Fey Mood

Aka The Small Longing, or The Fairy Blues.
This is a genetic or magic condition affecting changelings and in lesser extent some humans with fey ancestry. It is considered connected to The Longing condition, that affects Àlfs and Fey Folk towards the end of their natural lives.
A sickness that only started appearing about 2 years after the fall of the veil, many if not all changelings have experienced at least one prolonged period of this melancholy, and it would appear that this will be a returning factor throughout their lives. While it can seem like a depression from the outside, both Alfs and Fey recognize the "clouding of the spirit", in the eyes of the inflicted, as something different, but related to The Longing.

Transmission & Vectors

Luckily there have been no signs that the condition is in any way contagious.

Causes

While only speculation, the fact that this condition is new, leads people to believe that it is tied to the displacement of the changelings, and that it must be tied to either a prolonged absence from Otherworld or a disconnect between an affected changeling and the fate they are supposed to follow.

Symptoms

An affected changeling will start growing more distant and apathetic, becoming passive and recluse. Their eyes visibly fading in color.

Alea describes her own experience as you "feeling that the world around you becomes more foggy and unreal. Like every object consists of shaped clouds, and faces blur unless you really concentrate on them. It's like walking in a world that feels fake, but you're too drained to feel anything about it. Emotions seem dulled - non-existent, while every sense feels pulled towards some indefinable point just out of reach."

Treatment

Testing with human medicine have proved unfruitful.
Through autopsies, changelings have shown to have a small endocrine gland connected to their brain, not present in ordinary humans, and the few autopsied Fey Folk appear to have a larger gland. It is surmised that these are the cause of the Longing condition in all Otherworld/Elsewhere/Andetsteds beings.
So far none has tried removing it from a living subject to test that hypothesis yet.

Prognosis

Unlike The Longing, Fey Mood is expected to pass after time, however it is also expected to be a returning sickness throughout a changeling's entire lifespan.

Affected Groups

While most factors seem irrelevant, it is unheard of in changeling children "placed" at their original human families.

Prevention

While still a relative new sickness, changelings are willing to try many things out, hoping to find anything to cure or stave off Fey Moods.
Most popular methods are: offerings through Blót, and wearing Otherworld/Elsewhere/Andetsteds trinkets as jewelry.
The only way known to actually prevent it, is for a changeling to become a true Fey.

History

The first cases came about two years after the Veil fell, fitting into the theory that the ones hit where the changelings that should have become real Fey at that point. At first it was assumed to be a natural melancholy or depression caused by the chaotic time and stressful life of the afflicted changelings, but while medicine had no effect, Àlfs and Fey alike could sense it in the afflicted in a way, and described what they sensed as somewhat different, but akin to The Longing.

Cultural Reception

In changeling community, this is an accepted part of life however, unlike Alfs and Fey, a fellow changeling will be more likely to keep including a melancholic friend and try to bring up their spirits. Most Alfs and empathic Fey see changelings struck by "The Lesser Longing" with pity. To some Alfs, it is believed that the changeling condition is a sign, that the Fey spirit in them are constantly in a dying state, but unable to pass on - A sign that their soul is split or unpure.

Type

Genetic

Parent

The Longing

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Chronic, Congenital

Rarity

Common

Affected Species

• Changeling