Ulhoric Mutants

The Ulhoric mutants are the descendants of the original victims of the Ulhoric plague who, instead of dying, were subjected to a myriad of horrific mutations which they then passed down to their offspring.
Background
In the year 2637, the inhabitants of a small town in Calderon name Shulwheat began exhibiting the symptoms of a strange malady which caused dozens of weeping pustules to break out on their skin, hair loss, and malformed bones. What was initially assumed by Imperial authorities to be nothing more than an isolated incident turned into an epidemic virtually overnight, as surrounding villages, and then the entire province, was ravaged by this mysterious plague.  Within a few months, it had spread across the entire continent. Hundreds of thousands died in the first year, with millions more succumbing in the years to come. The Empire instigated brutal measures in order to control the spread, including sending Imperial Praefects to incinerate entire towns. Due to the lack of centralised authority, the plague was even more damaging to those in the Northern Kingdoms. The Altharadi Elves, after learning about the plague, took decisive action, banning any and all visitors from Erru, even going so far as to sink any ships from the South before they had a chance to land on their shores. Their measures were successful, and the plague never spread to Altharad. However, it wreaked a terrible toll on the population of Erru. By the time it finally ran its course, nearly 20 million from various races had died, around 20% of the continent's total population at that time. But as the Errusians would soon learn, the vast numbers of dead would not be the only outcome of the plague. Around 1 in 50 of those who contracted the plague did not die, but instead developed gruesome mutations which warped both their bodies and minds. Some mutated more aggressively than others, but all regressed to a primitive state, where they were no longer able to feel empathy or regret, and were driven only by their most base and depraved instincts.  In the immediate wake of the plague, which had left whole sections of the countryside depopulated, these Ulhoric mutants ran rampant, roaming in packs or infesting abandoned villages, preying on travellers or merchants and dragging them back to their dens, either to be used as sport, food, or the continuation of their corrupted bloodlines.  As the nations of Erru slowly recovered from the plague, word of the existence of this mutant sub-race finally reached the Hierarchy, who reacted with horror and disgust. The Emperor immediately ordered the Imperial Banner and the Praefects to purge the mutants from his lands, and over the following years, a series of ruthless culls took place. The legionnaires killed every Ulhoric they could find, not matter how minor their mutation, and burned the bodies in massive pits. The remaining mutants were driven underground, into the sewer systems of cities, the deepest swamps, and the Underdark. With the completion of the Surface culls, the legions withdrew and the purge was deemed a success. But pockets of mutants still existed just out of sight, and over the following years they quietly grew in numbers, preying only on those whose disappearance would not be noticed. Nowadays, the civilisations of Erru consider the Ulhoric mutants to be little more than an urban legend, a scary story to tell their children so they know not to wander outside the home after dark. Anyone who has spent a night on the streets can tell you differently, if only anyone would be willing to stop and listen to them. 
Variations:
Dwellers

By far the most common variant, dwellers are those Ulhorics with the least extreme mutations that live in closest proximity to the other races. They can often be found stalking the streets of the poorest parts of Imperial cities, wearing hooded cloaks to prevent common folk from noticing their deformities, or lurking in the upper levels of sewers and nearby caves. The average person often has no idea they are rarely more than a few feet away from a den of dwellers, at least until they emerge from their hiding places to snatch the unwary.  Dwellers are still capable of (relatively) sentient thought, forming crude societies in dark places where the strongest rule and the weak either serve or are eaten. They survive by targeting the most vulnerable elements of Surface society; the poor, the sickly, the young, the elderly, grabbing whoever they can during their night-time raids. The fear the people of Erru have for Ulhorics is such that the Empire has created an entire task force dedicating purely to hunting down and eradicating these dens. And given the horrors endured by those rare survivors of a dweller abduction, their genocidal approach may well be the only appropriate measure to take. 





Delvers

Where dwellers might at least be able to differentiate between a human and a dwarf, a cat and a dog, to delvers such distinctions are meaningless as they are amount to same the thing; their next meal.  The scale of a delver's mutation has resulted in them devolving into rampancy, no longer able to function in any capacity on the Surface without being identified for what they are. No longer capable of speech, they communicate with one another through animalistic shrieks and moans, travelling through the Underdark or the lower levels of city sewers in frothing, gibbering packs. As soon as one of their number finds a potential meal, the others swarm to their call, falling upon whatever was unfortunate enough to cross their path with ravenous delight. Only fire will keep a pack of delvers at bay, and even then, only for as long as it continues to burn. 









Ruined Ones

Whatever trace semblance of civilised behaviour the delvers or dwellers are holding onto, Ruined Ones have abandoned entirely. Although a Ruined One can be born to either a dweller or a delver, their mutations rapidly accelerate at birth, causing them to grow to enormous size within a matter of hours, developing hideous growths and appendages that are met with horror even by others of their kind. If one of these monstrosities were to appear in an Ulhoric brood, or if which ever unfortunate humanoid they had abducted were to give birth to such a thing, the other mutants would seek to quickly destroy it, as if it is allowed to finish maturing, it will undoubtedly kill whatever sired it, as well as everything else in sight.  The mutations of a fully grown Ruined One grants it unnatural strength and dexterity, as well as tremendous regenerative abilities. Although as a consequence, it loses the ability to reproduce. Not that this matters, as a Ruined One is no longer driven by anything other than the need to feed, as it cannot sustain itself without vast quantities of food. Fortunately, due to their high infant mortality rates, Ruined Ones are exceedingly rare, and tend to stick the oldest, darkest parts of sewers or the lower levels of the Underdark, where they hunt for and eat virtually anything with blood running through its veins. One should never underestimate the ferocity of a Ruined One. Their mutations leave them unable to feel fear or pain, to the point where it is not uncommon for them to be able to take down much larger prey such as bears, ogres, and even giants.

Type

Genetic