Meta-Humans

Meta-humans, commonly shortened as metas and often referred to as superhumans, are individuals who acquired powers and abilities unlike those of normal humans after experiencing mutation of their bodies (in comparison to magic users, who learned how to harness primordial energies without being mutated themselves). They are one of the major races of CIS Productions, being centered on Prime Earth.

Most obtained their powers after surviving an explosion caused by Vira Hermes via Creeper Derangea X-12 Virus particle accelerator on December 2026 that was later known as Lost Christmas, these people were exposed to the particles and dark matter that altered their genetic, chemical, or even atomic structure, giving them a variety of abilities. Their abilities seem to often relate to what energy or matter the future superhumans were directly in contact with at the time of exposure.

According to Mina Harker, 2600 people became meta-humans the night the accelerator exploded. In the next decades, more than 4,000,000 meta-humans appeared through reproduction between meta-humans and normal humans. Their primary enemies is the Department of Unified Protection which serves as the counterpart of STAR LABS of United States of America that are enemies of all demons and evil spirits.

Overview
Meta-humans are represented by a wide spectrum of mutated people, with mental state, physical appearance and physiological specifics unique for each individual. The conditions they were in during the exposure to the mutative element seem to affect how the mutation changes a person. Furthermore, there are dormant meta-humans, like Lucy Sheev KnightWalker, whose powers did not resurface until their connection with The Blackness' crisis during the beginning of World War III which either re-enabled their mutative physiology, or represented a new mutation altogether. Within the spectrum of meta-humans, there have emerged a few specific classes or sub-species that share common traits and powers; speedsters for example are meta-humans who are connected to the Speed Force and collectively possess speed-based powers. Another example are 'Breachers', meta-humans who possess psychic connections to the dimensional energies of reality, allowing them to open breaches to parallel universes at will, generate vibrational energy and giving them powers of retrocognition, clairvoyance, and precognition. Sephiria Arks KnightWalker was one of them but disguised her powers as just being Magi-Tech spells.

Some meta-humans acquired their powers through other means, not directly related to being hit by the wave of Creeper virus after the particle accelerator explosion. Among such meta-humans are Maeve (used Velocity serums to give herself superhuman speed, although she may have been a dormant meta-human prior to that) and Isis Maxwell (whose's true power is to control sounds).

Through unknown means, meta-humans of other parallel Earths also acquired powers. In other universes, like Earth 38th, humans would mutate as part of an accident without any virus involved. There's a middle-ground case regarding advanced cyborgs like the KnightWalker Cyborgs: while mostly enhanced by cybernetics, Cyborgs were mutated on some level, surviving despite their bodies being filled with nano-machines and magi-tech energy, and requiring human blood from other people to keep their organic "heart" to function properly.

It is debatable whether those affected by the Zoyineian-Black Demon virus can be considered true meta-humans as some of them actually could become Zoyineian-Black Demons like Azul Jissele and control meta-like powers. On the one hand, their case is similar to that of Kureto Hīragi who amplified himself with the Tech of the End, receiving Zoyineian-powers at the cost of negative effects for sanity. Anyhow, it can be said Zoyineian-Black Demons like Revy and Haru Zageko are not meta-humans but only similar.

Some meta-humans consider themselves separate, or at least different enough from the regular humans to identify as something else. The prime example of such thinking would be members of Brahman's meta-human group, who were a elite squad of meta-humans from Aldegyr Kingdom. Meta-humans are not to be confused with magic users, like the magicians of Eclipse of Hermes and Cultus Pythonissam, who receive their powers not thanks to mutation, but by manipulating primordial energies of the universe, Magic itself granted by Celica Arfonia and the Goddess of the Magic, Wáng Hongyu. However, it is possible for an individual to exhibit both magic powers and abilities related to mutated physiology.

Population
The terms "meta" and "metahuman" do not only refer to humans born with biological variants. Katarina Couteau and Yūichirō Hyakuya (aliens) as well as Kanon Rihavein (artificial angel) can be referred as "metahumans." It can refer to anyone with extranormal powers, no matter the origins and including those not born with such power.

There are roughly 4.3 million metahumans on Earth, 99.5% of which are considered "nuisance-level" (such as kids who can bend spoons with their mind and the old lady "who keeps hitting at Powerball"). The other 0.5% are what DUP and the Global Pact Defense consider Alpha- and Beta-level threats. For example, Ganesha and Phantasm were categorized as Alpha-level, while Zancrow was considered a Beta.

Control and Countermeasures
Meta-human criminals are incarcerated in special metahuman prisons, like the one built on Alcatraz Island by the DUP, which is outfitted not only with provisions to hold criminals whose powers are science- and technology-based, but even mystical dampeners to hold villains whose powers are magic-based. Prisoners in this facility are tagged with nanobyte tracers injected into their bloodstream that allow them to be located wherever they are.