People: The Sleeping One
- "...who dares... awaken me..."
"The Sleeping One" is an entity with an unknown name. In some places, he is referred to as the tarrasque, a term for a frightening and powerful monstrosity.
Written mentions of this entity are destroyed shortly after the information is penned, dependent upon the medium: paper blackens and curls, parchment fades and rubs, wood singes, stone crumbles, data becomes corrupted, and so forth.
History
The Sleeping One is a complex entity. His history is not well-known or understood. He is completely invisible to the Blue, and seems to be a Wanderer of some sort - the cloak the creature wears appears to be his Wandering symbol.
It is believed that he originates from a material plane far distant from Trinity, in time forgotten.
Qualities
Those who are aware of his existence know that the Sleeping One is not actually a singular creature, but exists on all material planes simultaneously, his consciousness stretched to the point of breaking across them. It is believed that this condition was inflicted upon him as a punishment by another Wanderer, for some great evil committed in an eon long past, in a world far distant from the bounds of Trinity and the worlds it touches. How this came to pass, or how such a punishment could be enacted, seems beyond the comprehension of even the most powerful of modern-day Wanderers.
The Sleeping One is capable of telepathic communication with Wanderers, even when in a sleeping state, though his communications while dormant are noticeably more sluggish. The Sleeping One is generally hostile towards most Wanderers, and thus will generally not willingly engage in conversation with one. It is believed that the Sleeping One had such an antagonistic relationship with Tarian, on his home plane of Termina, though the precise details of that relationship are unknown. A notable exception to his antagonism seems to be Lilith, though how, when, or where she developed this relationship with the Sleeping One remains a mystery.
It is believed that, based upon a very few descriptions of the creature taken from Wanderers of planes other than Trinity, that his appearance is dependent upon the world in which he is encountered. Each "version" of the Sleeping One, however, is part of the entity as a whole, and he seems to recall events involving him that occur on one plane on other planes.
The Sleeping One can be "woken," and occasionally awakens on his own. The precise triggers that prelude his awakening are unknown, but general consensus is that the triggers seem to be plane-dependent. Once woken, the Sleeping One generally wanders its given plane for a time, before resuming its dormant state. His waking state is often filled with destruction and devastation; these periods are often described by planar inhabitants as cataclysms or other major world-shattering events. Given the apparent eternal and infinite nature of the Sleeping One, it is impossible to guess how many of his individual selves can be awoken at one time.
Also unlike most Wanderers, the Sleeping One seems incapable of being slain, even by a Wandering weapon. Instead, while in a woken state, the Sleeping One is forced to return to a dormant state if "killed" by a Wanderer. It is believed that this is an intentional effect, part of the general curse under which the entity endures. Given the power of his Wandering symbol, the Sleeping One is largely impervious to non-Wandering forms of attack or attempts at destruction. He is the only presently known Wanderer with natural weapons, however, and it is understood that his are capable of piercing a Wanderer's resistance to non-Wandering sources of harm.
The Sleeping One has never been witnessed on a plane that is not a material plane, such as elemental or transitive planes. His existence seems to be solely tied to material planes. Given the rarity with which he is encountered, it is uncertain how his existence interacts with "bonded" material planes (such as with the Penumbral Empire).
Reports from Admiral X strongly imply that, while the Sleeping One is in an awoken state, Wanderers are somehow prevented from traveling across planar boundaries until he is returned to his dormant state. The precise mechanism by which this is accomplished is unknown, but may be yet another side-effect produced by the Sleeping One's condition, or an intentional addition: it is possible that the Sleeping One serves, presumably unwillingly, as a guardian against the interference of Wanderers.
Wrath of the Omega
During this event, it became known through Lilith that the Sleeping One had seemingly awoken on all neighboring prime material planes - and it was surmised by Lilith that it had, in fact, awoken on all of them. The significance of this fact is as yet unknown.
What is known, however, is that the Sleeping One became immediately hostile to all Wanderers, Lilith included, to which she expressed surprise. Later investigation of this revealed that it was believed that the Sleeping One believed the Omega's actions to be able to somehow be capable of breaking the curse that had been laid upon the Sleeping One, and thus it sought to disable anyone who would disrupt the Omega's plan.
Whether or not the Omega had planned for this occurrence, and even if he were capable of doing so, is unknown.
