Collector Possession

Causes

The Collectors do just that, they collect. The ultimate in acquiring things of unique interest or special value. Sometimes only to them. What started out as a cultural quirk turned into an extreme obsession.
Collectors don't just collect things, but people and creatures.
One of the more permanent and personally damning ways they do this posesssing or taking over the body of something or someone they think is unique or interesting. It's apart of their obsessive and narcissistic need to show off to one another.

Symptoms

The victim of a collection doesn't often know until it is too late. It's a sort of invasive possession. A person becomes physically paralyzed while a Collector attempts to squeeze into the same body. Essentially hijacking who and what that person was.
The struggle from then on is internal. A mental battle of wills between the physically paralyzed host and the Collector.
Once the Collector has won, they have access to all of their host's knowledge and memories.

Treatment

Until very recently, there wasn't one. A Collector remained in their new host until the host died or they were done with them.
The dreamwalkers of Reverie, however, have created a way to wake up an individual who has been taken by the Collectors and cast the Collector out. They've deemed this process the Awakening.

Prognosis

The Awakening has only been created, and tested, successfully on three patients. Given how difficult it is to both identify and catch a Collector, there hasn't been a chance to test or treat more.

Sequela

Depending on how long a Collector has owned, or lived inside, a person, it can be difficult to bring that person back. They become a prisoner in their own body. Just a voice in their own mind. For longer lived races, this sense of self and personality fades and dulls over time. So even if the Collector would be cast out, it would seem they are leaving an empty husk behind.
Shorter lived races seem hardier and retain their sense of self up until they die.

Prevention

There is no widely known or even recorded method of preventing a Collector from possessing someone. The dreamwalkers are working on a way to prevent, and guard, someone's mind.
If someone suspects they might be the target, there are magical steps they can take to ward themselves but it can become an exhaustive process as it must be maintained all the time. It only takes a moment for a Collector to establish contact with a host and begin the possession process.

Cultural Reception

Only the people of Reverie are well informed about the Collectors. For much of Yandelar, and Vyril at large, they are myths and legends. Body-snatchers, mistaken for demon or some other extraplanar creature. Because their possession so thoroughly consumed the host and allows them access to the knowledge and memories, it is incredibly difficult to tell when someone has acted out of character when they've decided to just up and leave everything they know, or if they've been possessed.

Type

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Unique

Affected

Specifically targets the Collectors and any they might have possessed.

Cure Origin

Reverie

Collectors

They are an incredibly small group of people - of any race - that have walled themselves up in a city aptly named Hoard. It is incredibly difficult to get to. It's magically hidden deep in one of the larger mountains.
These people have forsaken their own bodies, through a ritualistic process, so that they might pray upon the peoples of Vyril and collect them. They're incredibly secretive about who they are outside of Hoard, frequently blending in and living the life they want through their hosts. Witch hunts have been conducted throughout Vyril's history, some sparked by a Collector's possession of someone culturally important to an area.