Sundance Syndrome

Sundance syndrome is a mental condition where a vampire experiences the overwhelming urge to overindulge in sunlight. Overexposure to sunlight causes rashes and blisters, worsening to the point of fatality.

The condition is caused by consuming excessive amounts of sunlight sturgeon meat. These freshwater fish are common around the Sunspot Isles on Auvarha.

Vampires

Sunlight Sturgeon by Mochi

Vampires are one of many people native to Auvarha, a planet in the Cheem System. They are well known for their pale complexions and aversion to sunlight. They have an unusual diet, requiring the blood of another creature to survive. Historically and culturally they are known to feast on people, but this is extremely unusual and most vampires acquire blood from non-sophontic animals.

Vampires can live centuries, making them excellent historians. Many vampires are property owners, controlling apartment complexes in larger cities, and massive rural mansions, cottages, with acres of forest and garden. Most vampires keep to themselves or to other vampires; since they live more than three times as long as the average auvarhan, most relationships they have with other species ends in loss and heartbreak.

Symptoms & Treatment

See that guy dancing over there? I think he's lost it. I heard he ate a whole fish and just... started dancing in the middle of the day.
— Two vampires observing an afflicted individual

There are hundreds of reports a year of vampires frolicking in the sunlight.

Affected individuals experience intense euphoria and a desire to dance in the sunshine, unaware of the pain being inflicted.

The only way to prevent sundance syndrome is to moderate how much sunlight sturgeon is consumed. While it depends on the individual vampire and the fish, around three hundred grams of meat is enough to alter brain function, causing this delirium.

The only way to reverse the effects is to forcibly place the vampire in a dark environment, far away from sunlight. Eventually brain patterns will regulate and the vampire will return to normal. Sunlight only enhances this feeling, so the sooner a vampire is removed from sunlight, the better.

Type

Mental

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Rare