Metamorphosis

Twin Skies      Metamorphosis

A strange condition that is currently making its way across Valyria, as well as forcing everyone to take a closer look at the facts that may not be as true as they originally thought.

HISTORY

Metamorphosis was a known phenomenon before it became a sickness, usually only associated with physical contact with Distilled Mana. It became recognized as an illness after an outbreak at the Skycharged Archipelago brought it’s true colors to light as well as to the rest of Valyria.
It first appeared during a Ring Flare that caused a huge, magically charged wildfire that lasted for days on end. This wildfire inflicted Metamorphosis on anyone it touched- with symptoms showing up after mere minutes of exposure. At first, everyone thought it was just a particularly magic-rich fire, but were swiftly proven wrong.
You see, normal exposure to something like distilled mana can cause severe burns and mutations, but only through physical touch. This appeared to be the case with the wildfire, until just being in proximity began causing people to fall ill. As far as we knew, any type of contact with the wildfire, whether it be the flames, smoke, or even just the fire's light was enough to expose someone to the illness.

SYMPTOMS

Metamorphosis has two main “stages” of symptoms depending on how much magic has entered the bloodstream.

STAGE ONE

The lighter and easier to deal with stage. This one is usually caused by slight exposure to foreign mana, with symptoms being dizziness, shortness of breath, hot and cold flashes, and a reduced ability to use magic. The magic loss was the main thing people worried about before the next stage was discovered- in a society with such a heavy emphasis on magic, what would happen to someone who couldn’t use theirs at all?
Luckily, if you stay away from strong mana sources during this stage you should be able to recover. Otherwise, the symptoms might get worse and eventually transition to stage two.

STAGE TWO

When someone reaches stage two, they may start noticing large scale-like growths or discoloration on their skin. These usually show up around the hand and forearms, but they just tend to show up wherever a person’s magic likes to hang out in their body.
Over the next few days, these scales will grow to cover the affected area. This tends to be accompanied by a lot of discomfort, though some feel numbness instead.
These symptoms eventually stop as the body adjusts to the foreign mana. Some even learn to harness it alongside their regular magic- which proves to be very advantageous in some situations.

STAGE THREE(?)

This technicaly isn't a stage, but there is a small chance that the growths may take on a more... structured approach. There are only a few cases of this, with one of the most notable being a young Draconid named Kit. She caught metamorphosis directly from the wildfire, and by the time she had recovered her "scales" had banded together on her back to form what almost appeared to be a second pair of wings.
According to her, they don't work that well. She could move them, but their range of motion was severly limited due to being made out of scale.

THE CAUSE

After days of research, we finally got an answer as to what caused this whole thing.
Apparently, something attacked the rings from the other side. We don’t know what it was, but the huge charge of magic was absorbed by the rings’ flare, then shoved back out right at the world.
This wouldn’t have been to big of a problem, but since the magic from the other side was so different it practically sent anyone who came into contact with it into a sort of magical whiplash as their body attempted to fight off this foreign magic. If it succeeded, the person would be fine, just a little shaken and worse for wear. If they didn’t, they’d progress to stages two and/or three.

IMPACT

Metamorphosis is still spreading through Valyria to this day, as well as still raising questions about where it came from. Most people never really considered that something may be behind the rings, much less something powerful enough to cause this much trouble. Now that we know something like this can happen, we need to learn more before something worse comes our way.

Type

Magical

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Rare