the Fading

When I am gone, remember me. Please. I don't want to fade from world and memory, I can't..! Don't let them think I never existed!

— someone afflicted with the Fading; name unfortunately forgotten

All anyone wants, deep down, is to be known. To live a life that touches at least one other - to have acknowledgement from some other living being, sapient or not. More than that, they wish to be remembered. The dead are enshrined in tombs engraved with their names, or sung about in song. The living commit great acts to have their name live on the lips of millions - great, but often terrible acts.
The Fading steals that away.
Born as a result of twisted energies escaping magically-corrupted areas of Istralar such as the Sunari Wilderness, the Fading is one of the most feared conditions. Those afflicted become less memorable as time goes on, and as more forget about their existence, their bodies too begin to fade. Unless significant efforts are taken to prevent it - efforts that must be initiated by someone else, requiring the affliction to have not progressed overly far - the Fading will completely erase its victims from memory, leaving no body and no proof that they were ever there.
Unless some written record exists of the afflicted individual, there is little chance they will ever be remembered. Whilst it has yet to be tested, it has been suggested that the effect of the Fading exists beyond death - and more worryingly, that it could be one of the very few ways to permanently end a samsaran's reincarnation cycle.
There are very few ways to test this, and nobody has yet been brave enough to ask the Lady of Graves about the specifics of what happens to a Faded individual upon their eventual end.

Causes

No! This can't be happening-- Mother! Mother, look at me! You-- you remember me, right?! I'M YOUR ONLY DAUGHTER!

— magical recording of an unknown woman

The Fading is not contagious, nor is it easily acquired. It appears to be a supernatural phenomenon that appears in areas saturated with strange magic, though the exact trigger for the condition to manifest is currently unknown. Hurricanes spawned by the Rage of the Sunari have previously spread the affliction, and it is a rare but not uncommon occurrence across the entirety of Iskaldhal. It can be assumed to be most frequently occurring in the Sunari Wilderness, though this cannot be confirmed for a number of reasons.
The recent magical anomalies in Takawaoku have, rather worryingly, introduced the Southern Continent to a higher rate of Fading than ever previously recorded, and the mass famine events have put intense stress on those trying to study the phenomenon - the Fading has therefore been relegated into the role of twisted side effect of the ongoing disaster.

Humanity and Others

Something that has been noted over the course of study is that the Fading seems to only affect those linked to humanity. Aasimar, half-elves, even halflings - they are all susceptible to the Fading by way of their human blood. Other species, such as dwarves, have never had a recorded case of the Fading.

Treatment

I know you. I loved you once. Please, stay in my memory - this is not a fate you deserve.

— loved one of an unknown individual

There is only one method of treating the Fading, and that is to make the Faded individual so overwhelmingly known and recognised that it overwhelms the supernatural magics of the illness. This has been accomplished a few times; notably, an adventuring band from Volkur once received the help of infamous lich Seiðrkolva to combat the Fading. The lich employed a fascinating awareness scheme across multiple countries upon Iskaldhal, sending her undead minions to warn all major cities about the rare condition and asking them to recognise the first adventurer as the first Faded brave enough to seek help.
To this day, Estrid Magnadottir is remembered for the ordeals she went through: one of the precious few who escaped a near-certain fate. Her story ended equally interestingly - upon her eventual death at the hands of a disease she could not avoid nor cure, the lich arrived to resurrect Estrid as a fully-intelligent undead warrior. Estrid remains one of Seiðrkolva's most recognisable champions, and usually handles the lich's relations with Volkur.

Prognosis

                                                                                                   ?                                                                                                        !

— unknown

Unless treated with great haste, the Faded individual will eventually - quietly and painlessly - forget themselves, and fade entirely out of existence.

Type

Supernatural

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Extremely Rare

Affected Species

• Half-drow
• Halfling
• Human
• Tiefling
• Half-orc
• Half-elf
• Samsaran
• Aasimar

Average prognosis

Fatal