Tiefling

Tieflings are a race of horned people from Rimeland. Tieflings are considered unlucky and evil in many Hillit cultures, although they are no less moral than anyone else. Legends say tieflings were humans once touched by banished dæmons and evil spirits, but they claim it is just their nature. Tieflings tend to have a deeply spiritual culture. Some scholars believe that tieflings, long ago, were humans that were changed into the horned group of sentients they are today.
Tieflings are classified with a dæmonic soul.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Tieflings resemble humans except for two prominent features: their horns and their tails.
Tiefling horns are large and can take on many shapes, although the shapes do follow family lines. Some horns curl around the ears like a goat, while others shoot straight back like an antelope. Tiefling horns are made of keratin layer, which is the same material that makes a rhinoceros horn or an impala horn, wrapped around a core of bone. The horns' keratin layer stops growing after puberty and does not naturally recover. Old tieflings sometimes have this protective layer worn away, revealing the bone underneath. Others purposefully carve away portions of the keratin to reveal bone in decorative patterns. Most modern tieflings avoid this to avoid damage and infection in their horns -- a removed horn is an embarrassing thing and an amputated one a shame. The horn starts as the supraorbital ridge over the eye and flares away from the face.
Tiefling tails emerge from the base of the spine and are strong and thick. If fully relaxed, it stretches longer than their legs, so most tieflings have their tail constantly lifted above the ground. Some tieflings form a small hook-like piece of cartilage on the end of their tail.
Tieflings are a naturally magical species and many can evoke powerful quintessence effects easily.

Biological Traits

Many tieflings have lineages tied to specific types of dæmonic spirits. These lineages can change skin tone, horn shape, and magical manifestations.
Very, very rarely, a tiefling can be born with wings and no hair. This is considered a dangerous omen and curse to a tribe and most infants born like this are abandoned in the tundra to appease the spirits.

Genetics and Reproduction

Tieflings are continuous breeders and have a gestation period of about 9 months. A tiefling can expect a child about every year or two with regular practice. Tiefling children do not have horns when they are born. Horns begin forming at about age six and finish growing at about age 18.

Growth Rate & Stages

A healthy tiefling ages at a about the same rate as a healthy human. A typical tiefling could reach the following milestones:

• Adolescence at year 13
• Adulthood at year 18
• Death from old age at year 75

Ecology and Habitats

Tieflings do very well in dramatic climates -- the frigid tundra, the harsh desert, and so on. Many tieflings resist harsh elements very well.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Tieflings typically eat a wide range of food: hunted meats (walrus, seal, whale, caribou, muskox, birds, eggs, cod, trout), berries, herbaceous plants, tubers, and seaweed.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Tieflings have prominent brows that become horns as they grow older. Their eyes are a single hue. Their teeth are sharp and pointed. Their tongues are long and dexterous.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

In the United Halla Alliance, tieflings primarily reside in coastal or inland tribes in the Rimeland. Few venture out into other civilizations.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Tiefling eyes are a single hue -- no visible iris, pupil, or sclera separation. The color of the eye can vary widely. This is because the tiefling eye has multiple sets of lids and one lid that is reflexively always closed helps protect the eye from sudden bright light and the damage Allathra can inflict with its unprotected light. This most likely developed as a defense mechanism for living in the tundra.
Tieflings are able to see very well in the long, dark nights of the northern winter.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Tiefling souls are tied to a dæmonic spirit. When a tiefling dies, the daemonic spirit will change its moral philosophy based on the life the tiefling lived and potentially change its lineage with it. No one is sure why the dæmonic spirits have formed a symbiotic bond with tieflings or what they get out of the relationship.

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Human

Lifespan

75 years

Average Height

Ignoring horns, tiefling males are typically 5.8 fl. Females are typically 5.3 fl.

Average Weight

Tieflings vary widely in weight, with a decent range of 8 to 18 kobi (125 - 280 lbs).

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Almost all tieflings are brown, red, or brass in color. Very few lineages have different hues, such as pale blue or black.