Mana Overexposure Disorder
Mana Overexposure Disorder, often shortened to MOD is a sickness that occurs when an ordinary human has been exposed to high amounts of Mana in a short period of time, without proper training on how to use the mana. While it was an uncommon occurance for the longest time; even with the occurance of The Bloom, the disorder would occur more and more frequently in humans in the twenty years leading up to, and after, The Withering.
Causes
When a human is exposed to high quantities of Mana, they will begin to manifest the disorder. While the amount of Mana a human can take differs from one individual to the next, the result is usually the same: There will be so much Mana within the human's body that they'll likely begin expelling it from their body from various orifaces; and their physical appearance will begin to differ.
Generally, humans will experience an overdose of Mana in one of four ways:
- Wandering across areas that have been flooded with an immense amount of Mana as a result of The Withering, such as the American Wasteland or the Bermuda Triangle
- Inexperienced magicians failing to properly protect themselves from overexposure to Mana, or their bodies were not properly ready for the large amount of Mana they experience.
- Inexperienced magician failing to properly cast a spell.
- Forced injection of Mana.
Symptoms
Symptoms immediately manifest in the affected person, beginning with them vomiting up Mana. Spots on their skin; generally around their eyes, on their cheeks, or on their fingers begin to exhibit the light blue glow of Mana. While their bodies may exhibit enhanced ability, the other symptoms that result from MOD generally effect it negatively. These other symptoms, ranging from useful and harmless to dangerous and harmful, include:
- Enhanced strength
- Thickening of skin and bone
- Enhanced sight
- Extreme growth of hair all over the body
- Expulsion of Mana via stool, urine, saliva and sweat
- Increased skin sensitivity
- Loss of sensation in appendages
- Damage to internal organs, specifically the liver, brain, and ears
- Auditory and Visual hallucinations
- While uncommon, some have experienced the development of mental illnesses such as ASPD, Psychopathy, or DMID.
Treatment
The most surefire way to treat MOD is to remove the mana from the affected body, usually by seeing a specialist who can remove it safely with various magical spells, induce diarrhea, or induce vomiting.
Prognosis
Generally, if left untreated, after around a month of their bodies being filled with an immense amount of Mana, those who experience MOD will have one of three possible results happen to them:
- Death ~ The body will begin to shut down, starting with the nervous system going haywire and the body's defensive wall against diseases failing, finally ending with the brain shutting down.
- Transformation ~ The body will undergo a metamorphisis, transforming into an entirely different being. What they turn into varies from person to person, based on their personality; where they are; and how much mana is remaining in their body.
- Reborn ~ While uncommon, humans who experience MOD manage to survive, their bodies adapting to the Mana within their body. There have been reports that those who survive MOD tend to have had a decent amount of tolerance for Mana before their overexposure to it.
Oh wow, those are a whole bunch of terrifying symptoms. The sprouting hair did make me laugh a little in shock, though. I'm glad that there's a way to cure it, because it seems like a good outcome otherwise is quite rare. Great article!