Magic Poisoning

Magic is a wondrous thing with near infinite possibilities and uses, but what happens when a mage overuses their magical energy reserves? While not particularly dangerous to the general public on its own, mages who continue to spellcast while suffering from this condition do pose a risk to those around them. One miscast can cause incredible amounts of collateral damage under the right conditions.

Causes

When a mage repeatedly runs their magical reserves to very low levels, there is a chance this condition can manifest. There is no hard-fast rule for how many times or how often a mage would have to do this in order to contract magical poisoning, as each individual is different and the process can take a very long time, but a person who has had it before is more likely to contract it again.

Symptoms

Many of the symptoms of magic poisoning are rather similar to those of depression or anxiety. Notable differences, however are physical pain or abnormal spell manifestations when casting is attempted.
Headaches are the most common symptom.

Treatment

The only real way to treat magic poisoning is by getting a lot of rest and avoiding use of Arcane Magic until the symptoms disappear. This can take a very long time, however, and is rather inconvenient for active mages.
There are potions that can alleviate the problem instantaneously, however these are both rare and expensive.

Affected Groups

This condition is limited to users of Arcane Magic, however it is most prevalent in battle-mages.

Prevention

The best prevention method is simply to know one's own limits and not to push them. It is far better in the long run to improve one's own efficiency in using arcane magic than it is to try and increase one's capacity of magical energy.
In the event that coming too near to one's limit is unavoidable, ensuring that one does not do so again for at least another three months can also help to prevent this. It is only through repeated abuse that magical poisoning will occur.
As of now, there are no external methods of storing excess magical energy that could help to prevent this condition.

History

The early arcane users were the first to discover magic poisoning, though they did not quite understand what it was at first. It was believed that repeatedly coming to one's energy limit would somehow increase said limit and that the ensuing magical poisoning was a sign of that working. It wasn't for several years that the mages discovered that this wasn't the case. Many attempts have been made to permanently remedy this condition for all arcane users, but all have ended in failure.

Type

Mental

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Uncommon