Beginnings
#2 of Underneath the Wars
First section of this 'historical fiction' Written 2013
Beginnings
Anika was born naturally May 4, 20m to Cherika Greenhill and Yojat Brownhill. They were both created spotted hyena morphs, making Anika second generation and proudly the first natural birth in her line. They were not the first hyenas from the Whitehill group, but that didn't dampen the joy felt by her parents and their project teams.
The world was still fairly accepting of morphs at this time. Only twenty years since M0 was created and the second generations were growing fast. Natural Evolution Welfare Advancement and Genetic Engineering Association (NEWAGE), the collective of research corporations responsible for the development of the various methods for creating morphs, was still thriving and by this time had created over six hundred distinct species of morphs.
The complex in Western Australia and the three supporting towns around it; Harstlein, Perrin and Pendleton; had grown substantially as more morphs were created and born and the human staff and their families grew. The Japanese and Swedish research companies also sent many of their creations to live in Western Australia, simply because the space was available. Smaller towns popped up between the larger cities and some were swallowed up as the cities expanded.
Despite the near global acceptance of morphs, the American government had already declared morphs non-human in 16m, stripping them of any rights in that country. The million morphs that had already been created in America since corporations there had been accepted into NEWAGE in 10m, could no longer vote in their defense, own property to live on or even get passports to leave the country. Many were claimed as slaves, some willingly with friends to protect themselves, but most were sold for work or worse. This demand only increased production of new morphs, until a law was passed in 24m, banning morph creation and restricting their breeding.
Most early morphs would have children at a younger age than humans usually accept. Possibly because their animal counterparts mature faster or more simply because the scientists and slave owners bred them when they were able, hoping to solidify their success and/or profits. Whatever the reason, natural birth rates matched creation rates by 25m and quickly overtook them as American commercial creation ceased.