Abnormality Exposure Sickness - The Weirdies Condition in The Delta Space | World Anvil

Abnormality Exposure Sickness - The Weirdies

Causation and Symptoms

Abnormality Exposure Sickness, colloquially known by space farers as the Weirdies, is a fairly common ailment for travellers and the like to 'catch'. The sickness is caused by an increased or prolonged exposure to any sort of Abnormality energy. This could mean rapid exposure to several Abnormality Events in a short period of time or the prolonged use of an Abnormality Objects over extended stretches of time.   The Weirdies has been recorded all over the Delta Space, but it is most common amongst travellers and citizens that spend their time and live within the outer edges of the Delta Space. This includes most of O.Sec F, and some far-flung reaches of the Imperial Council of Planets, the Representative Democracy of Liberation, and the Hivemind Sentius Network. Parts of these territories sit near Unknown Space which holds a much higher concentration of Abnormality energies.   Symptoms of this sickness are as bizarre as any Abnormality Events or Abnormality Objects that have a hand in causing the ailment in the first place. People who suffer from the Weirdies are subject to an array of random ailments that could include mild to medium ailments like sudden and prolonged growth of hair, shining eyes and skin, or sulfuric levels of heartburn. To the more dangerous and life-threatening, like sudden self-combustion, uncontrollable eye lasers, or a rapid inversion of their internal organs.
It is thought that exposure to Abnormality energies cause this sickness; which could include prolonged exposure to things like Probability Suspension Drives.

In one extreme and rather grotesque case, the victim broke out in multi-coloured hives that completely covered his body, which would occasionally burst into streams of powdery gas that smelled of cinnamon. The man was nearly comatose the entire time, but when the hives subsided and he came to, he described a psychedelic experience of bizarre shapes, colours, and smells that he could not fully describe. He even said he wouldn't mind experiencing it again, and that it was not altogether unpleasant.   However, these symptoms are not always fully negative. Sometimes the symptoms developed are beneficial and actually sought after. For example, one long-time user of the Autotranscriber Pencil found that they could suddenly read any language with ease without the need for a translator. Though he found any time he read he had extreme nausea and would frequently be sick after a page or so of reading.   There was another case, where the individual could suddenly turn invisible. An arguably favourable outcome, though they couldn't figure out how exactly to activate it. Instead, they would just suddenly turn invisible occasionally, and the sickness would pass before he could figure it out.   Strangely, the Weirdies affect all sentient, and semi-sentient life regardless of their physiology. This means that not only can carbon-based life forms like Founders, and the Ka'yar be affected but other odder forms of life like the silicon gas-based species the Gasloids, the coral-structured Koralians, and even the robotic network of the Hivemind Sentius Network can all be affected by this.
Summary
Abnormality Exposure Sickness jokingly referred to as the Weirdies, is an ailment that occurs when an individual is exposed to an excess of Abnormality-related energies. This is usually due to exposure to a heightened number of Abnormality Events in a short time, or prolonged use of one or multiple Abnormality Objects over a more extended period of time.    Symptoms of the Weirdies are stranger than most other sicknesses and typically don't include things like a standard cough or runny nose. Instead, symptoms include the random development of strange abilities and effects usually centred on or around the victim. Often times they are not useful and are annoying or dangerous.   But sometimes useful or powerful abilities develop. These symptoms range in severity from rapidly growing hair and nail growth to sudden and spontaneous self-combustion. Symptoms will fade over time, if the victim survives them, as the Abnormality energies causing the sickness naturally leaves the victim's body.
Treatment
Time is the only known treatment, as long as the individual spends enough time away for additional exposure to these Abnormality energies the symptoms will naturally fade as the energies leech out of their bodies.   This can take hours, days, weeks, or months depending on the amount of energy initially absorbed. This is assuming the victim can survive whatever effects the sickness had caused them to develop in the first place. While the endless growth of hair all over your body is annoying, it is survivable as long as you don't trip over it to your demise. Spontaneous combustion, however, is a symptom that would be difficult to bounce back from.

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Comments

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Aug 7, 2023 15:31 by LexiCon (WordiGirl)

aaaaaah! Oh no! a downside to the cool Abnormality Events and Objects. Very scary. I'd not want to spend much time around them at all ';D