Clone Memory Disorder
Assigned to:Yinadele
Cloning is a complex matter on which to roleplay, and in the interests of streamlining IC information and appropriate reactions to it, reading over this might give you a goodly amount of insight into exactly what is considered canon and an appropriate reaction to being cloned or dealing with cloned individuals.
An Executive's Forward
Cloning! We all know it, use it, love it, and we at NanoTrasen corporation pride ourselves in our mastery of it. So here's the bad news:
It's not perfect.
Here's the average human genome. As illustrated by people who care more about pretty presentations than the actual truth of the matter- See that amazing spiral helix, with those... I dunno, aminos? Amigos? Whatever. They do stuff. Each of those little step-laddery thingies controls some aspect of your genetic makeup.
Here is the human genome, illustrated with a more accurate metaphor. That, my friend, is a phonebook. One that's been shredded twice, glued back together, stuffed in your jeans and left in the washer and tumble-dryer for a full spin-cycle. We are dedicated here at NanoTrasen, which is how we managed to fit a entire phonebook into your pants. More to the point; It's had a bird shit all over it. That'd be the retroviruses which has infected our genes over the last... Two odd million years or so.
And you are asking us to make a perfect copy of... This. Pff! Good luck.
So don't listen to our competitors, the reason we're not cloning you all indefinitely and saving ourselves a buck in wages is not because of "copyright licensing issues" (It's never stopped us before!) It's because... Well... Sometimes we just can't. Sometimes, the genes are just too... Broken. And you're gone. Just like that.
So, and I can not stress this enough: Don't be a goddamn hero. Or a idiot. Preferably just something in between. And most of all: Try to be safe. In all aspects of your work here at NanoTrasen... Chances are, we won't be able to bring you back from the brink.
Well, that was pretty offputting. I'm gonna have myself a big drink at the CEO bar. And you, you pasty faced slackers. Go back to work.
Have a nice day.
Cloning in the Modern Day
After the introduction of efficient biomass dissemination methods, cloning quickly went from a theoretical possibility for the wealthy to an ugly topic in modern society. While cloning is by no means reliable and solid, due to the extremely unstable nature of a living being as it stands and the natural hurdles to overcome when utilizing such, it has become a practicality in healthcare systems, having come to the forefront as the modern process we know today from a joint effort between Skrellian and Human minds at Elysium University on Luna, originally being patented by Professor Lydia C. Versenhauer and her team approximately 45 years ago.
Currently, most significantly affluent corporations integrate this somewhere within their healthcare packages in frontier areas, which is part of where the stranglehold over certain markets arises from: The simple quality of care most corporations can afford workers, as tenuous as it is, in a place distant from home tends to ensure that megacorps still have a willing workforce in the more dangerous reaches of lone space, although few people will say that the 'enticement' of being cloned is at all what would cause them to work out at such places, statistics aren't inclined to lie.
Nonetheless, cloning in and of itself is a touchy topic, however long the current 'stable' process has been in place. Many individuals from poorer regions, old Earth in particular, see cloning as an abomination. While more non-deist religions have had an easier time adjusting to the concept of a second life after death, it has been seen in several circles as abomination. Even in the modern day as religious themes wane, the question of "Is this clone really the same?" remains a poignant and not entirely understood question. People that have been cloned in various imperfect ways, and malfunctions, rarely help- People hear stories of a completely different person waking up and masquerading as someone they can only barely understand: The terrifying idea that prompts a primal fear of replacement. Some cases to the truth of this have been investigated and researched, with proponents claiming that such are aberrant cases of operator or machine error- Some people have lived out their whole lives never knowing a close-call accident actually resulted in their cloning in the middle classes.
Some people are perfectly fine with it, as progressive citizens of the 26th . Other people are perfectly fine with it- until it involves them, specifically...
Organ Cloning
Considered the least 'objectionable' of the group when done at expense, organ cloning is done for medical procedures to replace failing, ailing, or diseased counterparts in the living. Organ cloning is often done using one of three methods: Tissue samples from the patient, tissue samples donated for the express use of usage with the patient, and company patented gene-engineered samples.
Major biological research organizations keep a reserve for individual testing, although for the most part proper health care enterprises handle a lot of the major costs of cloning aside from corporate healthcare, 'renting' access rights to their patented patterns for organ cloning. These gene engineered samples are available in various blood-types and patterns, by no means intended to exist outside of a system and treated to avoid immune system rejection, possessing stem cells that 'adapt' to the body. Nonetheless, the majority of these engineered solutions to the issue of rejection are classified as sub par to personalized solutions, often having difficulties in function and abnormal tissue degradation issues, with several patterns occasionally accused of being predisposed to causing cancer in hosts. Nonetheless, these make up a staple of healthcare offered to the lower to lower-middle class, and tend to be a reason that corporations and businesses can offer superior medical care to those without coverage as an incentive for large firms over family run businesses.
Directly saying 'organ' under this classification of cloning can be misleading - Also filed under this is limb and regional regrowth, although these tend to be far more expensive as no templates can be used, and not ordinarily filed under medical care for the lower classes as opposed to low quality robotic prosthetics.
Laboratory Cloning
Animal Cloning
Vat Grown Organisms
Full Body Cloning
Post Process
There are a few basic rules that apply to most cloned individuals, all symptoms of Clone Memory Disorder.
People argue about the precise causes- Some of them are biologically obvious, such as symptoms from the general 'reboot' of the body, others psychologically motivated, causing them to vary from individual to individual. People to this day try to figure out more about the issues with individuals that lead to such extreme reactions to the default cloning process, and several research facilities recieve grant money to attempt to design a more stable system.
These are the two universal symptoms:
- Disorientation.
- Short term memory loss to the point of death or to the last backup.
Other common symptoms include:
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Loss of Appetite
- Anxiety
- Short Term Dyslexia (From 5 minutes to a week in recorded patients)
- Short Term Synesthesia (Longest recorded temporary case lasting for a month)
- Short Term Hearing Loss (From seconds to half an hour.)
- Nightmares/Flashbacks during sleep (lasting up to six months on average without intervention- Further is considered abnormal, and a psychiatrist is extensively recommended.)
Rare symptoms include:
- Long-Term Memory Loss
- Cognitive Difficulties
- Hormonal Imbalance
- Seizures
- Loss of Brain Function
- Dyslexia
- Synesthesia
- Hearing Loss
- Sudden Surfacing/Remission of Various Genetic Predispositions
- PTSD
Ordinarily, a trained geneticist and medbay in general is responsible for the care in the short term of a cloned employee and will handle an individual appropriately. Recreation of the body should be undertaken by medstaff, as inflicted injuries throughout an individuals' lifespan is not well kept- Body fat can revert to the body's optimum rather than their current, and of course implants, artificial organs and various other necessities should be mentioned on an individual's record, and the doctor in charge of autopsy should relay any absent medical information on these to the rest of his staff. While in the modern day, lying about various things can be easier(Oh, your tattoo? We had to remove the skin down to the fat layer and regrow it) it's best to leave as little as possible to hint that an individual was ever cloned.
However, clone memory disorder cannot keep everyone from knowing they are cloned. When 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. Different corporations and governments have programs and policies on dealing with cloned individuals or other people with extensive modifications post-incident - NanoTrasen operating standard is to schedule the employee within the next week for an appointment under 'employee review' standards, as per most traumatic accidents, and throughout 5 sessions determine the employee's mental state and ability to adapt to the thought of being cloned, and take further action as necessary. Until this examination is completed, it is considered malpractice to deliberately inform a patient of their status as a cloned individual.
In the event an individual prematurely discovers their nature as a clone, be it through extreme situations, the notice of incongruities, particularly from transplants, scars, replacements, or other bodily modifications, locating their body, or being told, through various means, individuals are to be immediately moved off of duty and placed on medical leave depending on individual reactions. Even today the reactions to finding out a person is cloned varies based on individual mindsets and beliefs- Some take such relatively well, although an outwardly joking demeanor post discovery should not be taken as a lack of issue. Psychiatric evaluations are still mandatory to ensure a temporary defensive mechanism isn't all that cheeriness is.