Harderm

Basic description:

Skin is rocky, misshapen, and, well, hard.

Physiology:

Considered by some to be the most tragic of the mutants, harderm mutants are born to human parents (Usually with few to even no mutations of their own) and ranging anywhere from the first six months to the first twelve years of their lives, they look human, are raised as human, are considered human, etc. But when the mutation starts to take effect, it takes effect, and hard (So to speak). It begins with the skin becoming rough and patchy, then calcium deposits begin to appear, and then hardened warts begin to emerge from all over the flesh... a harderm is here. The mutation looks very unsightly but a harderm's body can take more of a beating than an average human's body, and with training harderms can also concentrate and sweat a fluid that further hardens their skin temporarily.

History:

Harderms don't really have a history to speak of, they follow humans and other mutants. The mutation appeared and was not a genetic modification like the brute, cannibal, or tweaker.

Culture:

Unlike the stupidity and violence fueled minds of the brute, the strange culinary arts of the cannibal, or the drug fueled mentality of the tweaker; the harderm mutation is entirely physical. Any mental differences the harderm has is because of nurture and the environment rather than genetics. Depending on who raised the harderm and what forces were around when they grew up, one may encounter entirely different cultures of harderms. In more progressive areas and raised in loving homes that still accepted them when they mutated, one may find harderms in human communities working alongside them and facing a nil amount of stigma. In more xenophobic, mutantphobic areas; the harderm may prefer isolation. Harderms who were exiled when they were children may have found that the only way to survive was to join a raider group, where in a cruel sense of irony, are often more accepted than when they were with their own families, often becoming valued medium engagement forces or in some cases, even marauders.