"Cobalt"
Road Warrior
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Name: Scab Mutant (Known as Scabs, Scavs, or Scabbies)
- Designation: Sentient
- Origins: Raxus Prime (Theorized)
- Average Lifespan: 120+
- Estimated Population: Scattered (likely much fewer than a million galaxy-wide).
- Description: Widely-varying appearance, usually resemble tall humanoids with glowing eyes.
- Breathes: Type 1-2, can tolerate other toxic atmospheres temporarily.
- Average Height of Adults: 1.8 meters
- Average Length of Adults: N/A
- Skin color: Any common human/near human skin colors.
- Hair color: Any naturally-occurring human/near human hair color, mutations occasionally bleach hair white.
- Distinctions: Glowing white eyes, great tolerance for toxic food/drink/air, high metabolism.
- Races: Any human/near-human races.
- Force Sensitivity: Rare (Extremely)
- Wastelanders: Scab Mutants are changed more inwardly than outwardly by their environment. Most enjoy mildly enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, and wound healing over their base species.
- Tox-dwellers: Given the environments in which they commonly arise, Scab Mutants are famously tolerant to poisons, diseases, and radiation. While not entirely immune to these dangers, they can safely imbibe polluted groundwaters or eat most toxic plants or animals, as well as breath comfortably in poisonous gases or fumes.
- Hokey Religions: Scab Mutants, for reasons unknown, are almost exclusively non-force sensitive.
- High Metabolism: Scabs must eat regularly and often, or begin to suffer the effects of malnutrition far more quickly than most humanoids.
- Diet: Omnivore (Can eat almost any organic material in a pinch).
- Communication: Most commonly Huttese, though Galactic Basic is also widespread.
- Technology level: Generally somewhat lower than galactic standard. Scabs culturally favor slugthrowers, clubs and blades over blasters, and have a liking for ruggedness over form when it comes to tech. That said, they will utilize any and all technology that falls into their hands if it is deemed useful.
- Religion/Beliefs: Most Scabs are irreligious, though as free-thinking beings, individuals have been known to pick up cultural or religious mores from other species. A form of animism, relating to reverence of industrial sites or ruins, is small but growing. Given their small numbers, Scabs tend to be close-knit, keeping track of one another or occasionally banding together in small, well-hidden communities.
- General behavior: Scabs are generally nomadic, seldom staying in one place for long. They have an ingrained love for treasure-hunting, and their stereotypical occupation is high-risk salvage.
The exact age and origin of Scab Mutants is debated, but it is generally agreed that the first of them originated on a toxic junk planet, most likely Raxus Prime. From there, they slowly trickled out into the wider galaxy, settling in similar out-of-the-way places. Most scholars agree that the species (if such they can be correctly termed) is young, most likely originating as a stable mutant strain sometime in the past two centuries.
The typical Scab Mutant is humanoid, on the thin side, and moves with a twitchy, nervous energy. The overwhelming majority originated from human stock, and as such they resemble their parent species, save for glowing, colorless eyes. Almost all Scabs have this feature, regardless of other mutations. Other mutations include (but are not limited to) bone-white hair, sharp teeth, or scales, though these are far less common. Force-Sensitive Scabs are almost entirely unheard-of, and their species is thought to lack the ability outside of a rare few.
Scabs possess an incredible tolerance for contaminants, able to dine happily on toxic or irradiated foodstuffs with little apparent ill effect. Poisonous atmospheres, too, are very well tolerated by them, and their ability to withstand radiation is the stuff of legend. It is fortunate, too, for the average Scab possesses a ravenous appetite, and cannot afford to be a picky eater. This high metabolism fuels a quick, agile body, and Scabs are known to have exceptionally fast reflexes and strong natural athletic ability. While not true regeneration, Scabs can recover from injuries significantly faster than most other lifeforms.
On the whole, these life forms are prone to wandering, typically travelling alone or in small groups. They shun larger cities or civilizations, preferring rugged frontier life or smaller towns. Despite this apparent species-wide introverted streak, Scabs tend to be well-informed on the movements of others of their kind, and will occasionally seek them out to trade information on nearby treasure, band together to tackle a larger task, or simply to socialize. Their society is sparse and widely-spread, but organized in a loose brotherhood all the same. Most Scabs consider others of their kind to be extended family, and will extend to them the greatest hospitality should two or more meet.
Scab children are rare, and almost always the product of two Scab parents. However, the child of a single Scab parent and any other near-human species is highly likely to be one themselves, as the mutant strain is hereditary. They age and mature at approximately the same rate as humans in the biological sense, though tend to enjoy slightly longer lifespans. In the cultural sense, these children must grow up quickly, as Scab culture typically has a low tolerance for weakness. The slow and the stupid tend to live short lives, dying in one of the innumerable tombs, wrecks, or other salvage sites that dot the galaxy. It is often said that Scab children can use a knife or a pistol as soon as they can walk.
This idealization of self-reliance and physical/mental toughness is a fixture in Scab culture, and those who can carve out a living anywhere are held in high regard among them. As such, Scabs are often stereotyped as hardboiled gunslingers or vicious wasteland gangsters by those few who are even aware they exist at all. This only half true: Scabs certainly are not above banditry, and many tend to be at least passable fighters, given their dangerous lifestyles. Most, however, are simply trying to salvage.
Possessing a cultural obsession with salvage that rivals that of Jawas and Ugors, Scabs similarly seem to always be hunting for their next big score, or selling off what they've collected. Treasure hunters, salvagers, and scrappers extraordinaire, they have a profound love for treasure and the hunting thereof. Some of a more antisocial bent become bandits, pirates, or other varieties of thieves, creating their own salvage by prying it from the still-twitching hands of its former owners. This, however, is viewed as somewhat gauche by Scabs as a whole.
Most Scabs possess highly flexible morals, concerned only with salvage or hunting down various half-mythical ruins and wrecks. If a site is already claimed, many will respect the right of first claim and find another. Others will not, opting to sneakily burgle any salvage out from under the noses of rival claimants, or simply take it by force.
Scabs are not typically an especially spiritual people, but their reverence for self-reliance and love for trailblazing has formed into a sort of animistic religion in some circles. Some Scabs revere lakes of radioactive sludge or mounds of wartime scrap as other species might appreciate a countryside or a sunset. After all, these things give them their livelihood, even as these harsh conditions forge them into a stronger people. A few worship spirits of junkyards and toxic wastelands, and carry small idols or totems with them for luck. They are fond of tall tales and ghost stories, and many a nonsensical lie or mythical hidden treasure story originated from a Scab who had too much to drink.
Almost all Scabs dream of finding one of these treasures someday, and a myriad of fantastic tales circulate among them. Some may even be true. These stories almost invariably contain a common theme: nothing worth having ever comes easy. The more remote or hidden the site, the better the treasure. As such, Scabs search lost and forgotten places for loot, and most are good enough at it to eke out a living. Some very few do strike it rich, but seldom retire, simply using their wealth to access ever more remote and desirable salvage sites. These most successful hunters often become cultural heroes or revered ancestors among Scabs, and younger ones will regularly seek to emulate these figures.
Most are not so lucky. Good salvage is often hard to find, and tucked away in dangerous or out-of-the-way places. What's more, it is seldom unguarded. Rival scavengers, hideous mutants, rogue droids, or hostile wildlife commonly infest such places, none of whom are happy to see intruders. Many Scabs vanish for good in these sites, never to be seen again, but this does not dissuade others of their kind. The fallen are remembered, but other Scabs often consider it a matter of principle to finish a failed hunt for a dead kinsman. Attempts are usually made to recover the body, though the salvage comes first. Common Scab superstition holds that the fallen hunter's spirit cannot rest easy until his hunt is completed by another, and the treasure claimed. As such, the hunt must go on...