[WaifuApple]

Applicable BYOND Key - Maritime Strategist Apple
Character Name - Ciara Rochelle
Request Type - Character Ability / Illness

Request Details - A unique form of affliction, based off a combination of several things that have formed part of Ciara's IC and mechanical style thus far, with the base of this affliction being the cursed blood trait mechanically.

The affliction is incredibly infectious, and comes from contact with Ciara's blood in any form, similar to cursed blood normally. It shares some traits with cursed blood in that it makes the afflicted more vulnerable, and is incredibly short-lived. Where it deviates, however - or, rather, goes further - is other properties it has unique to it.

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The first unique property is in the lingering potential - though claret call as a mechanic inflicts it, it would be considered a:

- Minor form of the affliction - these would be unchanged from what is expected of cursed blood, to ensure that simply being attacked by Ciara does not become an extreme hazard.

- Major exposure to Ciara's actual blood being spilled, however, through open wounds would lead to a more prolonged malady, forcing others to take special care when handling her in this state (consider this most relevant for future medical RP, or messy, serious fights that issue serious wounds), lest they become sick and in need of treatment themselves. Exceptions to this are ghost skills that imply blood loss - there should be no purely mechanical way to 'game' major exposure to the malady. Ciara must be wounded openly and ICly, or her blood extracted from her by someone else.

- Severe inflictions come as a result of prolonged exposure to her blood or grave (see, near fatal or fatal) wounds, and these inflictions require express player approval, due to the nature and consequences of such. In situations where severe inflictions are appropriate but not wished for by the player, major exposure will be the interpretation instead

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The second unique property is an entirely new symptom of the infliction, and this comes in the form of an adversity to darkness. As darkness is in most cases just the absence of light, aside from possibly magical forms, this can alternately be interpreted as the body becoming more demanding of light - almost like an accelerated vitamin D deficiency, for real world equivalent.

- Weaker inflictions of the malady will cause this only to become a problem if the inflicted is subject to harsh sources of darkness, through offensive dark magic or other means that pertain to said darkness. The threshold for what counts here should be set so high that no player without approval for some advanced dark magical ability can tap into it - not even Ciara. This tier is essentially flavour, entirely, to flesh out the illness as something consistent in how it works.

- Major affliction, however, can make nights irritating, serving as an almost... opposite form of the irritation an Umbral would feel in light. This does not go beyond irritation, however, so a character will feel uncomfortable but not overly weighed down by the sickness.

- Severe affliction would lead to the player needing to be protected with light at all times, due to the great pain and discomfort of the darkness becoming much more debilitating. I consider this more of an optional opportunity for interesting RP for anyone who wishes it, and that's the kind of angle I want to take with that. Even at this tier, it is not a fatal illness.

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The third unique property of the affliction is a pale complexion to the afflicted's skin.

- Minor inflictions make this barely noticeable, if at all.

- Major inflictions make this noticeable - it's clear from this that the person looks ill, and that something is wrong with them. This makes it so that they can be singled out by people and directed to medical attention, because an ailment that is entirely hidden is uninteractive and not good for RP.

- Severe inflictions make this look more ghastly - the paleness of this should be seen as alarming, as a reflection of the nature of this affliction as a player-approved tier of the malady. There are no implications to this beyond appearance, and already mentioned severe infliction consequences.

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This covers all of the unique properties to the malady when inflicted on others. Naturally, as this is a sickness Ciara has, and not meant to be solely beneficial, it is conceded that such must come with additional drawbacks pertaining to Ciara's health, as well. The proposal for this is as follows:

Haemophilia - As with real life, this essentially says that Ciara's body is not very well equipped to handle wounds that lead to blood loss. Ciara will have a worse than humanly normal ability for her body to stop bleeding as a result of the difference in her blood compared to others. What this does is make wounds she suffers from more severe by default, as many otherwise minor injuries, should they lead to bleeding, become more severe immediately from the fact that they will not stop nearly as fast and lead to more than intended blood loss instead. It also ensures that Ciara cannot easily use this cursed blood variant to her own advantage outside of purely minor (claret call, mechanical stuff, stuff that anybody could do anyway) situations, which as mentioned do not confer any of the special changes I aim to get approved, aside from the one stated to be essentially impossible for players, including myself, to take advantage of. Trying to take advantage of this malady essentially puts Ciara at increased risk herself for even bothering to do so, making it impractical outside of desperation (where it becomes interesting RP).

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Something to note here is that the affliction would linger longer the more severe it is. Seconds to minutes in minor cases. Hours to weeks in major cases, weeks to months in severe cases. This is to promote long term RP around it, and for another reason - I want medical staff to be able to treat this, or at the very least ease it, and develop towards a treatment for it as a goal. If there was no long term potential, there would be no incentive to try for a cure, as it could simply be waited out, instead. What's the cure, though? Well- I want that left open to interpretation. To define a specific cure now would be restricting other players in terms of creative freedom, forcing them to play guessing games and simply get it right. Leaving it up to interpretation means that they can get creative and be rewarded for their own creative ideas on how best to treat things. Learning to treat it in others would be the intended main goal, and treating Ciara a stretch goal that I do not rule out but intend to make much more difficult.
 
Reason why you are making this request (if applicable) - I wish to make this request to enhance the narrative of this character to the people around them, through interesting hooks, dangers, and consequences that should provide interesting medical RP. Considering her tendancy to be a danger to the people around her, I figure it is only a matter of time she herself gets wounded, and for a girl who has simply been 'not quite right' in most aspects thus far, I think it's very fitting for her.

There is also the fact that the cursed blood concept has begun to take hold in her IC, with her mentioning it to other characters and even being set to undergo medical tests around it. To set her malady apart from a simple trait, I wanted to create a much more interesting kind of version unique to my character, to enhance the RP experience that is therefore in store. I think it makes for a more interesting story.

Roleplay & Lore supporting your request - Ciara washed up on Geladyne's shores an amnesiac. This means there are many things about the woman that are shrouded in mystery. She suffers from the curse of an Umbral, though when this happened and if it has any relation to her amnesia remains unestablished, as of yet.

Umbrals are a race of corrupted that are adverse to the light, and thrive in darkness. To me, it makes sense, then, that the affliction Ciara suffers from would play into this in some way, revolving around the darkness. Her affinity for that due to her race would play into why doesn't seem to suffer as much from an irritation towards darkness from her own affliction, where this is instead replaced by a different kind of consequence to her that is not transferable.

Her fighting style thus far has also revolved around darkness. She has used an Eresh - a weapon that has the potential ability to reduce dark resistance mechanically - for pretty much her entire conceptual existence, beyond initial grinding. Instead of tying this ability to the sword wholly, I wanted to tie the concept from this weapon into a more passive ability at first, which has led to the concept of Ciara as a person simply putting others in increased danger of the dark, so this would no longer just be a weapon gimmick for her.

Cursed blood is a trait that she has taken, and she has brought up being sick and not truly understanding what that sickness is to close friends, and even doctors, at this point. No investigations have taken place yet, which leaves room for this to be discovered as something that would not simply come out of left field. While she has wounded others, Ciara herself has not been wounded openly at all, to my memory, which means much of these proposed traits are not currently disputed by RP that says her body has responded otherwise.

A lot of the character has revolved around being seriously unwell - mostly mentally so far. Another common trope for her is hurting those around her because of this, usually because she didn't know any better or purely by accident. Adding an illness to this provides another interesting avenue for that trope, and another way in which the character becomes a danger to herself and others without meaning to, to continue that narrative.

Player Note - As with anything else, player consent to infections still implies. This will not be forced on anyone who does not wish it, even if circumstances should allow. For those who do allow the affliction, care will be taken for them to know what they're getting into.