Muta-Rats

Muta-Rats:

Muta-Rats were one of the first new species to emerge in the wake of WW3. The prevailing theory is that this larger, hardier breed of rat is the result not just of mutagenic substances left by the war but by evolutionary pressures exerted by massive amounts of human death and migration. As vast cities either succumbed to chemical assault or were evacuated, urban rat populations were often left to fend for themselves in an environment where carrion was abundant and food stores unprotected. Their birth rate boomed despite the toxic fallout of the war and mutations occurred with a frequency previously unknown to science.

As rats now competed against one another for food more than anything else, the species generally selected for larger and more intelligent members. These early generations, which emerged while the war was still on, set the basic “template” for what most recognize as a muta-rat: a rodent that weighs about 30 pounds and about 2 to 2 1/2 feet in length (not counting the 1 1/2 - 2 foot tail) with sharp incisors and a bad attitude.

While this new “dominant” rat was generally able to out compete its smaller relatives and even prey upon them, the absence of humans also meant that the food surplus they left behind quickly became a dearth. New traits began to emerge: stronger incisors for opening canned foodstuffs, more limber bodies and longer claws for scaling trees and tall buildings, and predatory camouflage. A few even became exclusively herbivorous and are sometimes spotted in local parks grazing on the grass!

The full breadth of how specialized muta-rats are or can be unknown. There are persistent rumors and urban myths regarding venomous or flying muta-rats but one has yet to be captured and examined. What is known is that muta-rats retain the ability to interbreed with their many offshoots and produce fertile offspring but have lost the ability to do so with normal rats, suggesting that despite their high degree of genetic malleability they represent the emergence of a new species in the wake of WW3.

Vince has encountered at least one new subtype of muta-rat, which was genetically engineered to produce adhesive from a black “rot” on its back and had several bony plates beneath its hairless skin.