Suggestions for a term
I'm a bit stumped on something I'm working on.
I'm working on a book that involves various types of superhumans, ala Marvel comics style, meaning that there are mutants/aliens/science experiments/robots and so on. I've got the vast majority of it worked out, but there's literally one phrase that's giving me grief.
Scientifically, everyone is classified with things like "Class A Unknown", "Class D Mutant" or "Class B Extraterrestrial", based on how much of a danger they are and, obviously, the source of their power. Colloquially, they'd just be called "mutants", "aliens", etc, which is also fine.
The part that's giving me an issue is that I don't particularly want to refer to them as Supers/Metahumans/etc when referring to the general "has powers" population. I have absolutely no idea what to actually call them. I do know I don't want it to be (something)human, because it's a catch all for all the types, including aliens, robots, humans with robot parts or magic, and supernatural creatures. It's the sort of phrase politicians would use when speaking publicly, in news reports, and so on, for both heroes and villains. If, for example, a guy turns mind controls the staff at a bank to rob it, and it's not clear if he's human or an alien, the news report would use this phrase - "An unknown (blank) robbed the bank on Fifth and Main today".
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Keep in mind, it doesn't have to be *super* serious - the story isn't particularly serious most of the time. I don't want it to be a complete joke term, but if it's an acronym a character might joke sounds forced, that's fine. I'll take just about anything that can get me on the right track here, it's driving me nuts.
Posted Apr 1, 2023, 6:52 PM UTC