Professor Alex Stahlman located pockets of gas under the Earth's crust which he theorized would be a vast storehouse of energy that had so far remained untapped. In order to reach this gas, which he named Stahlman's gas, he set up an operation to drill through the Earth's crust. But at some point during the drilling process, number two output pipe ran into some problems and broke down. A thick green sludge came up the pipe and began leaking out around it. This sludge stayed constantly hot - so hot, in fact, that it shattered a heatproof container - and defied analysis. But one thing was for certain: when a person touched the sludge, they would begin metamorphosing into something else.
This metamorphosis was caused by a slow retrogression of the body's cells, a process accelerated by heat. Different people are affected at different rates, but the first sign of the transformation is a green discoloration of the skin in the affected area, followed by the growth of long, shaggy hair. Eventually all the skin takes on a silvery-green color and tufts of black hair begin sprouting from it. By this point the personality has utterly changed, and the person becomes wild and ferocious. Their breathing is deep and ragged, and they produce an almost electronic-sounding screech when attacking or when hurt. Intense heat radiates from their body, enough to turn metal objects red-hot if exposed to prolonged contact. One touch from a Primord at this stage will transform another human into a Primord as well.
The next stage appears as even more of a throwback - a full Primord has green skin, a shaggy mane of hair, bushy eyebrows, hairy hands, and fangs. They have abnormal resistance, even able to withstand bullets through the heart, and abnormal strength. The only thing that will stop them - and, if one is lucky, kill them - is cold, which they cannot abide given their hot nature. Compressed carbon dioxide from a fire extinguisher makes an effective weapon against them.
