Self-explanatory. My story contains people with superhuman abilities and skills, and at first I was going to call them 'mutants'. However, it reminds me of X-Men, so I really want to use another word for it. Something that sounds good to my story's theme, which is like inFAMOUS (PS3) meets I Am Legend, all-mixed up with a touch of Gears of War (Xbox). In other words, a post-apocalyptic/superhero/sci-fi genre story.
explore prefixes meta for metahuman para for paranormal super for supernatural a good SF story written by Olaf Stapledon is called 'Odd John'. Its about a queer child who taught himself complex math as a baby. Eventually he becomes a super-genius with a deformed body (as an adult he has a big head with a spindly limbed teenage body) achieves telepathic abilities and is so feared by humanity that he creates a colony of other 'supernormals' (a term he coined, along with Homo Superior). Both terms were kind of new and unique for the time, but the important thing is that the term supports the nature of Odd John himself, who lives up to the name Odd) At no time does Stapleton use a term like mutant, which is largely pejorative and has negative connotations, conjuring images of some abbherant abomination. Its completely up to you as a creator---
Alan Moore uses 'science heroes' alot(Top 10 mainly) and it worked well for the retro silver age vibe he tried to give the story. I think if you were going to do a futuristic story a more technical name might work. Alternatively if it's more like Mad Max I'd use 'mutant' in a second.
I just had an idea while reading your post... which doesn't seem so cool now that I'm writing all this introductory stuff... How about Betamen? You know like the Greek alphabet... It could be pronounced better-men too. The ones that come after those that are around now... Yeah, I'm going to stop there on that one. How about just Capes? Since they often wear capes and no-one else does... which might be kind of insulting for those that don't wear capes... Or Troublemakers or Disasters Waiting to Happen or anything that says 'Oh great, another one.'
Well it depends on the way they are treated by the other humans. For instance, in a shortish story I once wrote, there was a group of "superhumans" who recieved much the same treatment as the mutants, and were called "Freaks". You might want to try fooling around with a few adjectives or nouns to see what fits.
It's a post-apocalyptic scenario, where people have rebuilt cities and other settlements in 'safe zones' (the air is poisoned, known as Miasma, and these areas are Miamsa-free). The story takes place above the ruins of New York City.
i dont know too much but what if you just make it they are called what they are........... if its freak with a huge head people are likely to call em 'Big Heads'......... just throwing that out there...........
Darklings? I had a story much like this i started writing. But i probably wont finish. Anyway, their'mutants' lived in the sewers. they where called sewerwalkers. I had them called underlings at one stage too.
The word requires more context. Words don't just spring out of the air. To use some previous examples: Mutants- Implies that they are fundamentally different from humans, though they started at the same point- also implies that they were changed at some point. They, or their family line, didn't start out the way they are now. Metahuman- Implies that they are different than humans, but have a very similar form no matter how different their powers/abilities. Superhuman- Implies that they are downright better than humans, regardless of form or abilities. They have to beat humans hands-down to get this one. Betamen- Implies that we are Alphamen, which implies that there is someone, who isn't us, that's keeping track of all this. It wouldn't be our word. Freaks- Implies that the supernatural creature in question is shunned and ostracized. Or they chose that word because they want to be shunned and ostracized. Darklings- Implies a whole layer of supernatural creatures that is fundamentally different from our own. Also implies that "dark" is a force in the world. Words are nasty bastards to figure out. Used right, they can be quite powerful. What are the superhuman creatures' role(s) in the story? How does society see them? Where did they come from, how did they get there and who were they before they got there? How do people treat them, how do they treat each other, and how do they see themselves versus us? Are they isolated individuals or a united society? Do they know they exist? Do we know they exist? Are we fighting? Getting along? Don't be afraid to use more than one word. We call them "Breakers," they call themselves "Shapers." Don't forget that you can use more than one word even then- some people call them "Shapers," some call them "Wreckers," others use the term "Dark Ones" in an attempt to be respectful. They tend to call themselves "Breakers." You get the idea.
You should think of something that fits into the story world. What would the people call them? Are they liked or disliked? Those that like them will probably call them one thing, and those that dislike them another thing. How did they become superhuman? Those that dislike them might call them, devil, demons, changed, freaks, ungodlies. If they were changed by the Maisma, they might call them Maismers. Those that like them might call them Breathers (because they can breathe the air), Ubers, Supers, Protectors (Ptrotecs), Try to find something that is revavent to the world and how they became Supers.
It would really depend on the setting but i'd say; Homo Sapiens Sapiens Superioris. If you're going scientific. Übermensch, if you're going mad german WW2 scientist. Changelings. Evo's as a derrogative for evolved people. Oddballs, could work in a slightly comic setting.
