Mutants

What is a Sunfall mutant and why do they exist?
All inhabitants of the world of Sunfall live under the constant threat of radiation sickness. A lingering reminder of how the old world came to be destroyed, every human survivor feels the daily sting of the hazardous waste poisoning the dirt, the water and the air.

The constant background radiation affects all inhabitants of the new world and most people take their daily dose of anti-radiation medication (also known as Rad-Ex) to fend off the negative effects. Unfortunately, some people fail to keep themselves healthy and degrade through the stages of radiation sickness. First lighter symptoms like coughing and headaches, then worse like anemia and vomiting and spontaneous bleeding, before finally dying.

However, in some cases and for reasons so far unknown, a person does not merely die from overexposure to radiation. Instead of becoming lethally ill, their cell structure begins to change and their body attempts to adapt. This is visible most often by the texture of the skin changing to look akin to that of a burn victim, the hair falling out and limbs rotting or losing function, or even additional limbs growing out.

Which role do the mutants play in Sunfall?
Mutants are the most prominant underdogs of the Sunfall universe. Many citizens of Sunfall have a dislike of mutants that stems from either disgust or fear. Some people have a dislike of mutants simply because they are afraid of them - a fear that is usually two-fold. On the one hand, people are afraid that spending time close to a mutant will cause them to get infected as well. On the other hand, there is always the risk that a mutant brain will snap and they will turn feral.