Mage Rot

Mage's Dementia Syndrome

Causes

Also known more formally as 'Mage's Dementia Syndrome', Mage Rot is a illness of the brain that can be caused by years and years of mana exposure. It often happens when one sustains enough damage to their Soul from repetitive bouts of Mana Poisoning and Exhaustion..

Symptoms

Mage rot will continue developing symptoms the more the user continues to damage their soul. The first sign is general forgetfulness and a tendancy to get easily distracted and zone out a lot. Over time memory loss will plague the user more and more until it becomes difficult to remember simple details or events in the past. Occasionally a mage will develop depression or anxiety issues too.
The next stage are delusions and paranoia, the mage will have bouts of anger or depression often over events that never happened or they've greatly misconstrued. Visual and audio hallucinations will follow soon after.
At the final, and most crippling stage of mage rot, the mage will be completely disconnected from reality, haunted by intense hallucinations and delusions, and unable to remember the faces of close friends and family. It's possible for the mage to fall into a vegetative state after this point.

Treatment

If caught caught early, general therapy can treat the basic symptoms of the illness, and steps can be taken to prevent the condition form worsening. The best why to do this is simply taking care of your body, and not performing any dangerous spells which could degrade the mind more.

Prognosis

A lot of the symptoms of mage rot are caused by permanent brain and soul damage, meaning symptoms will likely effect the mage for the rest of their life.

Affected Groups

Since symptoms tend to develop over years and years of magic abuse, those effected by mage rot tend to be old, in their middle ages or older. Rarely a younger mage can suffer from mage rot if the are prone to performing dangerous magic, or simply have a preexisting mental condition.

Cultural Reception

There's been numerous cases in the past of 'evil, insane warlocks' that plagued regions of the Fantasme with their magic and were feared by the public. However with modern magic research it can be safely assumed that in most of these cases, the mage suffered from a form of mage rot, whose symptoms caused them to lash out at others.
Now-a-days, mage rot is treated with a bit more sympathy in the magic communities, but common people will still often refer to them as 'crazy old mages.' Mages with more severe symptoms will often be discharged from studying or the mages counsel, and will often be encouraged to retire from magic.

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Type

Mental

Parent

Mana Poisoning and Exhaustion

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Common

Affected Species

• Elf
• Human

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