Non-Contiguous Memory Disorder

In-character

Non-Contiguous Memory Disorder, usually simply shortened to Non-Con, NCMD, or the obsolete term CMD (short for "Clone Memory Disorder"), is an umbrella term for a wide range of psychological and memory-related disorders that are common to those who have undergone resleeving, cloning or similar procedures, primarily rooted in missing or false memories and transcription errors between the old body and their new one. Not all people experience such symptoms, and the reactions can vary wildly from patient to patient.

The scientific community is divided about the precise causes- Some of them are biologically obvious, such as symptoms from the general 'reboot' of the body or time-lag between the mind-backup and subsequent resleeve, others psychologically motivated, causing them to vary from individual to individual. Researchers to this day try to figure out more about the issues with individuals that lead to such extreme reactions to the default sleeving process, and several research facilities receive grant money to attempt to design a more stable system. And where better than that weird backwater station where people get eaten and cloned all the time?

The two most common symptoms are:

• Disorientation immediately following resleeving.
• Short term memory loss, typically up to either the point of scanning or shortly prior to the point of death.

In short, the most common symptoms are broadly similar to suffering a concussion and regaining consciousness in the medical facility, which is consistent with the brain damage that is a common factor with the post-cloning process. Personnel may have mind-scan implants to allow burst-transmission to a paired backup database, allowing memories to be recovered after the point of scanning. Typically such devices are not foolproof, with the most common flaw being that traumatic memories are often poorly-transcribed, sometimes even resulting in entirely false memories. On the other hand, some patients do not appear to manifest any of the symptoms at all.

As a result of their inherently unreliable nature, witness statements from Non-Con patients are inadmissible as evidence in criminal proceedings. At most, security teams may use their statements as probable cause to begin an investigation and look for corroborating evidence that is enough to convict on its own.

More rarely, other symptoms can manifest as a result of resleeving and cloning. These include, but are not limited to:

• Mood Swings
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Anxiety
• Nightmares/Flashbacks (in such instances, an appointment with a psychiatrist is recommended.)
• Long-Term Memory Loss
• PTSD

Whenever possible, an individual who has been cloned should be discreetly set for psychiatric evaluation and work-through, to either come to terms with their status or work through the various cognitive dissonance.

Patient reactions to learning that he or she has been resleeved can vary widely based on several factors; while some take such information relatively well, an outwardly joking or nonchalant demeanor post-discovery does not necessarily correlate with a lack of issue. For this reason, it is always important for the doctor or resident geneticist to consult a patient's medical record before proceeding with the resleeving process.

Where possible, it is recommended that medical staff (or other crew, for that matter) do not prematurely reveal to the patient that they have been resleeved.

OOC policy

The short version of the server's policy on NCMD is that there are currently no restrictions on what you can and cannot remember about your past life / death, but don't abuse it for revenge killings or screaming out the name of your predator to security.

It's generally recommended that you have hazy IC memories of the circumstances leading immediately up to your death if it was unwilling vore - if nothing else, your predator has taken the time to give you a (presumably) enjoyable scene, so it's kinda a dick move to make them hide from security for the rest of the shift. The reason for this policy (both OOCly, and ICly as far as some medical players are concerned) is that if predators are going to be immediately arrested as soon as the prey are cloned, they're just not gonna bother ensuring their prey come back - and that leaves people sitting in deadchat.

One way to play this is just remembering everything up until you got scanned for future resleeving and nothing afterwards if you do get resleeved - this is the case for one-time scans (ie. those without an implant) anyway. Other people prefer to play it off as having only vague/fuzzy recall of anything that you would use as evidence in a prosecution. ("I.. I don't know.. I can't remember their face, it happened so fast, it... it was warm, and I can't... remember.") Otherwise, for willing scenes - go nuts. Have full recall. It's not a situation where you're going to be ICly going for revenge afterwards or causing other tension/drama after the fact so go ahead with full recall. Fluff it as being a non-traumatic experience so whatever widget you have connected to the cloning machine for memory transfer worked properly, while traumatic experiences end up being blotted out, or something like that.

Hell, you might not even want the IC knowledge of having been resleeved at all, so ICly you might wind up with some sort of false-memory-syndrome where you misremember it as something like... they must have let you go, they were just playing around, something like that - if you remember anything at all.

When resleeving people, whether you bring up that they were just cloned is up to your judgement. Your character has sworn an oath at some point to do no harm if they're in a medical career, so don't bring it up if you think it will traumatize them. Trying to hide it, however, may not work out in your favor if they discover it later (happens more often than you might think). You can always LOOC to the patient as well, and ask if they want their character to be told if you aren't sure.