Genetic alterations as a fad

You know how you hear stories in the media about celebrities and their plastic surgeries?  I personally don't care about such news, cause it means nothing to me.  But what if genetic alterations as a form of lifestyle for the rich and powerful in my Black Science novels.  Instead of plastic surgeries to improve their bodily and facial features.  Don't get me wrong, plastic surgery will still be around in my novels, but it will be far more primitive and cheaper in the future, but what if genetics could do more?

In the future, genetic alterations will be the most popular way of changing one's appearance.  Whether to escape criminal charges or for just for the hell of it, genetic alterations will be the wave of the future.  But they won"t be as a effective as one would think.

The fatal flaw in genetic alterations as a fad will be that the cheaper they are or the more they are used by the same person, the more likely they will be susceptible to more unpleasant looking mutations.  For those who are too poor to afford genetic alterations as a fad, they turn to much cheaper alternatives.  At first it does nothing but promote what the user wants (purple or green skin, white or flaming red hair, even the occasional tail, scaly skin, cat like eyes, etc) but after constant use (like most narcotics these days) they make the user take a turn for the worst.

Say for example you want catlike fur, you enjoy having cat like fur so much, you keep buying the same genetic enhancements.  After awhile you become more and more like a cat and then after a certain amount of time, you devolve into the species of feline.

For those who can afford the more expensive procedures, the less the chance you have of mutations.  Most of the time they want it to make them look attractive.  Sometimes they want to change their eye or skin color, but either way they are less susceptible to the mutations because those who are too poor are pretty much the guinea pigs.

Nova Sapiens

You all know Hercules and his Twelve Labors?  Sigurd who slayed Fafnir and wooed the Valkyrie Brunhilda? These men and various others like them are the greatest heroes or heroines described in mythology.  In truth they were children of the Silvery White Ones, who in turn were the pagan gods of old.  The Silvery White Ones were not heavily involved in the affairs of mortals, but every now and then they would come into the realm of mortals to indulge themselves and learn from time to time what it meant to be human.  Eventually the gods and goddesses that were the Silvery White Ones, sired the children who then later became the mythilogical heroes that we all know.

Guardians of the Maelstrom-short story idea

The Guardians of The Maelstrom short story idea is about how a small group of prisoners became Sentient Based Knights (I'll explain later) to protect humanity while guarding the Maelstrom (another idea that I will explain later) a spiralling vortex in space that spews various evils, who are in the service to the Dark Ones and wish to bring doom unto the galaxy.

The plot of the story will involve prisoners abroad a space based prison,who suffer the abuses by the guards and the threat of being shoved out of the ship and into the vaccum of space.  Eventually during one of the typical prison riots, it is whispered that certain prisoners who are too much to handle, began disappearing in ways that begin to scare even the guards.  Somewhere along the lines it is discovered that a group of Terran scientists are performing experiments connected with the Black Obelisk on the various prisoners who become too much to handle.

Eventually as one would expect, the experimets go wrong and everything starts going to hell.  The prisoners eventually put aside their differences and unite to survive against the terror's aboard the ship.  Once they manage to survive long enough to reach the bridge, they find out the ship has been so badly damaged that the control systems won't respond to the attempts they make to avoid the newly discovered vortex, that will be named "The Maelstrom."

Thinking that death awaits they prepare themselves they are blinded by a white light, but they later discover that they have been saved by the Silvery White Ones.  It is there that the prisoners no longer become prisoners, but the newly appointed Guardians of the Maelstrom.

Opinions please

These are my sources for my idea
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lictor-class_dungeon_ship
http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Eye_of_Terror