Aetherburn

Generally speaking, Aetherburn can only be acquired when within an area of high Aspected Aether, generally known as an Aether Corruption zone. It can also be acquired from the penetration of aspected aether of another individual into the subject's body, tainting their and beginning the condition.   This second vector makes Aetherburn a very common result of a lost - but non-fatal - magic battle in particular, as the aspected aether of the victorious mage's spell is very likely to have met those conditions and have as such tainted the arcane soul.

Aetherburn is caused by the exposure to Aspected Aether that does not belong to the subject; the body and the can disperse foreign aspected aether in small amounts and is at ease with Ambient Aether and aspected aether belonging to the subject, but large build-ups of foreign ambient aether is simply too much for the arcane soul to cope with.

Those experiencing Aetherburn will generally feel nauseous and queasy for much of the condition's course, with constant coughing and fevers being commonplace.   Beyond that, however, the conditions vary greatly based on the severity of the aetherburn itself, the power of the Aspected Aether that triggered it, and a myriad other components. Generally speaking, though, those suffering from aetherburn are wise - and cautioned against - to avoid the use of their aether in a taxing capacity for the duration of the illness, as the arcane soul is actively expelling the foreign aether and dangerous results can occur if a subject is expending their own aether at the same time.

Subjects of aetherburn can rest assured that the condition will generally mend itself; some applications can aid in speeding up recovery somewhat, but must be done with great care. Generally, though, the norm is for the afflicted to abstain from the use of their aether as much as possible while their purges the foreign aether, a process that can take hours, days, weeks or months, depending on a variety of factors, chief among them being the potency of the aether - Aspected Aether from a master Wizard would take far longer to clear than that of a minor Aether Corruption event, for example.

Fortunately, aetherburn is a temporary condition with zero long-term side effects upon recovery. Of course, it can recur if the conditions are met again, but at worst it's a rather painful inconvenience that can cause an individual to be bedridden for a time before they resume normal living.   Of course, that isn't to speak for any unrelated problems that tend to come with the specific conditions for contracting aetherburn in the first place.

Any creature, sapient or non-sapient, could become afflicted with aetherburn.