Stone Black Heart
Adamantite is a stone known for its sheer durability and unyielding nature. Since time immemorial, sorcerers and wizards throughout Altairus have sought to escape the clutches of Death. As such, they devised a spell that would cheat Death; it involved removing one's Daemon and sealing it inside of a piece of Adamantite. This way, the Daemon would not expire and the body would be able to survive anything.
But this invincibility came at a steep price. For while sealing the Daemon protected it from harm, it removed the host's tender emotions, leaving them with only a heart of blackened stone.
Causes
Only a specific Earth spell can lead to a stone black heart. This spell involves removing one's Daemon from the body and sealing it inside a container of Adamantite.
Symptoms
As mentioned above, those with stone black hearts are effectively immortal. The dislocated Daemon is unaffected by any damage done to the body, so it can quickly heal any ravages done to its host.
However, that does not make the host healthy. The physical symptoms of such a misstep are immediately obvious; the host will often develop a pale, sickly complexion with dark circles underneath their eyes. They will look as if they spent ten years without ever seeing the sun.
Worse is the effect on one's mental state; without the Daemon, the host's emotions will dull or evaporate altogether. The tenderest of these - love, joy, hope - are the first to die. The sufferer either becomes completely emotionless or bitter and cold. In essence, their heart turns to black stone.
Treatment
Rescuing someone who has removed their Daemon is no simple task. Adamantite is known for being indestructible. If one were to destroy the host's Daemon container, one would have to use tools made from Adamantite, which are incredibly hard to come by.
Fortunately, Adamantite has a property that makes the task of restoring the sufferer's emotions much easier; it absorbs energy very easily. Feeding a continuous stream of Undifferentiated Anima to an Adamantite heart allows the host to regain their emotions for a time. Putting the container near a continuous supply of this Anima restores them to their former state for as long as the Anima is flowing.
Affected Groups
While not exclusive to any one group, this condition is more common to Earth elementals such as Stoneback Trolls and Dryads. Sorcerers in these groups are more likely to use the Daemon-removing spell that creates a stone black heart in the first place.
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