Depletion

A life-threatening situation in which the Attunement Crystals are almost completely drained.

Causes

It appears that attunement crystals need to hold a minimum level of magical energy for a being to survive. Scientists are still undecided whether the complete loss of a charge is the cause or merely a symptom of death.

However, people who overexert themselves are known to suffer from extreme Magical Exhaustion, and there are many reports of people who did not recover from draining their last reserves. This can happen after a particularly challenging feat of magic, or a series of smaller ones without appropriate rest between them.

Symptoms

A person will fall unconscious as their mind and body shut down. They will still be breathing and have a weak pulse, but be completely unresponsive apart from that. Most reflexes will be delayed or fail to trigger completely.

Treatment

Attunement crystals recharge when a person senses the magic around them. Therefore, the usual advice is to surround the patient with materials that align with their elemental attunement. For example, a Water-attuned person should be placed in a filled bathtub, or a Fire-attuned one should be surrounded by candles or torches.

However, the greater challenge is to keep the body alive until the crystals had the chance to recharge. This can be done by pouring liquid nutrition into the patient's mouth, but always carries the risk of them choking on it.

Prognosis

Without the ability to eat or drink, they will most likely die within a few days.

Some cases were able to recover thanks to timely and excellent care. However, those are extremely rare since depletion mostly occurs under circumstances that are already dangerous.

Type

Magical

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Rare