Mutants

# INFECTIVE MUTANTS

## Overview

Infective Mutants are mutated humans or animals who rely on infecting healthy individuals instead of reproduction, to properly keep their population from going extinct. These mutants usually employ many different tactics to finish their goals, and yearn for total infection of the human race. Although there are a few different infective mutants, they are generally almost all categorized as the "Collective."

“Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

-Friedrich Nietzsche

# **The Collective ("The Rotting Plague")**

## Background:

The origin of the rotting plague can be traced back to the united states super-soldier program going under the name of Project Redfighter. The disease was created on accident, but was quickly adopted as the perfect biological weapon against the USSR. Fine tuned to survive in cold, wet conditions, the disease was created to wipe out the USSR. A cure was developed for the disease, but was destroyed sometime after the war before any organized faction could access it.

Arriving shortly after the nuclear winter began, the collective is a prolific and highly communicable airborne disease that infects all forms of life, from small rodents, to trees, to humans. The collective, or "Putridum Plaga" according to more medically literate folk among the wastelands, manifests as a blackish purple growth on most living creatures. Entire square miles of land can be encompassed and fully changed by the disease, leading to places like the **Rotting Bay** being feared by wastelanders.

The Rotting Plague attacks the brain directly, taking control of it over the course of a month or so. While unrecognizable at first, the symptoms slowly become more severe, until the host is rendered incapacitated at the final stage before the transition to full takeover of the brain. Most contract the disease from direct skin exposure to infected environment, or consuming plants carrying the disease without properly preparing it. Other ways include blood to blood contact or saliva ingestion of an infected person or persons. Inhalation of infected air for prolonged periods of time may sometimes infect an individual.

Those who have reached the full take-over of the brain still seem to remain "human-like", and still have personality and life-goals. Unfortunately, this is overshadowed by the urges that the disease forces onto its victims. When around non infected individuals, and if they are with any other infected, they will have the single obsessive goal to infect healthy individuals. In extremely rare cases, some infected are able to resist this urge, but are still plagued by severe deformities and mental problems, and most are turned away from society or even attacked.

Necrotic Collective Mutants are distinguishable by their flaky, purple-brown or green, and often necrotic skin, and high sensitivity to light. Although, in low light levels, they excel extremely well, and possess an extremely sharp vision, and later stages don glowing eyes to see better in pitch black conditions. They also have a heightened resistance to cold conditions. Because of this, many collective mutants adapt to night hunting, retreating to metros/sewers or caves in the day time. They range in sizes, shapes, and physical capability, and depend on the strain.

Inflamed Collective Mutants are distinguishable by their irritated, burned, and red skin. They have white, colorless eyes that are good for seeing in very bright sunlight, and have a strong sensitivity to cold. Their skin is leathery and hard, able to protect against sand and rocks. They are known to be bulkier in size and shape, while shorter and less thin. inflamed Collective Mutants function best in the daytime, in hot, arid environments.

Overgrown Collective Mutants are distinguishable by their plant covered, mossy, brown-green skin. They have black, cold eyes that are good for seeing in shaded, semi-low light conditions. Overgrown are exceptionally good at camoflauge and surviving in densely wooded areas. They thrive well in humid, wet environments, and usually have lightweight, thin forms to enable easy and fast travelling.

Collective Mutants are usually docile or ignorant to non-infective mutants, as they seem to have a natural resistance to this infection, unlike humans. They are sometimes seen working together, but in some cases, they may fight if they have odds against each other.

Collective Mutants, especially those that lack human intelligence, tend to completely ignore or disregard humans who are disabled or sick, only targeting healthy individuals. Although, those that have human intelligence, will sometimes intentionally target those that are disabled to further spread the disease.

Collective mutants often conglomerate together in hives, which range from groups of 10 to 10,000. Hives usually gather around an area infected with the rotting plague, such as a rotting forest or radioactive zone. Some of the most prominent hives are the Rotting Bay Hive, the Gila Forest Hive, and the Washington Metro Hive.

Collective Mutants are always ruled by 1 "Collector", who is directly responsible for controlling a hive. This collector is usually chosen at random, but some factors are known. Being very smart increases the likelihood of a Collector's transformation, although that is only if one does not exist in the area already. Without a Collector, Collective Mutants can no longer properly communicate with each other via hivemind, and if they stay without a Collector for a long enough time, they will disconnect from the hivemind and no longer wish to infect, becoming reclusive or seeking refuge with non-infective mutants until a Collector is born again.

## Factions and Affiliates

The Mass of Osiris is the largest faction with Collective Mutants, essentially comprising of them. Unlike wild Collective Mutants, they all seem to possess a higher intelligence due to their extremely close proximity to the Collector in the bunker. Those outside still seem to be connected to the hivemind, but are not as intellectualized as the ones in the Bunker.

## Public Opinion

For a general rule of thumb, most wastelanders incorporate this phrase created by The Southern Front, into their lives to ensure their own health and safety from the infection:

*"If It's purple and black, you better get the hell back."*

*"If it's red, run away or shoot it till it's dead."*

Most Wastelanders fear the Collective Mutants, due to there being no available treatment for the infection, thus rendering it a severe threat. Non-Infective Mutants such as Jacks and Sallows, have different views, depending on the person, but most will simply leave Collective Mutants alone. In very rare cases, some Non-Infected mutants have used the Collectives as a weapon to achieve their own goals and defend themselves.

All factions except for Mass of Osiris declare the Collective Mutants as KOS in their territory. The Southern Front and Sunshine Sluggers will actively hunt down mutants.

## **Infection:**

Proximity to areas with high infection can easily lead to catching the disease. Spores can be easily transmitted and inhaled if a victim is near an area which is infested by the disease.

Bodily fluids of infected are also a great contaminant, regardless of their stage of infection.

Contamination of water and food is also possible, although the disease will eventually die out in a few weeks in these conditions.

Staying by corpses of infected can lead to infection as well, as they will begin releasing spores along with the gases that build up in the corpse's innards.

Blood to blood contact with infected lead to quick and efficient infection. Bites, scratches, and proximity to open wounds all lead to contamination. Saliva ingestion also contributes greatly.

## **The strains:**

The disease in the early years was not well documented, leading to many misconceptions with naming and identifying different strains and versions of the disease. The Containment created a document, noting all recorded strains and variants of the disease, but the records were only released to the public in 1987. Because of this lack of information in the early years, many identifiable versions of the disease harbor nicknames by survivors, which are still commonly used to this day rather than their stage names.

The Rotting Plague is split into three distinct versions of the disease. The Necrotics, the Inflamed, and the Overgrown. Each version has it's own distinct and identifiable qualities, strengths, and weaknesses. For instance, the overgrown have a natural weakness to heat and aridity, whereas the inflamed are unaffected by dry heat. The Necrotics are considered by many to be the middle road, being adaptable to most climates, but not as powerful as the two other versions in their respective regions.

### **Necrotics**

The Necrotics were the first variant discovered, before any alterations were made by the United States government to create a more efficient bioweapon. Necrotics are identifiable by their purple-green skin tone and rotting flesh. The Necrotics have a strange ability to decompose and regenerate at the same time, leading to many in later stages losing giant chunks of themselves only for them to regrow minutes to hours later. Necrotics thrive best in cold, dark environments, being incredibly prolific in the Nuclear Winter period, and simmering down in population during the turn of the Regrowth Period. Necrotics have multiple variants.

#### Initial Infection & Rot Sickness

Initial symptoms of the infection show up roughly 2-3 days after exposure. During this time, once infection symptoms show up, the person is already lost, if the exposed limb was not severed beforehand. The first of the symptoms begin as coughing, and vomiting. The vomited material can be infectious if ingested, and proper disposal is required. After 3 days or so of symptoms, the condition of the infected person will worsen. The subject will start to cough up and vomit blood, suffer hallucinations of horrific or traumatic events, and devolve into complete hysteria. Eventually the loss of pigmentation occurs, then light necrosis of fingers and toes. Eventually the skin will turn a deep shade of sickly bruised purple or green.

## **Survivor accounts**:

An excerpt from "Turning the Tide: A Post-Nuclear Documentary of the last Great War":

> [Kenny Walters sits on an old couch in a dusty apartment building. A fan in the background whirrs loudly. He smokes a cigarette, staring intently into the camera, one arm rested against the base of the couch.]
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> ***"Can you tell me the first time you saw them?"***
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> "The first time?"
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> ***"Yes."***
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> [He laughs.]
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> "I remember it down to the second. Watching them... slumping over the hill like an army of corpses. I was a resident of Pacifica before the war. Lived the simple life, y'know. I had just gotten out of the war, I was tired. I wanted a house by the beach, somewhere quiet. Nowhere near trees, nowhere where the VC could jump out at me. A wide expanse, where I could see miles and miles. The ocean seemed like the perfect place. Goddamn, was I wrong. I was watching the news when the commies dropped the first one on us, DC I think. I was preparing for San Francisco to get blown to bits, but I guess we lucked out, for a time. To know what it was like to fight the collective, you first gotta know what it was like before they arrived. San Francisco was a safe haven, I would call it."
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> **"What was it like?"**
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> "Well before they cut the power, some news station broadcasted a safezone somewhere in Chinatown. They had walled off a section of the street. Started taking in refugees, y'know. Then the snow started falling, and that's when people started panicking. You see, San Francisco and the West coast in general don't see a lot of snow like the East, so most people were terrified. There was some looting, riots, most of the stuff you'd assume to see. A lot of people left just because of how lawless the city began to feel."
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> **"Did it ever simmer down?"**
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> "Oh yeah. People began to move away, looking for safer or better places. Most moved out into the countryside, hitting the mountains, Tahoe City. Others went out towards Oakland. The air got worse and worse as the days went on, to the point that most people retreated into the BART stations. I personally stayed in my home town, secured by house, made it air tight. Added filters, you know the deal. Some crazy bastards actually managed to restore power to parts of the city, so for a time you could actually see the lights in the distance. That all ended quickly though, I think the lights are what attracted them in the first place."
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> **"Where did they first show up?"**
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> "I can't recall for sure, as I wasn't there at the time they arrived. Most people assume that 'Bloody Halloween' was some large battle in one location, but it was actually multiple small skirmishes across the city. Not a lot of people really survived the first attack alive, so accounts of it are kind of off. From what I recall they approached from the North at first, taking Sausalito and heading down the bridge. There was a camp on the bridge, they called it "Fogtown" or something. It was actually foggy that day, so they didn't really see them coming until they were getting bitten and swarmed. The collective is swift, efficient, very prolific and very communicable."
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