Burnout is a potentially lethal risk for someone manifesting their powers for the first time or even using their powers in some instances.
Cause[]
Burnout can be caused by several types of situations for those with a power or special ability. It is not limited by demographics such as age, sex, size, and even race, human or not. It is not limited by type of power either.
Dr. Eric Tanaka describes burnout as
It is possible, if a talent develops too quickly, for it to draw on the energy of the person so fast that they can’t recover quickly enough and they can be killed or crippled as a result. The results can be much more unpleasant than that in some rare cases, as you already know.[1]
Symptoms[]
- Uncontrollable use of power while undergoing use of burnout
- Unconsciousness
- Death
Precautions & Treatment[]
Dr. Eric Tanaka says that proper training can be taught to help one with power channel their energies in a way to prevent burnout.[1]
Notes[]
Well, there are classifications of burnout in the technical literature, but hardly anyone uses them. They're not really that useful yet. Supposedly, Dr. Filbert Quintain is working on a whole new system of burnout classifications, but that paper is a ways away from being published. And you wouldn't want to read it, anyway.
Really, what gets called 'burnout' is any one of several problems with mutants adapting (or not adapting) to one or more of: their BIT; changes in their BIT; clinical GSD; pseudo-GSD (all the other things that are loosely called GSD by non-technical types); MATD; over-taxing the body when over-using a power (most commonly seen in mages, energizers, channelers, and certain types of shifters); or related topics.
All of them relate to the body's inability to keep up with the drastic changes or stresses put upon it. Most of the time, the technical classifications don't really matter. What counts is the severity of burn-out episode.
Severity Scale[]
- 0: changes did not have a noticeable impact on the person
- 1: changes had noticeable impact but did not require medical intervention
- 2: changes required medical intervention but not hospitalization
- 3: changes required hospitalization
- 4: changes required emergency treatment to preserve the life of the person
- 5: person died despite best efforts
History of Occurrences[]
In a conversation between Eric Tanaka and the Wilson Family, it is said that the last confirmed case was over 40 years ago.[1]
Burnout Examples[]
- Roulette suffers a '1' in the middle of The Quad the first week of school that forced her to change from Poe to Hawthorne Cottages for her own safety; suffers semi-frequent '0' burnouts since then
- Billie Wilson(Tennyo) generated fire around herself uncontrollably damaging her home. She went unconscious as well allowing herself to be taken.[1]
- Lancer had a 'severity 0' episode in the middle of his combat final.
- Fey had a '2'.
- Carmilla had a '3'.
- Fireball had a '4'.