd form it is also attempts this is brief moments where the individual starts acting differently than they normally do, because the shadow took over of the conscious for a brief moment and made the person enact an intrusive thought.
Another odd form of living nightmare, is the manifesation of what's called "Prophetic" nightmares. These living nightmares are usually feature brief scenes or instances, where a cryptic message of things to come is usually depicted by various elements. This reinforces notion that the unconscious mind resides in The Aetherium, as it is an omnipresent realm that in all likelihood has access to a future. This connection is usually rejected by scholars as it is too deterministic, and does not follow in line with the zeitgeist of the late republic. Those scholars instead argue that it is the mind seeing patterns in the world around them, and then providing a message in the enviroment.
These Living nightmares are rare, but when they do appear, they usually do preceeding what's called "Collective nightmares"

Collective nightmares

Collective nightmares are horrors that become manifested because of cumultative psychic energy from a larger population group using Macro level Psycho-Materialism . Just like the above version of living nightmares, these types of dreams usually occur as a result of "horrible behaviour" manifesting in the real world. These living nightmares typically arise in a more abstract way, like when societies turn cruel. Discrimination, ethnic-cleansing, percieved justified abuse and even genocide are prime example of collective nightmares, as they are manifestations of the evil within.
One other way collective nightmares have been observed, is enviromental disasters or epidemics, brought about because the population group is so scarred that they just have a need for the end, which subsequently becomes manifested in the forms of famine, disease outbreaks etc. Certain existentialist value these instances, because there are some among these groups who will inevitably resist the zeitgeist and emerge unscathed from the collective nightmare.

Shadow form

Reffering back to the idea of the shadow taking hold of the person and manifesting a living nightmare through the individual, there are some extreme cases where the instances of abhorrent behaviour extends well beyond a singular instance. These are rare, but entail a brief total takeover by the shadow.
The shadow hijacks the psyche as the conscious mind has become weakened and scarred by whatever, and it subsequently buried in the mind. The transformation is usually accompanied by physical changes to the individual, including eyecolor, limb length, strength, speed etc. In this state the individual becomes fully enraptured by the repressed elements of their psyche, typically these are the ones deemed destructive or unbefitting of the society they exist in.
The few cases of a shadow form appearing among Ariosticracies had one noble walk around with a hunchback and eating with his fingers rather than his fine utensils, while also acting rude towards friends and family. A pacifistic person turns violent, a chaste person becomes a massive hedonist, a warm-hearted person becomes callous etc.
Many of these changes are also accompanied with increased growth of Aurumfication, where the spikes grow tumorous and spiky to reflect the inner turmoil of a person.
The end result of a shadow taking form completely is the creation of something more akin to beast than man, and breaking them out of this state can be quite difficult as the formerly conscious mind becomes repressed. There are some ways in which one can "undo the nightmare", damage to the physical frame can force the shadow to pull back into itself, while drugging it with sedatives can make the shadow become docile enough for the mind to regain control, and force the shadow to recede. On a few occasions they have even been talked out of it by a family member or dear friend whom wanted them to return to their rightful self.

Type

Mental