Potential Drawbacks

Despite their many benefits, psychic abilities come with risks. Overuse can result in psychic burnout, a condition marked by severe mental and physical exhaustion. In extreme cases, practitioners may suffer permanent impairment.

The Held are weatherworkers who have experienced this burnout but retain limited capability. While they cannot perform active sensing or manipulation, they provide stable anchoring for distributed workings (low power, high endurance) and serve as respected teachers and archivists. Their existence is a testament to the cost of the craft.

Solo Work Dangers: Working alone lacks the accountability and distributed load of group efforts. It creates false confidence, hides warning signs like tremors or exhaustion, and removes group intervention. This isolation is a major contributing factor to burnout, leading guilds to prioritize distributed working despite its complexities.

Additionally, psychic energy can sometimes destabilize, creating aberrant phenomena. Weather Wraiths, for example, are dangerous manifestations of uncontrolled energy.