Mutates

PHASE 1

PHASE 2

Mutates
First Seen:	Genosha Arc

The mutant labour force of Genosha, made into mindless slaves by a new process created by the Genegineer. Following the fall of the Genoshan Government, all mutates in Genosha were returned to normal.

Details

Phase 1

By the 2000s, with the mutant workers in their third generation, Genosha was beginning to become something of an industrial power in the region, with international investors making the government increasingly wealthy. As demand for production grew, so too did the need for mutants with industrially 'useful' powers. Unfortunately, natural means and even immigration was not providing the powers and numbers needed, despite various programs in the 1980s and 1990s, and production began to fall behind demand, the country facing financial collapse and a crippling Depression.

In 2004, when a genetic splicing technique was put on the market by a Mr. Joe MacTaggart shortly before the Proteus incident, the increasingly-materialistic Genoshan government saw a solution to their problem. The technique, created by Nathaniel Essex as a part of Project Tearaway, provided a means by which 'useless' powers could be made industrially viable. The research provided was incomplete and unstable, but in a similar series of experiments to Rory Campbell's Hounding process, Genoshan scientists under the direction of a secretive figure called the Genegineer developed the 'mutate' process, by which they could amplify - or decrease, in cases where a mutant was considered too powerful to be safely controlled - a mutant's powers, and combine two powers together to make something that could be used in industry. The process made the subject passive and easily controlled, a side effect that the government, increasingly fearful of the original eight mutants' political and financial influence, kept under wraps. The original eight mutants, now leaders among a mutant workforce of several hundred, were approached regarding providing volunteers for the process, and seeing a means to consolidate their influence and become more powerful by having Genosha relying entirely on the mutant population, they agreed. A number of mutants with 'useless' powers were pushed into the program and the resulting mutates, bonded into environmental suits that allowed the Genoshan government to track every movement and function, saved the country's economy and the government - and the original eight mutants - were hailed as heroes.

As a whole, the Genoshan population is unaware of - or is reluctant to seek detailed information about - the mutate process and its results. Aware that their rather high quality of life is dependent on the island's industry, they pay little attention to the 'new' workers and their lack of free will. There have been rumblings recently, however, and organizations such as Amnesty International have begun to receive the first rumours of something not being quite right. Charles is likewise unaware of the extent of the issue since Cerebro is not calibrated to detect artificially-generated power fluctuations such as those caused by the mutate process. The actual size of the mutate population in Genosha was a state secret up until the fall of the government precipitated by their kidnapping of various Xavierites. After the conflict was ended, all mutates had the process reversed, returning to their normal powers and free wills.

During the Genosha incident, several individuals connected to the Xavier Institute were made into mutates: Yvette Petrovic, Amara Aquilla, Laurie Collins, Callie Betto and Sarah Vale. They have few memories of their actions whilst under the mutate process, although they did retain various levels of powers control.

Plots

Phase 1

Genosha Arc