MEME - By Bill Silvey

Frequency: Uncommon
Number Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 10
Move: Special (See below)
Hit Dice: 0 (See below)
% In Lair: 0%
Treasure Type: 0
No. Of Attacks: 0
Damage/Attack: 0
Special Attacks: See Below
Special Defense: See Below
Magical Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Not Ratable
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Size: Not Ratable
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil 

Level/XP Value: IV/250 


An unusual psychic phenomenon, the Meme is a creature whose existence is derived from the presence of intelligent thought and common actions. The Meme comes in to being when a single desire, thought, joke, feeling or emotion finds a common thread within a large group of people, e.g., the population of a large city. 

The creation and existence of the Meme unfortunately comes at the expense of those who think the thought or thoughts that comprise the Meme. When the Meme gains it's "awareness" (such as it has), it begins to dominate the thoughts of those thinking of it. A minor interest becomes an intense curiosity, and thus to a burning obsession. 

The effect this has is a drain of Wisdom on the unwitting victims of the Meme. It is a subtle, yet noticeable drain, and can over time cause much grief for those so afflicted. The Meme draws forth Wisdom at a rate of 1 point per every 100 people afflicted, per day. When fully eighteen points of Wisdom have been extracted, the Meme redoubles it's strength and drains Wisdom at a rate of 1 point per 100 people every 12 hours. This process continues until the average Wisdom of a population reaches 3. 

When this occurs, the victims of the Meme will stagger around, senses dulled, mumbling the actual thought or thoughts that comprise the Meme (a song, a rumor, a joke, a snatch of poetry etc.), or in the case of emotional Memes, will act out whatever strong sentiment is running through the population - anger erupting into armed revolt, for example.

The easiest way to destroy a Meme is through the use of A Forget spell. Each person who has Forget cast on them will simply quit thinking of the Meme, and drop it forever. For each person who forgets the Meme, it loses five points of acquired Wisdom. When it reaches zero, it "dies". A Feeblemind spell has the opposite effect - if cast in the presence of a Meme, the creature gains Wisdom lost by the target of the Feeblemind spell!

Note that Memes themselves are not creatures of thought or will, and thus cannot be detected via Detect Evil or Detect Magic. These spells will however impinge on the caster a certain sense of unrest or unease, but in no specific direction.