What is Insanity?
Name
Insanity
Type
Genetic
Origin
Innate
Cycle
Chronic/Congenital
Rarity
Unique
Affected Species
Anthropos: SAO
Description
Insanity’s cause and conditions are wildly inaccurate and misunderstood. It is popularly believed that the disease, in a matter of days, or sometimes in just a few hours, turns an SAO into a berserk killing machine incapable of reason and restraint. The SAO is driven into such a state of madness that it is the ferocity of this madness that kills them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Still, there is one nugget of truth in all the fiction: when manifested, Insanity is terminal.
Transmission & Vectors
Insanity is neither infectious, nor contagious, nor virulent. It cannot be transmitted to humans or even SCOs (so it’s believed), despite being identical to an SAO in every biological way. Insanity supposedly manifests within the SAO, outside of any external contact, which alludes to something genetic. But this cannot be confirmed. Thus, take Type, Genetic with a grain of salt.
Causes
To Northerners, age. In reality, unknown.
Symptoms
Symptoms vary. Chills that worsen as the disease progresses, but which cease near death, are common. Inflammation of joints is possible. Necrosis of wounds. Internal bleeding. Emaciation of tissues. Vomiting of liquids. Arrhythmia. General tiredness and soreness. Languidness and sluggishness and an overall lack of will to move or exert any force. Shortness of breath. In some rare cases, it might affect vision, leading to blindness. In particular, the disease can affect the cerebrum, bringing on hallucinations, negatively impact speech, disrupt spatial awareness or even beget paralysis.
The end-result of Insanity is a complete failure of brain function: the destruction of nerve fibers in the corpus callosum together with the shutdown of synaptic transference between each individual nerve cell.
Treatment
There is no known treatment.
Prognosis
Once begun, Insanity cannot be cured or forced into remission. Whether it can be delayed from progressing into a worse state is debatable♦. Early-onset is characterized by physiological conditions that, in a seemingly methodical way, deteriorate the body of its defenses until it is rendered useless. Late-stage is characterized by severe neurological conditions that limit mobility and which are accompanied by cerebral pain (such as migraines), and sometimes emotional withdrawal.
♦The King to Red Battalion would likely argue physical and mental exercises are critical to delaying the disease. But this implies he would ever admit, either to himself or to others, of being able to contract it.
Affected Groups
SAOs
Hosts & Carriers
SAOs
Prevention
There are no known preventions that can safeguard an SAO from Insanity and its pernicious effects. It is an apparent inheritance of their existence.
Epidemiology
Insanity ostensibly manifests in each SAO at random. There are no telltale symptoms beforehand. Furthermore, its rate of progression from incipience to eventual mortality is unclear.
History
Legend has it that Mortem Ex was the first SAO to show the effects of Insanity and thereby reveal its existence at the same time. Some say he made a pact with Death and it is the rituals he performs in service to Death that have kept him among the living. A fanciful legend. In reality, no one knows who the original victim of the disease was. Moreover, nobody knows how many SAOs Insanity has taken, despite what some individuals may claim.
Cultural Reception
Throughout the course of the War, SAOs have been nothing short of anathema on the minds of humans. Despised for being associated with Sin, their presumed Creator, but also envied for their natural advantages over man, that they could be affected with a deadly disease granted them no sympathy. It was thought righteous.