Co-Morbid.
Two Vulcans who, bonded as children, were raised in the same household (their parents were close friends, hence why they decided to bond their households together officially as family) and became obsessed with one another to the point that their life’s goal is to become one being in the most literal sense imaginable. They refer to themselves as a singular entity ‘Ulotyn’ (a mash of their names, Ulonk and T’ynara) and as children had a shared diary in which they recounted every conversation, movement and thought they could possibly remember as they couldn’t go everywhere together at the time. Their parents became concerned by their increasingly frequent ‘lapses in memory’ in which one would claim that something that happened to the other happened to them. (Ex: Ulonk gets a toy and T’ynara says that she received that same toy. T’ynara goes to the park and Ulonk claims to have gone to the park despite having been forced to study that day.) They did not make friends with other children and became distressed when they weren’t in contact for a period of time which became shorter and shorter with age. However, they became extremely adept at telepathic communication and devoted themselves to the study of telepathic abilities, not only of Vulcans but of all telepathic species. Once they grew old enough to live on their own they married (before any pon farr) and began seeking out more ways they could become one singular person. Unlike in most Vulcan marriages in which the strive to become “as one” is about unity and cooperation, Ulotyn sought to eliminate all differences between them and would become distressed if any arose. (For Example: If Ulonk liked a certain fruit that T’ynara didn’t they’d both have to decide together if Ulonk would hate the fruit or T’ynara would like it - instead of these differences merely being accepted.) Also unlike most Vulcan marriages they had known one another and been in close proximity (and, at a certain point, nearly constant contact) for all of their lives. This left very few differences between them to reconcile or reasons to grow and gain new insight into themselves. Though they became very well-respected scholars who furthered research into the telepathic abilities of Vulcankind they were eventually ostracized and shunned due to their behaviour becoming more and more concerning. They were eventually taken into custody after attempting to perform a bonding ritual without the aid of a priestess, elder or medic between them and another individual who they claimed to have fallen in love with. (as they viewed themselves as one individual they also viewed themselves as being unbonded. They also saw the potential success of such a ritual as confirmation that they were truly one being.) Ulotyn was confined to a facility dedicated to their continued care in the hopes that one day they might separate themselves from one another and rededicate themselves to logic. However, they continue to communicate with the individual they refer to as their ‘bondmate’ and through them they have been able to continue publishing papers on the subject of Telepathy. It is still unknown what precisely caused these events to transpire. Was the priestess who bonded them responsible? Was it the fact that they grew up in extremely close proximity to one another? Was one of them born with mental health issues that were compounded and transferred through the bond? Both of them? Was it the familial environment? No one knows to this day, though several papers on the subject have been published. Perhaps one by Ulotyn themself.
