Light of May ::: an original roleplay

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We are often asked, how did other countries react to the Light of May (as the LOM was a world-wide event). We do our best to answer these questions individually, but over the past months, we've been compiling this section to explain how different regions reacted, and the state of things around the world.

Please note that this page is a work in progress. And while what we have listed is a generalization, there will always be exceptions. Not every Muslim will be against the supernatural, nor will every Catholic be for them. It's simply a helpful guide. If you'd like to volunteer to help with a write-up of a country, province, or region, please let LS know!

( LOM Around the World! )

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On Turning Elementals, Psychics, and Born Witches
With our three human races (elementals, psychics, and witches) comes the option of taking things a bit further. Of course, vampires get the highest benefit from drinking whatever blood they were before - so, if they were a water elemental, they'd get the most benefit from drinking from a water elemental. We know that already. The thing is: it's mentioned in several places that these three human races have a rougher time 'turning' (being sired as a vampire or being bitten by a were) than a vanilla human does. Why is that?

Well, things work a little differently for each. The thing is, think of your bonus (whether you're an elemental, psychic, or born witch) as both a part of your brain, and an extra sense. Within the same instant of being turned (no matter if it's vampire or were), that part of your brain and that extra sense dies in a split second. Immediately thereafter your entire body gets rewired, minus one of your major defining senses. It could compare to losing the part of your brain that covers sight, sound, TOUCH, smell, or taste in the blink of an eye, and is coupled with excruciating physical and mental pain.

On top of that, there's a large risk of insanity. Each of the three human races deals with the after-effects differently.

Born Witches
Born witches have, arguably, the easiest transition. Aside from the immediate pain and loss of power, there isn't a lot extra to deal with. For several months they may experience random, severe headaches. The rest is purely mental - and depends on the specific person. Basically, it's a matter of how much they relied on their magic before, and how much not having that power anymore bothers them. For the low level users, this could feasibly be quite insignificant. For a master? It's going to be rough.

Psychics
Some psychics have an easier time with it than others, but the fact of the matter is: every psychic, whether or not they know they're a psychic, is used to relying on their psychic ability the way they would any other sense. Even if they don't know it's there, its sudden disappearance could never go unnoticed.

Mediums, telekinetics, low-level finders, and low-level oneiropaths have the easiest transition, with an extremely minimal risk of insanity - though mediums are the most questionable here, and depend on the character. Some mediums may find, once the headaches have ceased and they feel like themselves again, that it's a great relief to no longer see the dead! And some may feel like they've lost one of their defining characteristics - and some of their best friends. In such a case, the mental issues are obviously increased quite a bit.

All remaining psychics have much more difficulty. Empaths, for example, may find that without their power to rely on, their social skills have deteriorated. They just don't know how to act around people anymore without that extra boost. Telepaths may love no longer hearing voices all the time, but now they have to get used to something they've never truly experienced anymore: dead silence. In fact, telepaths have the highest risk of insanity, because many of them just don't know how to function without that constant buzzing anymore. Often, there are a lot of drawbacks that relate directly to whatever their power used to be.

In any case, there will be severe headaches for several months - or longer, if the player so chooses.

Elementals
It could be argued that elementals have the roughest transition, with the highest risks.

First of all, they get everything that witches and psychics get - the physical pain, the prolonged headaches, the loss of a sense they didn't even realize they were using. There are also many more risks, depending on the element and level.

Let it be noted: the higher the level, the more trouble one will have. A level 1 or 2 of any element could get off roughly the same as a born witch: a couple months of headaches, and the general mental distortion of adjusting to life without one of your senses. However, any elemental will also have to deal with a very real physical danger they never had to worry about before: their own element. A fire elemental, for example, has never felt burned! They wouldn't know to shy away from hot surfaces or open flames - it's just something they've never had to think about before. For months, they will constantly forget and burn themselves, over and over again. A former water elemental-turned-vampire won't have to worry about drowning, but a new werewolf sure will! And so on.

On top of that, anything after level 5 gets menacing. At level 5, the element accepts the elemental as one of its own children. And losing that bond puts the risk of insanity up to 50% - at a minimum. Then you must take it into account that the elements? Are not extremely rational. At this level elementals already have to worry about angering their element, and be careful not to ignore it for too long. If someone at this level (or higher) is turned? The element believes the elemental to have flat-out and permanently abandoned it.

Say you have a level 5 fire elemental that is turned into a werewolf. Even if they overcome all the other issues, even if they hold on to their sanity... for the rest of their life, they will have their former element to contend with, with no chance of forgiveness. If this former fire elemental were to walk into a room with burning candles? The flames might just decide to literally leap off the wick and attempt to attack him. If lightning strikes his house, you can bet a fire will start. And any time this former elemental is ever burned? The burns will be twice as severe as a normal person's. A former water elemental could live on a house on top of a hill, and still find that during a rain storm, their house is the only house in town to have its basement flooded. Oh, and that former earth elemental? Should probably stay away from places with basements, coz the earth could just decide to turn on the supports and let the whole place cave in. Former air elementals need not bother going out in storms: they will get chased by lightning. Have fun with that.

Finally, for every level is an extra few months of physical pain (such as headaches), and a higher risk of insanity. At level 6 it jumps up to a 65% chance of insanity. At mastery? 90%. And they will always feel the phantom pains of their loss.

It's also extremely likely that an elemental - of any level - will have permanent weaknesses based on their former element. A good example being the former fire elemental that always forgets and burns himself. Or maybe they'll just feel cold for the rest of their life. Whoops.

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FAQs Regarding These Transformations
Q. Do elementals/psychics/witches know they will have a difficult time being turned?
A. Nine times out of ten? No way. Even those that have gone through it might not know exactly what the hell was wrong with them, just that they didn't have an easy transition. This isn't something well studied or talked about, because before the Light of May, well, there was just no place to DO that. Most who make these difficult transitions are completely blindsided with it, and get the added joy of knowing they're going through unfathomable pain and don't know why.

( Dream Eaters )