Tieflings

Origin
Tieflings trace their origins to the ancient human Empire of Bael Turath. In the Empire, the noble class was completely obsessed with preserving and gaining power. Rumors of their schemes and obsession with power reached a realm called the Nine Hells, located around the Astral Sea. The devils that resided in the Nine Hells gave the ruling classes of Bael Turath visions while they slept, containing the directions for a grisly, month-long ritual that would extend their rule into eternity. The details of the ritual have been left unclear (it is rumored that tieflings themselves destroyed all evidence and knowledge of the ritual), though it is described as being very horrible. As the ritual demanded the participation of every noble house, those that refused were wholly slaughtered. Once this was done, the ruling class began their ritual. Afterwards, devils from the Nine Hells began to appear, and the nobles gladly made pacts with them. These pacts gave power to the nobles and their descendants forever, but also gave them the devilish features of horns, non-prehensile tails, sharpened teeth, and red skin. From that point forward, the former humans were the race known as the tieflings.

Biology
Tieflings can breed with most other humanoid races, with their bloodlines dominating almost all others (aside from extraplanar beings, such as celestials, devils, and demons). A tiefling’s ancestry has a lot of influence upon their various appearances; demonic tieflings could, besides the common horns and tails, possess a forked tongue, leathery or scaly skin, the smell of brimstone, or unusually warm flesh. Some accounts even held these tieflings to cast neither shadows nor reflections. Some diabolic tieflings also sported goat-like legs or hooves. Tieflings descended from rakshasa might have furred skin or feline eyes. Some tieflings were not descended from mere fiends at all, but from powerful gods. These tieflings often had their own physical characteristics that set them apart. Tieflings sired by Beshaba, for instance, often had antlers instead of horns and pale, white hair. Those sired by Mask, on the other hand, were known for their tendency to cast no reflection while half-fiends spawned by Bhaal often appeared physically identical to humans, a characteristic they may have passed down to their descendants. Tieflings who had strikingly inhuman features are often killed at birth by their horrified parents or others. Only those tieflings with subtle features or born to someone indifferent to their appearance, either out of acceptance or cruel purpose, are likely to reach adulthood. Tieflings usually live as long as humans do, perhaps a little longer. Powerful tieflings, with infernal pacts embedded in their bloodlines, may live for centuries; a handful may even be immortal.

Tieflings tend to have the same dimensions as humans (with variances allowing for mixed racial bloodlines). Tiefling skin can be human-like in color, though varying reddish hues are common. Tiefling hair is often the same color as human hair, though there are exceptions to this as well. Tieflings have a number of different features, however: horns, generally goat or ram-like with some exceptions, long, non-prehensile tails that balance the weight of tiefling horns, elongated canines which can vary depending on bloodline (orcish tieflings have exaggerated canines), and small claws at the tips of their fingers. Most tieflings have small, goat-like ears; however, some can have human or elfish ears depending on ancestry. Tiefling eyes vary widely, from solid, unicolored eyes with no discernable iris/pupil, to normal, human-like eyes with all colors (and some inhuman colors).

Behavior
Tieflings sometimes tend to have an unsettling air about them, and most people are uncomfortable around them, whether they are aware of the tiefling's unsavory ancestry or not. Tieflings have an unnatural fury boiling within them. They can be attracted to blood, which can emphasize it, though it's by no means making them go into a frenzy. This fury may push an individual, depending on his personality, to commit particular deeds. Most tieflings can harness it in a semi-arcane kind of way, and manifest it in hellfire to use against the target of their rage. Some rare tieflings, usually arcanists, have learned harnessing its magic in different ways.

Tieflings have a particular affinity for fire and fear. They can use the element of fire and the "element" of fear with greater ease than others; in addition, they have a supernatural resistance to fire and heat, and these will not harm them anywhere near as easily as other races and beings. The general level is the same for all tieflings, but again, some individuals may have found ways to harness this resistance to a greater level, or even expand it to other elements. This is usually due to pacts, however. The tiefling's natural advantage is its cunning (intellect) and force of personality (charisma), much like orcs are renowned for their physical prowess and elves are renowned for their nimbleness and perception. Whether this leaning towards intellect and charisma is fueled by magic or not, the certain thing is that your average tiefling is much more cunning and witty than your average human. This has, of course, given them additional reputation.

Most tieflings have just the above. These are all naturally-occurring features of the race, so to speak; other than these they still need to sleep, eat, and drink like all races do. There is no inherent drive towards good or evil, though many individuals may feel one as a result of the popular perception about them: that tieflings are offspring of the devil.

History
The humans who had made deals with fiends for power expanded their lands into an empire in northern Orcran. The nobles, once human, were now thirsty for control and power over the more common people. So began a reign of tyranny in which tiefling bloodlines were of utmost desire, going so far as to kill or drive out normal humans or force them to carry on the Infernal bloodlines.

These ancient tieflings began a bloody conquest, taking over many cities through the power of their pacts with demons. Soon, tieflings became a numerous and powerful, ones who used fear to rule their people. They bathed the land in blood while expanding their knowledge and reach across Orcran. The nobles who ruled were the leaders of several different cults following powerful gods, including Tiamat, Bane, and Loviatar, among others.

Eventually, the expanding borders of the draconic kingdom of Arkhosia, ruled by dragonborn, collided with those of Bael Turath.

Ideology, culture, and ambition smashed together as well. No common ground could be found between the two empires. For one to succeed, the other had to fall. War was inescapable. It came swiftly and brutally, and it spanned hundreds of years.

Both sides suffered internal strife, mirroring the surface conflict. Tiamat’s cult wormed away inside Arkhosia, weakening it. The desire of common folk to be free of infernal shackles poisoned Bael Turath’s well of power. Bane’s cult worked both sides, stoking the war hotter, while extremists loyal to Melora aimed to bring both empires down. Bitterness strengthened the utter incompatibility of ethos between the two nations.

Ever worse exchanges led the warring empires toward ruin. Bael Turath’s forces heaped atrocities upon Arkhosia, corrupting some lands to the point that neither side could hope to reclaim them.

Bloody Arkhosian campaigns against Bael Turath led some idealistic Arkhosians to doubt, and the empire’s foundational beliefs faltered, causing political turmoil. Overextension of resources made it difficult for ironhanded Bael Turath to keep order in its core provinces.

Neither relented, eventually costing both everything.

Lesser lords of the Nine Hells strode across battlefields, only to fall to draconic claws or the assaults of Arkhosia’s legions. That which didn’t disintegrate in direct combat crumbled under the stress inflicted by the seemingly endless and vicious war. But end that war did, when neither empire had the resources or the will left to fight. When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, Bael Turath and Arkhosia were no more.

Fiends of Bael Turath that weren’t hurled back into the Hells hid among the ruins, and Arkhosia’s few remaining dragon lords abandoned the wreckage or squabbled over the remains. Tieflings and dragonborn alike were left with no choice but to largely abandon their lands in search of refuge elsewhere in the world.

Present day tieflings are integrated into mixed societies and living in lands they cannot claim as their own. A few tieflings, namely cults proud of their Infernal heritage, continue to venerate the fiendish model set forth in centuries gone Bael Turath, though these groups are unpopular and currently not a true threat.

Family
It is not an abnormal practice for parents to choose to kill their child if it exhibits too many demonic traits, such as cloven hooves, slits for irises, too many horns etc. Like many of the planetouched, tieflings tend to be named based on where they were raised. That is, their parents pick a name that is appropriate for the culture they currently live in. As children, tieflings are raised by their parents like humans, and their upbringing varies just as much. They mature at a rate average to a human’s, with adulthood coming at around 16 years of age. At that point, the newly grown tiefling is sent off in the world to do what they will, usually encouraged to bring tieflings a good name or to do well under the name of a demonic deity. Tieflings will also choose a name of a virtue they most value or wish to work towards, the name being a constant reminder of who they wish to be and how they want to live their lives. There are many archetypal features of tieflings that are not necessarily innate. This includes their attitude regarding their heritage, and while some tieflings embrace it, others are repulsed by it, forging the two most common stereotypes of tieflings: those who do evil, and those who overcompensate and do as much good as possible to make up for their ancestry.

The former tieflings, who are proud of their fiendish past, are often fascinated by the dark and sinister events that touched the world, but are not necessarily evil or inclined to perpetuate them. Some tieflings of this type choose to use their knowledge of evil and their own fiendish abilities to thwart these dark plots and schemes. Others seek to learn more and to emulate these evil deeds.

Other tieflings are ashamed or even frightened of their heritage and wish only to escape the shadow that lurks over them as a result. Some do this through constantly doing good, as though to make up for the evil that begot them. Others instead hide and tried to go unnoticed as they passed through the world, preferring to be ignored and forgotten than noticed and made a target because of their past.

The fact tieflings can only have tiefling offspring, means that tieflings all have the same origin in terms of bloodline: the human nobles of Bael Turath, who forged pacts with the devils of the Nine Hells two thousand years ago. These nobles still exist, not themselves but as bloodlines and houses. These are the Highborne, tieflings with heavily emphasized characteristics, and inherited arcane pacts of magnificent, sometimes unspeakable powers. However, the Highborne are very few in number.

Religion
Tieflings are as varied as humans are in their worship of different deities, and have no real set religion for the race. However, there are some temples on the continent of Orcran in various tiefling cities, dedicated to a few common gods. Most tieflings who worship a god are fascinated by the ones who skirt evil or are of Infernal/demonic origin, since tieflings’ ancestry is tied to them. Because of this, most good-leaning tieflings stay away from religion altogether and choose not to be tempted by gods of evil.

Bane
While few if any tieflings are thought to be spawn of Bane, his faith is an appealing and charismatic one for the dark planetouched. As the god of fear, Bane is an example of how a tiefling could take another creature’s fear and turn it into a weapon.

Loviatar
The Maiden of Pain has many fiendish servants as beautiful and cold as she is, and they are sometimes instructed to breed with mortals to produce fiend-touched servants. Tieflings of these lines become feared at an early age for their ability to tolerate abuse and inflict terrible physical and emotional wounds upon others. Tieflings that worship her are often drawn to careers that involve hurting others, such as torturers, or practice strange blood- and pain-based magic.

Orcus
Tieflings sometimes try to revive worship of Orcus, the demon prince of the undead. Sages believe that Orcus’ ties to undead have prevented him from begetting any offspring, but goat-horned tieflings have been born in the area he once ruled more than once. He is worshipped by assassins, necromancers, and members of death cults.

Pazrael
This demon prince of evil aerial creatures has gained a foothold in Faerûn, possibly because he acts as an evil counterpart to the elven goddess Aerdrie Faenya. Tieflings with a more birdlike appearance are thought to be related to him or his minions. Tieflings that worship Pazrael are frequently in conflict with worshipers of Istishia and air genasi in general.

Sebek
The Lord of Crocodiles has few tiefling descendants, for most of his offspring are some sort of lycanthrope. Those that are not shapechangers still tend to have reptilian eyes or scaly skin on their heads, and are often confused for yuan-ti. They have an affinity toward crocodiles. His tiefling worshipers usually rely upon rivers for their livelihood or are part of cults that revere reptiles of all kinds.

Set
Scions of this desert god’s bloodline often have scaly skin or fangs, making them resemble yuan-ti in some cases. Evil tiefling mages of all schools worship him. Set enjoys pitting his tieflings against the followers of his rival deities. They have an affinity for poisonous snakes.

Art
Tieflings enjoy art that is less material and more a skill or craft. Many famous plays were actually written, produced, and acted out by tieflings (to be reinterpreted by various cultures and recast with more ‘suitable’ races later). Tieflings also have written many famous songs about their own history and other various stories, most of which have melancholy but hauntingly beautiful melodies and lyrics. These songs are used and rewritten often by bards, mainly by women who have the sweet voices to accompany the tones of such music. Most tieflings have good voices but are hesitant to perform outside of their own cities, having experienced too much of people preferring other races’ performances over theirs. Tieflings also find art in enchanting items. In Aerilon, most inventions of enchanted magical items and arcane advances were by eager tieflings who excelled in their fields. They find magic to be wondrous and beautiful, and often tieflings will even spend years perfecting the look of their own magic to make it fit their individual artistic tastes and personality. Even spellbooks created by tieflings are something to behold; each is very individual to the tiefling and normally is full of sketches and very neat calligraphy to create a book that is beautiful to read while also being a practical need for magic.

Leisure
Tieflings, good or bad, are very good at games of deception. Card games, games of strategy in which you can mislead the other player, and other games of insight and lying are popular among tieflings. They are excellent bluffers and have been known to win tournaments of poker. Tieflings also enjoy games of intellect in general, so dragonchess and trivia games are enjoyed as well. Bold and devilish tieflings may enjoy more dangerous games involving deception and intellect, sometimes with battles of wit over poisoned drinks, sometimes playing with literal fire.

Enemies/Allies
Tieflings are generally tolerant of other races, though most other people do not extend this generosity to them. Many distrust and fear them, and a few are openly hostile. Residents of cosmopolitan areas, such as Aerilon, interact with many tieflings, and thus are more accustomed to them. While these people still often distrust them, they will not react with open fear or anger. In general tieflings get along better with the shadier side of society than with those who live uprightly, even if the tiefling is of a good nature himself. Members of other races find that once they demonstrate friendship and trust towards a tiefling, it is quickly reciprocated in full. Once that bond is forged, it is rarely broken. Humans in particular can be the most hateful towards tieflings, knowing the general history of them once being humans who turned to evil and feeling a sense of racial betrayal or shame towards them. Orcs and half-orcs tend to get along well with tieflings, having a kinship in that both of them are commonly hated or discriminated against. The ancient history between dragonborn and tieflings is mostly forgotten by these generations and does not affect their relations.