Splintered

An individual is considered Splintered if their psyche has been sequestered into separate pieces, typically by a magical practitioner. Any techniques that result in this condition are considered taboo in the magical community, and are outright illegal in many civilized cultures, including the Pact Worlds.

Causes

Splintering starts when the victim's psyche is split into more than one piece, and conditioned such that neither piece can interact with the other. Typically, the main psyche is what the victim has regular access to, while the separated piece (which is significantly smaller) fades from their memory. In ancient times, long before the Gap, Splintering was a common technique for wiping people's memories, although it quickly fell out of practice once the side effects became apparent.

Symptoms

Splintered individuals usually have problems recalling events and individuals related to their separated psyche. If the victim has been Splintered more than once, these symptoms are compounded, and lead to side effects including madness, hallucinations, and illusions of grandeur. Such individuals are often unusually susceptible to psychological stress, and experience long-lasting trauma more frequently than most.

Treatment

Given that Splintering is illegal in most parts of the galaxy, very few doctors are more than vaguely familiar with the condition, and even fewer know how to treat it. Even the foremost scholars on the topic are pessimistic about their patient's outcomes, and suggest treatment that mitigates the symptoms rather than attempting an outright cure. Scientific research into the latter usually ends swiftly, either due to concerns from the local ethics board, or the death of the patient.

Prognosis

Unfortunately for victims of Splintering, the symptoms of the condition never settle into a comfortable maximum. While individuals with light Splintering might live out their lifespan in relative discomfort, the condition worsens as they age, and many are committed to mental institutions in the years before their death. Others -- especially those who have been Splintered two or three times -- are subject to rapid mental decline, and rarely live more than a few decades after the inciting event. If anyone has been Splintered more than three times, the victim was never studied by a reputable research institution, and are assumed to have died not long after being Splintered.

Type

Mental

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Extremely Rare