Muls are born of mixed heritage, created from the union of humans and dwarves. They have existed for as long as the two races have been interacting, but their numbers were never significant enough in the past to categorize them as a separate race. It was only with the rise of the Age of Sorcerer-Kings, as the former Champions of Rajaat sought the most powerful soldiers to defend their new domains, that muls have been bred in large numbers – though as slaves. As muls tend to be independent and hard to control, the sorcerer-kings quickly abandoned the idea of forming large armies of them. Instead, other uses were found for this hardy race.
Muls retain the height and adaptability of their human heritage and keep the durability, bulk, and raw strength of their dwarf side. As such, muls are among the most powerful of the demihuman races. Adults grow to heights of between 6 and 7 feet tall, weighing in at over 250 pounds. It isn’t unheard of for particularly large and strong muls to weigh upwards of 300 pounds. Their robust metabolism makes muls lean and muscular, but this isn’t to suggest that they’re thin. Muls are broad shouldered and wide, with almost no body fat. They appear to be large humans in most respects, though there are significant and obvious differences. With prominent eye ridges and pointed, swept-back ears, if their size doesn’t give away their heritage these features certainly will. Male and female muls alike have no body hair, and almost every mul is bald. Unlike half-elves and half-giants, muls are sterile; the only way to create a mul child is through the union of a human and a dwarf.
Like half-giants, muls don’t have a unified history or culture to draw upon. They don’t gather in mul communities, and there are no mul villages hidden in the wastes. For the most part, muls are slaves or ex-slaves, living in the city-states, client villages, merchant houses, or slave pens of the nobles-or among the slave tribes roaming the wilderness. A small number of muls are born free in the dwarf villages or somewhere else outside the jurisdiction of the sorcerer-kings and merchant lords. Muls found in the slave pens of the city-states and merchant houses usually work as gladiators or laborers. Their great strength and endurance make them valuable in both positions, and because so much goes into creating and maintaining a stable of mul slaves, their owners often pamper them – provided they perform well. The owners also jealously guard their muls, for it’s cheaper to pay exorbitant fees to slavers to retrieve a’ runaway mul than to start over in the breeding pens. Slave muls are easy to spot: Tattoos denoting ownership, occupation, and even number of victories in the arenas decorate head and body of these slaves.