Cross-bred humanoids

[brytta.leofa]

The mother usually dies at birth because the mul is so large.

This is getting thrown around all the time these days, and I'm thinking that it wasn't necessarily supposed to be common knowledge?

I would theorize that an unassisted human+dwarf pregnancy, if even possible, would miscarry before it got to that point.

[SMuz]

I'd think that if the mothers were human, it's only the size of a normal baby.. if it was a dwarf, well, dwarves are tough. The question is.. how does a human carry around a half elf without miscarrying?

[valeria]

If you're talking about purely the size, from my (limited) resources regarding race size, that is, the race size helpfile, the smallest human is 69% the size of the largest elf (size 9 v. size 13).  That's close to the same height ratio difference between my tiny Laotian friend and her giant Scandanavian-American husband, and they have successfully had two beautiful babies together.   For the record, she's 4'7" and he's 6'6", which is about 71%.

I haven't asked her if she had them naturally, though, or by C-section.

[Fathi]

The mother usually dies at birth because the mul is so large.

This is getting thrown around all the time these days, and I'm thinking that it wasn't necessarily supposed to be common knowledge?

In fact, if a mul knows the origins of its birth (not all do), it learns that its mother was not a loving mother, but a mother whose child was forced on her as a death sentence. To be born, a mul has to kill its own mother.

/derail

[Synthesis]

New character idea: dwarf vivaduan/physician performs first successful Zalanthan cesarean section.

[Pale Horse]

Dwarf+Human+Secret Magick/Technique= Mul.

What if the mother in this case was a dwarf?  We've all be assuming that the mother would be human.  If it was a dwarven mama, I imagine that she'd survive the birth, being on an order several magnitudes tougher than her taller counterpart.  Then again, perhapse a male human's sperm isn't tough or strong enough to impregnate a dwarven female's egg, thus negating this argument.

Now, assuming that Muls are only viable through a human mother, for whatever reason, I can see why magick would be needed, then.  Keeping a human female's body functional and able to provide for abnormally large and tough child growing in her would kill her under any circumstance where magick wouldn't be around to regularly fortify her normal stamina.  Or, as noted, maybe magick isn't used, and it's some form of diet or herbal brews and medication and living technique that keeps a human mother alive during the growth period.

This whole thread strikes me as a similar vein to that of a book series I read, at one point.  I don't remember the name of the series or the title book, but it was about wingless dragons that faught alongside humans in an empire.  Lead dragon's name was "Basil Broken-Tail", or something like that.  The villians in this series produced imps and other monstrosities by captureing human women and using them as "natural incubators".  They even produced giants, by using mamoths and artificial impregnation overseen by magick.

[SMuz]

Lol, I had a D&D campaign once where one of the major races were a bunch of half-dragon half-human guys. I've always assumed that mul mothers were dwarves, so it's not that hard for them to live with it, and giving birth to a human-sized baby would probably be what kills it.

New character idea: dwarf vivaduan/physician performs first successful Zalanthan cesarean section.

Heh, that guy could be very wealthy just because he'll greatly increase the production of muls. I'd actually like to see that.

[FantasyWriter]

http://www.zalanthas.org/gdb/index.php/topic,32331.0.html

[5 day lifespan]

I have seen several half-elves that took enough after their human ancestry that they fairly effectively blended in.  Have there been instances of things going the other way?  Half elves that blended well into elvish society, or is there not enough variation in the elvish form that if you aint skinny, you aint skinny!  What about three quarter breeds?  The children of half elves and humans or elves?

[IAmJacksOpinion]

John Holmes + Inix = IAmJacks.