Between September 2199 and January 2200, eleven corponation diplomats stationed across four GLMZ cities — GLMZ, Cleveland Hub, Milwaukee Enclave, and Toledo Station — presented with identical neurological symptoms: persistent tinnitus, spatial disorientation, anomalous visual artifacts in the peripheral field, and progressive deterioration of short-term memory formation. Brain imaging reveals a consistent pattern of white matter lesions in the right temporal lobe, identical across all eleven patients to a degree that suggests a single causative mechanism.

No weapon has been identified. No toxin. No pathogen. No directed energy signature. The affected diplomats have no shared environment — they live in different cities, work in different buildings, eat at different facilities, and use BCI hardware from four different manufacturers. Three are augmented; eight are baseline. The only commonality is their role: all eleven serve as inter-corporate negotiators for the GLMZ Liaison Office, responsible for mediating disputes between corponations operating in the metropolitan zone.

Each affected diplomat reports that the symptoms began on the same day — September 14th, 2199 — though they did not become aware of each other's conditions until medical records were cross-referenced in December. September 14th has no apparent significance. No event. No meeting. No shared communication. Eleven people in four cities began developing identical brain lesions on the same day for no reason anyone can identify.

Three corponations have accused each other of deploying an undisclosed neuroweapon. All three deny it. Independent investigation supports the denials — no known technology can produce these symptoms at this range, across this many unconnected targets, without leaving a detectable signature. Something is damaging the brains of people who negotiate between corporations. It is doing it precisely, consistently, and impossibly. No one has claimed responsibility. No one has issued demands. No one knows if it will stop.