Shockrot

Many are already acquainted with the experience or more generally, the observation of this disease. It appears slowly, and is generally ignored at first as it is blamed on muddled perception. The infected region, over a few weeks, grows to seem like little more than a mole on the skin. However, as the disease progresses, it is as though one has an imperfection in the visual field: eyesight is most frequently blamed before the true problem is recognized.


A localized blur, frequently no more than three fingers across, begins to slur the appearance of the body, and, as though an optical illusion were becoming manifest, any attempt to examine or treat the region becomes confounded: a doctor who attempts to touch the region will experience nausea and vertigo, and will experience a sensation akin to the feeling one gets when attempting to touch like poles of a powerful magnet. An instrument, be it wood, metal of any kind, or even fingers, will seem repelled, though such examination does not appear to be a factor in transmitting the disease.

While this blur begins to grow, the subject often experiences gaps in memory, high cognitive functions, and in conscious daily perception. Life begins to resemble a fragmented dream, but this seems like more than an aggravated case of agnosia. Core elements of the subject's identity become altered, yet the subject remains generally coherent, and as such we have, after consulting imaging of the brain tissues, eliminated any commonality with schizophrenia disorders. The subject's sense of personal history become altered, as though random portions of their experience are shared not by a single body, but by several. yet there is no disconnect of awareness: the subject invents bizarre stories connecting these shifts in perspective, and unlike schizophrenia, there is no sense of a fragmented self nor is there an awareness of changing perspective. The experience is continuous and uniform insofar as it is told by the subject. It is only to those familiar with the subject's personal history that these alterations are apparent. Likewise, when conversing with a subject, an examiner may be filled with a sense of confusion, not simply induced by an incoherence of the subject's narrative, but something exuded by an infected subject.

We believe shockrot is an epistemic illness rooted in personal teleology. Thus the reason for suspending the long-standing tradition of separation of the common community and the prophetics, many of whom have return from exile in the desert to assist us in examining this illness. As a direct result, I have been asked to examine cases in the City Autopia and to compare those cases with our own. We have long since drawn power from the City's gravity wells via the Outland capacitor, and we well know that abandoning this capacitor would not seem to permit the continuity of our accepted existence.