Astral amnesia
The last memory of walking through the stars.
Astral amnesia, sometimes referred to as the skyfallen's affliction or exile's last glimpse, is an inflicted and night-total deficit in memory. It is reserved as the highest form of punishment in the city of @s
Transmission & Vectors
Astral amnesia can only be inflicted by the Veilbearer as Starpath's highest form of punishment. It requires the power of the Pendant of All Twilight and the effects of shadowdream tea to manifest in an individual, both of which draw form the might of gods of eld to erase a person's memories and identity.
There is no risk of affliction if one follows the Veilbearer's edicts and decrees. Should someone exist outside of Starpath, they would be in no risk to contract it at all. Few outsiders have found the city and none of them have been exiled.
There is no risk of affliction if one follows the Veilbearer's edicts and decrees. Should someone exist outside of Starpath, they would be in no risk to contract it at all. Few outsiders have found the city and none of them have been exiled.
Causes
For astral amnesia to take effect, two conditions must be met.
First, the condemned must drink (or be forced to drink) shadowdream tea. The contents of this beverage is wholly unknown to everyone but the current Veilbearer and their Master Alchemist, but it is said that it allows otherworldly forces to take hold of an individual's soul from beyond this plane of existence, opening a gate of sorts that allows their memories to be eliminated quickly.
Afterwards, the Veilbearer draws upon the power of the Pendant to perform a long-forgotten sorcery, wherein the exile's memories and personality are removed except for an overwhelming sense of guilt that cannot be placed. This is mainly done as a means to protect Starpath and its location, yet also serves as a highly symbolic form of punishment, leaving the condemned with no means of defending themselves and carrying their guilt with them. Their sin persists, regardless of whether they remember it or not.
First, the condemned must drink (or be forced to drink) shadowdream tea. The contents of this beverage is wholly unknown to everyone but the current Veilbearer and their Master Alchemist, but it is said that it allows otherworldly forces to take hold of an individual's soul from beyond this plane of existence, opening a gate of sorts that allows their memories to be eliminated quickly.
Afterwards, the Veilbearer draws upon the power of the Pendant to perform a long-forgotten sorcery, wherein the exile's memories and personality are removed except for an overwhelming sense of guilt that cannot be placed. This is mainly done as a means to protect Starpath and its location, yet also serves as a highly symbolic form of punishment, leaving the condemned with no means of defending themselves and carrying their guilt with them. Their sin persists, regardless of whether they remember it or not.
Symptoms
The first manifest symptom is a loss of consciousness. Without fail, the afflicted will faint, allowing the final process of the exile to be much easier on the Veilbearer.
Once they are out of the city, behavior becomes unpredictable. While erratic patterns of movement and slurring are commonplace, they are not as consistently observed as the loss of consciousness is. Flashes of their past lives are said to appear in an out of focus as they try to make sense of where they are, if they still possess the know-how necessary to orient themselves and recognize landmarks and natural terrain, should these be available where the exile is left.
While it is possible for all knowledge to be erased, the opposite, to an extent, can also hold true. The Cohorts have reported a handful of cases wherein the afflicted individuals retain scraps of their past lives, including their names, bits of their personalities and even things like what their dwellings looked like or their neighbor's names. These extremely rare instances will lead to conflicting information being presented to the individual, oftentimes resulting in some form of madness while attempting to make sense of it all.
Once they are out of the city, behavior becomes unpredictable. While erratic patterns of movement and slurring are commonplace, they are not as consistently observed as the loss of consciousness is. Flashes of their past lives are said to appear in an out of focus as they try to make sense of where they are, if they still possess the know-how necessary to orient themselves and recognize landmarks and natural terrain, should these be available where the exile is left.
While it is possible for all knowledge to be erased, the opposite, to an extent, can also hold true. The Cohorts have reported a handful of cases wherein the afflicted individuals retain scraps of their past lives, including their names, bits of their personalities and even things like what their dwellings looked like or their neighbor's names. These extremely rare instances will lead to conflicting information being presented to the individual, oftentimes resulting in some form of madness while attempting to make sense of it all.
Treatment
There is no treatment for astral amnesia. It is a sentence that needs be carried out until the exile's last breath.
Certain rumors state that the condition can be reversed by the Veilbearer, the powers she serves or even greater deities. The ones responsible for spreading these whispers throughout the city have never been heard from again.
Certain rumors state that the condition can be reversed by the Veilbearer, the powers she serves or even greater deities. The ones responsible for spreading these whispers throughout the city have never been heard from again.
Prognosis
Because astral amnesia is a persistent illness, it does not evolve into worsening states of mind or declining memory-forming capabilities. Should this be the case, it is unrelated to the punishment inflicted by the Veilbearer and instead has to do with pre-existing conditions.
Sequela
The condition undoes the comforts of living in Starpath and thrusts the condemned into total uncertainty. Cognitive capabilities may be hindered if the afflicted find themselves retaining more information than they should, physical harm may come to those who cannot react the environment which will serve as their abode from the day of their exile onwards. Be this as it may, it has been observed that most of the people afflicted by this condition can resume some semblance of normalcy in their lives by starting anew, though the guilt they carry about them will never fully disappear, leading to possible complications further into their existence.
A heavily censured document within the Argent Keep's halls speaks of one particular case where the guilt an individual carried manifested physically in some way. What this manifestation may have been is unknown. The magnitude of this incident can only be imagined.
A heavily censured document within the Argent Keep's halls speaks of one particular case where the guilt an individual carried manifested physically in some way. What this manifestation may have been is unknown. The magnitude of this incident can only be imagined.
Affected Groups
The citizens of Starpath are the only ones vulnerable to this disease, regardless of who they are or how they live. So long as they live a pious, ordered life, however, none need fear the darkened skies.
Prevention
Adhering to Starpath's virtues of zeal, justice, balance, order and perseverance, maintaining the rule of law, adhering to the religious tenements and never blaspheming, committing acts of treason or heresy are ways to avoid being condemned to live life with astral amnesia.
History
Astral amnesia has been a part of Starpath's Codices Legum Magnо̄rum (lit. The Codices of Greater Laws) since the city's inception. Caliwënemel the Heavensbound, the first Veilbearer and the one responsible for the settlement's existence, decreed that there should exist a fitting punishment for those who would upend the order and stability offered within the city's confines. With the Jewel of Dawning Night at her disposal, the Lemaino Indómë Lissëo (lit. the Will of the Five Graceful Gods) guiding her hand and the secrets of shadowdream kept within a locked grimoire, the city was raised to the heavens bearing the standard of divine order. None sought to oppose or slight the rule of law and the rule of spirit for the first fifty-one years of Strapath's existence. Nearing the end of her long life, Caliwënemel would condemn the first high heretic, a man by the name Sidoryx Urdo, thus inflicting the first case of astral amnesia in the history of the world. After completing the process, it is often said that the Veiled Planesmistress claimed the following:
Over the course of the city's existence, there have been groups of people determined to undermine the Veilbearer's power through different ways of intrigue, sabotage and protest, with most of these groups claiming the threat of astral amnesia as their chief reason to oppose the Selenine's and the Veilbearer's influence. Without exception, these would-be rebellions were stopped before manifesting into movements that would threaten the city's socio-political foundations. The leaders of these attempted insurrections were all condemned to wander the earth below afflicted by the illness they sought to end.
Three of these rebellions happened under the rule of Valassëtar the Expeditious, leading to the seventy-nine inflictions of astral amnesia during his twenty-three year tenure. He also holds the record for most amount of individuals exiled at the same time with an amount of ten heretics. It was this event which broke most rebel's spirits of opposition, leading to some circles assigning Valassëtar the moniker of Exarch of Exiles.
Most recently, Undómenel the Insightful applied astral amnesia to the sisters Kiriel and Ebelle Irdome for crimes against the powers that be. However, most citizens agree (under their breaths and far from the prying ears of the Selenine) that the trial seemed rushed and even unjust. Moreover, the Veilbearer's characteristic composure was said to be completely lost, threatening the sisters and even the members of the guard there present with greivous bodily harm and solutions more permanent than death itself. These and other irregularities, such as Undómenel's screaming and the hasty nature of the sentence's execution, have led some to believe that the Irdome sisters unearthed something that truly defied the very nature of Starpath's continued existence, leading many to question if the Veilbearer's judgement was too harsh or if this is a sign of something that the people need to know, but are not being allowed to.
The first stirs of renewed rebellious vigor have been felt by the members of the Selenine and the Planesmistress Reborn herself. Though the fear of complete oblivion holds many voices back, the clouded future makes them spring forth.
Thus does the lustre of the unblemished fade. Though we may walk 'twixt star and sunset, the ways of the land far below plague us yet. This is my failure. Deathly afeared I am that this will become part of my legacy: a trail of bodies stripped of the memories the sweat on their brow entitled them to.Caliwënemel would go on to perform four more exiles before handing the Veil of the Wanderer to her successor, Taimavar the Knowledgeable. Since then, there has not been a single Veilbearer that has ruled without performing at least one exile. The fear of astral amnesia has often been cited as one of the reasons as to why Starpath's stability has proven to be so enduring.
Over the course of the city's existence, there have been groups of people determined to undermine the Veilbearer's power through different ways of intrigue, sabotage and protest, with most of these groups claiming the threat of astral amnesia as their chief reason to oppose the Selenine's and the Veilbearer's influence. Without exception, these would-be rebellions were stopped before manifesting into movements that would threaten the city's socio-political foundations. The leaders of these attempted insurrections were all condemned to wander the earth below afflicted by the illness they sought to end.
Three of these rebellions happened under the rule of Valassëtar the Expeditious, leading to the seventy-nine inflictions of astral amnesia during his twenty-three year tenure. He also holds the record for most amount of individuals exiled at the same time with an amount of ten heretics. It was this event which broke most rebel's spirits of opposition, leading to some circles assigning Valassëtar the moniker of Exarch of Exiles.
Most recently, Undómenel the Insightful applied astral amnesia to the sisters Kiriel and Ebelle Irdome for crimes against the powers that be. However, most citizens agree (under their breaths and far from the prying ears of the Selenine) that the trial seemed rushed and even unjust. Moreover, the Veilbearer's characteristic composure was said to be completely lost, threatening the sisters and even the members of the guard there present with greivous bodily harm and solutions more permanent than death itself. These and other irregularities, such as Undómenel's screaming and the hasty nature of the sentence's execution, have led some to believe that the Irdome sisters unearthed something that truly defied the very nature of Starpath's continued existence, leading many to question if the Veilbearer's judgement was too harsh or if this is a sign of something that the people need to know, but are not being allowed to.
The first stirs of renewed rebellious vigor have been felt by the members of the Selenine and the Planesmistress Reborn herself. Though the fear of complete oblivion holds many voices back, the clouded future makes them spring forth.
Cultural Reception
The citizens of Starpath are forbidden to talk about individuals afflicted by astral amnesia. Anyone that talks about the condemned in any manner are tried for heresy. To the everyday people of the settlement, the exiles never existed. Their names are remembered by the Veilbearer, documents such as the present article and in the wall of enforced oblivion, a smooth surface within the Veilbearer's private sanctum.
Type
Magical
Origin
Divine
Cycle
Chronic, Acquired
Rarity
Extremely Rare
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