Children of the Ice, Part 3: Muters

Short for “mutants.” Their great-grandparents huddled for warmth around the nuclear towers of the Continental Dome Cores. They’re the lucky ones, the ones who might glow at night but are still Homo diversus. Not exactly human, but not far enough away to cause nightmares. 

Sometimes the radiation and their rad-blasted DNA conspire against them. Monsters are born and abandoned outside of the Domes. Those that survive are often vicious and vengeful. Sometimes muters’ internal monsters get to them. Rule-breakers and criminals are routinely banished, exiled from the Domes and left to fend for themselves in the harsh cold.

Appearance:
As wildly divergent as the term Homo diversus implies. Muters can range in size from very large to fairly small. Sometimes their mutations are subtle, like patterns of different color skin across their bodies or bands of orange in their hair and beards. Sometimes it’s more substantial changes like extreme asymmetry to their features and limbs, or situations with extra or missing digits and heads. Sometimes muters have too many teeth. Or eyes. Or not enough. Centuries of genetic tinkering means that muters can also have more animalistic elements occasionally. Fangs or tusks are not uncommon. Neither are tails and bone horns.

Temperament:
Muter society is controlled and regulated. Watched. Pruned. Regimented by laws and politicians, jailers and executioners. They live in great enclosed nuclear-powered cities known as the Continental Domes. Again: they’re the survivors so muters tend to have trust issues.