The mutant race is less of a race than a group of humans who suffered greatly during the Tiagarathian Purge and the prior years. The south-west of Salenheim was largely reduced to smoking rubble by teams of crusaders and priests, determined to cleanse the area of those that worshiped false gods. Many apparently divine spells were unleashed upon the area and the precursors of current technology also left their marks on the landscape, and the people. The combination of these three things forged a terrible race of near-humans, mutilated but rapidly evolved for survival in the disease-ridden world. They continue to live in those disturbed lands, except for some few who travel the country, largely ignored, looking for something to do or someone that accepts them.

Personality:

Mutants tend to be quiet and cold, distant from most people of other races, though exceptionally devoted to other mutants and particularly their families. They usually have an air of great sadness about them, having seen and felt too much in recent years, though they almost never express this sadness, and when everything gets too much a mutant will go virtually insane, beating down friend and enemy alike with his or her bare hands. They rarely bother to consider careful combat strategies, simply jumping and hitting an enemy until it ceases to hit back.

Physical description:

Mutants look much the same as humans, though they are taller and more heavily built almost without exception. On closer examination, several abnormalities will become visible, ranging from scars and bulges on the mutants face to dark splotches on the skin or even unusually pigmented skin, with tinges of green or brown common, or eyes. Their faces are often slightly more primitive than that of a normal human, with protruding foreheads and thickset jaws. They mostly have more clearly defined muscles than most humans, but these and their other positive aspects are overshadowed by the unusual deformities.

Relations:

Mutants are cared about only by the most kind-hearted of humanoids – most of the time they are simple ignored or treated as beasts or slaves. Within their own communities, each mutant cares for its neighbours in the manner that strongly repressed peoples often adopt. Some vampyres, who live in close quarters with mutants, have been known to befriend a group of mutants and provide them with paid work and shelter, acting as benefactors as far as they can. The same has occurred with charitable humans. Mutants also lack the educational facilities of other races and are thus often ignorant of diplomacy and the more subtle aspects of life, which increases the difficulty of their acceptance into common societies. Nearly all mutants blame the Tiagarathians for their mutation and thus harbour deep hatred of the zealots.

Alignment:

Mutants tend towards neutrality, not really caring enough about deep philosophical thought to lean a particular way on either alignment axis. Chaotic mutants are marginally more common than lawful ones, but this is because of most mutant’s inherited hatred of the lawful Tiagarathian government.

Mutant Lands:

Mutant’s have no rightful lands, as they have been claimed by the theocracy, however communities ranging from a few tens of mutants right up to communities of several thousand squat on the lands of south-west Salenheim that were once theirs. These communities consist almost solely of mutants, with very few, if any, other beings. They live in relatively squalid surrounds, surviving hand-to-mouth and working terribly hard for their lives and their friends’. Wandering mutants are scorned by most other humanoids, though they occasionally find a home in the world where they can achieve some degree of acceptance, usually working as unskilled labourers or occasionally as crafts-people.

Religion:

Nearly all mutants have no concern with religion in the philosophical sense, though some few have become outspoken members of various faiths, and most others do pray to some form of divine being when they wish for fortune or good crops. Many of these divine beings are little but totems, representing seasons, crops and other aspects of daily life. Normally, the Tiagarathians would have massacred them for this type of heresy, but they do not see mutants as anything more than a group of unfortunate primitives.

Language:

Mutants speak Common and, on occasion, Bogslarrg, but rarely any other languages, particularly not complex dialects such as Elvish or the elemental or mystical languages.

Names:

Mutants follow human naming conventions, though they tend to borrow less from Elvish, Kartika and vampyre culture, sticking to short and gruff names for both males and females. They also maintain some old Bog and Slarrg naming traditions from their now-extinct southern neighbours.

Mutant Racial Traits:

• Medium: As Medium creatures, mutants have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size

• Mutant base land speed is 14 metres.

• Beauty dice: d4

• Low-light vision: A mutant can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish colour and detail under these circumstances.

• Danger-sense: Mutants add their dexterity bonus to their armour class even when caught flat-footed, though not while paralysed, tied up or otherwise immobilised, A mutant also doubles his dexterity bonus to reflex saves. They also gain the Evasion feat free, and if they gain it again as a class feature or by taking it as a standard feat, they receive Improved Evasion.

• Self-restoration: Mutant’s exposure to dangerous magic and technology has allowed them to regenerate at a far faster rate than any other race. They can even reattach limbs over night if this is called for. Mutants heal at double the rate of normal character, i.e. they heal four of their hit-dice per night instead of the normal two.

• Illiterate: Mutants cannot read or write in their starting languages unless they spend 2 skill points per language becoming literate.

• Tech-hate: Mutants have an intense dislike for the technology that brought them into the state that they are in, and thus choose not to use advanced armours or technically powered gadgets and tools, though, as realists, they embrace firearms as something that allows them to kill more quickly and efficiently. This means that they do not have proficiency with the aforementioned technologies without training specifically.

• Nimble: Mutants gain a +2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Ride, Swim and Grapple checks, as they train heavily in these strength and dexterity based checks, however, while doing this they neglect some other training, leaving them with a -2 racial penalty on Listen and Appraise checks.