Babel

Babel is a condition that spreads sonically through the use of its own language. It has been observed to cause discord and factionalism among its victims if used on groups of humans, though it has also been shown to be non-dangerous in certain situations. Millions of humans have been infected with Babel, most of whom died shortly afterward in conflict with other humans, though human hosting of Babel also includes examples of the development of extraordinary abilities or knowledge.
Babel works by physically restructuring the language processing centers of its host, optimizing them for data input. A person infected with Babel can thus understand any language, whether it was written or spoken, and whether or not it was created by creatures of the same species. It does not allow for the comprehension of information that the host creature is unable to process, however (An example of this would be a creature that communicates via ultrasound trying to make itself understood to a creature that cannot hear ultrasound).
Babel's molecular structure has been analyzed by human scientists, who have judged that it has the ability to completely rewrite physical structures, genomes, and to transmute materials. Several different teams of researchers have been found studying Babel in various ways with hopes of exploiting these capabilities.

Geographical Distribution

Babel is spoken by scattered refugees, a few isolated scum barges of survivors from Earth, and the entire population of the Outer System settlement of Titan Station. It is also spoken by Ikumi Higa, the leader of the Planetary Consortium, and her closest advisers.
The spread of Babel outside of transhumanity is unknown.

Phonology

Babel always sounds either like unmistakable meaning or like perfect nonsense, depending on whether the listener has accepted the existence of the language or not. If a listener can reconcile the fact that the words are unfamiliar with the fact that the meaning is still conveyed, then the sounds become merely a shuttle for meaning. Otherwise, words in Babel always sound incomprehensible, using phonemes that don't exist in the listener's language.