Rift Echo Syndrome
“She hears herself screaming a minute before it happens. We cannot save her. We can only listen.”
Rift Echo Syndrome (RES) is a rare and disturbing condition emerging in the modern arcane era, unknown to the ancients, and first documented following direct human exposure to long-term rift harmonics. The syndrome affects perception, cognition, and—eventually—chronological self-awareness. Victims begin to “hear” or “see” moments from their own future before they occur, often starting with harmless phenomena like echoes or visions of sentences they later speak.
Over time, this dissonance worsens into full dissociative fracturing, wherein the subject experiences overlapping timelines of their own life simultaneously, leading to identity loss, temporal fugue, or rift-induced transformation.
Transmission & Vectors
RES is non-infectious but acquired through prolonged exposure to overlapping rift fields or unstable magical environments. Arcanii reports suggest it becomes clinically detectable after 20–40 hours in an unshielded anomaly zone. No interpersonal transmission has been recorded, though emotional contagion (panic, trance imitation) may occur.
Causes
The condition originates from aetheric interference with the brain’s hippocampus and codex resonance centers. The interference causes pre-echoes—sensory hallucinations of the subject’s own near-future states. Eventually, the pre-echoes corrupt personal chronology, triggering multi-stream identity layering.
Symptoms
- Early: Hearing one's own voice before speaking; déjà vu seizures; flickers of reversed perception
- Mid: Nonlinear memory loss; dream bleeding; involuntary trance episodes
- Late: Timeline overlaps, aphasia, temporal self-doubling (seeing oneself doing current action moments before), full cognitive collapse
- Extreme: Spontaneous Rift expression or dissolution into Echoform (rare)
Treatment
- Aegisblood Circuit (partial suppression)
- Mirror Chamber Stabilization
- Mnemonic Sigils applied nightly
- Arcanii-developed Resonance Dampening Helm (expensive and unstable)
- Palliative only in late stages
Prognosis
Condition is degenerative. If untreated, ~82% of sufferers enter irreversible echo-fugue within 6 months. Stabilization possible in early-stage cases. Rare “survivors” retain powers of premonition but suffer permanent identity fragmentation.
Sequela
- Echoform mutation (partial Rift tethering)
- Cognitive dissonance syndrome
- Memory collapse or looped behaviors
- Rift resonance addiction (self-harm behavior to “stay ahead of self”)
Affected Groups
- Riftwatchers
- Codex custodians in deep archives
- Mageblood adolescents with poor aetheric shielding
- Certain religious hermits seeking “pre-ascension communion”
Hosts & Carriers
None confirmed, though Rift crystal clusters show sympathetic resonance when in proximity to advanced RES sufferers.
Prevention
- Use of resonance-dampening gear when near active Rifts
- Codex-based exposure limit laws (Basilica Mandate 497.6b)
- Mandatory 3-day cooldown after Riftfield missions
- Wearing anti-echo amulets bound to Codex crystals
Epidemiology
Initial outbreaks observed in Riftwatch teams deployed to the Tharaxis Bloom between 486–495 AR. Codex records estimate ~230 confirmed cases across Riftwatch personnel and one confirmed case in a civilian scribe exposed to an unscreened Codex Vault. No outbreaks in Old World records; considered a post-Rift Cycle phenomenon.
History
First formal documentation: 491 AR by Magister Omber Callix in “Echoes in the Vein” study.
Notable Cases:
- Caelia Varistus (possible Stage I before disappearance)
- Brother Hethrus of the Rift Choir (self-immolated after claiming “the song had sung him already”)
- Serena Trask (documented echo-conversation loop for 72 hours)
Cultural Reception
Victims are viewed with fear and superstition in rural communities, revered as “Whispered Ones” by certain Rift cults. Basilica doctrine treats RES as a medical condition, but some Arcanii dissenters call it “pre-sapient evolution.” Riftborn populations are especially stigmatized.
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