Mutagen
Mutagen is a strange chemical stubstance created by the Utrom that has strange and often adverse effects on Earth life forms.
Properties
Material Characteristics
Mutagen is a viscous liquid substance. It's called Ooze due to it's slime-like quality. It is bright green and glows in the dark.
Physical & Chemical Properties
Mutagen has the ability to alter and enhance the DNA of organic material. This reaction happens as soon as the substance comes in contact with organic material and quickly absorbs into the body. It can have wildly different effects depending on the species it touches. For example, it has healing and growth effects on creatures with Planet X DNA, however it has adverse side effects on other planets.
Origin & Source
Mutagen is produced from the blood of bioluminescent, powerfully regenerative marine worms found on Planet X. In the bodies of these worms, mutagen allows them to rapidly heal from injuries and illnesses, making them effectively immortal.
The blood is drained from the worm and are refined in a lab.
History & Usage
Everyday use
The intended use of Mutagen was as a medicine and growth hormone to be used for Utrom and other creatures on Planet X. The substance effects Utrom DNA in such a way that it can heal injures and sickness, it works as a cure-all for most issues and Utrom can have. It is a go to emergency supply for traveling ships of any kind, usually stored in med bays.
Mutagen is also used as a fertilizer for Mycircuitry, allowing the fungus to grow faster and more effciantly, speeding up the process of constructing new tech.
Hazards
Mutagen becomes dangerous when interacting with other species, especially Earth species. Earth creatures have mailable DNA that is prone to being severely broken down and rearranged by the mutagen. The substances doesn't differentiate the DNA of one species from trace DNA of foreign organisms it was in contact with causing those two DNA sequences to merge and causing mutation.
Mutation occurs in any creature that is in contact with it. It can be absorbed through the skin, carrying with it any trace DNA that can be found on the skin from recently touching another creature. It will then bind with the DNA of the host creature and merge it with the foreign absorbed DNA. This causes the body to transform into a hybrid version of the two creatures, usually a stable one due to the mutagen's growth hormones.
Transformation depends on the size of the creature and the amount of growth it would experience from mutation. Creatures mutating into a humanoid form, or vice versa will usually take around 1 - 2 weeks. It is a painful and exhausting process and wild animals often don't survive their vulnerable state for long. After this period of time, the mutation will stabilize into a new, permanent form.
Environmental Impact
Mutagen had devastating effects when Kraang's ship crashed onto the planet and left mutagen strewn across the Rockefeller Contamination Zone. It has polluted the streams and the reservoir that was located their, making the water unsafe for drinking, The mutagen has also caused many unnatural mutations in the wildlife there, some minor but others massive changes that turns them into dangerous monsters.
There is also the risk that some of the mutagen has washed into the ocean and ended up in other parts of the east coast, contamination a potentially massive region of the United States.
New Year's Resolution challenge Constructive Feedback: Although the rules said only constructive feedback, I'd like to do a little of both. I loved the initial image at the start of the article of the Mouser with a canister of mutagen. As a visual reader, I love seeing images of what's being described. Great job having the description of Mutagen at the top of the article. This gives the reader a clear understanding of what it is. The properties section clearly sums up the need to know information leaving the reader to want to dive deeper and learn more about the material. For some constructive feedback, the background image behind the words was a slight distraction for me as I read through the article. Consider less transparency over the written words as this can make it easier to read. Since I love images so much, I would consider more images to have more things to look at. As an example, I was imagining the worm and would have love to see the visualized concept. Lastly, I would think about expanding on the environmental impact the Mutagen has had on earth. Things like contamination protocols, and information that can lead to adventure hooks based on those environmental problems (if this material is for a campaign with players). This way I would have more information to read about in this section and gain more investment in your material. Hope this feedback helps! Great Job creating this material!
I appreciate the feedback; The theme still needs work. I'm working with a default theme and I'm not the best with CSS coding so I'm still having a bit of trouble figuring out how to fix the transparency. Sorry for that. As for the images, to avoid copywrite me and Amevello draw everything ourselves so producing concept art for everything is a bit of a slow process and I try to use all of the artwork we actually have available. If you want to know more about the environmental impact of it, I expand more on that in this article; https://www.worldanvil.com/w/tmnt3A-mystic-forest-amevelloblue/a/rockefeller-contamination-zone-location
Sweet, thanks for the link. I'm a self-taught CSS coder as well so I understand the learning curve. Creating your own artwork is so cool. Keep up the awesome work!