The Inhumans are a race of beings that diverged from humanity some 25,000 years ago when the alien Kree conducted genetic experiments on primitive man to produce an army of super-powered shock troops. After the Kree abandoned their research, the Inhumans were left to fend for themselves.
The Inhumans settled on a small island in the northern Atlantic Ocean, which they named Attilan. Predisposed to technological aptitude, especially in an area of genetics, they developed expansive machines and advanced architecture in a relatively short span. One of the Inhumans' most dramatic discoveries was the isolation of a chemical catalyst for super-powered mutation, called Terrigen. Believing that Terrigen would bring about great genetic advances within a single generation's time, the scientist who discovered the substance instituted a program by which all Inhumans could undergo immersion to the Terrigen Mists if they so desired. Future generations of Inhumans would adopt Terrigenesis as a cultural rite of passage. Today, the process is an Inhumans' first step into adulthood. Born without powers, teens are exposed to the Terrigen Mists following years of preperation and education. Following immersion, young Inhumans mutate into their own individual subspecies with unique physical characteristics and superhuman abilities.
In Attilan, diversity is the order of the day. Beings of pure energy mingle with shape-changers and dragons. To emerge from the Terrigen Mists transformed into an exotic anomaly is to conform. A genocracy, Attilan is ruled by the most genetically fit. For the last decades, the Inhumans' monarch has been Black Bolt, whose voice is so powerful he can level a mountain with a mere whisper. The Royal Family is composed of a small coalation of Black Bolt's cousins and close relatives, who advise their leader on matters of state and help him govern a people divided by their very individuality.
Those with the ear of the king include the cloven-hoofed Gorgon, the misunderstood merman Triton, the deeply spiritual martial artist Karnak and the element-wielding heroine Crystal - as well as Black Bolt's wife, Medusa, who possesses the psychokinetic ability to animate her high-tensile hair. A trusted companion to the Royal Family, the stotic, dog-like Lockjaw is able to teleport himself and others across space and dimensions.
Despite its great diversity, Attilan is a segregated society. The Alpha Primatives, a race of work clone created by the Inhuman genetists, have been banished to the city's substructure. Their barren genes afford them no choice but to work the vast machine that powers Attilan, always at the call of the Great Engines.
Distrustful of humanity, Black Bolt has relocated Attilan several times to protect his people from prying eyes and the polluted air that is deadly poison to all Inhumans - first to the Himalayas and then to the moon. The Inhumans' mistrust of humanity is mirrored by the nations and people of the world, who view them as superhumanly powerful, unpredictable wildcards.
In all interactions with mankind, Black Bolt has acted with the Inhumans' best interests of in mind - even at possible cost of his throne and his people's rejection.
The Royal Family:
Black Bolt
Medusa
Gorgon
Karnak
Triton
Crystal
Ahura
Luna Maximoff
Lockjaw
Other Inhumans:
The Unspoken
Maximus the Mad
Beyonder
Vinatos
Sterilon
Alaris
Jolen
Nahrees
San
Tonaja
Chynae
Red Raven
Skybreaker
Star Thief
New Inhumans:
Ulysses Cain
Thane
Blizzard
Sarah Garza
Alice Kedzierski
Quickfire
Haechi
Ms. Marvel
Ren Kimura
The Junkman
Reader
Nur
Lineage
Inferno
Flint
Naja
Iso
Grid
Captain Swain
Techno Golem
