Information found on Dark Angel RPG
In the beginning, Manticore was in a rush and unwilling to wait a full year to see if the children born were truly as predicted, so they ran several projects at once. The projects would coordinate and work together, but would guess at results in a rush to develop the "Perfect Soldiers", working with ultrasounds and ammonic fluid tests to guess how the fetus was coming along, they would often anticipate too much. This turned out to be a disaster and lead to a restructuring of Manticore in the late 90's, but not before an entire class had to be put down.
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The X1s, also known as "Transhumans, Nomlies, or Anomalies" were Manticore's first forayes into gene manipulation. The survival rate past infancy was very low. Some have bardodes, some don't, some in strange places, some have other markings entirely. Most look barely human. They can have any range of problems or abnormalities. Joshua, Mole, Issac, and the Cat woman are all good examples of these. They were first created in the early 90s, and so around their early 30s. Joshua was the first, with Issac only slightly younger. There were younger "mistakes" that are classified as "transhuman".
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The X2s were, as Lydecker put it, an "anomaly." There were only 30 created. They could pass as humans, so at first the doctors thought they had a success. As they grew though, they "Imploded". All of them became far more violent than they were intended. They were like wolves and lions, and began trying to kill each other and those around them at a very young age. Finally the entire class turned on their guards, resulting in the deaths of 11 guards and 3 support workers. 26 of the class of 30 were executed, but 4 were kept for medical observation as they grew. As Renfro put it "They spent the rest of their miserable lives muzzled and restrained".
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Very few X3s remain alive. As the geneticists didn't forsee the problems with the X2s they thought they had success, and began trying to refine their techniques to perfect the X2s. This resulted in a few breakthroughs which lead to X4, but for the most part they were disasters who didn't survive past the age of 5.
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The X4s are the first truly successful project. They are stronger and faster than humans, but only slightly better than the level of an Olympic athlete. There are some humans who are as strong or fast as them, but they are truly exceptional. Their senses are also increased. They do have telescopic vision, but not to the same degree as the X5s. They also have improved hearing and balance. Their true talent lies in endurance. They can take tremendous damage and keep on going with minor field medicine. Most of the X4s by now have seen many wars, and are covered in scars to prove it.
They don't tend to have problems with seizures and heat, since they have less animal and engineered DNA than the others. The X4s are the older veterans, and tend to have a slightly superior attitude towards the younger generations that called themselves Soldiers when they'd barely been to war at all. X5's may have superior genes, but the X4s had served their country for years before becoming obsolete. They still serve in the field all over the world. They're in their 20s, ranging from 23 to 28 as an average age, but there are many who reach their early 30s.
It was at this point, after the X4s proved truly successful that Manticore considered their projects 'settled' and diversified more, ending the simultaneous projects that had been going on. They reduced to two, X4 and X5. As the X4s were proving to be successful soldiers, they didn't want to short themselves any in the field. The X4 project officially ended in 1998 after the first few births of X5s.
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The X5's were considered the first great success of Manticore. Far stronger, faster and better than humans. X5's have tremendous stamina, telescopic vision, improvements in all their senses. They were the first Soldiers to be able to "Blur" around opponents, moving faster than the human eye can see. They were the officers, and were trained for leadership. The Soldiers could perform amazing feats of learning, for example how to play the piano in a day. All X5's suffer from heat and seizures that would come in cycles. Manticore found treatments and even cures for it around 2017. Some X5s could undergo a gene therapy to fix it. Those that couldn't undergo the gene therapy, for one reason or another, had it treated with drugs. Between the two, most X5s need not worry about them. They are between 17 and 23, and tend to be amazingly beautiful.
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The X6s are the continuation of the X5 project. The genes had been purified even more though, resulting in a soldier that was stronger, faster, and smarter than the X5's. The flaw that caused heat and seizures in X5 was removed, as was the flaw that occasionally caused Progeria, a disease that resulted in extremely accelerated aging and finally death. Most of the difference between X5 and X6 was in the training however. They were trained both in units and independently, and tended to trade units more often to prevent family dependency from forming. They are between ages 11 to 17. Interclass clones between X5 and 6 do exist.
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Project X7 was more far reaching and different than any other project. Before the Doctors had been striving to replicate and improve humanity within current limits. In this case though, they went well beyond the norms of humanity. Inspired by insects, they created a class with a hive mind, and the ability to communicate in digital sonic code with one another. This was partially based on Lydeckers wish to be able to speak digitally because it was so much more precise. The result was instantaneous communication among the group, no dissent, and the ability to create images of terrain and people and bring them back to the base for analysis. They didn't get it entirely right though, and the X7s are all completely mute, unable to speak to others without special computer microphones and translators. They are between 9 and 10 years of age, and tend to look very similar. All of them have large black eyes necessary for transmitting their 'voices'.
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The X8 project was started immediately after it was realized that the X7s had no ability to vocalize. While the Soldiers born would still have potential usefulness, they would have no such usefulness in espionage or spying. The project was aborted, though the in-vitro soldiers were allowed to be born. A year later the first X8 was born. X8 was a perfect melding of X6 and 7. They had the ability to speak, but also the ability to communicate digitally, sending images of people and terrain through the computers when needed. The eyes remain universally dark through the series, but to speak digitally they have the ability to expand their pupils to the same proportions as the X7s. This results in a more 'normal' look during day to day work. They remain stronger and faster than humans of their age, though the oldest one is 8, making their true abilities as yet unknown.
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There are also rumors of an X9 or two that have recently been born, but these are yet infants with completely unknown abilities..
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Manticore also had a Psyoperative project that started in the mid 90's, about the same time the X5s were being created, the P series. The Psyoperatives weren't just another class, they were another species entirely. Their bodies were hardly modified at all. They had none of the strength or speed of the X series. Many were even obese. The doctors couldn't modify their bodies. They didn't have enough room in the genetic code when they'd finished with their minds. Because the brain is the trickiest part of the body to work with, and they're also hardest to test before birth, the first three series were born brain-dead, or so deformed that they were deemed retarded and put down. The first successful series was the P4s, or telepaths. The P5s are Battle Processors, and the P6s are Telekinetics.
The Psyoperatives were broken down into Telepaths, Battle Processors (Or Precognitives) and Telekinetics, though among those they were trained in different areas. Telepaths could be trained in psychology and set to work breaking and making other X series, or in corporate espionage or spying. What better spy than the one that could read your mind? Psyoperatives lived much different lives than their X5 counterparts, however. Because of their ability to scramble minds they couldn't be kept in cells and guards left on them as with the X series. They had to be kept occupied and relatively happy. Their work wasn't physical, but creative, and required them to love it. As such their quarters were more like a college dormitory than a cell block. Doors inside the dorm were never locked, and in the middle there was a large lounge full of games, computers, selected television, radios. They even had internet access, though it was monitored, with contact to the outside world. There were no guards, only cameras.
Each Psyoperative had his or her own office, patients, and work areas that they maintained. Telepaths practiced retraining or "breaking and making" X5s and 6s after the escape, interrogation of prisoners brought in, routine mind scans of Manticore personnel both as a practice and to ensure that they were not selling secrets if they were suspected of such. They had the ability to read and affect the minds of others through direct eye contact. The initial contact would jolt the victim, holding their eyes to the Psyoperatives so they could do their work. They can interfere with memories, thoughts, and emotions easily.
Telekinetics usually have EXTREMELY limited telepathic abilities as well, but their unique ability to move objects from afar kept them in the field most often, getting objects that others couldn't, due to security nets. Most security systems simply weren't designed to keep the object from floating out.
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There were also Battle Processors. They were usually sent out with X5 units, and spent very little time with the other Psyoperatives, though they did spend some. They were designed to be unseen and unobtrusive, and would accompany X5 units into the field to give intelligence and enemy predictions from behind the fighting. As such they were given the designation X5 instead of P5 under the theory that X5s would be less likely to trust those that had tortured them. Battle processors have a near precognitive ability. They combine near-absolute data knowledge with fast Fourier neural nets for heuristics resulting predictions using probability algorithms that are more often than not accurate.
Most Psyoperatives hold the equivalent to a degree in Psychology, or several degrees. They're highly intelligent creatures with IQs that would be off the chart and thought processes that are alien to humans. They are still being produced. The youngest is an infant, and the oldest are in their early twenties.
