The unraveled are talked about like monsters that hide amongst the magi. This attitude is born out of prejudice. Unraveled are magi. If they congregate in the shadows, it is only because their brethren have hidden them away. An unraveled magus has pushed too far too fast and fell victim to a side effect of the magical energies within. This could happen to any magus, especially apprentices, and a proper response would be to render aid. The most common response is instead to shove them aside, ignore them, and try to forget they exist. Those unraveled magi that live long enough to gain power and the attention of the insensati are hunted down and killed by slayers from the Order of the Wise.
The term itself is old. In the rotations when the skies danced, magi of the ancient orbs talked about their known workings as a tapestry of magic in their minds. Each thread of this tapestry was a specific working that the magus knew. These workings were woven together into the tapestry, but sometimes the threads unraveled when too many were added in quick succession. Most aspects of the metaphor were clunky and eventually abandoned, but the term unraveled remained. Apprentices are told to learn new workings slowly, to master each one before moving on to another, or they may become one of the unraveled.
When a magus learns a new working it is forever imprinted on the mind and accessible in its original form. The unraveled are an exception. One of the first signs that a magus is unraveling is the loss of one or more workings. The next stage sees subtle aspects of the magus’s workings bleeding into one another. This process causes a similarity to spread between all of the unraveled’s workings. This is known as the theme. Every unraveled eventually develops a theme that is evident in all workings the unraveled performs. These themes are primarily visual, but can have unforeseen consequences to some workings.
It has been suggested that a magus does not begin unraveling purely due to excessive study of workings. Many unraveled experience one or more mental repercussions in the early stages. It is unknown if this is a requirement or an incidental correlation. It has been observed in numerous cases that once a theme is fully formed it has an insulating effect against most repercussions. Unraveled magi rarely suffer from obvious or physical repercussions regardless of how much magic is used, and the theme appears to replace any specialization in this regard. However, some mental repercussions, such as psychoses, are more common amongst the unraveled. This is partially responsible for the portrayal of unraveled as dangerous villains.
In one attempt of a census by Empire, it was determined that approximately three-quarters of unraveled are cooperative and interested in treatment. There is no singular cure for the unraveled condition, but individuals have recovered. The longer a magus remains unraveled the more difficult it is to return from the state. Theramancers have met with only limited success in experimental treatments. The Scrolls of Ozzenlam reference a successful working, but it requires a pair of magi, one cerebremancer and one necromancer, working in unison. As both types of magi have become quite rare, and only a few copies of the scrolls remain in existence, this particular working is unlikely to be available.
Kristofor Loren Carlson 