Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

== Treatment of Mutants ==

Despite the overall change in tone, mutants are still treated relatively poorly in the Imperium. Like the condonement of certain forms of slavery, treatment of mutants is another big area of intentional values dissonance between the Imperium and modern society. The Imperium frequently commits infanticide on those who are born with mutations on a scale hitherto unheard of in human history, reasoning that it is better to put them out of their misery now and spare them a life of suffering. [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notes#Celestine|Celestine]] only survived because Ophelia VII was fanatic enough about their reputation to check, the implication being that other children with active Sanguinius genes may have existed throughout the centuries but got killed as infants because people assumed they were run of the mill mutants. Even then, Celestine’s parents kept her isolated for most of her childhood on their farm in the middle of nowhere because they were afraid of repercussions.

At the same time, the general opinion of your average Imperial citizen to mutation is more along the lines of “those poor bastards” rather than “purge the unclean”. Due to the extremely high rate of infanticide, the most common sources of mutation in the Imperium are 1) former Guardsmen and PDF who were exposed to Warp energy and other gribbly phenomena, 2) people exposed to various mutagens in places like the underhives, and 3) Chaos cultists who have received boons from their gods. As a result, many people tend to view mutants with suspicion, seeing them like a Yakuza member who is trying to gain sympathy by passing off their missing ring finger as a workplace accident. The Navigators still keep the nature of their change on the down-low because although they are actually abhumans they are paranoid that people will consider increasing changes throughout lifespan + warp exposure = mutant.

Additionally, even though the Imperium takes pains to make sure that the idea of "normal genetic variation is completely okay, abhumans are not mutants, alteration through genetic engineering is not mutation)" is made perfectly clear to everyone across the Imperium, there are many backwater, superstitious worlds where the idea of baseline humans that look different from the average population, much less [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notes#Carlos_McConnell|cat-people]] or tech-priests or Astartes or squats or Void Born, is still a shocking concept. People from one Segmentum may have never heard of an abhuman breed from the other side of the galaxy and on these worlds abhumans, let alone xenos, run the risk of being labelled mutant by the sheltered populace. Ironically, this concern is not totally misplaced, there have been cases where semi-stable Chaos cults have passed themselves off as abhumans by claiming they belong to an abhuman species from the other side of the galaxy. A secondary job of Ordo Mutatio in addition to providing oversight of the notoriously spacey Adeptus Biologicus is to act as an external authority invalidating claims of Chaos worship-induced mutation before some yokels end up burning innocent people at a stake.

There are even cases where certain mutant-phobic worlds servitorize their entire mutant population by labeling them as mentally invalid, even if they are physically and mentally capable of living their own life, [[bullshit|“for their own good”]], of course.