Mother's Mercy

When the mind no longer understands reality from fantasy

Do not be fooled by its name. It's not a blessing of mercy. It's rather what you cry out when you can't take it anymore. A cruel joke I'll say, to name such an affliction...

— Mending Assistant

Transmission & Vectors

Compounds extracted from the Periferah flower can be transmitted through water and food. It cannot be spread between entities' bodily fluids since these compounds become fully assimilated into the host's neurological network.

Causes

Neural reactions with Periferah flower compounds cause new networks to attach and grow to the host's existing network in a manner of cycles. These foreign networks disrupts the brain's natural pattern, emitting their own signals and wreaking havoc on the mind's cognitive abilities.

Symptoms

Medical observations note that those afflicted suffer from various hallucinations. Some are interpreted as memories that are not their own, or possible visions from Motherbjorn. There are no common connections or themes between one entity's experience and the next. Intense dreams also give a heightened state of restlessness.

Treatment

There is still ongoing medical research to determine how to completely eliminate the affects of Mother's Mercy. The most successful treatment is rigorous defragmentation every super cycle to keep symptoms at bay. This is only a temporary treatment since the foreign neural networks grow back, continuously disrupting the natural order of the brain.

Cultural Reception

It depends on who you ask! The general consensus is that those who suffer from the condition are assumed to have risked taking Perfierah on their own accord for devious or naive reasons.

Shameful to think they could be an Oracle themselves and not conforming to the System! They think they can understand these visions and totally sidestepping how everything works!

Can't they see what taking these drugs can do? If this is the outcome, that shows Mother would have not wanted us to do such a thing. Simply blasphemous...

Poor souls...to think they can escape into a fantasy without repercussions. Partaking in this practice does not make them closer to Her.

It doesn't help their case when a few embrace the disease, spouting their own prophecies aggressively in public. Those that end up causing social uproar become quarantined by security officials, and are forced to undergo treatment.

An Extremist's View

Trans-Bjornism extremists do not see this condition as a disease, but as an evolutionary step to be closer to their deity and her mission for a harmonious System. Their influence can take a dangerous course. Attempts have been made in the past to mass distribute large amounts of Periferah compounds into major water systems in order to spread what they call a "gift". This is one reason why the Ministry cracks down on illegal drug manufacturing operations of the flower and why it's a highly protected resource.

by Alex Iby

Type

Mental

Origin

Natural

Rarity

Rare

Related Sources