Blade Grief

Transmission & Vectors

Not transmitted, more acquired.

Causes

Caused from killing in a personal range. Usually from severe or brutal warfare or combat with any humanoid or monster.

Symptoms

A sufferer of Blade Grief will become increasingly paranoid and neurotic when they perceive a threat. The paranoia is heightened when they are in a darkened room or alleyway. The sufferer will not reliably be able to differentiate between friend and threat. The sufferer will either be driven to fight or flight, usually fight. There is no real way to stop someone from responding maliciously. Talking to the person will not help since that person will perceive the talker as merely the threat speaking to them. Indeed, speaking with the person will merely incite them.

Treatment

Long-term treatment is recommended via clerics and healers. Over the course of a year or two once a week they can use spells to gently caress the mind back into a peaceful state. This can be dangerous since most suffers gained their illness at the hands of magic.
Another probable solution is the ingestion of herbs and poultices to help calm the brain from its paranoid state. This is expensive however and the chief herb is Fen Szem Wort.
Finally, mastery of the mind is seen as a permanent fix. When one can control their mind, they can merely dismiss the thoughts. This can be achieved by studying with monks, preferably with the monks of the Peaks in Brin Balo.

Prognosis

If treated soon through meditation or divine spells, the shock will lessen and be more manageable. Unfortunately, if left untouched it will fester and grow stronger, making the situations that cause the illness more likely to occur.

Prevention

A good prevention is the full reckoning of the actions one takes when fighting. Fully realizing and understanding what is being done and the repercussions of it. Meditation is always a good way to prevent Blade Grief. This allows the mind break down what happened, and by reliving the events in the mind, the mind can ration them and eventually put them in their respective places in itself.

Cultural Reception

Most see Blade Grief as treatable. Many who suffer from it help others that also suffer from it. Most of the clerics and priests who dole out the magic once had it themselves and offer counseling if the suffer needs it.

Type

Mental