Mutations
Well, that's not supposed to be there.In Araea, mutations are a fact of life - physical abnormalities that range from disfiguring to deadly. Mutations spring from a number of sources, from industrial pollution and twisted magic to Blight and Far Deep dangers, to unfortunate circumstance. There is any number of things that can turn people into new and bizarre shapes. Mutations are common enough that most know someone suffering from at least one. Humanity has learned to live with these deformities as just another aspect of a hard life.
Twisted Flesh
Minor Mutations
Though unseemly, painful, and inconvenient, minor mutations are never dangerous or even disfiguring. They are especially among the poor, where are often just seen as the mark of hard work in dangerous places. It is the most commonly encountered form of mutation, so much that some doctors make their living from removing these inconveniences.Deformity
Deformities differ from minor mutations primarily in their disfiguring nature. Although most deformities are not a threat to the mutated's health, they are usually ugly and extensive in scale compared to minor mutations. While many minor mutations can be concealed, it is not so easy with deformities. Some deformities can be a hindrance, though those blur the line between deformity and aberration. With medical science being what it is, telling exactly when a deformity is harmless or not is partially guesswork.Aberrations
Mutations that are dangerous or debilitating beyond being only disfiguring are called aberrations. Limbs twisted to useless shapes or bodies bloated by cancerous tumors to the point of immobility are both possible aberrations. Few who suffer them can fully function, and even fewer live to see old age. At this point, many of the mutations are not only life-threatening but often strange.Abominations
Abomination is a catch-all category for everything too strange for the other classifications; flesh turned to stone or bone, mushroom-like growths across the arms and back, sudden and inexplicable bioluminescence. No matter what shape the abomination, they set the mutant apart from the rest of humanity. Unlike the other categories of mutations, these never have mundane causes.Mutant With familiarity comes a certain degree of understanding. The term "mutant" is sometimes used by medical experts to refer to particularly unfortunate individuals that have been warped far beyond the norm. Outside these scholarly circles, it isn't generally used. Mutations are something that is acquired, like a cold or a bad rash.
Causes
Not all fear mutation. Some seek it out, seeing the human form as weak and feeble. They believe that only by becoming something different, something more than human, can they hope to survive the hostile world. Most infamous among these are the Cult of Zhotori, whose quest for mutations has spawned some of the worse horrors ever seen in Dhanû.
A Medical View
The Atma on Mutations
The Atma believe that mutations are a manifestation of extreme internal imbalance, either as a sudden event or over a long time of exposure. The Atma Medikari try their best to assign mutations one or two traits that they embody; tumors being wet, an extra finger being warm, in the same way as they classify all disease. It doesn't always make sense, but that doesn't stop them from trying. The Medikari advises that the best way to prevent mutations is to avoid imbalance. As cures or antidotes, they recommend diet and careful environmental immersions - staying wet if their mutation is "dry". Read more about Atma - the Science of the Balanced BodyThe Deva on Mutation
The Deva theorizes that mutations are brought on when external elements infiltrate the body and grow inside of it. They are unnatural invasions of the human body, akin to parasites or infections - living things, not mere alterations. As living things, the Deva believe that mutations can be slain, either with surgery, venom, or more esoteric (and typically ineffective) methods. As the premier surgeons of Araea, they are willing to deal with mutations aggressively, believing them to have a cure just like any venom or illness. They have grown skilled at amputation and reconstructive surgery for minor or deforming mutations.Read more about Deva - the Art of Healing
The Exiled No one is as plagued mutations as the Exiled. Forced to spend generations on the Surface, living in Blight and under malignant stars, the Exiled often showcase an impressive array of mutations. The longer an Exiled tribe has spent on the surface, the worse their mutations become. There are not many elders among the Exiled.
Medicine in Araea There are two dominant theories of medicine in Araea: the Atma and the Deva. The Atma believe that all illness comes from within, born of imbalance and can be cured by correcting that, while the Deva view the body as an intricate machine of flesh, blood, bile, and bone. With life or death on the line, the contest between the two schools is a festering wound that rarely benefits the patients.
Example Mutation: Minor Growing (or losing) a finger is a common example of a minor example. If the sufferer it lucky, it will be on her hand. Many chose to amputate the offending aberration, but those too poor to afford proper treatment risk infecting the wound and so many simply chose to live with it.
Example Mutation: Deformity Persistent and ugly skin-rashes and tumor-like growths can be an example of a deformity mutation. While not yet life-threatening, they set the mutated apart from others.
Cures and Treatments
Minor mutations and sometimes deformities can be treated, but such treatment take the form of surgery that cuts away tainted flesh and hope it will regrow healthy. For aberration and abomination mutations, the best a mutated can hope for is the false hope of some snake oil. Theurgs, on the other hand, can offer things no surgeon can.Example Mutation: Aberration The left eye can no longer see, as the tumors that cover the mutated's face have grown bulbous and swollen enough to cover it. They bleed often and reek of decay - the result of extended immersion in Blight.
Example Mutation: Abominable This patient returned from the Far Deep, gibbering of things too terrible to recount. His arms have grown hard chitinous scales, which he insists are growing to cover more of his skin. The nails have elongated and become hard claws.
I like how the basic premise of the opening line is, "Hey get use to mutations cause this place sucks.".It's crazy that such a place can have that many mutations. It's really just a part of their life. Even the form of "oh no big deal" mutations. I like that there are two different schools of thought when it comes to mutation. Are their clashes between the two? Or is this more of a philosophical difference? It does kind of suck that there's no awesome and good mutation. They all suck, even the awesome ones apparently. Lol.
I didn't want them to be something desirable, so I made the choice that even the ones that are beneficial have a cost and a consequences, much like thaumaturgy :) And the relationship between Atma and Deva is philosophical in that they have fundamentally different ideas of what causes illness, and they also have an air of how rival kung-fu schools might interact. Shouting, posturing, occasional brawls and lots of "my style is better than your style" kind of shenanigans
Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.