Necrotic Post-Human

More commonly known as 'ghouls' in the wasteland, these humans have been altered on a physiological level by an incident of extreme exposure to radiation. It is not general knowledge how the condition is caused, just that it is permanent and incurable. The majority of people consider them simply to be their own ethnicity, though feeling on them is mixed across the wasteland at best. Beyond your standard bigotry, there are several aspects of their new biology that can actually be a valid threat to humans living within close proximity.

Ghouls can begin their new life 'feral', or gradually slip into this state over time. Losing any rationality or memory of self, they attack just about anything else that isn't a Necrotic Post-Human with violent fervor that lasts until their death. Even those with sentience emit low levels of radiation that can be harmful to humans they cohabitate with, not to mention the fallout they tend to collect being immune and unaware to the hazards all around them. This atomic energy even curiously mends their wounds and can return a measure of life to deceased feral corpses.

Some truths that are kept to a privileged few who have the resources to fully study the condition. They have found a connection between hydration and stimulation that can stave off the breakdown of one's mind seemingly indefinitely. Although appearing ageless, studies do show degradation with time similar to all living creatures. Only estimates can be made about potential lifespan due to a lack of subjects to study, however five hundred years is considered a reasonable guess as far as anyone is concerned. There is a symbiosis taking place between a diverse culture of fungi and bacteria that have mutated in a way to feed off nuclear energy. This bond is what allows Necrotic Post-Humans to regenerate tissues from radioactive sources, although the process is imperfect due to the nature of the simple organisms trying to replicate an infinitely more complex one. Many accounts recall their skin slowly peeling off over a course of days or weeks, providing further evidence that it was not 'burned' off, but naturally regenerated at a speed relevant to the respective level of atomic particles in their general vicinity during their metamorphosis.