Ley Line Sickness

a.k.a. Swooshy, the Magic Migrane, the Hoodoo Hurls

When people who have opened up their magical pathways (by having an Arcane Background) are in a Ley Line, they get lightheaded at first and then progress to a kind of magical high in which they feel euphoric and get a glimpse at unity with the all of everything. The energy is just too pure and concentrated for them and nausea and vomiting soon follows, along with whole body numbness, extreme headaches and eye aches. Prolonged exposure results in addiction. Worst of all, prolonged exposure also scours the magical pathways, weakening them and supplanting the body's own magical stores. Only beings who are naturally magical are immune to this effect. Special masks can be worn to prevent the onset of Ley Line Sickness and these special breathing apparatuses are worn by arcane users around the world.

Transmission & Vectors

Breathing air filled with ley line energy.

Causes

The raw energy found on ley lines is just too concentrated and pure for magic using people to ingest directly. The energy ends up overloading the body's systems, eventually burning them out.

Symptoms

Beings with arcane backgrounds experience the following symptoms when they breathe in ley line energy:

• Increased sensitivity to pain and physical stimuli
• Dizziness
• Euphoria
• Physical dependence
• Increased respiration
• Jittery Behavior and reduced attention span
• Stomach upset, including nausea, vomiting and constipation
• Increased arcane puissance

Treatment

The only way to remove the symptoms of Ley Line Sickness is to allow the magical energy to dissipate. Forcefully draining PPE or using up PPE will also alleviate the symptoms so long as the person is no longer inside a ley line.
There is no known cure for addiction to ley line energy, only treatment.

Prognosis

Ley line sickness will dissipate within hours with little lasting effects if exposure is limited to less than an hour. Unfortunately, exposure time accumulates over the character's lifetime and never resets to zero.
Coming down off an arcane high is unpleasant and will almost always include headaches, eyeaches, nausea and vomiting, the severity of which will depend on exposure time.

After every hour of exposure the following occurs:
• The chance of arcane addiction (addiction occurs on a spirit die roll of 1 after every hour exposed or on a 3 or less at a Nexus point).
• The character's natural bank of power points depletes by 1 permanently, eventually reaching zero.
• The user's magical pathways are dilating, the 'walls' are getting weaker, allowing the user to harness more power from the ley line than ever before. Add 2 power points to the points the arcane user can draw from a ley line.

Continued exposure after the user has reached zero power points will begin transmutation of the caster's body into pure magical flesh. The results can be chaotic and unpredictable and are often fatal. Some say this transmutation can be affected by, or even guided by, arcane powers cast during the process.

Affected Groups

Any character with an arcane background who is not an inherently magical being is affected. This applies to any character who learns or otherwise acquires an arcane background later in life, since it attacks the pathways which are opened when the AB is acquired.
Sorcerers are the only exception. Since the sorcerer arcane background is one of study and not of arcane existence, Sorcerers suffer from ley line sickness only if they try to use their arcane abilities in a ley line or nexus while unmasked. This includes if they try to use a focus, twiz invention or expend any PPE at all. Sorcerers who do not exercise their arcane abilities within a ley line or nexus are as unaffected as any non-arcane user.

Hosts & Carriers

There is a cult-like following of arcane addicts who call themselve The Cosmic Mind. These people willingly go through the advanced stages of ley line sickness in hopes of becoming pure magic and becoming one with the cosmos. Of those who survive, only a rare few ever make it to such an apotheosis. The rest become some form of monstrosity of the ley lines. The people call these Grotesks (note, they would have probably known to spell it 'grotesques' if there was any surviving literature and people were literate). And only the cultists and some Ley Line Walkers know of their true origins.

Prevention

The obvious first choice of prevention is breathing from an isolated air source.  In lieu of that, however, there is an alternative.
Properly cultured breathing masks can be worn to filter and treat the raw energy, converting it into a form and concentration that can be ingested without worry. The culturing process involves establishing a complex micro-ecology in the filter elements and takes about six days to fully develop. It does not need to be worn in a ley line to become cultured, but it doeas culture twice as fast inside a ley line and only takes one day in a nexus point at the risk of an overdose.  Keeping in mind that until fully cycled, exposure will result in symptoms.
Each mask must be tailored specifically for its owner for optimal efficiency, but manufacturers of these masks will often sell them with "cycled" filters as an option.  Cycled filters are filters that have been cultured prior to purchase, either by another or through mechanical means. Such filters prevent the worst symptoms during the period of adoption by the new user and are thus highly valued.
A cultured filter must continue to be used on a regular basis. Exhalation from a magic user must pass over the filter elements to keep the culture active. If permitted to dry out, the filter loses its potency and will need to be cycled again. To prevent this, using the mask three hours a day is all that is necessary. A filter can survive a full day (24 hours) without use.

Cultural Reception

This affliction has led to the stereotyping of magic users, especially Ley Line Walkers, as mask-wearers. In theater, art and lyrics, a breathing filter mask is used to quickly identify someone as a wielder of arcane energies.


Likewise, since inherently magical beings do not need mask filters in ley lines and nexus points; extra-special "others" and powerful entities with ulterior motives or exotic strangers in theater, art and lyrics are represented as specifically maskless.

There is a cult who called themselves The Cosmic Mind. They are people born with arcane abilities who believe in opening themselves fully to the arcane energies of ley lines in search of unity with the cosmos.

Type

Magical

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Common

Note to Gamesmasters:
Ley line sickness and the addiction to ley line energy can be a fun story arc for a player character. Realise, of course, that the character is doomed to eventually turn into a Grotesk. But in the same way that Juicers are doomed to die prematurely, a player can have a meaningful and entertaining run as an addicted arcane user. Speak with the player to make sure they are willing to follow such an arc and then have fun. Who knows, maybe the character will beat all odds and reach apotheosis with her mind intact.
It can start with the first symptoms, the feeling of elation and rolling for addiction. The character can still try to avoid it, but due to 'events' may find herself unmasked in a ley line, or maybe the character steals a couple breaths of raw arcana when they think no one is looking. Either way, it should probably be a slow process as they lose their natural PPE and must rely on ley line energy to cast their spells. This is where things can get challenging. The game may progress away from ley lines causing a potential split in the party. In such cases you can just have the addicted character suffer from withdrawal symptoms while away from a ley line and she has to consume Twiz batteries or something like that if she wants to use arcane powers.
Also, don't forget to introduce members of The Cosmic Mind who will view the character with holy reverence as her body mutates under the influence of the arcane energy.
Also, the loss of one's mind is a real and likely result of this condition. Players can have fun playing a character that slowly loses her higher order mental facilities, but there comes a point when the character must be abandoned and turned into an NPC. This point can be handled in the same way as a Juicer burns his life force. At this point we all congratulate the player for running a fun character and it is time to roll another.