Flukes

"Crushing black silence. Thoughts like mud. Focus on light. Recall the surface. Recall the Surface! You are human. Three great presences. Deep as stone.

"The Drowning Feast. The greatest yet. Dishes like treasures. Gifts from above. Gold, wood, brick. Flesh, hair, eyes. Words, rhymes, thought. Why remain below? Flee far above. The wrong place. The wrong time. Abandon your plan. Or be resolved.

"The oldest Lorn-Flukes. Too vast now. Swollen with hate. Swollen with wisdom. Tendrils glisten dully. Light contracts nodules. Watch them flex.

"WHAT HAVE YOU BROUGHT US? Voice in bones. Words in water. Answer in haste. They are hungry."

Look at all those spikes. Art from SS.

Lorn-Flukes are monstrous, possibly primordial creatures that appear to be giant sea urchins. They can easily overwhelm ships, both by physical destruction and by terrifying the crew by speaking words of Correspondence. Originally from the planet Axile, like their sometime servants the Rubbery Men, they are enemies of the Masters of the Bazaar and seek to control or destroy the Bazaar.

There is a captive Lorn-Fluke in the Cave of the Nadir.

A few more interesting spoilery snippets
When killed, lorn-flukes leave behind a core which glows irrigo, the colour of forgetfulness, and is made of the souls of the creature's victims. It may be possible for individual humans to be transformed into Flukes as well.