“But you do see the way people look at you, devil’s child.”
Those black eyes, cold as a winter storm, were staring right into her heart and the sudden seriousness in his voice jolted her.
“What is it they say?” he asked. “One’s a curiosity, two’s a conspiracy—”
“Three’s a curse,” she finished. “You think I haven’t heard that rubbish before?”
“I know you have.” When she glared at him, he added, “It’s not as if I’m plumbing the depths of your mind, dear girl. That is the burden of every tiefling. Some break under it, some make it the millstone around their neck, some revel in it.” He tilted his head again, scrutinizing her, with that wicked glint in his eyes. “You fight it, don’t you? Like a little wildcat, I wager. Every little jab and comment just sharpens your claws.”
To be greeted with stares and whispers, to suffer violence and insult on the street, to see mistrust and fear in every eye: this is the lot of the tiefling. Scholars have scoured thousands of years of history in search of the origin of tieflings, to little avail. The most complete extant records suggest that shortly before
the Fracture, a cabal of power-hungry warlocks consorted with extraplanar entities, and that many of these unions resulted in children who shared the qualities of human and fiend—severing their souls from the light of the
Eternal Flame. Their appearance and their nature are not their fault but the result of an ancient sin, for which they and their children and their children’s children will always be held accountable. Though
Riven was once awash with fell legends claiming to detail the evil origin of tieflings, the more progressive parts of the realm have long since stomped out such ugly myths. Still, many folk can’t help but show surprise the first time they see a person with horns curling from their brow, gleaming eyes of a single solid color, and lustrous, brightly hued skin of red, purple, or blue.
Infernal Bloodline
Tieflings are derived from human bloodlines, and in the broadest possible sense, they still look human. However, their infernal heritage has left a clear imprint on their appearance. Tieflings have large horns that take any of a variety of shapes: some have curling horns like a ram, others have straight and tall horns like a gazelle’s, and some spiral upward like an antelopes’ horns. They have thick tails, four to five feet long, which lash or coil around their legs when they get upset or nervous. Their canine teeth are sharply pointed, and their eyes are solid colors — blue, red, white, silver, or gold — with no visible sclera or pupil. Their skin tones cover various shades of red, blue, purple, and orange. Their hair, cascading down from behind their horns, is usually dark, from black or brown to dark red, blue, or purple.
Self-Reliant and Suspicious
Tieflings subsist in small minorities found mostly in human cities or towns, often in the roughest quarters of those places, where they grow up to be swindlers, thieves, or crime lords. Sometimes they live among other minority populations in enclaves where they are treated with more respect.
Lacking a homeland, tieflings know that they have to make their own way in the world and that they have to be strong to survive. They are not quick to trust anyone who claims to be a friend, but when a tiefling’s companions demonstrate that they trust him or her, the tiefling learns to extend the same trust to them. And once a tiefling gives someone loyalty, the tiefling is a firm friend or ally for life.
The first tieflings to walk on Riven sailed from the
the Ruins Before during the Age of Arcanum, fleeing religious zealots who believed their very existence was an abomination as the continent tore itself apart. Many tieflings in the Kilned World refused to fight during the Fracture, embracing a nihilism which said that if the world could reject their kind, perhaps it was better to just let it burn and move into an age of darkness. Yet the world and the tieflings survived. In the centuries after the Fracture, tieflings who had grown weary of gods and demons rejoiced, feeling that the gods’ imprisonment had effectively freed them from their cursed past.
Tiefling Children
Tieflings who form a union always have tiefling children, and most tieflings belong firmly to that ancient ancestry. Yet to this day, any humanoid—whether famous hero or common farmer—who makes a deal with fiends might give rise to children, grandchildren, or even more distant descendants born with the horns, eyes, and colorful skin of a tiefling. While this is still apparent for races such as the
Aasimar or
Genasi, those mostly fall outside of the parent's control due to supernatural occurances or divine intervention. The creation of tieflings in another bloodline however is strictly caused by dealing with the devilish or demonic outside
Being a Tiefling
You Likely...
- Have a strong sense of self-confidence born from a life of having to rely on yourself.
- Feel a kinship with society’s underprivileged or criminal elements, or even seek positions of power on the wrong side of the law.
- Place incredible value on hard-won friendships and hold these companions closer than your blood family.
Other Races Probably...
- Assume you’ve faced numerous challenges due to your heritage.
- Mistake you for an evil agent of a sinister cult, a fiend worshipper, or even a fiend yourself.
- Think you have associations with powerful fiends, potentially trying to bargain with you for power of their own.
Comments