Mutants

Mutant is the term given to creatures which underwent physical and mental corruption and change as a result of magical interference. It, importantly, does not refer to "ordinary" mutants who develop abnormal traits because of deviations in their genetic code. The key distinction between them is not just the cause, but also that "ordinary" mutants may pass on their traits to their offspring, but magical mutants could not pass on their mutations to their offspring; most could not breed at all, and although the off spring of mutants were also mutants, they possessed entirely different and seemingly random mutations.

The majority of mutants were the result of a deliberate attempt to mutate a creature. This practice is most infamously associated with the Festerkin, who mutated their slaves largely out of curiosity and amusement. Some Dread Titans were also known to practice mutation. However, many mutations were uncontrollable events caused by disruptions in the Magestream - and though these were rare, they were by far the most feared method of mutation. Disruptions strong enough to mutate fully-grown adults were only found in the most devastating of Dreadstorms, but the same strength of disruption was not required to mutate a child in the womb. This phenomenon occurred amongst all races and all nations, but it was most prevalent in Avamorica and to a lesser extent in Epsilucia, where the machinations of the Festerkin were a bountiful source of magical corruption. Mutations in the womb were also extremely frequent during the Night of Horrors.

Children mutated in the womb often failed and miscarried, which is a likely explanation for the consistently higher rates of miscarriage in Inecuria compared to the rest of the world, a phenomenon that disappeared alongside magic. This outcome was generally regarded as the luckiest one - for a mother who birthed a mutant child not only had to endure the trauma of bearing an abhorrent creature, but the additional anguish of having her newborn child killed. Imperial Law still to this day dictates that children corrupted by magical mutation must immediately be put to death, and most pre-Imperial societies also mandated immediate execution for mutants. Imperial Law also still dictates that mothers who hide away their mutant children to save them are to be executed themselves.

Mutant children who were saved by their mothers were abandoned by necessity and lived as outcasts, but they were rarely alone for long; the intelligent mutants who were capable of Human-like thought came together in roaming bands to protect one another and to inflict spiteful vengeance upon the civilisation that had cast them out. Mutant warbands were feared far more than any bandits, for bandits merely desired gold, whereas the mutant warbands rarely left survivors and inflicted horrific tortures upon their victims.

Not all mutants were capable of Human-like reason or emotion, however. Some were reduced to a feral, bestial state through the corruption of their mind, and these acted much like wild animals - albeit extremely dangerous, hostile and furious wild animals. This type of mutant often did not comprehend the notion of kinship with other mutants, and lashed out at other mutants just as readily as the race that had abandoned them.

## Famous Mutants

Famous mutants are categorised as Created or Accidental. Created Mutants were ones that were deliberately made, usually by Festerkin or Dread Titans, whereas Accidental ones arose due to random mutation in the womb and were born as mutants.

### Created

* Mutant King Katai, also known as Katai the Hungry, who established a small kingdom ruled by mutants in Onshitama

### Accidental

* Chief Kenad Skulltaker, the leader of the largest mutant warband ever assembled, active in Roulonne and Epsilucia during the Time of Troubles