Chapter 51: “The Mechanic”
“Chemical K-11, also known more colloquially as krimson, is a drug that is known to cause mutation within people. The drug is a dark red color similar to blood and is injected directly into the bloodstream. The form of these mutations is entirely random and can range from extreme animalistic features, such as claws, fur, and scales, to mutations that are not obvious to onlookers, such as growing an additional kidney.
“While the mutations are greatly varied, the one mutation people are attracted to are the ones that allow for the manipulation of aether, developing into magical abilities. This type of mutation is uncommon, with rates of only a 10% chance of developing aether manipulation.
“Additional application of K-11 in people that have already used it show no additional changes or effects from the injection.
“People that go through the more extreme mutation, developing a lot of inhuman traits, seem to also develop extremely high disease resistance. It’s theorized that because K-11 scrambles people's genetic makeup, it results in most diseases that evolved to target humans unable to affect a mutant’s changed biology. This also seems to result in most mutants being completely infertile.
“The known method of this drug production is very limited. According to reports, K-11 is produced from a concentrated version of the chemical and is greatly diluted in water. A liter of K-11 concentrate can easily make over a thousand liters of regular K-11. The production method of the concentrate is unknown. The chemical makeup of K-11 is unstable and constantly shifting, making analysis impossible. Researchers today still do not entirely know what it's even made of, or where it’s coming from.
“K-11 concentrate should be handled with extreme caution and treated as explosive material. K-11 concentrate will explode and ignite into intense flames when exposed directly to sunlight. Only once diluted is it no longer explosive.
“Krimson is prohibited in the union states and former Gix Empire, but has not stopped people from utilizing this drug for a variety of socioeconomic and political reasons. Records indicated that this drug's usage within the Western continent dates back at least over two thousand years.
“There exists some minor evidence to suggest that this drug is somehow linked to the Blood Caller cult, but there is no definitive confirmation of it being so.”
—“Report on Krimson” by the USHO (Union States Health Organization)