The Full Story

After President McKenna delivered a passionate speech on behalf of mutant rights, the ensuing firestorm of anti-mutant protests caused him not only to make a retraction but also accuse Professor Xavier of using his telepathic abilities to force him to make that speech. Though President McKenna continued to publicly support anti-mutant legislation, he was still secretly afraid of Xavier and his powers. Thus, he allowed Xavier to run his school and did not reveal its actual use to the public.

However, President McKenna became the least of the X-men's problems. A new disease called Rapid Frontal Lobe Deterioration Syndrome, a.k.a. Inhumanity Syndrome or IS, began spreading throughout the world. The frontal lobe is the morality center of the brain. People infected with IS quickly became violent, immoral, and often psychotic. It became known as "the AIDS of the new millenium except worse." At least with AIDS you could live for a few years and still have your sanity. With IS, you lost your morals. You lose your sanity. You lost every part of yourself that was still you. You lost your humanity.

Mutants were apparently immune to the disease. Nonetheless, humans in frequent contact with mutants seemed to be hit first. This caused the Great Mutant Scare. Mothers abandoned their mutant children. Mutants were fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, beaten and often killed. It wasn't until scientists discovered the reason why humans in frequent contact with mutants were prone to the disease that the mutant scare died down a little. It was because human carriers of the X gene mutation (meaning humans who passed down the mutation to their children but did not have the mutation themselves) were prone to the disease. Still, many people continued to believe that the disease was caused by mutants and could be spread merely by being in the presence of them. Of course, that belief was far from the truth. Ironically, it would have been better for them to surround themselves with mutants because the mutant immune system easily eliminated the disease, thus making all mutants disease-free. Sadly, though mutants were disease-free, it was their relatives who were most frequently caught the disease. Bobby Drake's mother Madeline Drake contracted the disease. Like many IS victims, she became increasingly violent and self-destructive, spiralling into a dark world of drug addiction and psychosis, until she finally committed a horrible crime -- killing a young man in cold blood for stealing some of her drugs. She, also like many IS victims, was deemed legally insane and sent to a mental hospital where she will live until the disease finally takes her life. Like most families of IS victims, the Drake family blames the disease on its mutant member, Bobby, and has disowned him.

Even scientists believed the hype and refused to perform experiments on mutants in order to see if they could create a vaccine. That meant it was up to Xavier and Jean Grey (who had been found alive and well and NOT the Dark Phoenix in our version) to see if they could create a cure. In addition to the international crisis, Jean had a personal motivation to research a cure -- her father John is infected with the disease. Xavier and Jean theorized that Wolverine's healing abilities could be the link to a cure. Unfortunately, they also knew that it would require many arduous and physically painful experiments to potentially find this cure. However, if they successfully learned how to extract Wolverine's healing abilities, they might actually create a substance that would cause immortality. Such a substance would be dangerous if it got into the wrong hands. It could cause a world war or an international dictatorship. Or perhaps it would create a world full of immortals, a world where death is a memory and population spins widely out of control. Yet, in light of the situation, Xavier and Jean are willing to take the risk. Will Wolverine do the same?

Our RPG is a continuation of the two X-men movies. It will not be affected by the third movie, except maybe to invite a few more characters to the list. The characters should be as close as possible to how they were represented in the X-men movies. However, you can add some more history from the comics, since there is a lot of history that is unknown. Therefore, I give you a certain amount of license when it comes to your character's history. Still, remember this is based on the movies. If you find something in the comics that contradicts the movies (for example, the comics say that Kurt the Nightcrawler is Mystique's son when I'm pretty sure he couldn't be in these movies), then go with the movie's version. In addition, I've noticed that the comics' backstory on characters tend to be excruciatingly long and complicated. Try to add what you think is necessary and don't get too complicated. You can play a character who was in the comics but not the movies. I notice that some of the X-men characters are from different groups like the Morlocks and the Externals. You can include those characters, but they can't be part of those groups. Right now, we really need important original characters like Jean Grey and Professor Xavier, so please try to fill those positions before making made-ups or minor X-men characters. Also, if you do take an important character who was mentioned in the movies, make sure that you're willing to be active. Otherwise, you may drag the site down with your inactivity and eventually force me to delete you, also causing me to have to find someone else to play the character. It's OK to be an original character who was important but not mentioned or focused on in the movies if you're not sure you'll be active like Jubilee or Shadowcat but not Jean Grey or Cyclops.

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