Post by saturnine on Jun 21, 2019 21:45:11 GMT
Race Stats: (Minimum/Maximum)
Strength: 1/8
Perception: 3/12
Endurance: 1/10
Charisma: 1/10
Intelligence: 2/10
Agility: 1/8
Luck: 5/12
Size: Medium
Perk Every Level: 1
Electricity Resistance: 0%
Gas Resistance: 0%
Poison Resistance: 30%
Radiation Resistance: 100%
Gas Resistance: 0%
Poison Resistance: 30%
Radiation Resistance: 100%
Additional Abilities:
1) One Extra Tagged Skill (Only applies to Ghouls over 100 years old)
2) Regenerate +5 HP per round while in irradiated areas.
Description:
Ghouls, or necrotic post-humans, are decrepit, rotting, zombie-like mutants. Intense and prolonged radiation has ravaged their skin, much of their flesh and in some cases many of their ligaments. Paradoxically, they also have greatly extended overall lifespans and are, allegedly, immune to (and even healed of damage by) background radiation and/or nuclear fallout.
Consistent exposure to concentrated levels of background radiation for an extended period of time will randomly result in humans undergoing a mutation/transformation into the ghoul species. Quick, perhaps even instantaneous transformations are not unheard of or out of the question. Nevertheless, for typical humans, any serious exposure to background radiation levels results in sickness, shortly followed by death.
Although often lacking strength due to decayed tissue, ghouls have heightened senses, making them more perceptive and lucky than other wasteland humanoids.
In physical appearance, a ghoul's flesh is constantly rotting off, appearing very raw and discolored from necrosis (although, in some cases of non-feral ghouls, the physical appearance of their flesh is more consistent with severe burn scars than necrosis). Lips and eyelids are sometimes absent, and noses are in almost every case completely rotted off. Feral ghouls are typically heavily emaciated and hunched over (possibly due to malnutrition and lack of sunlight), while non-ferals typically have a healthier, more human-like build and posture. Another major difference between ferals and non-ferals is dress: while non-ferals usually dress like normal humans, feral ghouls wear little clothing other than tattered pants or sections of old armor, having long ago lost the mental capacity to mend or replace their clothes.
Ghouls are immune to most forms of radiation that still remain in the wasteland. Radiation poisoning cannot get worse for the ghouls, though it can hasten the process of decay and lead to their decline into the feral state as described above. However, many ghouls report feeling healthier when exposed to low-level radiation, and thus make their homes near locations with acute background radiation. The ghouls known as "glowing ones" actually enjoy large amounts of radiation, which they describe as being "comfortably warm." They are even healed by it.
Information:
All ghouls live considerably longer than normal humans, though they are sterile. The reason for this longevity has to do with differences on the cellular level, and the ability of ghoul DNA to regenerate at a rate unmatched by normal human nucleic acids. Occasionally, additional genetic material is added as a result of the mutation. The unnaturally long lifespan of a ghoul is also due to a mutation within the autonomic nervous system of certain individuals following exposure to specific combinations of ionizing radiation with wavelengths below ten picometers. Radiation that has such a short wavelength, is known as gamma radiation; normally lethal to healthy humans in even moderate doses. The mutation in response to gamma radiation that produces ghouls disrupts the normal process of decay in the neurotransmitters along the spinal cord.
Most known ghouls in New California were created from vault-dwellers living in Vault 12 under Bakersfield, California (known as Necropolis after the Great War). As part of the vast Vault Experiment Program, the Vault 12 door was designed to be dysfunctional, to be unsealed. Radiation from nuclear detonations and the subsequent fallout contaminated the vault, resulting in the death or mutation of every occupant. The survivors can be found scattered throughout this region, mostly in Gecko, a town established near an old, half-functional Poseidon Energy nuclear power plant. Many could also be found in Broken Hills, an old town located near a uranium mine, typically inhabited by humans, super mutants and ghouls. However, the uranium was eventually depleted and the town was abandoned sometime after 2242.
Ghouls from other regions most likely originated from opportune or home-made shelters. Such shelters were not adequate to fully protect against all the effects of nuclear fallout. Radiation levels in some areas were such that they were low enough not to kill people, but high enough not to leave them unscathed. There are ghouls in the Midwest, most notably a nuclear weapon-worshiping cult in Kansas City. Both Quincy and Springfield also have at least some ghoul occupants. In Texas, many of the former residents of Los Ybanez (known as Los after the Great War) became ghouls, probably when blocked at the entrance of the Secret Vault. Later, in the same city, the Church of the Lost was created by former vault-dwellers that had become ghoul.
In the Mojave Wasteland, they can be found in small amounts throughout the region, but no town is completely dedicated to them. There are usually a few ghouls living among humans in various communities performing jobs in order to survive. There are also several ghoul rangers occupying Ranger station Echo, implying some level of acceptance of ghouls serving in the NCR.
Discrimination:
Since the War, more people have had run-ins with ghouls, both civil and feral. Because of the animalistic behavior and savage threat feral ghouls pose, many people view all ghouls negatively. For example, town residents may refuse to let ghouls into their territory, despite polite offers of caps. Negative stereotypes about ghouls stem from wastelanders who couldn't care less that not all ghouls are feral. Terms like "zombie," "shuffler," or "brain-eater" are common insults. Because of this general negativity, some ghouls have developed a bitter hatred of humans.
Since the War, more people have had run-ins with ghouls, both civil and feral. Because of the animalistic behavior and savage threat feral ghouls pose, many people view all ghouls negatively. For example, town residents may refuse to let ghouls into their territory, despite polite offers of caps. Negative stereotypes about ghouls stem from wastelanders who couldn't care less that not all ghouls are feral. Terms like "zombie," "shuffler," or "brain-eater" are common insults. Because of this general negativity, some ghouls have developed a bitter hatred of humans.
Ghouls, at least the non-feral ones, are generally as intelligent as normal humans. However, their intelligence has in some cases decreased at varying rates as a result of the radiation rotting their brains; this continues until their ability to reason has gone completely, and they become feral. Their physical repulsiveness makes the life of a ghoul difficult at best - only the most tolerant human communities accept them as anything more than monsters. Some ghouls eventually go mad, and it remains unclear exactly what precipitates this change in neurobiology and psychology, but anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that non-social ghouls, or those in isolation, are more prone to the condition. It is known that ghouls can turn feral when exposed to excessive levels of radiation. Ghouls that succumb to insanity are called "feral ghouls": they are mindlessly aggressive and, having lost their ability to reason, driven entirely by their instincts. These feral ghouls strongly resemble zombies like those depicted in old horror films, and this misconception succeeds in alienating non-feral ghouls even more from humans. The term "zombie" has become an offensive racial slur to ghouls and "smoothskin" is a derogatory term for humans often used by ghouls.