Fading

A condition almost exclusively affecting Nyr of old age, fading is sometimes also referred to as "an inbetween-state of life and death, present and memory".

Causes

A definite cause for this ailment could not be determined yet, but it seems to exclusively affect Nyr individuals of ages 700 and beyond. It does not seem to run in specific families or lineages, but more often noticed in heavy magic users compared to those who dedicated their life to more mundane studies, so a link is possible, even if not proven yet. Another commonality seems to be that Fading often affects souls that have been reborn many many times, the oldest and wisest of them, making it a threat and horrible disease even more so.

Symptoms

The first noticeable symptoms associated with Fading often resemble the beginning of regular dementia also associated with old age: forgetfulness, absentmindedness, conversations going round in circles, and repeating certain activities over and over again, such as watering plants every hour, or washing one's laundry over and over again, due to not being able to remember whether a task has already been completed or not. These similarities between the two illnesses make it hard to differentiate between them. This stage of the illness can last a few months up to several years, with the forgetfulness gradually worsening, but often with periods of clarity in-between.
What makes fading so fatal though in comparison to the more common dementia is the way an individual is cut off from their memory.
The memories of people suffering from dementia become inaccessible to them, yet they are not lost. Instances are clearly documented where a reborn individual remembers to have physically suffered from this age-related disorder, yet, in their current life, had a clear memory of their past life again. With fading though, the memories are wiped out, lost forever. It is a condition that doesn't affect the body, the vessel carrying the soul, it affects the soul as such. This can go as far that memories not only of the affected person's current life, but also past lives are lost forever.
Due to not being easily distinguishable from dementia in the beginning, and thankfully also being much more rare, measures of Memory Conservation are often initiated way too late. The consequence are parts of history and eyewitness-reports of long-gone events being lost forever.
In the latest stage of the illness, when the affected person has forgotten most of who they are, the condition begins to show clear physical symptoms. The body seems to decay much more rapidly, individuals often appearing fragile and small, the skin pale and paper-thin. The body fades along with the soul, and those who survive the longest seem to almost turn translucent themselves, fading into nothingness as if they never existed.

Treatment

Fading as such is a terminal disease with no cure found yet. What can be treated are symptoms in a manner that affected people are assisted in their daily life to make the physical decay less life-threatening, to ease pain and daily chores. Activities stimulating the brain, such as crafting, logic puzzles, and riddles, don't seem as effective as they are with individuals suffering from dementia.
Healers recommend that, as soon as symptoms resembling dementia or Fading are witnessed in an individual, their family should consider to have the affected's memories conserved at the local temple. It is often an exhausting and also not cheap undertaking, which is why relatives and friends usually wait very long to undergo the Memory Conservation processes done at the temple, but it is the only way to leave the affected person's memories to posterity as authentically as possible.

Prognosis

As an eventually fatal disease that causes the decay of body and soul alike, the diagnosis "Fading" is feared, yet not entirely hopeless. An affected individual will not wither and die in a short period of time, the initial stage of memory loss setting in and slowly worsening can drag on over the course of a century - a lot of time to say goodbyes, spend time with each other, and make precautions and preparations for the end of the affected's life. Intensive care is usually required at the end of this first stage, and it continues on into the second stage of physical decay, which marks the beginning of the end eventually. Not as long as the first stage, this part of the disease is often harder on the relatives than the affected themselves, as they seem almost as if they don't quite belong into this world anymore, slowly preparing themselves to pass over into the The Silent Waters, having lost their connection to their lives here.

Affected Groups

• Nyr above the age of 700 years
• Individuals who have gone through at least 10-15 cycles of rebirth
• Predominantly powerful magic-users

Prevention

As the exact causes are not exactly determined (yet), it is hard to say what an individual can do to prevent a Fading affliction in later life. Since the disease is often witnessed to affect individuals whose souls went through many cycles of rebirth - something that cannot be prevented at all to begin with - it is often a fate someone will simply have to deal with on their own terms in their own time.
Also often seen in powerful mages and others heavily relying on arcane powers it is a general suggestion by temples and healers to have a healthy mundane counterpart to magic-related activities. That can be anything from physical exercise and traveling to indulging in the arts or reading, as long as no extensive use of magic is made all-day-long. Yet again, while mages seem to be more often affected, and the disease effectively targeting an individual's soul, all these are as of now unproven theories, the true cause of the illness lying in the dark.

Cultural Reception

Fading is regarded as of the most horrible ailments of old age known to the Nyr, a people almost obsessed with learning from its past, holding on to memories and traditions, and making a name for themselves as individuals. Those affected by the condition are often pitied, but also extensively taken care of by friends and family, who work tirelessly to have their loved one not be forgotten, even when their soul has entirely faded.

Type

Physiological

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Extremely Rare

Affected Species

• Nyr