Shard Sickness

Shard Sickness is a reasonably common condition which can affect anyone who's spent too much time working with shards of Sordalite. It can have devastating consequences on a person's lungs as well as causing an affected individual to believe that they can fly.

Cause

Small particles are released into the air as the crystal shards break down, when the crystals are refined and where large quantities of crystal shards are stored or moved. These small particles are then inhaled into the lungs of workers as they shovel the shards. Exposure enough to cause Shard Sickness can occur slowly over long periods of time but it can also happen quite quickly if the amount of particles in the air is very high.

Symptoms

Shard Sickness can take a long time to become evident, especially when exposed over time. When the particles are first inhaled they imbed themselves in the lungs and begin to cause irritation, this normally presents as a chesty cough and in extreme cases can cause blood to be coughed up. As the particles degrade the magical potential is released and begins to affect the patient. Starting with a decreased fear of heights and developing into a belief that they can fly this can have obvious impact on their long term health.

Treatment

In order to treat Shard Sickness, especially advanced cases, the patient must be restrained to prevent them from "flying". Daily and over the course of several weeks a Sordalite crystal is passed over the patients body, from the lungs to the mouth in order to draw out both the magical potential of the particles and move dislodged particles to be coughed out by the patient.

Type

Mental