[Lore][Complete] The A'er Disease

[OtakuAnonymous 49]

Let's
start simple;

We all know how many cannibals are out there.

Onto the main show.

 

~Why This is Needed~

The reason I wish to implement this disease is simply to counter the recent uproar

of cannibalism, while it may not be common in everyday places like Kingston or
per say Leumalin, now that I have been around the Dark Elven community for some
time, it's become apparent there is a legion of torso chompin Dark Elves, and I
will not point a finger at them, but other races too. Surprisingly enough most
of it is in Malinor's quieter areas. The Aer disease will make a negative to
chomping down on the corpse of your dead friend after he gets shot with a
cannon and such. In the real world not many people eat others, besides a tribe
in New Guinea, but they all died, a while ago, from disease. This disease,
while I want to stay original, slowly shut down all motor control to the point
of paralysis, and actually altered the state of mind to incorporate both
feelings of depression and laughter. 

Thus, the number of people desiring to eat others for the sake of being unique will

die down, while I encourage being unique, I think we can all agree eating
bodies is not the answer, well, unless you're an Orc. Which I will touch upon
further, onto the juicy content!

 

 

 

~What A'er is~

A'er is a serious disease that has many negatives, and possibly

a few upsides if you're an optimist. Through eating dead bodies your entire
life and picking through bone, rotting and fresh, for one your teeth aren't
going to be in good shape. A'er has multiple stages, and develops over a long
span of time, inflicting a slow and sorrowful, futile death upon the
contracted. Of course with our lovely monks it will merely render you an
experience to remember. Let us get onto the stages;

 

 

 

Stage 1: Incubation

The first stage inflicts the person with dizziness, halusinations, and aches/pains,

while it is not severe the user can be led to see multiple things, and begin to
slip into a state of paranoia, questioning if their friends are really, their
friends. This stage usually begins to show after two years of technically
contracting the disease itself. This Paranoia is the main aspect of the disease
at this point, which is a very minor alteration of the mental process which may
cause the contracted to feel as if they're being watched from behind. Common
symptoms in relation would be a lot of looking over their shoulders, small
pupils, and the twitching of the eyebrows(although rare). Since the Science
around this disease is unknown, the effects of potions will have to be tested
in the future.  The next stage of the disease usually appears within half
to a full month after initial symptoms.

Stage 2: Isolation

Now the contracted will begin to see entire people that are not there, making out odd

treestumps for monstrous things, and of course more than that. The dizziness
begins to fade as the disease has completely taken the immune systems function,
and there is no longer any conflict as the disease develops. Contracted people
will begin to isolate themselves from there friends, strangers and some family,
but will probably at this point still have someone they'll go to in seek of
protection, depending on the person of course. Now the presence of something
watching will be more than that, you'll feel as if it's behind you, staring
down towards you, thus leads most people to sit in corners, so they can see
everything. This is also another symptom. The Contracted at this point is
dangerous, and may be led to attack those that impose on them, especially if
there is a weapon on them, or even near them. The two major symptoms are
Halusinations and Paranoia, but the coughing of blood has been recorded as
well. 

Stage 3: Attachment and Severance

In stage three the contracted person begins to get attached to the one they picked

out as a trusted person early in the second stage, now seeking them for
guidance, answers and assistance, they will now see fighting, just out of at
the edge of their vision, and may seek out the person they chose as protection.
Anyone else they were acquanted with have become enemies, and the contracted
may grow violent simply once they're in sight, whether in halusinations or
reality. To counter-act this violence, the contracted also begins to show signs
of joint stiffness, muscle aches and cramps, and less motor coordination.
They'll seem sluggish, and take time to react, and sometimes just stop running or
walking altogether, just staying in one spot, which have been the source of
cases where starvation has occurred. 

Final Stage: Death

The Contracted is now nearly immobile, only able to turn their head, move their

arms, and eyes, they cough blood repeatedly, have shakes, massive fever, and
attempt to lash out at anyone who nears them, they are extremely depressed,
aching for suicide, for these alone would not kill. After days of isolation,
the contracted kills themselves through means of grabbing objects near them and
bashing their own head in, or in harsh cases, strangling themselves or clawing
at their chest and tearing through. 

 

 

 

 

 

~How~

Well, if you're eating people you're already a bit off, and twisted... The disease

itself is a mental illness which always ends in the suicide of the user, but to
avoid almost certain death there is one element of the illness in which can
prevent this, which will be emphasized on after the exceptions of the disease
have been covered. 

The disease can be contracted at different rates depending on which part of the

body you eat, the quickest way the cannibal would contract the disease is
eating the brain of muscles of the body, which are the highest in the cells
which can potentially harbor the A'er disease. 

 

 

 

Orc Immunity

Orcs have never before been recorded of harboring these sicknesses, if they ever

have they have grown an immunity to it LONG ago, or have simply been able to
fight it off from the start.

 

Troll Immunity

Trolls are oddly similar to Orcs in their diets and mannerisms, thus they too have forged a resistance over years of Cannibalism, simply because they are made to do such things, and have a natural combatant for diseases such as this.

 

Kha Immunity

Similar to the above two, Kha primarily eat other beings (Elves, Humans, Dwarves, etc), thus they have also developed an immunity to the overwhelming presentation of proteins. 

 

Resistant Sub-Races/Special Beings:

-Frost Witches.

(More to come, request if you believe something should be added)

 

~Prevention~

As you've read above, there is one person whom the infected will select to be one that they can rely on, if the relied person can actually help the infected, it will drastically reduce the rate of development in the contracted. Other contracted's will also seek help of this person if they effectively witness him/her helping someone as such. There are benefits to this method if one uses it correctly, but rarely occurs.

 

 

~Epilogue~

There is absolutely no chance I covered everything, so please, fire up your questions and I'll provide answers and store them in the section below.

 

~Question Depot~

Hex37: 

Second thought, does cooking your people properly for a change prevent contraction?

Partially, while cooking the body can decrease the amount of dangerous, infectious cells, there is almost no way to completely rid the body of the disease, considering that /is/ the make-up of the body, doing so would either have to be years of work by mechanical (thus impossible) machinery, or simply destroy the body, which gets you no where. Burning the body may reduce the risks, but it is still high. While I'm at it, things like this are hard to keep in check, I'm around the block here and there, and so I'll find some people and tell them about it, but once, if this is accepted, I'll need to get some people to help.

 

is it something in the meat of everyone that just makes the cannibals who eat too much start growing sick (like a toxin/poison)?

Well, if you search up the Kuru disease up near Australia, you'll see that it isn't the animal that's the problem, it's eating something that is like you, a wolf can eat a rabbit, a human can eat a cow, but a human cannot eat a human, otherwise this disease occurs. Here is a brief summary why. Of course it is quantity, and while the brain is the healthiest part to eat, it also carries the most Prions( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion ), which are the main factor for this because of the high /protein/ concentrations, the term is derived from Infection and Protein.

 

would stop eating flesh make you not die (even if something would stay wrong)?

Not really, the idea is that you've already eaten a lot of flesh, if you don't eat a lot of flesh, say you eat the skin off of a finger and you're done for the rest of your life, you have little chance, where as you collect arms and hang them to eat each day for meals. Stopping may slow down the progression of the symptoms, but it will not entirely stop it.

 

If it's more like an illness wouldn't that mean when cooking it would disapear?

Good question, and considering a prion is actually not living, rather they reproduce by taking over already living cells, in this case, protein. Eating a large concentration of protein will start developing prions, which are factors for Mad Cow Disease, and other non-treatable diseases. Once a prion takes over a protein cell, that protein cell is another prion, so it exponentially hijacks the protein cells of the body, which is also the reason for the lack of coordination, and muscle movement towards the final symptoms. Thus, as it's not alive and is actually a large amount of protein, unless you managed somehow get rid of the protein, which is well, impossible, it's going to stick through being cooked. I love your questions, each one helps the idea get fleshed out further.

 

What about kha's? Are they not included and not subjected to it like trolls and orcs?

Added. 

 

[hex37 734]

First thought: add frost witch exception. Freezer girls need to feed.

EDIT:

Second thought, does cooking your people properly for a change prevent contraction?

Third thought, dwarves really don't need a resistance, from what I know, at least. I'd remove them, and replace it with trolls. Trolls eat people very often.

[OtakuAnonymous 49]

First thought: add frost witch exception. Freezer girls need to feed.

EDIT:

Second thought, does cooking your people properly for a change prevent contraction?

Third thought, dwarves really don't need a resistance, from what I know, at least. I'd remove them, and replace it with trolls. Trolls eat people very often.

Will do, that makes sense, still getting into the swing'o' things, just have to get home first, so it'll be updated by 3:30pm EST.

[cmack1028 548]

First thought: add frost witch exception. Freezer girls need to feed.

EDIT:

Second thought, does cooking your people properly for a change prevent contraction?

Third thought, dwarves really don't need a resistance, from what I know, at least. I'd remove them, and replace it with trolls. Trolls eat people very often.

 

Agreed. I RP my troll as a strict carnivore, but in reality eats people 90% of the time.

 

Anyway, I like it, it might add some cool RP.

[OtakuAnonymous 49]

Hex37's Question has been answered.

[Jistuma 1995]

What about kha's? Are they not included and not subjected to it like trolls and orcs? Because they are normally cannibals as well, at least of the other races.

Also, while I like the idea of this disease, I don't like how it progresses, and even the fact that there is no cure (at least now). Also, if it's a disease then cooking the meat would make it harmless, unless this was a toxin, which would mean the one who the cannibal ate was infected as well.

Not to be too scientific since this a fantasy game, but should be something like: Poisons, venons and toxins(has to be eaten/drank (for poisons/toxins), or placed through the blood (for venons/toxins), causes harm and if it doesn't kill, the person gets better. It can't be contageous), and diseases (like a cold, the plague, or things like that. Can be contageous, and would not be known that it is due to living organisms (bacteria, virus and so forth). The people can get better of course).

On the other hand... the best way I see this would be that the cannibal would have had too much of a single thing, and too much for something is bad for you. Like drinking blood, that is very very bad, gives you too much iron. On the other hand, a piece of a leg, drained of blood would be almost about the same as the leg of a Cow.

So in the end, my question is, is it something in the meat of everyone that just makes the cannibals who eat too much start growing sick (like a toxin/poison)? If yes, would stop eating flesh make you not die (even if something would stay wrong)? If it's more like an illness wouldn't that mean when cooking it would disapear?

[V0idsoldier 1139]

No thank you. Too much complication. To be honest, the people of Anthos are actually very clean. Water is abundant and there are monks and magic users that can heal illnesses. I just think this simply isn't needed, not to mention that the number of cannibals is already like under 2% of the server lol. 

[OtakuAnonymous 49]

Question Depot has been updated with Jistuma's questions.

[Tom_Whiteman 949]

No thank you. Too much complication. To be honest, the people of Anthos are actually very clean. Water is abundant and there are monks and magic users that can heal illnesses. I just think this simply isn't needed, not to mention that the number of cannibals is already like under 2% of the server lol. 

 Almost everyone has a VA for 3b >.>

[Aislin 4348]

Gronkk needs to eat flesh man

[Fid 566]

Personally, I would much rather this be a disease of the mind rather than that of the flesh. As stated in the OP, eating another sentient being is a big taboo, and you have to be a pretty reprehensible character to even consider it. If we could somehow rig this to be less of a physical, body-affecting disease and more of a mental degeneration into suicidal madness... I think it might be better.

[Lago 2569]

Accepted but not implemented. Due to its close ties to villainy the details of implementation are pending a desicion by the VAT.