The Waking Nightmare

The Waking Nightmare is an ancient calamity, responsible for the presence of nightmares in all sentient species and many of the terrors that haunt the night. Creatures that Orasil kept locked down escaped his containment, surging into the dream world and beyond and the best way for him to protect his people was to put them in endless sleep, buried in a chamber deep underground. This would protect their bodies and help Orasil to protect their minds, waiting until the right time to release the Dreamers out into the world once again. Originally known by a different name, the Dreamers' history and culture are lost to time as a result of their millennia spent in endless sleep, as their dreams and consciousness started to influence each other until reality and dreams became inseparable.

The Dreamers stand as proof of its reality, as do the visions from priests of Orasil. Because of the memory loss that resulted from the event, little history has been recovered, though many archaeologists and researchers search for ruins and other evidence of their ancient civilization. Any artifacts that have been recovered provide very little evidence of the described event.

The legend is fairly common knowledge, especially to those living in or near Lagrast.

Some versions of this myth recount that the nightmare spirits are actually the same as dream spirits, with differing alignments much like the sapient species of the world. This idea is refuted by the Church of the Hallowed Slumber, who claim that while dream spirits and nightmare spirits are sentient, they cannot change their morality on a whim.

The legend is very important to the people of Lagrast. In fact, it is responsible for most of their identity and goals as a nation. Other nations tend to regard this as nothing more than a historical event. Tharkenwod pays the most attention to this myth outside of Lagrast, given how much Lagrast targets the nation over their beliefs.

Many art pieces in Lagrast depict interpretations of this event.