Mara

Mara, also called the "Long-Life Curse," refers to the negative effects that afflict long-life species at a certain point in their life cycle involving cell transformation that result in bodily growths and loss of sanity. Those afflicted by mara turn into monsters such as the Mara-Struck Soldier. The cause of mara is not entirely understood, but different sources point toward either immortality obtained through Yaoshi the Abundance, or the accumulation of memories and the inability to process them over a long period of time.
==Overview==
Long ago, Yaoshi had once bestowed the Ambrosial Arbor upon the people of the Xianzhou Luofu, who ate its fruits and thus gained immortality. However, this came with a heavy price, as the people felt the long lasting negative effects of immortality, which they called "mara." They began to resent mara as it turned them into "beasts." Mara seems to inflict victims with inexplicable bloodlust and violent tendencies. When Jingliu became mara-struck, she killed everyone in sight. The bodies of those inflicted by mara grow and mutate until they lose their human form. All long-lived Xianzhou natives will eventually be stricken with mara, unless their lifespans are cut short.
Over 80% of Xianzhou residents over the age of 800 suffer from being mara-struck, and over 50% fail to celebrate their 900th birthday in a conscious state. Xianzhou natives such as Dahao's father can be afflicted with mara as early as 646 years of age. Dahao's father displayed pre-mara symptoms known as the five decays: he started asking questions about events during Dahao's childhood that Dahao could not even remember, he stopped consuming food and water, and stopped responding to people until he just sat like a corpse. However, when he was taken away by the Ten-Lords Commission, he was still lucid enough to tell Dahao to take care of himself.
An autopsy conducted by Dan Shu on the corpse of a mara-struck person who had gone berserk showed that their congenital defects had disappeared. This was not a new discovery, and such observations have been made many times throughout history. There are also no known Incomplete Ones (long-lived beings with congenital defects) among the borisin. It is implied that the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus fed long-lived patients mara-inducing pills that cured them of long-term disabilities, but also caused mental confusion and piercing pain all over the body.
According to Blade, everyone experiences mara in different ways; however, his situation is unusual. Although mara haunts him, memories of it seldom cross his mind, be they of remorse, hatred, fear, or reflection. He describes himself as becoming something else when his mara strikes. Blade had been suffering from memory loss even before the Stellaron Hunters found him.
The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus do not consider mara to be a curse, but rather, a stepping stone to ascension given to them by Yaoshi. The form that that they desire is The Ascended, which is the true form "that cast off the burdens of humanity and has been reforged using the way of immortality." It is said that in ancient times, those who sought immortality received wisdom from the Ambrosial Arbor and were able to mold the flesh of themselves and others at will. After countless metamorphoses, they forgot their original appearance. They were known as Celestials.
==Causes==
According to records in the Cloud Knights Marital Doctrine, those who come into contact with Yaoshi can become struck with mara instantly. Even trying to divine the fate of Yaoshi will cause the diviner to become mara-struck. The mara-struck condition in long-life species can also be induced through medicinal pellets and pellet-infused smoke.
According to Dan Shu, mara is caused by the power of Yaoshi, from whom both the Foxians and Xianzhou natives obtained their long lifespans from. The ultimate secret to their immortality is the ability of their cells to shift between differentiated cells and stem cells when needed without creating a single error. A rule governing this conversion sets a "standard" at the moment of an individual's birth, dictating their physical characteristics forever as their immortal cells shift between differentiation and omnipotence. This is called the miracle of the Plagues Author. However, at a certain point in a long-life species' life cycle, the power of Yaoshi enters a new stage and the original standard is replaced, causing the body to develop catastrophically, turning into a "mindless abomination."
According to Fu Xuan, healers believe the mara-struck condition is related to memories; despite their longevity, long-life species still have a limited mental capacity. As time passes, memories fade, but extreme and vivid recollections that are almost certainly filled with negative emotions remain, resulting in the loss of their ability to feel positive emotions. Bailu gives a similar description where the brain can no longer store any more memories and only the most vivid and extreme memories remain, which usually consist of regret, hatred, grief, and other negative emotions. This negative emotional state causes the collapse of the person's ego and starts setting off the mara-struck condition. Cases of mara have also been caused by high intensity pain. The Amnesic Meditation Therapy advertisement claims that the root cause of mara is excessive collection of meaningless memories, and recommends removing those memories as a solution. Mara that has been temporarily suppressed by memory erasure can still be set off by over-stimulation, familiar faces, and locations. Retired Cloud Knights are the most likely to be stricken with mara due to post-traumatic stress.NPC Dialogue: Dahao
Mara is not unique to any one species and affects all long-life species, including Xianzhou natives, Foxians, and the Vidyadhara. However, Foxians usually do not live long enough to be affected by mara, and the Vidyadhara discard their past by molting. Dan Shu adds that the Vidyadhara do not derive their immortality from Yaoshi but Long the Permanence. Due to their unending cycle of reverting from maturity to infancy relying on continuous cellular transdifferentiation, they do not suffer the ailments of immortality that many other long-life species experience. Despite the rarity of naturally mara-struck Foxians and Vidyadhara, they are still susceptible to being inflicted with mara due to artificial means, such as the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus's mara-inducing pellet-infused smoke. During the Ambrosial Arbor's resurrection, Yueyuan had to kill three fellow Vidyadhara who had joined the Disciples and mutated into "horrific forms."NPC Dialogue: Yueyuan
==Treatments==
Countless doctors and sages have tried to find a cure to mara, but none have succeeded.
According to Dahao, mara is more similar to aging than a curable disease. It is inevitable, but can be slowed down and won't cause any harm if it is controlled. When mara is about to strike, the Ten-Lords Commission takes the afflicted away and detains them in the Shackling Prison.
Mara can be temporarily suppressed by removing one's memories or sensory deprivation. Kafka's Spirit Whisper ability is able to temporarily suppress Blade's mara. The process involves removing Blade's memories of the Xianzhou and the High-Cloud Quintet, including himself and practically everything surrounding his relationship with Imbibitor Lunae. An advertisement for the amnesic meditation therapy device claims that by using the device, Xianzhou natives can avoid being mara-struck and live well beyond the usual 800-900 years when they usually succumb to mara. Patients on which the device supposedly worked report forgetting painful memories and their childhood. Jingliu says that she wears a black veil as "proof of my resolve to never look back, to never fall again into mara and destruction," meaning that it prevents her from seeing sights on the Xianzhou that might trigger her mara. According to Luocha, Jingliu has found a solution to mara. Jingliu says that she made a deal that allowed her to retain what life she had left in her. She still retains her sanity, but her mind is at its limits.
Bailu's treatments allowed Banxia to retain her consciousness for a short period of time after she transformed into a Mara-Struck Soldier.
The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus use a medication known as the Draught of Draconic Surge that uses the power of Long the Permanence to both trigger and control mara. The Draught is made using living Vidyadhara bone marrow and various other ingredients. Mauve Moon implied that the bone marrow was obtained by force when informing the Trailblazer on how to proceed with collecting the ingredients. The core principle of the Draught is to allow the stem cells in the Vidyahara bone marrow to function in the host. For long-life species, this can trigger mara and cause the bodily organs to "go out of control in a more controlled manner," allowing them to gain the benefits of being mara-struck while retaining their sanity. For short-life species, this medication causes "a rapid elevation of bodily capacities for a short duration, significantly improving the short-life species' fragile physiologies." However, once all the Vidyadhara cells have perished, the host's body suffers a catastrophic regression that can perhaps only be prevented by other drugs from the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. There is no antidote to the Draught. According to the prescription for the Draught, taking this medicine may cause severe pain all over the body, abnormal bone noises, and partial sight and hearing loss. Those who survive gain the way to immortality. The prescription states that Vidyadhara should not take it.
The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus also have a prescription known as the Semblance Reversion Essence, which allows those whose bodies have been altered by mara to return to their original forms. However, this is only a temporary measure and repeated uses will reduce the prescription's potency until it loses effectiveness completely. The Disciples do not believe being mara-struck can be avoided, only slowed down, and consider it the first step to ascension given to them by Yaoshi.
Despite the Disciples' supposed ability to control mara, their members who were captured by the Cloud Knights during battle exhibited signs of delusion and hallucination. One disciple saw themselves becoming the storm, the Abundant Ebon Deer, and a scene of leaves and branches covering the sky. Another disciple claimed that to be mara-struck was to eliminate the self, to achieve transcendance, a true life of freedom, and a second life gifted by Sanctus Medicus. The Disciples are also able to elicit uncontrollable mara through smoke infused with medicinal pellets.
==Known Characters afflicted with mara==
After succumbing to mara and going insane, Jingliu managed to escape Starskiff Haven in the Year 7380 Star Calendar and easily froze all the Cloud Knights sent after her before Jing Yuan defeated her in battle. (Description) She survived the battle and traveled outside the Luofu for centuries, eventually making a "deal" to regain her sanity, which Luocha proposed was a solution to mara.
Yingxing, originally a short-life species human, was affected by mara when he used Shuhu's flesh to help Dan Feng resurrect Baiheng but failed. As a result, he lost his mind and subsequently left the Luofu, eventually coming upon Elio and the Stellaron Hunters, joining them after Elio promised him an "eternal end and final funeral" to his life and everything he hated. Kafka regulates his mara by using her Spirit Whisper ability, which appears to work as long as he is kept from being overstimulated or looking at familiar faces too long.
Two sisters, Hanya and Xueyi, were stricken with mara centuries prior to the events of the game. Because they showed regret for their actions, the Ten-Lords Commission took pity on the two, granting them another chance in exchange for wiping their previous identities. Hanya "drank the wine of oblivion," using oneiromancy to understand the flow of karma and when mara would occur among Xianzhou natives, while Xueyi was granted an ingenium body to capture evil spirits.Fyxestroll Garden, Dialogue: Hanya
==Trivia==
*The leaves and twigs grown on mara-struck people resemble , a species of gymnosperm tree native to East Asia known as a living fossil with a history of over 290 million years.
===Etymology===
* is a Sanskrit term referring to demons. In Chinese, the term also refers to demons and is used in Buddhism.
*Mara is also the Ukrainian name for the Pan-Slavic Goddess of Rebirth and Death, Morena.
==Media==
Enemy Mara-Struck Soldier.png|Mara-Struck Soldier
Enemy Mara-Struck Warden.png|Mara-Struck Warden
Enemy Disciples of Sanctus Medicus Internal Alchemist.png|Disciples of Sanctus Medicus: Internal Alchemist
Enemy Disciples of Sanctus Medicus Ballistarius.png|Disciples of Sanctus Medicus: Ballistarius
Enemy Disciples of Sanctus Medicus Shape Shifter.png|Disciples of Sanctus Medicus: Shape Shifter
Item The Xianzhou Luofu Readable Investigation of Ancient Pattern Rubbings from the Luofu Mara and Null.png|A woman with mara mutations sprouting from her body
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