Sirakoth Derangement Syndrome

People who become aware of the Sirakoth are susceptible to develop a particular form of mystical psychosis known as SDS. There is considerable debate about whether or not this condition should be considered a pathology. There certainly are a number of cases in which obsession with this legendary object has completely destroyed the lives of people and those around them. An early example of this affliction is said to be recorded in Pieter Bruegel's 1558 engraving titled "The Alchemist". In figures said "Alchemist" entranced in his work amid busy assistants, volumes, and sophisticated apparatus. But through the window of this state of the art laboratory, one sees the seeker's wife and children reduced to mendicity, begging for food. By knowing what to look for, it is possible to find the traces of the Sirakoth obsessed at all times and in all regions of the world. From a half-crazed hermit scratching at the bottom of a cave, to caravels equipped with priceless equipment on a secret mission to explore archipelagos never mapped, the "extasis of the Sirakoth" (as it has sometimes been called) takes many forms but is always visible to those who recognize its symptoms. Alchemists, mystics, scholars of ancient times surveying obscure libraries. Archaeologists lost in the middle of the desert, engineers launching clandestine probes to explore the depths of the sea or the moons of the solar system, the quest for the Sirakoth unites generations in the same all-consuming fever.

Perhaps the clearest case of SDS recorded is the one referred to as the Illumination of Taron. In 2260, a hermit of the Gebelin order is said to have entered a trance-like state that lasted for twenty days. During this period, he frantically wrote pages upon pages of unintelligible glyphs and diagrams forming a stack of paper that has now been bound into what is known as the Compedium sirakothea. The aides that normally brought his food tried to stop him, tried to get him to rest or nourish himself, but nothing would do. Taron would collapse from time to time, and immediately get back to his desk whenever he regained consciousness. At most, the Gebelin assistants were able to get him to take a sip of broth from time to time but, in the end, Taron collapsed. Throughout this ordeal, all he would say is that the Sirakoth was speaking to him.

Collective forms of SDS have also been recorded. The Balthazarian Revolt of 2034 could certainly count among these events.

Transmission & Vectors

Most known cases of Sirakoth Derangement can be attributed to coming in contact with the lore surrounding that mythical object. Recruitment into a corridori organizations certainly puts one at risk of developing an all-consuming obsession for the quest to find or fabricate the Sirakoth. But, as any mythical mania, the destructiveness of the obsession depends largely on whether or not it will be left to spiral out of control. So, although the corridori organizations are entirely devoted to the quest for the Sirakoth, they also provide a significant structure for this endeavor. As long one stays within this structure, complete and utter devotion to the quest can be a significant source of meaning in one's life, and provide a powerful sense of purpose. However, it is at the margins of these organisations that the risks are highest. It is only after he was expelled from the Deuterian Order that Chinic Hevesi, the Balthazarian messiah, became a dangerous zealot. Other cases of SDS, accidental or provoked for strategic purposes, involved the spreading or rumors regarding the existence or whereabouts of the Sirakoth among unprepared and vulnerable groups. Although, most confirmed cases of SDS stem from rumor spreading, there is also a number of stories vacillating at the border between fact and fiction, where contact with an object is said to have provoked the obsession. A painting, a museum exhibit, an archaeological find, or the ingestion of an hallucinogenic have all been said to have induced SDS in people that had never heard of the Sirakoth. Such stories generally emanate from corridori organizations that the Sirakoth is already in existence, and lies somewhere to be found. It rests on the idea that the Sirakoth already infuses all objects and all people, and finding it is only a matter of being sufficiently receptive to it. However, no conclusive evidence of such non-verbal transmission exists, whereas instances of documented rumor-spreading abound.

Type

Mental