Arcane Delirium

Magic permeates the Feywild. You could say it's as much a living thing as all its other inhabitants. It's in the air, it's the blood in people's veins, the sap and nectar in every plant, tree, and flower, the light in every will-o'-wisp, it's the stars, the sun, the moon. The Fey would not be who they are without Magic, and so they venerate it, respect it. But the Feywild is also known for its extremes. And nothing is more capable of that than Magic itself. There's a mental illness called Arcane Delirium. Like some other mental illnesses, some people are more prone to it, without a known cause. In some situations one can trace what lead to someone being afflicted by Arcane Delirium - wild magic experiments, abuse of magical powers, someone inexperienced attempting magical spells and everything going terribly wrong. And even then, someone else might take the same path, or a similar one, and never be touched by the Delirium. But amidst all these differences and nuances, the symptoms are more or less the same: an intense, perhaps even toxic and harmful connection to magic. Everyone with this illness speaks of the same feeling: how they can feel magic, see it, smell it, and hear it. Touch it, even. Many people believe those with Arcane Delirium hallucinate with all their senses, but the people with this illness insist that they're not hallucinations, that would mean they aren't real. The bright colors, the arches painted in the air, humming melodies from calm to chaotic are real, they're manifestations of pure, unbridled magic. Some cannot deal with these symptoms and will be driven to madness. They will not be able to focus on anything besides them, because although these magical sensations are very sharp and clear and even overwhelming, the rest of the world looks as if it's behind a cloud of fog, a misted window. In an attempt to deal with everything all at once, they'll lose control of their mind, even their own magic. Others will resort to extreme isolation so they're not exposed to any more magic than they can deal with. Still some are able to somewhat deal with it and continue a semblance of their life, although they're never quite the same person, and it's hard to fake that you're not seeing, hearing, and feeling things so differently all around you. Others embrace it, try and take advantage of it, of this connection to Magic, so they can try and help others, or become better magic-users themselves. There's no exact cure for it. Some herbs and medicine help abate the symptoms, although never fully. Healing spells help... for a while, but if the Delirium has set in someone's mind, it will always have a home there, even if it goes away for a while. Time might help as well, but something will always be there, a special brightness when someone casts a spell, a constant hum, a melody, the song of the spheres always singing at the back of someone's mind. People with Arcane Delirium are often seen with a mixture of respect and fear. No one is sure if they can use this mental illness to their advantage, to have better control over magic, in exchange for the loss of control of their thoughts, their perception of the world. Some say that if they embrace it, that they have indeed managed to become more powerful, although the cost is very high. Others say it's an illness, nothing more, nothing else. And besides, it's not like you can become ill on purpose - at least no easily - just by wishing it true. It is an illness like many others, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Some factors contribute to it, but magic is so chaotic, that there's no telling who might be affected. Some have fought hard and sacrificed a lot to purposefully cause this illness, to make their brains mad with magic - and they've paid dearly for it, sometimes with their life. Arcane Delirium might be an illness like many others, but it's an illness of the Feywild, and things have a life of their own out there.