Pre-Master mutants?

[Guest]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I've always been confused by Harold's story when you talk to him in the Hub about his expedition to the Military Base. He tells you that there were mutants appearing everywhere, and that they traced the source to the base, which was the 'factory' of the mutants. Who and what exactly were these mutants who existed before Richard Grey became the Master and created the super mutants, and how were they being 'manufactured'? I haven't seen it referred to anywhere else. Of course, there were mutants created from the effects of radiation and so on after the bombs dropped, but Harold was talking about the factory as if it was already like it was to become after Richard Grey conceived the idea of the Unity: A factory churning out an army of mutants. What's the deal?

Bonus question: What's the difference between FEV and FEV-2?

 

[Human Shield]

I think there is a difference between mutants and super mutants. I don't know if we saw non-super mutants in the game (or maybe those were the stupid ones). The FEV was around the area and I think a few scientists got transformed, FEV-2 is a refined version (think the only difference is better results).