Ætereal dissolution

WARNING!!
The following article contains short but vivid descriptions of disturbing topics like: mental and physical disorders, physical, mental and emotional wounds and similar.
You have been warned.

A condition inflicted through prolonged interaction with untamed Æter. It can be seen as a special case of Concept assimilation with a particular concept being replaced by a wildcard.

By folk it is called either "the maddening mist" or "the maddening haze", often abreviated to "the mad mist" or "the mad haze", respectively. The name combines the effect of the interacting with the source of the illness along with its most often encountered shape -- it resembles streaks of mist or haze around the person. While it is the most widely observed variety, it can take many forms, depending on the exact source of the Æter. Sometimes it takes a shape of the air around hot objects on summer days but with additional traces of sensations (light, sound, odor) and emotions.

There are two processes which take place simultaneously:

the affinity to Æter, which stabilizes the source of Æter and renews it, when it gets depleted

the nature of the first connections formed with the encountered Æter, which determines the variation of the illness (physical, mental or physicomental)

In general people will not show high affinity to Æter, unless being in a mixed state of depression, panic and mental exhaustion. A common signs of it are racing thoughts and fragile focus. On rare occassions one will exhibit high affinity to Æter without the negative consequences, however such individuals almost always show some form Oversight.

Variations

How the Ætereal dissolution afflicts the person is very strongly dependent on the way they got infected in the first place and what their affinity to Æter is. The most dangerous are those variations that affect the mind, and within those, the most tricky to handle are situations where the affinity to Æter formed connections to rare emotional states of the afected person. In such cases it may be difficult to get a good grasp of the situation and the connections may be well hidden from outside observers, making treatment difficult or, in severe cases, even impossible.

Physical

The affinity to Æter connects to physical attributes of the person. This happens typically with food when at least part of the food source is connected to the Æter, e.g., carrot roots or cabbage leaves. The important part is the material property being connected to the wildcard property of Æter. It is the most visible version of the condition in its initial phase. However, since the connection is formed through the material property of the object, it may be dangerous in cases like digestion. Then, the material object is broken down into fragments becoming part of the body of the affected. The connections to Æter are not stable over time and unless the trigger is removed, it will form new connections, likely to some random concepts from the Ædean realm. This is highly unpredictable and can cause changes ranging from harmless to life-threatening.

Mental

This happens when an immaterial property gets connected to the Æter. This can be anything from smell, flavour, colour, i.e., perceptions to abstract concepts, e.g., similarities, cultural associations, etc. Mental connections require a higher degree of Oversight to be spotted and are therefore more difficult to handle, when people get afflicted with them. This variety is difficult to handle, because one will show symptoms only when a particular immaterial concept is evoked, e.g., if it was a particular colour, then on every perception and/or thought of that particular colour one will connect to Æter and show symptoms of Ætereal dissolution. It may be easy to spot the connection when it is connected to a particular perception, e.g., sweet flavour normally causing the feeling of sweetness but in this case causing a connection to Æter. It will be difficult to see if the connection is made to ones thought or a feeling as these are normally impossible to compare.

Physicomental

Finally, a person can be affected by a connection to Æter, which sprouts from a combination of both physical and mental triggers. This type of condition is the most difficult to spot and treat, since typically the combination of mixed states is a much rarer event.