Brain bomb
A Bad Way To Go...
A brain bomb is caused by overloading the mind with external information. The condition is most common in those who practice The Prestige, particularly those who frquent use Static Pulse.
It's an aweful way to go. The mind is overloaded with stimuli, each of the countless details focused on simultaneously. The brain overcompensates and shuts down, leaving the victim as a mindless husk unable to think, move, or control basic bodily function. If they are able to breath, they will inevitably starve as they are unable to swallow food and water.
The victim can, however, recover. It's rare, but through the application of Bliss and/or Psychic Surgery, the condition can be reversed. It takes a skilled Magician to do so, and the victim will usually need extended life support such as resperatory assistance and feeding tubes to live long enough for recovery.
Snake Oil and Miracle Cures
Using psychic surgery or bliss is a long shot for these unfortunate souls. Magicians describe the operation as particularly stressful. Something about working on such a shattered mind threatens to pull the magician in, potentially leaving them with the same condition.
Even if this danger wasn't present, the magician will struggle as they attempt to reahape and reconnect the fractured mind of their patient. The damage is extensive, and it can rake months to years for the operation to be a success.
Regardless, the magicians are dedicated to perfecting their cure. With every successful operation, the chances for more increase. The more they understand just how the mind shatters, the better they are at rebuilding it. It will take many years, but a safer and more straightforward operation is within reach.
"as they attempt to reahape and reconnect" typo here: 'reshape' So this is what you were warning me about in the comments under 'the static'. Say, there was one prestige wielder with one simple ability; he could transfer his pain to others. He could use it defensively, as in, if someone's pointing a gun at him, he just connects to them so if they shoot, they double down in pain and he might have a chance to grab the gun, if he survives, that is. He may also be able to use it to induce a Brain bomb, if they are experiencing both his pain and their own. Or, if you don't want him to have to have wounds for it to work, maybe just transfer emotions like fear.
Woah! Callback. Yes. Yes it is. This is very possible and poses some interesting implications for the "this power is evil" idea. If the tranference is instinctive, and the faster has no real control, then are they truely bad for causing brain bombs. That scenario is definitely likely to cause the condition for sure. One could upgrade that ability, empowering it over to to transfer the physical wounds and prevent their own damage with that ability. Discordians have a power for this. It connects to quantum Immortality but on others as opposed to multiversal versions of yourself. If you were to only have this one ability, it could upgrade the same way. It could also echo out in the static, not just the one inflicting the pain but all enemies in an encounter. Lots of effort tho. Hmm. Definitely something to ponder.