Parahuman

## Definition

A parahuman is a catch all term designating any person who possess special abilities not found in baseline members of their species. Despite the use of 'human' other species can be legally designated as parahuman.

## **Mutant**

Mutants account for the largest percentage of parahumans on Earth Aleph, estimating to number around forty million worldwide. Mutants are believed to have been created by the Aldaars for unknown purpose after their mysterious appearance on Earth in 1963.

Mutants are defined by possession of the Von-Neumann Gene, a recessive gene which seems to be required for mutants to manifest, a person with only a single copy of the VNG is only a carrier and cannot manifest powers. When exposed to great stress or trauma, mutants will find their dormant powers awakening, as a response to an adequate stimuli.

Second generation and above mutants (mutants whose mother was a manifested mutant during their child's gestation) however manifest much more easily than first generation mutants. Powers tend to run in families, but occasionally second generation mutants will manifest with powers unconnected to that of their parents.

### Hypertech

Hypertech is a phenomenon where some mutants are able to create devices operating far above human technological levels. However hypertech is unstable and stops working without maintenance.

## **Imbued**

Imbued is the legal classification of parahumans who received powers through other methods than mutanthood.

### ***Freak Accident***

On occasion, people are exposed to high amounts of exotic particles, generally through scientific experiments and gain powers as a result. Most parahumans with powers coming from such accidents tend to bend the laws of physics around them.

Examples include Tachyon of the Legion and Verkhovnyy.

### ***Meteor Children***

In 2015, the world killer asteroid known as Iapetus was on a collision course toward earth. Although it was destroyed and diverted before it could hit earth, fragments of it rained down on earth. Unknown to humanity, these fragments contained exotic matter which bonded with sapient beings who came into contact with them.

### ***Aldaar Symbiotic Weapon***

With the destruction of the Aldaar spacecraft, millions of tons debris rained across the atlantic ocean. Among which were weapons and other tools, waiting for someone to claim them. Unlike human weapons, many aldaar weapons seem to permanently fuse with those who wield them and cannot be removed.

Example of people bonded with Aldaar weapons include Sentinel of the Legion and Ahti.

### ***Cybernetic or Medical Enhancements***

The appearance of parahumans in the 60's lead to a superhuman arms race between the eastern and western bloc attempting to develop more powerful parahumans to fight within the cold war proxy engagements across the world. With the fickleness of mutant breeding, the rarity of aldaar artifacts and unreliability of exotic matter accidents, both blocs turned to science to create new parahumans.

### ***Black Blood***

Coming from Earth [x] where it arrived in a comet that hit the world in 1982, The Black Blood is an alien parasitic pathogen which seems to grant enhanced abilities to those whom it infect, but fails to immediately take over them.

Black Blood infected typically are vulnerable to cold, which makes them quite sluggish and potentially leads to death.As the infection progress, the infected risk losing control to the parasite and go 'Feral' only once the parasite is fully grown and in control do the infected become infectious to others.

Examples include Yikaru Kensuke, Rowan Mongeux.