Blackguards

Some of the Novus manage to be quite civil. Almost humans. But not the Blackguards. They never do quite what you expect. They do what they want and take what they will. They cut down those that oppose them and have a thirst for violence. There is nothing civil about them.

The Blackguards, officially known as the Genetically Engineered, or the "GenEn", are Novus that have been created in Blackpoint. They were the first of Novus to rebel against the scientists who created them. They were created to be the strongest elite task force, capable of destroying whatever obstacle on their path. It was just too bad for the scientists that the Blackguards decided that they were the biggest obstacle.
The Blackguards tend to have a bad reputation, at least among humans. They are seen as brutes who kill and maim, destroy and steal. Most humans are just terrified of them. Part of it is because they were the first ones to rebell, which in turn inspired the other Novus to rise up against their creators as well. In part people are scared of them because they tend to be violent criminals, stealing and looting whatever they want.
Other Novus on the other hand view them as heroes. The Blackguards were brave enough to take a stand and do what the other Novus were too afraid to do. The uprising caused a lot of upheaval and the effects it caused are still visible. The Blackuards changed the world in a single stroke.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The scientists created two different kinds of Blackguards. First they created the Mars, and later when the experiment proved successful, they created the second version, the Ors.
Both Mars and Ors have very similar appearance.

Mars

The subgroup Mars has gotten its name from their original creator, Marcus Romano. There are more of them than Ors. The Mars tend to have more muscle mass and are stockier than the Ors.

Ors

Ors have gotten their name from their creator as well, Orsen Smith. They are not as muscular as the Mars, but are still stockier than other Novus.

Anatomy & Appearance

The Mars are one of the tallest Novus. Ors tend to be slightly shorter, more on the mid-range heights, with little deviation. In terms of muscle mass, the Mars are among the heaviest. They are often very muscular, heavy-set and stocky. They are built for strength. The Ors are more muscular than some of the other Novus as well, but often they tend to be less stocky than Mars. Of course there are exceptions, and the differences between Mars and Ors are slight.
While many of the Novus appear very different from humans, the Blackguards blend in with humans well. They are a more muscular and taller than humans, but other than that, they seem like any regular human. However, due to the fact that people know that Blackguards are big and muscular, some humans avoid anyone taller or more muscular than the average person.

Skin tones

The Mars tend to have medium skin tone, pale and dark skin tones are rare in the first generation. In later generations they are uncommon but happen, depending on who the Mars have children with. While the Ors are very similar to Mars, they have a bit more variance in their skin tones. This is a result of the scientists modifying their genome, which caused the first generation Ors having skin tones from very pale to very dark. Ors are the only Novus who can have freckles. Later generations tend to have more mixed skin tones, as, like the Mars, they have children with normal humans.

Eye colours

Both the Mars and the Ors have brown hair. The colour of it ranges from bronze to very dark mahogany. The Ors tend to have a slight reddish tint to their hair that the Mars do not.

Eye colours

The Mars tend to have brown eyes, but blue eyes are not uncommon either. Ors commonly have green, hazel or brown eyes.

Defects

Because Blackguards are mostly enhanced with strength, they don't tend to have defects. In the rare cases they do, they tend to have problems with their joints or with their bones. Their joints can be too loose, causing dislocations, and they can have osteoporosis, causing their bones to become weak and prone to break.

Genetics and Reproduction

Genetics

Blackguards are among the first Novus to be created. Therefore they were genetically enhanced only in the most basic ways. The scientists didn't insert any completely foreign genes to their genome, they only made sure that the genetics used were the best quality. This is why the Blackguards are able to blend in so well with humans. There is really nothing that distinguishes them from humans.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Novus

Scientific Name

Homo Sapiens Novus