Memory shroud
Memory shroud is a condition only experienced by full-blooded elves after them reaching a certain age. This age is usually between 380 to 580. However, it has been known to trigger a lot earlier or later in some unusual cases. This condition is irreversible and part of a typical aging process and life cycle of an elf. As such, most elven cultures have a very calm reaction to it when it starts, though others perceive it as a threat.
Causes
Memory shroud is an inevitable side-effect of Remembrance, stage on elves life where the consciousness of their immortal spirit starts to leak to their current life's memory. Condition is separate, however, and shroud and remembrance shouldn't be confused with one another.
The early symptoms of shroud usually appear 10-50 years after the first memories of past selves have come to the elf, as these memories get stronger and more frequent. The weight of past-life memories and starting the transition back to the spirit-self will begin to take a toll on the mortal body of the elf. As such, this causes the elf to develop particular quirks, which can, for other humanoids, look symptoms of the normal aging process or some form of insanity. It is crucial to make the distinction though: elf does not get old like other humanoids, and no, even though elf is seeing and hearing things, it doesn't make them insane.
Sometimes Remembrance can start earlier than expected because of near-death experience, disease, or other factors. In those cases, also shroud appears faster and can develop into something very devastating if elf in question hasn't gathered enough strength of mind to endure the condition.
Shroud should be thought like giving birth or growing pains: neither of these things is inherently dangerous, but if not monitored and understood, they can develop nasty complications.
Symptoms
Possible symptoms of the shroud are varied. However, here we have a list of the most common ones. Under the right circumstances, these symptoms should only cause minor discomfort for the subject.
Scattered thoughtsFirst symptoms of the shroud are increasing absent-mindedness, uncharacteristic to the individual. It is worth to note that elves do not suffer from the usual weakening of memory like most humanoids during their old age. After childhood, their memory capacity stays about the same rest of their lifetime. No, this absentmindedness is a sign of first blurring between the memories and the current moment.
Memories themselves often are incoherent and come without context, which can make them cryptic, troubling, or even unsettling for the elf. Added to this, these are not hallucinations, but real memories, that can manifest in any moment as anything from sudden vague recollection to a full-blown vision from a moment with people elf doesn't remember, but still weirdly knows.
These moments of revelation can sometimes even manifest so, that they look like they happen on top of the things elf sees as translucent pictures around them, or scent and noises only they can pick up. At this starting point, they only take a flash before they are gone, and as such, don't have to cause any real harm for the elf's life. But this despite this, it can be very disorienting, which translates to absentmindedness.
As memories start to go more vivid as years go by, these fast flashes can turn to more longer moments of visions where elf can seemingly shut down for several minutes, without any contact to the outside world. Elf will still be, in normal circumstance, be aware after the vision that they had a vision, but they might forget it while the vision is going on, completely emerging to the past life and then come back with only mere fragments from it to their current moment.
About this point, the most visible symptom of the memory shroud starts to appear: eyes of the old elf start slowly to fade in color, like a foggy glass. The process is slow and doesn't cause added discomfort or trouble for the sight of the individual.
Some particularly old elves report that as their eyes get foggier, they start to see faint movement on top of their normal vision like there would be several thin shadow realities acting out past events before their eyes. This movement for most is so faint that they are unable to perceive it unless they focus on it, and even then, it is incoherent, and it is impossible to make up details.
As the effect comes very slowly, and as such, for most, it comes in a way where they get used to it bit by bit. In these cases, it never poses other problems than an occasional distraction when they are in their thoughts or appearing movements seem unusually wide or sudden.
If the elf is in full physical and mental health, symptoms do not need to have any further complications for the elves life, and they can continue their life as usual, with small pauses getting more frequent as time goes by: from once in a blue moon to weekly or daily occurrence. It is typical that on some occasions, elf might speak to themselves with words of past self during their visions, confusing names, and having trouble with their sense time, as long as it doesn't cause too much discomfort for the individual.
During the shroud phase, it is essential to note that the appearance of symptoms can differ wildly. An elf might usually only get visions once a month, and suddenly have particularly intensive two weeks when they have trouble to interact with the outside world. And a week later; they are back to normal.
While shroud does get progressively worse, it doesn't mean there aren't other fluctuations in the shrouding process. It's vitally essential that elf is supported on times where shroud goes aggressive but is similarly useful to note, that not all dips on deep end are permanent and there are ways to affect shroud's progress.
Treatment
Taking care of elf with memory shroud is vitally important, so that condition stays harmless and contained to small nuisance.
Taking care of one's physical and mental healthThe most important factor is elf's well being: healthier the elf is, more likely they manage to resist all the pitfalls of the condition. Eating habits, illness, lifestyle choices and support of peers are essential things to consider.
Like for any elder, for an elf, reasonable amount activity, and challenges keep them in good shape, though for a bit different reasons that with most species. Elves do not deteriorate like other humanoids, so they do not need activities to slow their fall, but to avoid getting bored. Elf is just as capable of most tasks in their 100 years as they are in their 600's, so not giving them something to do is not only a waste of resources, it's horrible for their self-image!
Because of this, elves don't usually retire their jobs in the way humans do. Not even if they need to slow down, and that is actually for the elf's benefit. Most dangerous jobs are something to avoid when you can freeze into memories of other life any time, but having something meaningful to do is very important.
It is not unusual that elder elves get themselves helpers, or move to live with friends or relatives - while in most cases elf with shroud should be able to work independently, having other people around them in moments when they can't is generally a good idea.
An elf with shroud can have a hard time telling when they need help as they start to have trouble with time management, so having someone to remind them what time it is and to answer them in moments of confusion for what was going on can be beneficial. Moral support can make the situation more bearable for the ones that have a hard time handling it.
Particularly in cases where elf suffers from frequent visions that disturb their daily functioning, holding diary (or having someone whom can help you to hold it for you) can make it easier to the elf to stay in reality and understand world around them, even when they have holes in their memory. It might even help elves that have started to have difficulties to tell the now and visions apart to recognize the difference and reverse some of the problems caused by such confusion.
Prognosis
Because of its nature, the condition is a natural part of elven biology and their aging process, and as such, it is only preventable when elf dies before the state has ever appeared. The condition will become more prominent over time, but how much has a lot to do with the individual and their lifestyle. It is notable, that elves can, without taking account any other possible life-extending factors, live over 700 years under normal conditions. This condition can be with them for centuries.
Under desirable conditions, the shroud will be harmless or a small nuisance. However, an elf that isn't taking care of themselves or who's mental or physical health is neglected, is likely to start to develop several more disturbing and dangerous symptoms that can turn in to devastating side-effects.
Sequela
The true danger of Memory shroud is the side effects suffered by individuals that are experiencing mental or physical distress or who have had the condition for an extended period of time. All elves can take dips to the worse time to time, but certain effects are more devastating than the others. When an elf is unbalanced and shroud is ignored, some more terrifying pathologies to appear include symptoms like:
Severe depression + erratic behaviorDepending on elf's personality and nature of the memories it is possible that some elves start to feel the need to close up from the outside world. This isn't always a bad thing but can turn to a problem, if it starts to breed depression on the elf.
While visions can appear in very irregular patterns, deep anxiety, loneliness and other psychological hurts that make the elf turn inward can cause the visions to become more frequent but also more dark or sad, further feeding to elves need to close up. This loop of negative emotions can cause all kinds of inner turmoil, erratic behavior and violent outbursts that serve no other particular purpose than feed to elf's melancholy.
A talented mage that keeps learning their craft keeps getting more powerful as years go by, and some magical effects can extend a creature's lifetime, just by exposure alone. However, when an old elven magic-user enters the shroud, things get increasingly more difficult.
It is known, that magic reacts to emotions of the caster and can be created or amplified by strong feelings, as very much proved by any sorcerer. Mages creating spontaneous magical effects while whisked away by powerful emotion - good or bad - is pretty much basic knowledge. However, Memory shroud has a way to further amplify that effect. Older mages suffering from shroud are far more likely to unintentionally leak magic to their surroundings, sometimes with deadly consequences.
Casters who get their powers from a deity (like paladins or clerics) are less likely to suffer from this as well as druids, whom's powers can grant them abnormally long life span. These types of magic are believed to have stabilizing effects to magic leaks, and as such the effects are less severe and often harmless including creating a light, creating plants, healing people or making sensory effects. This is not total immunity, but mostly harmless if little quirky and possibly annoying.
The most severe symptoms however are, maybe a bit ironically, suffered by wizards. This may sound counter-intuitive at first, as you consider that wizards, while often having an aptitude for it, have had to learn all their magic and their magic is often calculated and rarely spontaneous. But that might actually be the issue.
Unlike most casters, wizards have always had to work extra hard for their magic, and it is not until long practice when it gets easier, and even then, even when automated, every magical action needs effort. So when they suddenly start to leek magic and it comes to them without effort for the very first time, the wizard has no practice to recognized or to react to this type of push from within themselves. This can cause accidental charm effects, spontaneous elemental magic, unstable transformations, reactionary shield effects and other unwanted and possibly destructive consequences.
While a healthy elf can distinguish the difference between memory visions and reality, one that is more unbalanced can lose themselves to the visions and eventually start to degrade to empty husk of themselves, not sure who or where they are. Memories turn into a blur, and the person might forget which were part of this life, and which came from another. This is fertile ground for all kinds of personality disorders, hallucinations and other behavior problems that can be very dangerous.
As visions increase, an elf can lose their sense of time entirely to a point where they are more likely to confuse the order of events, and this can have devastating consequences. One of the saddest ones is accidental starvation, where the loss of time eventually makes the elf unable to read their bodily needs, more often hunger.
An elf with the condition might have no idea when they have eaten last time, what or how much they ate. As a result, they start dropping meals entirely. Visions might also take their appetite, especially if they happened to be about eating and so they trick the elf feel full or if the images upset the elf. After a while, it starts to be harder for the elf to eat proper proportions, and as such, their food intake slowly decreases to unhealthy levels. This starved state makes elf's frame thin and frail, may cause hair loss, fatigue, and other problems.
Affected Groups
Memory Shroud has been observed in all elves and while there are few fringe cases where the state has been reported in only 100-year-old individuals, the condition is most likely to manifest between ages 380 to 580.
Dangerous live style can make the condition appear earlier. A healthy lifestyle is believed to push it further, though the causation of this correlation is not confirmed. Women tend to get the state little after men on average, and on average, have milder symptoms, though this might be due to several factors.
State gets more aggressive and dangerous with anxious individuals and those who suffer on otherwise poor physical or mental health.
History
Memory shroud is considered as a side-effect of the reincarnation process of elven souls, or, more specifically, the process of soul transferring back to outer planes before to be born again. It is told that in dawn of time elves have initially been immortal shape changers from blood of god Corellon Larethian, but at times long gone, they decided to make permanent, physical forms that eventually took away their original shape-shifting nature and that changed how their immortality of the elven souls would function.
Read moreElves are capable of living longer than any other natural humanoid, and they do not get old in a similar way than other mortal creatures, but eventually, their bodies will die. But when elf dies, unless they are specifically killed, they don't wither as other humanoids do, but the spirit inside them becomes too great to contain in its mortal shell. This mix-match causes the spirit to part from their body, to go back outer planes or where ever it's soul was promised.
After some time, if nothing stops the spirit, it comes back to the world, reborn as another elf. Every elf that exists in the prime world of Melyria has once been another elf, dozens, hundreds, probably thousand other elves, and unless something radical happens, after they pass on, they will once more, turn to someone else.
Reasoning to this cycle is not entirely clear for mortals, only that it happens, and it has something to do with the nature of their souls as well as the gods they come from. It is known, however, that the spirits of elves retain all the memories of their past lives and will seal them away as they are born anew, and they get it back after their life ends. However, that doesn't mean that elf would be unaware of these past lives.
After birth, it's not unusual of young elves to see visions in their trance, where they see places beyond the prime realm: these are believed to be first memories of the reincarnated spirit in it's first, shape-shifting form. These will eventually fade away and are entirely gone between ages 20-40, yet still, it is not unheard of elven folk who have unexplained hunches about things from past they can't explain and pull towards things they cannot quite justify - often considered as whispers of the spirit.
It is, however, in later life, or sometimes earlier if an elf has severe illness or early near-death experiences, when the spirit starts to leak out, giving elf smells, feelings, sounds, and images from the past lives spirit has had in another elven form. First, these are rare, incoherent, and far apart, but as elf gets closer to their death, these memories get more frequent and stronger.
Start of this phase, known to some as Remembrance, Revelation, or sometimes Awakening, is the first step towards the Memory shroud, though not the start of it. As far as records go, this has been part of elf life cycle since they stepped to Melyria, if not even earlier.
Cultural Reception
Among elves, most cultures have their way to deal with individuals with the shroud in a graceful manner, though variations exist. Those with the Shroud are usually treated with great respect, and most would be ready to accommodate small oddities of the older elves with understanding and compassion.
Condition is not seen as shameful, on the contrary, sometimes it is even awarded, as a sign that elf has not only gathered wisdom in their own life, they have now had a window to the knowledge of lives before. In some cases, it is even celebrated, as a step closer to become whole again after separation from the rest of the elf's spirit. This does not take away the worry from darker sides of the condition, and most elves are forever vigilant to watch after their elders, so no ill would happen to them.
There are some elven cultures, however, who do not share the appreciation of their elders. Llothian drow rarely live long enough to condition to appear, and because of brutal nature of the culture, they see the condition as weakness and way to eliminate the older elf faster. In cultures like this, elders are often abandoned or even willingly take their lives to avoid further inconvenience to others or themselves.
Among other humanoids, however, if not adequately explained and sometimes even after the explanation, there is likely to be a lot of misunderstandings about the condition. Foggy eyes might be confused about blindness, scatterbrain for getting old or being strange, and visions for everything from madness to prophecy. Elf separated from others of their kind can be in serious trouble, among other humanoids, so it is no wonder why elder elves often stay out of sight to outsiders.
Last days
The condition can get more aggressive 2 to 12 days before elf's passing. During this time, it is typical for the elf to confuse now and then, talk to themselves and spend their time in an unnatural trance with small windows of clarity in between. During this time, the elf is often unable to take care of themselves and can show other physical symptoms like fever, sweating, cold, and more magically inclined can have increasing trouble to not spontaneously make their eyes glow or cause other magical effects to their environment. As passing nears, elf turns more peaceful and, eventually, their spirit parts successfully for its next journey.But as strong and crushing his character is, his body looks withered. Once, the handsome young king is so deep in his visions these days that he cannot eat as he used to. His porcelain skin has become paler and thin, his elegant fingers boney and his figure skinny, making his already tall frame look more ominous. His cheeks have started to hollow, and his hair is thin. His eyes, once bright blue, are now dim, as memories of last lives partly cloak his vision. His gaze radiates wisdom, intelligence, and power, colored by profound sadness and worry that comes with the weight of his crown, made to look like golden arrowheads twined together with vines, that now seems too heavy for his withered form. At times his eyes glass entirely, as the memories come and go as they please. There he still sits on his throne, refusing to name successor, still as a formidable mage, if not stronger, as he was in his younger days. His body emanates hints of magical cold breeze, like the northern lands he rules.
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Author's Notes
This article was created as an entry for World Anvil's Summer Camp 2019 event. Sometimes it's easier to get things done when there is an event involved! You can view all my entries to the event here, or check out Summer Camp 2019!