Thorn Cells

Cells built to contain the murderous fits of those afflicted with thorns disease

"In his eyes, I saw fire. Just a few days ago, they seemed to be freezing slowly"

— Wife and victim of a man intoxicated with thorn child potion

Just two decades ago, on the year 3002 E.Alz, an epidemy of a deadly disease known as Blackout, characterized by insomnia, the feeling of coldness and shriveling of the body was greatly affecting the populations of the Ruh and Stunveldt islands and threatening with expanding to other islands.
Fortunately, a cure was found in the use of the leaves from a plant known as Thorn Child. The epidemy of Blackout was quickly controlled, but the thorn child medicine was found to have a terrible side effect: around 1% of the users would be intoxicated by it and afflicted by a condition known as Thorns, with symptoms quite opposite to these of Blackout: Heat, auditory hallucinations, eye strain and, in the worst cases, extreme sleepiness followed by uncontrollable rage and violence once the person woke up.

The Consequences

Uncontrolled, people afflicted by serious cases of thorns will attack anything on their path against their own will, with some cases having killed members of their own families.
After the intoxication fades out, the person goes back to normal, but many of them were extremely disturbed by the memories of the impulses they had and the things they did while intoxicated. They claimed to be completely conscious and trying to resist the impulses, but being out of the control of their bodies.
People tried to contain these afflicted by tying them to poles or cages made with wooden stakes, which prevented them from harming others, but some would get harmed by trying to set themselves free, and most would still end up traumatized by what they felt and wanted to do when seeing their loved ones approach.

Thorn Cells

Advised by the survivors themselves, the Stunveldti and Ruhk people devised a way to protect the afflicted and the people around them:
Cells, padded on the inside and dimly lit by a barred hole in the ceiling, with no other view of the exterior. The afflicted is carried as soon as they fall asleep (or blindfolded if they are already awake and enraged), and then the cell is chained from outside.
Food and water are delivered into the cell using a trapdoor that prevents the afflicted from seeing any part of the carer's body, and waste is removed in a similar manner. No one is allowed to talk to the afflicted for the duration of this "possession", usually between 5 and 8 days.
This proved to be extremely effective at preventing the afflicted from trauma, as the person is conscious enough to use the facilities inside the cell and be more or less comfortable, and preventing them from seeing or hearing any living being makes them mostly able to go through the intoxication without intrusive thoughts.

Type

Room, Medical, Recovery Room