#fictional illness

⭐️🌺

IT'S NOT HIM

YOU ARE AFFECTED

THE CITY WILL CLAIM YOU.

STAGE 1-HALLUCINATIONS

STAGE 2-FEVER AND VOMITING

STAGE 3-BLINDNESS AND TEETH IN PLACES THEY SHOULDNT BE.

STAGE 4-VISIBILITY FROM THE VOID

STAGE 5-HEAVEN IS VISIBLE

The higher levels are closed to anyone who has the sickness

If a loved one has the sickness

KILL ON SIGHT.

Monster attack from a Monster covered in gloom

Direct contact with gloom

Being exposed to areas of the Depths with large amounts of gloom

Being in The Depths for extended periods of time. (In this case, the injury takes the form of a skin infection in which the skin becomes infested with gloom and slowly takes over the body.)

Eating gloom (Will jump you straight to Stage 3)

I honestly cannot even believe that I had to write down that last one. I still remember how that Hylian looked me straight in the eyes and asked, "Can I eat it?" before shoving a handful into his mouth. Maybe Gloom affects the mind...-- I'm getting offtopic. Here are my notes."

"I do hope that my handwriting is eligible. Hopefully these notes can be off help to people."

So instead of (or, in addition to, for extra hurt) of heart demons he has to deal with coughing up flowers because of those unresolved feelings.

He'd never ever tell Yue Qingyuan why or even that he has flowers growing in his lungs.

(Bonus for extra extra pain: they version where they grow into his heart and kill him eventually.)

But I'm more interested in this as a metaphor for managing chronic illness or health issues (just like his unstable cultivation can function as a metaphor for disability) and a verse where it's not lethal and can be managed.

Is it painful and awkward? Yes, but that will not kill him.

(His dignity maybe but not himself.)

There's a lot you could do with this. I had a different ship in mind at first but it would work really well for giving him reason to interact with Mu Qingfang.

(Or not. Maybe everyone has to watch him cough bloody flowers occasionally and feel awkward about it.)

But I like the idea of hurt/comfort and romance in my ships.

Fun ways to worldbuild how people deal with Hanahaki when it's not a treatable thing for a healer but neither a confess or die situation.

These are some drawings I made .

Also.. do you know Hananaki… like that fictional sickness that a person gets when they have an unacquainted love. And then a flower that grows in their lungs and it chokes them from the inside basically… yeah…. That was where my inspiration came from.

I thought of a new fictional sickness . Called ….”Heart eyes”

yes like this motherfucker right here.

😍

So I was thinking about hanahaki and the sentinel/guide fictional settings, and I wanted to make my own fictional illness based on my favorite character archetype: cold to all but warm to one (loved ones)

So here it is: Frozen Heart Syndrome! This is kind of a mess, so read at your own risk I guess. And, add what you like to it as well! Or, a character idea that you think is cool (mine is an interstellar general leading his team and looking for a childhood friend through the vast cosmos. You'll understand, trust me.)

A few things first though - a syndrome is a collection of traits that happen together, with no known cause or treatment plan. Also, the fantasy symptoms can be included/excluded based on the worldview, but the science symptoms are always present regardless of worldview. [Science? More like pseudoscience haha.]

Okay, here's my thoughts on the Fictional Illness, Frozen Heart Syndrome (FHS)!

(Science) FHS causes the patient's emotions to dull or 'freeze,' causing the person to have extremely rational behavior and develop difficulty with creating and continuing interpersonal relationships, then developing an apathetic attitude (late-stage). Eventually, the patient develops apathy-induced suicidal thoughts, behaviors, and attempts, with frequency and strength depending on the patient's latent willpower and self-control.

(Fantasy) FHS causes the patient's body to slowly begin to freeze. The temperature of the body slowly drops, causing the air to freeze, then the surrounding liquids/solids to freeze, then finally freezing the heart, killing the patient.

Science-based symptoms include: lack of - or suppressed - empathy, increased rationality, increased ruthlessness, increased psychological resilience, increased calm/emotional numbness when faced with stress or trauma, eventual suicidal thoughts/behaviors

Fantasy-based symptoms include: lowered body temperature, blood and heart literally 'freezing' (late-stage), new and/or increased control over ice/cold-based abilities

Doctors should take care to not mistake patients with FHS for antisocial personality disorders (ASPD); FHS patients are not volatile and impulsive (unlike sociopaths) and are not manipulative nor fully lack empathy and remorse (unlike psychopaths).

FHS manifests in patients of all ages, typically forming between ages 13 to 21.

The speed at which FHS is exacerbated from initial to terminal varies patient to patient, usually between 2-20 years, with no known patterns to determine why. (Theories include soulmates, number of relationships, strength of relationships, patient intro/extra/ambiversion, etc.)

No discovered patterns for pre-detection

No treatments can fully rid the patient of FHS, but there are effective methods to suppress the symptoms:

Science:

Keeping the patient nearby family and friends suppress the symptoms and 'warm' the heart; the degree of effectiveness closely related to the strength of the bond (i.e., 'closeness,' both physical and mental)

Soulmates are extremely effective, and have been shown to suppress symptoms up to 90%. However, patients with soulmates come with extra risk:

FHS patients with soulmates often go undiagnosed due to the extreme effectiveness of the soulmate

If a patient with FHS is separated from a soulmate, FHS directly 'freezes' the patient's emotions within 24 hours of separation. Other bonds can no longer display full efficacy; only up to 50% maximum efficacy. However, this state is reversed when the patient is reunited with the soulmate.

Note: If the separation lasts long enough for the patient to have matured emotionally, at the time of reuniting the patient with the soulmate, the emotions are returned to the state they were at the time of separation. (Emotional regression is not to be confused with a regression of mental faculties; the patient is aware of their 'childishness'.) With continued exposure to the soulmate, the patient's emotions begin to synch with their current emotional 'age' (maturity) with a rate of approximately 6 months:1 day.

Example: Patient A is separated from soulmate at 14, reunited at 20. Patient A feels emotions with the amount of childishness as when they were 14, and with continued exposure takes 12 days to recover to the emotional maturity of a 20 year old. A separation of 20 years would take 40 days to recover.

If a patient with FHS loses their soulmate (i.e., soulmate dies), FHS progresses directly to the final, terminal stage (i.e., suicidal thoughts/actions), regardless of other bonds.

Fantasy:

Cold is the opposite of warm, and scientifically coldness is the lack of warmth. The progression of FHS is like digging a hole that can hold warmth. Therefore, FHS patients should wear warm clothing and cover as much skin as possible (to retain body heat), and can sit next to a powerful heat source (e.g., a fireplace, a hot water bath, a boiler room) to 'fill the bowl,' suppress symptoms, and slow the progression of FHS.

under the cut: fictional illness, parasite. lore. blood and bruising version of the drawing above.