Humans are no strangers to hardships; be it war, plague, famine, or death we have always borne the burden of these ominous shadows that we as a species are fated to endure. We even pride in ourselves in the fact that we have survived thus far whether the ordeal be natural or man-made. In the mid 21st century the same challenges still face humanity as it always has, with very little changing in our ways.

     And yet a new epidemic has begun to spread throughout the world, a new strain of DNA has affected the thousands of individuals across the planet just as the twenties of this new century passed. It was diagnosed as the Paige Disease, this being the first victim’s last name. He never lived to see his name hold the meaning it does now today.

     The affected where either people below in the age of thirty or just hitting puberty, as very few children and elderly survived the affliction. Symptoms were at first a slight fever, accompanied by a massive nosebleed a day later, and shortly afterwards massive pain throughout the nervous system for about an hour and then all seemingly died. Some truly died, the diagnosis being generally heart failure.

     But those that survived awakened with what people could only be described as unnatural ‘gifts’. It varies from the ability to control inanimate objects, elements, or read minds to manipulating physical objects to their will. Some similarities though are definitely increased strength, speed, and some even have heightened levels of intelligence. 

     The families and loved ones of the affected survivors soon found that living with these gifts was an interesting obstacle. Some got by just fine as their abilities didn’t affect their lifestyle while others where not so lucky. Over the next ten years more and more people fell to the disease, with doctors scrambling to find a reason and remedy to the new sickness that assaulted humanity’s youth. As the number of cases steadily grew more and more experts in the medical field finally started getting concerned, but as it only affected scattered individuals around the globe few could find a reason as to how this disease spread and more importantly why.

     All survivors of the Paige disease are perfectly healthy human beings on the outside yet their bodies are conditioned more having survived the terrible Paige affliction. They all have increased resistance to illness as a side effect, are about as durable as a trained soldier in terms of taking a physical beating, they recover from wounds faster, and having cheated death few of them ever show fear in the face of danger. Though they can still be killed as easily as any person these handy traits make them a very nasty surprise by those who are not unprepared.

     There is one very horrible side effect though, the Paige affects the mental condition of all the infected. When near death or in stressful situations the disease harnesses the most fearful scenario that the individual has witnessed. The Disease makes that scenario constant in their mind until their fear becomes reality and kills them or their fear overwhelms their control thus making them attack themselves or everything in a blind rage, hence the “Feral” term. 

     While most can control their fears if experienced enough or if help is sought, others who fall to their fear or overuse their powers then have that horrible event made reality for all to see. The ones that people fear and despise are the ones who lose control of their abilities and become ‘Feral’ which means they basically lose control of their powers and/or succumb to their inner fears or demons.

     If not stopped soon, depending on the mutant you may just have a dead mutant who was weeping in a corner, to a small city block destroyed, to…. Well you get the picture. The result of a feral going completely insane is often very catastrophic and deadly to all in the area.

     For example in Istanbul, the city of the Ancient Eastern Roman Empire was almost wiped off the map by a young teenager who almost drowned four years beforehand. Being a street urchin she always lived in fear and had no one to turn to, while being beaten and scorned for being a Mutant until she finally let the constant fear in. She drowned as well did half the city, making the Katrina Hurricane seem like a small spill in terms of the loss of life, property, and historical structures destroyed.

     Thankfully with a good rest they all recover in a short amount of time. Sadly there have been cases where some of the gifted that recover from the “Feral” state of mind lose most of their cognitive brain functions and become mentality handicapped. 

     Despite barely even going beyond a fraction of the Earth’s human population, the new disease had many people justifiably worried. No one could tell how the disease was contracted and the signs where very hard to predict as a seemingly unaffected community suddenly had a person go sick. Slowly but surely what began as concerned individuals not wanting to become infected by the Paige soon cast out anyone affected out of terror while others wishing to be affected embraced them.

     In other parts of the world they had to endure some of humanity’s oldest and cruelest stigmas. Witch hunts, beatings, slavery, and cleansing of the so-called ‘demons’. Others are more fortunate and where accepted by their communities as gifts from the gods and hailed as saviors and heroes. 

     Yet regardless of all this, this new challenge and at the same time old challenges threaten the modern society we now know. Whether for good or ill people are becoming fearful and aware of the gifted individuals; either reacting in outright fear or wanting to use them to meet their own ends. As history has shown sadly, humanity loves to generalize people based on what they do not understand. 

     The gifted soon have a name that the public deems them worthy for; Mutant. While others may call them Angels or Demons this is what is termed the more ‘politically correct’ way of saying a gifted individual.

     Some have tried to fight back against the growing stigma that they are being stuck with; being called heralds of destruction, freaks of nature, even foreboding the end of times. But when they try to fight back they are not heard, and even then some mutants use more violent actions. Rarely do they succeed as most of time the unrest is disorganized, drunk, or not coordinated. 

     Then came the famed “Moscow Mutie Madness” of 2032 in which hundreds of violent mutants struck the sports arenas and killed thousands before the military intervened. The international sports event soon became a bloody war zone, with the Russian military finally quelling the attackers. Survivors of the attack where quickly and summarily executed live on television as a warning from the Russian government to any mutants who wanted to try a similar stunt again. Any credibility the mutant community had of being peaceful was shot right then and there with many third and second world countries establishing their own mutant control policies.

     The stereotype of this new breed of humans, these … ‘mutants’, is fast becoming the majority of the world’s new scapegoat. While they are human indeed in ever shape and form they are blamed for most of the world’s problems. Just like in the Red Scare of 1920, Medieval Dark Ages, The Salem Witch Trails, and Pre World War II Germany mutants are blamed for crop failings, unusual weather, and economic failures, to even the common flu. 

     It is the now the year 2033, a year since the Moscow Games Incident.

     In the United States, on the coastal city of New Haven, California the Mayor Steven Wiggins wants to try a new approach to the Mutant issue. He says in a brief speech that mutants are people as well and with the backing of the governor of California he declares the city a ‘sanctuary’ for the world’s mutants to live normal lives if they so chose. While skeptics and critics have greeted this with wariness, from around the world scarred but hopeful people both mutant and non-mutant alike venture from many walks of life to start anew in this supposed sanctuary.

    All the politics and crossfire concerning the mutant issue soon turns it’s sight on the city of New Haven California, eager to see what may happen in the next few months.