Letnimi

Letnimi is a fictional term used in speculative anthropology and worldbuilding to denote a practice and associated artifact for storing and transmitting personal memories across generations. It refers to both the ritual by which memories are encoded and the tangible object that holds the memory.

Etymology: The term is imagined to derive from the fictional Veyri language, combining elements that roughly translate as "bind" and "memory." It has no attested use outside the constructed setting.

Practice and technology: In traditional ceremony, a trained memory-keeper guides a participant through a focused recollection, selecting a memory that carries cultural significance. The memory is encoded into a letnimi object—often a carved stone, tablet, or resin-embedded disk—through pigment, engraving, or a ceremonial resin seal. Access to the stored memory is regulated by ritual consent and a defined access protocol; retrieval requires a designated participant, who experiences the memory as a sensory imprint rather than a verbatim replay.

Cultural role and variation: Letnimi serves to anchor family lineages, transmit moral and historical knowledge, and codify identities across generations. Some communities emphasize voluntary storage and revocability, while others fear coercion or memory distortion, leading to debates about consent, privacy, and the ethics of memory modification or forgetting.

In broader discourse, letnimi is sometimes used as a metaphor for archival memory and digital heritage, illustrating questions about who controls collective memory and how personal memory becomes part of public history.