Vernith, The New Fantasy (New Race Added)

[Xathan]

Mutants
[ooc]While I'm keeping some of this, disregard this section as outdated for now - discussion has helped me get un-stuck and get a better idea of what mutants are.[/ooc]
The phenomena that causes mutation is even less understood than that which causes the rising of Necrots or the advent of psionic powers. One is simply energy reanimating the recently dead, while the other are simply beings who have adapted the ability to shape existing energy with mental ability.

Mutants represent something entirely different '" a member of another species with physically advantageous abnormalities that arose from some agency. Some ascribe it to the same dark magic as Necrots, other connect it a physical outgrowth of psionics. Still others fear it is the influence of the Others twisting biology to create new creatures as foot soldiers for an impending invasion...while some hold that Mutants, Necrots, and Psions are all an outgrowth of our universes immune system against such threats.

Regardless f how mutants are regarded, they are considered 'magic' users in the losses sense of the world '" beings that have capabilities beyond the normal for their species. What separates Mutants from Necrons is that Necrons died before receiving their power, and the seperation between Mutants and Psionis is simply that a psionis power deals with the influence of energy Mutant powers, on the other hand, are entirely biological in nature.

What They Can Do:

A Mutant is in many ways physically more capable than the initial species, developing additional limbs, tentacles, tails, sensory organs, healing capabilities, and overall physical abilities being the most common traits. Less common are the ability to emit pheromones to manipulate emotion, project caustic liquids from glads stored on the body, and even emit high velocity physical objects through intense muscular pressure, allowing these 'bio darts' to reach ballistic or high speeds.

This is part one to post something because I've been horrifically stuck on my magic. Any thoughts, questions, or comment would be greatly appreciated.

[Seraph]

It seems to me that if there were something causing mutations, there would likely be as many negative mutations as positive ones.  Some would have a mix of positive and negative mutations, some would be chock full of bonuses, and some would end up the true short end of the stick.  The ones with only negative mutations might not live as long as the others though, so there may not be very many adults with solely negative mutations.  That would depend on how good medicine is at this time, or relevant healing magic/psychic powers, etc.)

[SA]

Unless, of course, that mutagen were conscious?

[LordVreeg]

Umm.
Calling you on this.

[blockquote=Xathan]
A Mutant is in many ways physically more capable than the initial species, developing additional limbs, tentacles, tails, sensory organs, healing capabilities, and overall physical abilities being the most common traits. Less common are the ability to emit pheromones to manipulate emotion, project caustic liquids from glads stored on the body, and even emit high velocity physical objects through intense muscular pressure, allowing these 'bio darts' to reach ballistic or high speeds.[/blockquote]

vs.

[blockquote=Xathan]Don't think X-Men when it comes to mutants. Think people twisted with biological abilities that are immediately obvious and many times have severe - sometimes fatal - drawbacks[/blockquote]

Make up your bloody mind.  
At the very least, you need be more clear as to the root cause of said deformity, and ther % of occurance, and what races have what % of occurance.

And I am getting the feel that the gods are older civs of great power or from other worlds altogether.  In other words, my 'tech' sensors seem to be picking up a groove.

[Superfluous Crow]

What tone are you aiming for?
Fantastic? Then your mutants should have a whole host of powers and be biological powerhouses.
Creepy/weird? Give them eyes where there shouldn't be eyes, mouths where there shouldn't be mouths. Let them walk the thin line between man and monster with enough of both sides showing that you are never quite sure which they belong to.
Grim? Sad, deformed creatures whose deformities sometimes lend them greater strength and sometimes lend them quicker deaths. Think in matters of disproportionality and contrast where one arm might look like it belongs to a hairless bear while the other one has atrophied into a lame vestigial limb.

In my opinion, you should pick one of these, or at least make a similar category that all your mutants fit into. Trying to mix and match and make your mutants be everything and nothing at the same time will only lessen the impact they have as an element in your setting.

I'm thinking you'd do well to avoid mutant-only communities; don't treat them as a race. Instead, let your poor humans et al be horrified when one of these monsters arrives instead of their beautiful baby son. A little horrific, admittedly, but that's probably how it makes the most sense.  

If you want adults to be able to be afflicted by Mutantdom, then treating it as a contagion might work better. Think zombies, only biologically superior and of reasonable intellect and not always raging carnivores. This might lead to some apprehension towards mutants (but so would the other approach).  

[Xathan]

It seems to me that if there were something causing mutations, there would likely be as many negative mutations as positive ones.  Some would have a mix of positive and negative mutations, some would be chock full of bonuses, and some would end up the true short end of the stick.  The ones with only negative mutations might not live as long as the others though, so there may not be very many adults with solely negative mutations.  That would depend on how good medicine is at this time, or relevant healing magic/psychic powers, etc.)

I should have mentioned the negative/cosmetic mutations in my initial post. They're very, very common '" most mutants live short, brutal lives simply because their body doesn't work the way it's supposed to anymore. Since this post is about the 'magic users' of mutants, I chose to focus on this aspect at a later date, but you do get a significant number of mutants that die because of their mutation, some shortly after birth, others no long after as their altered physical form makes them incredibly weak/sickly/etc. Some of the powerful mutants have these deadly/malign anomalies too, and sometimes 'good' mutations are just as bad '" if your mutation didn't provide the heart to match it, being a 9 foot tall brute with four extra limbs is going to be just as fatal as if your mutation gave you a weak heart.

Unless, of course, that mutagen were conscious?

I considered that, but right now have decided that, conscious or not, the mutagen is still often harmful '" if there is a consciousness driving it, it is either  a sick, twisted one, or it is incapable of controlling how it mutates people, only whom.

Umm.
Calling you on this.

[blockquote=Xathan]
A Mutant is in many ways physically more capable than the initial species, developing additional limbs, tentacles, tails, sensory organs, healing capabilities, and overall physical abilities being the most common traits. Less common are the ability to emit pheromones to manipulate emotion, project caustic liquids from glads stored on the body, and even emit high velocity physical objects through intense muscular pressure, allowing these 'bio darts' to reach ballistic or high speeds.[/blockquote]

vs.

[blockquote=Xathan]Don't think X-Men when it comes to mutants. Think people twisted with biological abilities that are immediately obvious and many times have severe - sometimes fatal - drawbacks[/blockquote]

Make up your bloody mind.  
At the very least, you need be more clear as to the root cause of said deformity, and ther % of occurance, and what races have what % of occurance.

Consider myself called! However, those two are not mutually exclusive '" the powers that mutants have is one that always carries physical deformities. Regenerating mutants are often pitted with scars or have an extra, external organ that drives the regen and looks like an external tumor. The pheromone emitter would have obviously (and likely grotesquely) swollen glands to store the pheromones, the dart launcher would have huge, muscular tubes emerging from her wrists, the one with infravision would have abnormal eyes '" or even a couple extras for that spectrum. The strong would have grotesquely muscled limbs, the agile appear freakisly emaciated with extra joints, the resistant would have plating or some other abnormality.

Cause is something I'm working on '" many of the 'whys' of the setting are going to remain unanswered until I write the GM's guide, and even that's going to have possible ones the GM can plug in to best fit their campaign.

And I never do X% of humanoids are mutants and Y% of race Z are mutants '" at least, not that precise. Mutants are not common but frequent enough where most people at least knows someone who personally knows a mutant, and they're more common among humans than any other race, and least common among halflings, dark elves, and dwarves '" the former two now believed to be leftover mutants from the last apocalypse and the latter because dwarven mutants are typically given death shortly after birth.

What tone are you aiming for?
Fantastic? Then your mutants should have a whole host of powers and be biological powerhouses.
Creepy/weird? Give them eyes where there shouldn't be eyes, mouths where there shouldn't be mouths. Let them walk the thin line between man and monster with enough of both sides showing that you are never quite sure which they belong to.

I'm going for a mix of fantastic and creepy/weird '" I want them to be biological powerhouses (when it comes to the ones PCs will likely play, at least) but with enough psychical abnormalities they could never pass for their original race and often appear either repugnant or outright terrifying to their former species.

I'm thinking you'd do well to avoid mutant-only communities; don't treat them as a race. Instead, let your poor humans et al be horrified when one of these monsters arrives instead of their beautiful baby son. A little horrific, admittedly, but that's probably how it makes the most sense.

If you want adults to be able to be afflicted by Mutantdom, then treating it as a contagion might work better. Think zombies, only biologically superior and of reasonable intellect and not always raging carnivores. This might lead to some apprehension towards mutants (but so would the other approach).[/quote]

That idea is too awesome to ignore and will need some serious thought. I might bypass it for this setting, but deliberately inducing mutations is something the Feru (A human culture) has managed for a couple different mutations, used to augment their military '" though they tend to gloss over the thousands that died in these experiments. Still, having mutation work a bit like zombie-ism or vampir-ism (Or lycanthrophy might be a better analogy) is awesome and may need some further investigation.

[Superfluous Crow]

It will be difficult to maintain a creepy vibe if you want to pack them full of powers. Creepiness is mostly about the subtle but jarring differences. I think the setting as a whole has a more Fantastic tone. It is all about how everything is changed and while it is set in an apocalyptic world, "awesome" seems to be a more fitting keyword than "grim" or "dismal".
If you want to take it down darker paths you should probably try to take that into account when writing the actual fluff. But I think it will do quite well as a Fantastic setting!    

[Xathan]

Creepy was probably the wrong word for what I was going for. "off-putting" might be a better one - mutants look wrong. And overall I am going for a more Fantastic tone - the Apocalypse was long enough ago where grim and dismal aren't even close to what I was going for. I'm saving my darker stuff for other settings - I do dark fairly often, and while I seem constitutionally incapable of not putting some element of the dark in my settings, I wanted to go for something closer to the fantastic.

At the same time, I'm regretting calling mutants that. What I'm going for here are people with physical, biological abnormalities, so the term seemed to fit, but I still seem to be failing to get across how I intended mutants work...and honestly, if my attempts to describe them as one way keep conveying them another way, then maybe my subconscious is working to get me to put mutants a different way than I was originally intending. As such, I'm going to embrace the more fantastic elements of it - mutants are now powerful individuals if they got a good hand (those that got a bad hand are going to die horribly). I'll do a new writeup for them in a bit to fit this new standpoint.

[LordVreeg]

Creepy was probably the wrong word for what I was going for. "off-putting" might be a better one - mutants look wrong. And overall I am going for a more Fantastic tone - the Apocalypse was long enough ago where grim and dismal aren't even close to what I was going for. I'm saving my darker stuff for other settings - I do dark fairly often, and while I seem constitutionally incapable of not putting some element of the dark in my settings, I wanted to go for something closer to the fantastic.

At the same time, I'm regretting calling mutants that. What I'm going for here are people with physical, biological abnormalities, so the term seemed to fit, but I still seem to be failing to get across how I intended mutants work...and honestly, if my attempts to describe them as one way keep conveying them another way, then maybe my subconscious is working to get me to put mutants a different way than I was originally intending. As such, I'm going to embrace the more fantastic elements of it - mutants are now powerful individuals if they got a good hand (those that got a bad hand are going to die horribly). I'll do a new writeup for them in a bit to fit this new standpoint.

Cool.
I am now getting a 'fantastic stories' vibe.  Get your AMAZING FANTASY caps on...we're goin' for a ride.

[SA]

Thanocyst is a remarkably sexy word.

[Xathan]

Oh yeah we're going for a ride - working on the new mutants now as well as the psionics and the gethren crystaltech, and now that I've decided to go full on "Fantastic Stories", as you so aptly put it, I'm having much more fun writing this stuff.

And Angel, glad you like it. Figured I'd put 3 years of latin to good use in some manner, and liked it better than Necrocyst.


On an unrelated note to the replies, as of now I'm leaving Necrots out of the setting until I can make them fit the new tone. The original idea was not where the setting is going tone-wise, and unless they do they're getting cut from Vernith and put in a later setting with a different tone.

[Xathan]

Mutants (Attempt Deux)

[ic]Geralt clung to the smooth belly of the airskimmer, squinting against the wind. It was going to be a simple job '" the Lady Reinstaldt had made some powerful enemies, most of whom would prefer to see her halfwit brother on the throne, and he was supposed to make sure that was the case. He wasn't stupid '" Lady Reinstaldt had some very...definite views on mutant's place in society, and the fact that she felt they were best kept in cages where they couldn't hurt anyone meant that no one would be surprised if a mutant killed her. Hell, Geralt was looking forward to impaling the bitch, even without the money.

What his employers hadn't told him is that she employed a kinetic, which is why he was now stuck to the bottom of an airskimmer with a few of his own bone-spikes sticking into his chest.

It was a short climb back to the deck, and Geralt was lucky enough where he'd managed to grab on out of sight '" the kinetic likely thought him to be a red stain somewhere below. Luckier still that he had more in his genes than the ability to stick to anything and fire shards of bone out of the tubes in his wrists. Granted, melting a hole in the hull of an airskimmer at 2000 feet when you had to breathe the damn fire wasn't easy, but once he'd melted enough he'd be in and back in buisness. Reinstaldt would be dead before the day was out, and he'd get to talk to his employers about how much extra they were going to pay him for leaving out important details.[/ic]

A mutant is a humanoid gifted or cursed, depending on who you ask, with biological abilties beyond what their species is normally capable of. They can leap dozens of feet, climb smooth surfaces, expel toxic gasses, outrun even the fastest mounts, fly with wings or natural jets, and a hundred other things that make them extraordinary '" and, in some cultures, hated.

Regardless of how they're viewed, mutants are almost always obvious. Their abilities leave a mark '" wings, tentacles, tails, or claws in extreme cases, tubes, distorted musculature, or other hidden changes in others. Hiding you're a mutant ranges from impossible to difficult, and if you're stripped then you're exposed.

As such, even in more tolerant cultures, mutants typical live on the outskirts of society '" even if the town guard is just fine with a guy that has three eyes and a prehensile tail that ends in a stinger walking down the street, the most open minded person is going to at least do a double-take at the sight of one. As such, mutants tend to take jobs that put their powers to use '" physical labor for the more socially minded of them, theft and assassination or mercenary work for the less moral, and adventuring for those that want to use their power to the fullest but don't want to prove that people are right about what they are.

[ooc]I know this leaves a lot of details out, but I figured this would be a good starting point for how mutants now work '" and hopefully gives a bit more feel for the setting. As always, questions, comments, snide remarks are appreciated. Hope you enjoyed.

And yes, I know the writing on that initial thing was awful. I've never been talented at writing little things like that [/ooc]

[Xathan]

While I await thoughts on Mutants, I'm currently working on something no-one has asked for but I feel is needed for me to write anything other than Mutants and Psions, because both are recent emergences - hopefully I'll have a somewhat detailed history of the world up in the next couple of days.

[Superfluous Crow]

While some of the sentences in the vignette were a little bit jarring it was actually a pretty cool story!
I like the new mutants. Very colorful creatures admittedly, but I think they are going to fit right in now. Glad you settled on a concept!

[Xathan]

Just noticed this reply - thanks, glad you like it! Yeah, finally decided to ditch my creepy-horror ideas and go all out fantastic. I'm working on a write up of the Gethren Tech right now (which is probably getting a rename, just because Gethtech sounds like something cribbed off of DnD as opposed to an original idea.)