Melody Seabreeze
Questionable Inquisitor
A World of Change
The world is a frightening place for the young. It had always been hard to make it through puberty and through the transition into adult life, but a global epidemic compounded this problem. This epidemic is known as MORFS...
MORFS was originally launched on the world's population by means of a genetically engineered virus. It had been started as an attempt at a chemical weapon by a group of terrorists back in the early 2000s. The virus they engineered was a common bug that caused nausea, vomiting, and sometimes diarrhea. It wasn't serious, everyone recovered in a few days, and so no one had tried to make a vaccine to prevent it right away.
At the time of the original release of the infection, there seemed to be no immediate effect from the agent, other than the usual nausea symptoms, so again no anti-virus was made. Over the next 6 months, the virus passed over the whole globe unnoticed. The virus spread everywhere. All vertebrate animals that experienced some form of puberty contracted the virus, including all mammals and even reptiles and birds.
Several months after that, some researchers who noted some strange changes in adolescent lab mice discovered that the virus was altering one section of their DNA. The DNA strand in particular was one that happened to be activated during the process of puberty. It somehow caused a varying degree of scrambling of genes across all chromosomes as cells reproduced. Since the scrambling varied from individual to individual, each adolescent mouse experienced different changes. It didn't take long after that for them to discover that all vertebrate species, including humans, had been similarly affected, even though the effects had not started showing up yet in all species.
More recent research has revealed that the particular portion of DNA that was affected by the virus is one that is supposed to protect and regulate the integrity of an individual's genome. The mutated portion essentially disables all or part of that activity, thus allowing many other mutations and gene swaps to appear and survive.
At first, the scientists had been puzzled as to why only some individuals of any species were affected. It took them a couple years to discover that, although the changes only happened during puberty, they were only brought about when an individual became infected with any of the viruses in the family of the original engineered virus. Some individuals of some species apparently were naturally resistant to such infections, so they never experienced any changes.
Of course, there was a crash research effort to try to find a vaccine for that whole family of viruses, but it was soon discovered that that family mutated rapidly and always seemed to outpace the development of an effective vaccine. It’s like they say; there's no cure for the common cold.
Meanwhile, the first effects in adolescent humans began to appear. It seemed as though only about 50% of kids had any detectable changes due to the altered strand. About 15% of that 50% developed extraordinary abilities and/or body changes. And about 1% of that 15% developed what would be called supernatural abilities. Another fair percentage seemed to show signs of hybridization with other species, with highly variable results. Human/Animal hybrids were treated like second class citizens by some people, however prejudice of hybrids is treated like any other form of prejudice, it is frowned upon or looked over by the general populous. Also like any other form of discrimination, if it is practiced in schools or in the work place, it is punishable by law. However, anywhere else it is protected by free speech so long as no physical harm is done. If a hybrid is beaten, it is considered a hate crime and police/legal action will be taken.
This had all started about forty years ago. However, with everyone carrying this altered DNA strand, it was passed down to all the children of that and subsequent generations. Sometimes changed forms and/or abilities of parents were passed down as well.
The scientists had named this phenomenon "Massive Ontogenetic Regulation Failure Syndrome," commonly known as MORFS. Those affected by the virus are also commonly called Morfs.
The older generations had nothing to worry about, but kids my age were suddenly faced with the possibility of dramatic life changes as they entered puberty. Ever since then, every kid has had to anticipate the likelihood of MORFing, as well as all the other adolescent changes.
The change takes anywhere from two days to a week of pain/mass amounts of sleep. Modern science found ways to make the change less painful and faster, as the first generation Morfs took weeks, sometimes months, to fully change.
This is the story of those taken for experimental testing of a new strain of the virus. The Organization is responsible for the abductions of citizens and takes people without prejudice. Those they take are injected with a redesigned version of the virus, tailored to infuse the infected with superhuman abilities. Well... that's the plan at least. As with any drug, there is always a testing phase where things don't go according to plan.
The year is 2042 and you are either one of the test subjects, a member of the SMRT Lab (Special MORFS Research and Testing) or "The Organization" (as they are known), a member of the Government, or a member of some other organized group. "The Organization" is a terrorist cell that seeks to overthrow the global governments with MORFS enhanced shock troopers. They are cunning, ruthless, and just that special little bit of crazy that makes them feared.
MORFS was originally launched on the world's population by means of a genetically engineered virus. It had been started as an attempt at a chemical weapon by a group of terrorists back in the early 2000s. The virus they engineered was a common bug that caused nausea, vomiting, and sometimes diarrhea. It wasn't serious, everyone recovered in a few days, and so no one had tried to make a vaccine to prevent it right away.
At the time of the original release of the infection, there seemed to be no immediate effect from the agent, other than the usual nausea symptoms, so again no anti-virus was made. Over the next 6 months, the virus passed over the whole globe unnoticed. The virus spread everywhere. All vertebrate animals that experienced some form of puberty contracted the virus, including all mammals and even reptiles and birds.
Several months after that, some researchers who noted some strange changes in adolescent lab mice discovered that the virus was altering one section of their DNA. The DNA strand in particular was one that happened to be activated during the process of puberty. It somehow caused a varying degree of scrambling of genes across all chromosomes as cells reproduced. Since the scrambling varied from individual to individual, each adolescent mouse experienced different changes. It didn't take long after that for them to discover that all vertebrate species, including humans, had been similarly affected, even though the effects had not started showing up yet in all species.
More recent research has revealed that the particular portion of DNA that was affected by the virus is one that is supposed to protect and regulate the integrity of an individual's genome. The mutated portion essentially disables all or part of that activity, thus allowing many other mutations and gene swaps to appear and survive.
At first, the scientists had been puzzled as to why only some individuals of any species were affected. It took them a couple years to discover that, although the changes only happened during puberty, they were only brought about when an individual became infected with any of the viruses in the family of the original engineered virus. Some individuals of some species apparently were naturally resistant to such infections, so they never experienced any changes.
Of course, there was a crash research effort to try to find a vaccine for that whole family of viruses, but it was soon discovered that that family mutated rapidly and always seemed to outpace the development of an effective vaccine. It’s like they say; there's no cure for the common cold.
Meanwhile, the first effects in adolescent humans began to appear. It seemed as though only about 50% of kids had any detectable changes due to the altered strand. About 15% of that 50% developed extraordinary abilities and/or body changes. And about 1% of that 15% developed what would be called supernatural abilities. Another fair percentage seemed to show signs of hybridization with other species, with highly variable results. Human/Animal hybrids were treated like second class citizens by some people, however prejudice of hybrids is treated like any other form of prejudice, it is frowned upon or looked over by the general populous. Also like any other form of discrimination, if it is practiced in schools or in the work place, it is punishable by law. However, anywhere else it is protected by free speech so long as no physical harm is done. If a hybrid is beaten, it is considered a hate crime and police/legal action will be taken.
This had all started about forty years ago. However, with everyone carrying this altered DNA strand, it was passed down to all the children of that and subsequent generations. Sometimes changed forms and/or abilities of parents were passed down as well.
The scientists had named this phenomenon "Massive Ontogenetic Regulation Failure Syndrome," commonly known as MORFS. Those affected by the virus are also commonly called Morfs.
The older generations had nothing to worry about, but kids my age were suddenly faced with the possibility of dramatic life changes as they entered puberty. Ever since then, every kid has had to anticipate the likelihood of MORFing, as well as all the other adolescent changes.
The change takes anywhere from two days to a week of pain/mass amounts of sleep. Modern science found ways to make the change less painful and faster, as the first generation Morfs took weeks, sometimes months, to fully change.
This is the story of those taken for experimental testing of a new strain of the virus. The Organization is responsible for the abductions of citizens and takes people without prejudice. Those they take are injected with a redesigned version of the virus, tailored to infuse the infected with superhuman abilities. Well... that's the plan at least. As with any drug, there is always a testing phase where things don't go according to plan.
The year is 2042 and you are either one of the test subjects, a member of the SMRT Lab (Special MORFS Research and Testing) or "The Organization" (as they are known), a member of the Government, or a member of some other organized group. "The Organization" is a terrorist cell that seeks to overthrow the global governments with MORFS enhanced shock troopers. They are cunning, ruthless, and just that special little bit of crazy that makes them feared.
(Credit to Britney McMaster for the MORFS universe)
There will be more to this RP than just the lab. I've got a whole storyline planned out and will post the different 'chapters' here as the RP progresses. The underlined one is the current chapter.
Chapter 1: The Lab, First Meetings, and The Bad Guys!
Chapter 2: The Escape, The Aftermath, and The Return Back to Sun City!*
Chapter 3: Friends unite, a Desperate Plan, and the Return of the Escapees!
Chapter 4: 3 Months Later, The Mansion, and the SHAMEful Reuinion!
Chapter 5: A Pressing Engagement, a Night on the Town, and the Island Adventure!
Chaper 6: Going to California, When the Levee Breaks, Good Times Bad Times!
*Sun City: The world’s largest climate-controlled city. Located at an elevation of 5,500ft in the rocky mountains and situated within a nearly year round snowy valley. This city however, is home to one of the worlds most popular resort destinations due to its many attractions. Noah Eglington founded Sun City in 2015. Noah first acquired the land for Sun City in 2013 and over the next two years Sun City became a small tropical resort with steady business. This task was accomplished using Noah’s, and later his wife Hannah’s Elemental abilities to heat the climate of Sun City to a steady 85° year round. Over the next decade, the small resort grew into a large community centered around the numerous resorts located at the heart of the city encircling the large manmade lake now known as Sun Lake. Over the years many other elementals were hired from all over the world to expand the city. The recent addition of two water elementals now makes surfing in Sun Lake on of the most popular attractions although the ski and snowboarding outside of the heated city limits remains the most popular. In 2032 the large community was officially recognized as a city and Noah was elected as Mayor. The population of Sun City according to the 2047 census is 998, 500.
