Magic Causing Insanity

[GraciousBassist]

I'm currently working on a story line that includes a magical area that has been cursed. Currently the group attempting to remove the curse has been informed that entering the area causes people to either go insane or die. The lore behind the area is that there is an extreme amount of magical energy emanating from the center of the region.

Most recently a new character has joined the group. What makes this character unique is that he has been in this magical area and, while he will have a lot of knowledge the group will need, he has been driven into a magical insanity. Where I'm stuck is at the point that I'm not sure what kind of personality effects a magical insanity would have on a person (or a shape-shifter in this case), and what effect it would ave on future decisions and actions.

Any input would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

 

[ThinkerX]

hallucinations. paranoia. sleeplessness.

convinced he saw a dead loved one alive, or hears voices from same. vision of deity condemning him for failure, or demanding a service - and said service could very well include killing one of the others. absolute conviction one of the others is a traitor. mistakes common object (knife, spoon, hat) for treasure of great value. convinced of the presence of a demon or monster in the area.

 

[tbgg]

I don't know how well-developed your shape-shifting lore is, but the insanity could affect the shape-shifter's ability to maintain whatever his current form is. Either the form could not fully materialize, a creature with parts from different animals or magical creatures (or even different races of people) could materialize, or maybe an evil alternate personality could periodically materialize, but in a different physical form every time. (Think Dissociative Identity Disorder, aka multiple personality disorder). When he's himself, he's great, but when he's not, he's dangerous.

So then depending on which one of those you go with, you figure out your effects. If he can't materialize, maybe he can't travel without help of some kind, but maybe he can't be killed in that form either. Can he hear things, though? If he's a critter with different parts, maybe he takes on the traits of whatever the head is. So if he has a human head and a lion's body, he can use his claws to fight like a lion as an ally. If he has a snake's head, bird wings, and a dog's body, he acts like a snake. But maybe at first the parts involved are random and the heroes never know whether he's going to act like friend or foe, but as time goes on, he learns how to focus on keeping his head human (or whatever his base race is) and is more often an ally. If he manifests an evil alternate, maybe at first the heroes think he just has some odd personality quirks before they realize what's really going. Then when they do, what do they do about it?

Good luck with your story!


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[Svrtnsse]

If he's a shape-shifter, maybe the "insanity" isn't really insanity, but rather the instincts of the character's animal aspects taking over or influencing his actions to a greater degree than they normally would?

 

[K.S. Crooks]

Some quick ideas: when the character shape-shifts they take on the personality of the new identity; when not in a disguise they randomly manifest fragments f other personalities; their mind is fragmented into different points in time causing them to mix the past, present and maybe future events; they could enter a dream state where they see visions of the future or are contacted by a higher power; the can see when creatures that exist on an alternate plane are in the same area; the closer the character gets to the area of high magic the better or worse the symptoms become.
Sounds like a fun story.

 

[FatCat]

This entirely depends on your system of magic. Try taking a look at different side effects of drugs and work from there. Without a detailed explanation of your system or a specific literate reason for character development into 'insanity', how do you expect a quality reply?

 

[ChasingSuns]

Is the shapeshifter only able to change into animal forms, or sentient beings as well? If the latter is true, the character could have a variation of multiple personality disorder where each personality is a different form that the character takes. Maybe some of them are more evil than others too, which could lead to some potential conflict with the other characters.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Is the shapeshifter only able to change into animal forms, or sentient beings as well? If the latter is true, the character could have a variation of multiple personality disorder where each personality is a different form that the character takes. Maybe some of them are more evil than others too, which could lead to some potential conflict with the other characters.

This idea sounds AMAZING.

 

[ChasingSuns]

This idea sounds AMAZING.

Thanks! Also, if it isn't revealed that the character is a shapeshifter early on, it could be that the characters meet several of the personalities through the story, and don't know that they are all the same entity. It could lead to a pretty cool reveal. Idk, just my thoughts

 

[sandtrout]

If that shapeshifter develops multiple personalities, they might became aware of each other and fight among themself to gain permanent controll of the physical body. Could make for quite some tension among his travveling companions, never knowing who is currently in controll, and who is allied of att odds with the guy they originally knew to be the shapeshifter.