Dr. Permuta
Dr. Permuta (pronounced /pɚˈmjuːtə/) is a biologist of Nuclearth who studies mutants, believing them to represent the future of the world and desiring to learn how to control and spread mutations to produce the most positive results. Many mutant supremacists support her, despite her not being a mutant herself; she also has some support from individuals who believe in the importance of scientific study and think she's doing important work even if they may not agree with her personal philosophies.
Description
Dr. Permuta is a thin woman with light brown skin and dark brown hair. She has large, almost bulging brown eyes, and gives the impression of blinking somewhat less often than most people. Her small mouth is frequently cursed in thought, and she usually has inkstains all over from her constant notetaking—including on her face, partly from her habit of chewing on her pens and partly from her rubbing her face with inkstained hands. She has a habit, when talking, if she isn't taking notes at the moment, of making abstract gestures with her left hand that seem to bear no relation to what she's talking about, while keeping her right hand perfectly still.
Not overly concerned with appearances, Dr. Permuta wears odd collections of rags she gathers together and repatches, whether or not their colors and patterns match. However, over her other clothing she invariably wears a green labcoat; she has a collection of such labcoats provided her by one of her patrons, Abominable Arthur. Her labcoats are as stained as the rest of her clothing, but are made of sturdy material and generally in good shape.
History
Born and raised in Guimarães in what had been part of Portugal but was now Malarica, Dr. Permuta was originally called Avelina—as the only Avelina in Guimarães, she didn't need any further name. Despite her birthplace, her family was originally of Slovenian ancestry, and Avelina grew up speaking Slovene almost as fluently as Portuguese. Always a precocious child, Avelina was particularly fascinated by mutants. She made a close friend of a mutant named Guaspar Verde, who had been cast out from the cities for his deformities. Guaspar was immune to radiation, and repaid Avelina's kindness by bringing her books and papers from the irradiated cities where most people couldn't go. With the aid of these books, Avelina began to study in earnest the science of biology, particularly as it applied to genetics and mutations.
Having learned much from her own studies, Avelina sought out the Noine Order, a monastic order dedicated to scholastic pursuits. Though initially reluctant to take on a new student, the monks found her an eager pupil, and one who soon surpassed many of her masters. When she felt she had learned all she could at the monastery, Avelina set out on her own, pursuing her interest in learning more about applications of genetics, and in particular into the causes and rules of mutation. For a while, she worked under the patronage of specific rulers, but they made too many demands of her, and she eventually found her way to an island where she could do her research in peace. It was only when she started seriously on her current research work that Avelina adopted the name of Dr. Permuta, to represent her immersion in her work—she still answers to her old name, but never uses it herself.
Headquarters
Dr. Permuta lives on a small isle she calls Petch Island, only some two square kilometers in area and uninhabited except for Dr. Permuta and her staff. She makes her home in an old lighthouse; most of her research is carried on in a nearby research center expanded from a preexisting such structure. The research center also provides a home for most of the doctor's support staff, though some of them have built their own structures nearby.
The doctor's own quarters are fairly spartan; the upper floors of the lighthouse are used only for storage. While she puts little effort into maintaining the actual building, however, she does tend to a fairly elaborate garden, made of plant types she has created through genetic manipulation. The research center is a bit better outfitted, thanks largely to the efforts of her staff.
Research
Dr. Permuta's research involves genetic manipulation to create new organisms, or to alter existing organisms. She is quite conversant with preapocalyptic biology and genetics, but recognizes that something about the mutations that have occurred since the war doesn't jibe with what she knows about it, and that something else is going on. She has several theories as to what that something may be, but is not forthcoming about them; she has shared a few with other scholars, but other theories she keeps to herself.
So far, Dr. Permuta has become able to bring about mutations, but has little control over the mutations she can bring about. She has created a number of mutated organisms, and has even bred a few species, most of which are unique to the island, although a small furry creature called a trecoto has been widely exported and is in some parts a popular pet. She also has managed, through proprietary treatments, to cause mutations in existing organisms, including humans—either unmutated humans (unmutated, at least, until she works on them), or human mutants which she then mutates further. In fact, it is humans that she is particularly interested in, and she is always looking for new experimental subjects. Occasionally she gets willing volunteers, but often she is sent "volunteers" from nearby rulers who find this a convenient way of disposing of troublesome subjects. Whether she realizes
Most of Dr. Permuta's subjects do survive her experiments. However, none survive unchanged—while she has not discovered how to control mutations as well as she would like, she has become very good at producing them. Her results are therefore unpredictable, but certainly significant; the objects of Dr. Permuta's research may end up with extra limbs, psi powers, or almost anything else. Sometimes the mutations go too far, and they end up little more than random masses of flesh and organs. These packaries, as she calls them, she may leave to roam the island, but if they grow too dangerous or too numerous she has her agents ferry them to the mainland. Most of them have settled in the area now called Majal Almasch, avoided by the residents of nearby cities.
Livelihood
Dr. Permuta focuses entirely on her research for purposes of knowledge, and has no apparent interest in commercializing her work in any way. (The trecotos furnish a rare exception, but their sale was suggested and is coördinated by some members of her staff, not by Dr. Permuta herself.) This is not for want of potential custom; various warlords and other interested parties have offered to pay for her to raise them armies of mutants to order, and have been politely but firmly refused. Still, of course, Dr. Permuta's research does require plenty of materials, and the doctor herself and her assistants need to eat and to be provided with other necessities. Fortunately for the doctor, there are a number of wealthy individuals who, for whatever reason, see fit to fund her work. Some of these patrons send her money and other trade goods; others send her supplies directly, including scientific instruments (such as exist in Nuclearth) as well as such basics as food and water (which are not entirely unavailable on the island, but getting them from elsewhere makes things easier).
Some of Dr. Permuta's funding comes from rulers and other affluent individuals who have a philanthropic interest in the advancement of knowledge. Many of her patrons, however, have ideological interest in her research, feeling that it supports their beliefs in mutant supremacy. Much of Dr. Permuta's funding, for instance, comes from some groups and individuals within the Transcendents, one of the powerful fraternities of North America. The Transcendents believe in the primacy of mutants and their destiny to inherit the Earth, so it's not surprising that some of them see Dr. Permuta's work as presenting the possibility of hastening that destiny along.
Oddly, Dr. Permuta also gets a fair share of funding from the European general Savage Al, though his reasons for favoring her work remain obscure. It could be that her choice of abode appeals to his sense of humor—before the war, Petch Island was called Selvagem Grande, a name translating to "Big Savage". It's uncertain, however, that Al is even aware of this fact, and it's quite possible that he has other motives for his patronage.
Goals and Personality
Dr. Permuta is focused on her research, to the almost complete exclusion of all else. Her relationship with her staff is cordial, but in no case could be considered a close friendship, and her correspondences with distant scholars focus entirely on research and barely include even the most superficial of pleasantries. This isn't so much because she is completely uninterested in human contact, but rather because she feels that her research is more important, and that she should work to better the world, and put her personal considerations aside. At some level, she's managed to genuinely convince herself that she really isn't interested in having friends or lovers, but deep down there is a loneliness there, one she constantly struggles against because she doesn't want to get distracted from her work. Her sole outlet at the moment for her desire for personal contact is her mutated creations; she has a few favorite subjects, all either created from brute beasts or created from humans but now having apparently lost their intelligence, which she treats as beloved pets and to which she showers genuine affection. Those who only know Dr. Permuta from her dealings with other people are often shocked by her completely different manner with her pets, whom she pampers and speak to in baby talk.
The doctor's goal is, quite simply, to understand how mutations work on Nuclearth, and to figure out how to use that knowledge to better the lot of its people. The second part of her goal is admittedly quite vague, but she figures she can wait to firm that up until she's completed the first part. She genuinely has no interest at all in power or money, except insofar as it might help her with her real goals. Dr. Permuta has not attempted to induce mutations in herself not because she has any aversion to the idea of being a mutant, but only because, with her current inability to predict exactly what mutations will occur, she doesn't want to risk mutating in a way that might hinder her from continuing her research.
Relations
Although she corresponds with a number of scholars, including a couple of her old acquaintances from the Noine Order, and certainly from time to time finds it necessary to communicate with her patrons and update them about her research, the only people with whom Dr. Permuta is in regular close contact are her research staff. Her staff is fairly small, only a few dozen people, all of them former experimental subjects. Dr. Permuta is not averse to accepting new applicants for assistants, but will require them to submit to being mutated themselves first; being subjected to Dr. Permuta's experiments is a prerequisite for the job.
The member of the staff who has been with Dr. Permuta the longest, and who is probably the head of the staff as much as anyone is, is a large woman named Big Eva who, among other mutations, has strange, down-curving spines growing out of her back. Big Eva has something of a crush on Dr. Permuta, but knows that her feelings will never be requited as long as her research is incomplete; this gives her all the more motivation to want to help Dr. Permuta find the answers she seeks. Other notable members of Dr. Permuta's staff include Silvo, a reptilian mutant who more or less serves as the island's de facto head of security; Alien Ana, an unnaturally slender, large-eyed woman with powerful telepathic abilities; the Twins, Nico and Chico, two mutants formed dartically from a single original man; and Qamar Alifrit, tiny but highly intelligent.
The only other creatures that stay on the premises for significant amounts of time are a few long-term research projects and Dr. Permuta's "pets". The latter currently number five: a giant scorpion-like thing Dr. Permuta calls Jelly, a thing like a cross between a yak and a tiger she calls Vajim, a terrestrial squid creature called Poppy, a green blob called Queen, and a flattish mass of flesh with multiple arms and legs called Stone. All but Stone were originally mutated from unintelligent plants and animals; Stone was originally human, but it is unclear how much intelligence he retains.