Not Approved Rat man

Since there is not really template to follow I'll keep it short and simple.


Apex are known for their haphazard love for experimentation on things. Genetic modification is an example of this. So, what about an Apex labaratory in the frontier of Council Space was set up to do a few ethic and moral questionable genetic engineering projects where on one of the projects it went wrong and sparked the arrival of a new species of rat man. This ofcourse had some defect to it due to the project still being underway.

Limited diplomatic and social skills to the other species, much like a tribal Floran trying to do some meeting with an envoy of the Hylotl or something in that direction. Where the Hylotl would be somewhat superior in negotiating and the Floran at a disadvantage.

The whole thing got swept under the rug atleast, the part of the labaratory and the experiments so no known records are found of it. Only adventurers and explorers meeting these rat man on desolate or abandoned city worlds which were shining jewels at one point or another. Making a living there for themselves.

Short list of pros and cons, I feel like it will come up.

Pros
Apex mutated into rat men, also digigrade legs for added agility.

Cons
Limited speech capabilities, a struggle to overcome when not understood.

 

I'd be fine with a single rat man, wrote this up early in the morning so my spelling isn't always 100% spot on at that time for little potholes to trip over. Ofcourse it'll replace the Apex pretending to be a rat man into an actual rat, but as you've previously saw the lengthy statement Khaltor made I did not feel too encourage to make it back then. But I made this request here and now because sod it all, eh?

 

To me it'll feel making Skeek more complete, rather than a weird Apex in a suit it'll be a real shocker when he takes his helmet off. Or people see him without his helmet on. But on the fringe of council space, weird things are the norm since the boundaries are faded between the explored and unexplored.

It'd also make Skeek more neutral than he currently is, allowing me to freely interact with groups of people in conflict if that would ever occur on a active scale. Perhaps even make Skeek overall more accepted in the frontier too. When social contacts get rolling I aim to get Skeek either get hired as an engineer for something or make my own freelance engineer ad should the former not succeed. Or something else entirely, depending on what the future will hold.

 

I now go through all the hoops to make Skeek a rat man as my intentional character idea was and now on when it comes to it you are essentially saying no? Because before I was made too discouraged to pull through with this?

 

Right, after giving it plenty of thought. Here is my renewed vision of Skeek. Take your time to read it.

While I personally feel that it goes without saying, the differences between an Apex, who is wearing a rat suit, because of some mental illness or delusion and an Apex who, through a series of unfortunate events, became an abomination through the physical and mental changes that were a result of some freak accident and the circumstances which were the cause of the accident as well as the mutative process itself, are readily apparent, I will elaborate some more, as was requested.

Before this character became a Rat man, back when “Skeek” was still just a regular Apex, he was just another nameless technician, who was assigned to maintain a research facility, whose construction was rather rushed, which led to poor working circumstances as it was always near the verge of collapse. Through the efforts of our character and his team, the researchers were able to work without worrying about getting exposed to the radioactive substances that were modified to mutate Apex specimens in specific ways. The maintenance team however, was not that fortunate.

As a result of long-term exposure, “Skeek” and his team suffered minor physical deformities and were beginning to be affected mentally as well. After submitting their complaints about these working conditions, they were forced to continue their assignment regardless.

At one point in time, due to the extent of the effects on our technicians physical and mental health, an accident occurred during maintenance on an important junction point in the electrical wiring of the containment module after one of many failed experiments.

This accident exposed “Skeek” to a large dose of radiation, which vastly accelerated the ongoing mutative process. The transformation was an excruciatingly painful process for our technician, as the climax of these changes altered his physical constitution to be more similar to that of a rodent, rather than that of an Apex. As his physical appearance became that of a Rat man, “Skeek” realized his cognitive functions were also affected.

“Skeek” was now changed beyond recognition, and due to the fact that his front teeth were ever growing, he now also had the craving to chew on something in order to stop them from puncturing his own jaw, his limbs had also significantly changed, as he lost a lot of muscle mass in his arms and his legs became digitigrade, which made him more agile but weaker physically overall, his fur became more pronounced, which led to a general increase in body temperature, which was regulated by his new tail, which also aided in maintaining his balance as with his newly acquired hunchback. Along with the changes to his teeth, “Skeek’s” jaw alignment was altered as well, which provided him with a significantly stronger bite, but also resulted in a very unsettling speech impediment.

These things concluded as they usually would, after the team of technicians was silenced the whole affair was swept under the rug, but “Skeek” managed to escape the facility. After having lived in solitude for an undeterminable amount of time, obsessing over the changes that had befallen him and those that were responsible for them, “Skeek” had acquired what could only be described as paranoia, social anxiety, general misanthropy and a general distrust of those similar to the ones who had put him through all of these miserable changes: immoral Apex scientists, vowing to thwart them wherever he could.

However, in the meanwhile, “Skeek” would gladly settle for returning from his self-imposed exile, to work as an engineer or technician in the Fringe, even if that would put him in direct opposition of those that would judge him as a freak as well as his own inner demons, in order to gather resources to execute his revenge on those that wronged him.