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Created page with "The Logophage Virus is unleashed on humanity in early April 2150(?) when Darius uploads a 3D scan of the ___ Tablet to the global network. A virus that robs humans of their capacity for language—obliterating both expression and comprehension—is a deeply unsettling concept, bordering on the mythic. The loss of logos itself. Here are some evocative and layered name ideas for such a virus: * Aphasiovirus Totalis – From aphasia (loss of language) and totalis (total),..."
 
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The Logophage Virus is unleashed on humanity in early April 2150(?) when Darius uploads a 3D scan of the ___ Tablet to the global network.
[[File:LogophageVirus.png|alt=Model of the external structure of the CNS-LX-1 virion|thumb|Model of the external structure of the CNS-LX-1 virion]]
The Logophage Virus, CNS-LX-1, (generally referred to simply as logophage) is unleashed on humanity in early April 2150(?) when [[Darius Caxton|Darius]] uploads a 3D scan of the Elton Tablet to the global network. The first recorded infection of logophage occurred in the Province of Warsaw on April __, 2150, leading to it often being referred to as the Warsaw Virus.


A virus that robs humans of their capacity for language—obliterating both expression and comprehension—is a deeply unsettling concept, bordering on the mythic. The loss of logos itself. Here are some evocative and layered name ideas for such a virus:
The progressive effects of logophage are referred to as Erasure Syndrome. Logophage is a manufactured virus, something humanity has never seen, something of a hybrid between a computer virus and a biological virus. The virus ultimately robs the individual of the capacity for language—obliterating both expression and comprehension.


* Aphasiovirus Totalis – From aphasia (loss of language) and totalis (total), evoking a complete linguistic blackout.
Erasure Syndrome includes four progressive effects, but there is no clear indication of the pacing of these stages:
* Langorruptor-23 – Combining language and corruptor, with a scientific-sounding designation. Could suggest a bioweapon or an engineered agent.
 
* CNS-LX – A sterile clinical abbreviation; CNS for central nervous system, and LX hinting at language extinction.
* '''Phase 1: Pure alexia.''' The individual loses the ability to read while retaining the ability to write, speak, and understand language.
* Neoglossic Atrophy Syndrome (NAS) – Evokes a degenerative disorder targeting the glossa (tongue, language).
* '''Phase 2: Symbol agnosia.''' The individual loses the ability to recognize visual symbols, numbers, even familiar signs and logos.
* Lethevirus – Named after the river Lethe in Greek mythology, whose waters cause forgetfulness. Here, it steals not memory broadly, but the capacity to name and know.
* '''Phase 3:''' Symbolic thinking breaks down. The individual loses the ability to understand metaphors, abstract concepts.
* Logophage – From logos (word, reason) and -phage (to consume). A devourer of meaning.
* '''Phase 4:''' The individual suffers gradual semantic breakdown as the visual-meaning connection deteriorates.
* Babel Collapse Syndrome – A reference to the biblical Tower of Babel, where linguistic unity was shattered. This virus completes that ancient fracture.
 
* Mnemosbane – From Mnemosyne, goddess of memory and mother of the Muses, and bane, a source of ruin. A killer of remembrance through language.
Logophage only effects people with a particular learned neural architecture, one formed during a childhood (ages 0 to 7) in which the native language is a derivative of Proto-Indo-European. The virus attacks the ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOTC), which is crucial for symbolic processing, but focuses in particular on the visual word form area (VWFA), which is critical for connecting visual symbols to meaning. More specifically, the VWFA controls visual-orthographic processing, the individual's ability to recognize written symbols and connect them to phonological and semantic representations.
* The Silence Plague – Evocative, simple, and chilling. Like something out of Camus or Le Guin.
* Lacuna Morbus – Lacuna for a missing piece (of cognition, of discourse), morbus for disease.
* The Unnaming – A nod to Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Rule of Names.” This suggests not just silence but a reversal of the very act of naming.
* Sapient Null – Sapient for intelligent being; Null as annihilation. Language as the core of sapience is erased.
* Erasure Syndrome – Drawing from Derrida and post-structuralist thought: a virus that deconstructs the self by deleting the linguistic signifier.


[[Category:Novels]]
[[Category:Novels]]
[[Category:The Unremembered Gate]]
[[Category:The Unremembered Gate]]
[[Category:Technology]]
[[Category:Technology in The Unremembered Gate]]

Latest revision as of 15:53, 26 June 2025

Model of the external structure of the CNS-LX-1 virion
Model of the external structure of the CNS-LX-1 virion

The Logophage Virus, CNS-LX-1, (generally referred to simply as logophage) is unleashed on humanity in early April 2150(?) when Darius uploads a 3D scan of the Elton Tablet to the global network. The first recorded infection of logophage occurred in the Province of Warsaw on April __, 2150, leading to it often being referred to as the Warsaw Virus.

The progressive effects of logophage are referred to as Erasure Syndrome. Logophage is a manufactured virus, something humanity has never seen, something of a hybrid between a computer virus and a biological virus. The virus ultimately robs the individual of the capacity for language—obliterating both expression and comprehension.

Erasure Syndrome includes four progressive effects, but there is no clear indication of the pacing of these stages:

  • Phase 1: Pure alexia. The individual loses the ability to read while retaining the ability to write, speak, and understand language.
  • Phase 2: Symbol agnosia. The individual loses the ability to recognize visual symbols, numbers, even familiar signs and logos.
  • Phase 3: Symbolic thinking breaks down. The individual loses the ability to understand metaphors, abstract concepts.
  • Phase 4: The individual suffers gradual semantic breakdown as the visual-meaning connection deteriorates.

Logophage only effects people with a particular learned neural architecture, one formed during a childhood (ages 0 to 7) in which the native language is a derivative of Proto-Indo-European. The virus attacks the ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOTC), which is crucial for symbolic processing, but focuses in particular on the visual word form area (VWFA), which is critical for connecting visual symbols to meaning. More specifically, the VWFA controls visual-orthographic processing, the individual's ability to recognize written symbols and connect them to phonological and semantic representations.

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