A guild that causes mental illness

1. A guild that causes mental illness

   #1

   They rarely if ever kill except in self defence or if really pissed off. They don't need to. Their poisons/darts can cause anything from a slight mental illness (enough to make it hard to get/keep a job but not totally disablling) to total permenant insanity where the target is rendered a danger to him/herself and others. Any ideas to make this work?

2. Re: A guild that causes mental illness

   #2

   Sounds a little more like a cult than a guild, although I suppose it could function sort of like an assassin's guild where it's not so much the death of the target that's wanted as the target's neutralization.  Could be in service to some manner of organized crime as the boogymen to scare people into cooperating.  I'm sure there are various plants and herbs that could easily cause insanity; I can't think of any off hand, but Wikipedia surely will have something.  I know that there are certain drugs that can cause psychosis, schizophrenia-like symptoms, paranoia, etc.
   
   Something you might want to consider (and I don't know how factually accurate this is), but I've heard stories of assorted traditions of young wives keeping elderly husbands in a drug-induced stupor and/or madness.  They didn't want them dead (if the husband died, the wife was expected to follow suit), but by keeping them mentally incapacitated let them do as they pleased.  So it would seem reasonable that this guild would be consulted if the target wasn't wanted dead.

3. Re: A guild that causes mental illness

   #3

   You could always pull some magic out of the hat, but as Ria has noted, there are perfectly usable natural drugs.
   
   
   More interestingly, I find the concept of such a "guild" a little strange... but unlike the overdone Assassin Guilds, these guys can have the perfect front - to be the caretakers of the mentally unstable; a little secret detachment doing all the dirty work, hiring out as 'killers' of a kind. And you know, even if an afflicted noble is kept by his family in care, they are still likely to sponsor them... and they are never without a job. You could make them a monastic order, or even a 'charitable organization'.

4. Re: A guild that causes mental illness

   #4

   How about a weird Summoner's Guild, where they drive people nuts in order to get ideas of bizarre new things to summon? Although, that sounds more like a cult than a guild, so maybe not.

5. Re: A guild that causes mental illness

   #5

   How about a weird Summoner's Guild, where they drive people nuts in order to get ideas of bizarre new things to summon? Although, that sounds more like a cult than a guild, so maybe not.

   
   
   Interesting angle... too weird for me, but what if people driven nuts can be really used for something? Insane people are said to be able to see reality in a different way - they could be used for seeing through illusions (or creating them), gathering magic, or its general study. Or anything else.

6. Re: A guild that causes mental illness

   #6

   I had a related sub, though not a guild:
   
   http://www.strolen.com/content.php?node=3621

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