Josif Broz Belloc, stole an adaptive skin and over-used it, causing him to go blind.
As Soba tried to concentrate on her newssheet, she was being vigorously serenaded by Josif Broz Belloc, a blind beggar hideously scarred with pockmarks and welts. He was playing on a stringed instrument. [WoH Ch6]
'He was a thief and he stole,' said Atlanta. 'He thieved one, two, three adaptive skins. He kept them in a cave on Magelus Spur while he was diving on the Salty Ox. That was a wreck, Soba, a treasure wreck, according to rumour. Nobody dives near the Spur, there are things down there which can eat you alive, but Belloc went down regardless. He must have been a little bit mad to start with.'
[WoH Ch6]
'My Family was there. The cave was full of flies, of course. There wasn't all that much left of the dead, they were, like, skeletons with maggots. As for Belloc, epidermal disintegration, use the skins too much, they punch you full of holes, if it doesn't heal then you get bruised, and, what with the toxins - he was a mess. But he did it to himself.'
'But the eyes,' said Soba. 'He's blind. How did that happen?' [WoH Ch6]
'So,' said Atlanta, 'Belloc was living in his cave, feeding the adaptive skins with the flesh of the dead. They eat away the hands, usually, then move to the feet. That's how you can tell. If a corpse has raw fingerbones, and if the feet have been stripped, well, the skins have been busy. In time, of course, they eat everything. But Belloc was caught before things went that far.'
[WoH Ch6]
'Your body gets tired,' said Atlanta. 'The skin punches holes in your flesh. Your blood, poisons, toxins, stuff from the adaptive skin gets into your blood. You should rest. But Belloc didn't rest, oh no, he had incentive, treasure, wealth, you know what the poet says, gold is a madness and it eats out the, the - '
[WoH Ch6]