Tieflings

## Physical Appearance

Tieflings of Balarume have their Infernal heritage clearly marked on their physical form. They have a wide variety of horns, from curling to straight, long tails ending in either a point or a tuft of dark hair, sharp canines, long pointed fingernails, and most notably, a pair of cloven hooves instead of feet. These traits make it nearly impossible for any tiefling to pass as humanoid. They have skin that ranges in any human coloration, but also shades of dark grey and red. They tend to be between 5 and 6 feet tall though they have more thin and elf-like frames.

## History

Long ago deep in the Underdark, a group of elves made a pact with the demons and their god, Savdar, the Wretched King. These elves were granted innumerable powers, but were also granted many dark curses. These demonic beings fought in a great war with the rest of elvenkind, but were undone by their own god when he turned on them and caused them to lose. Over time, they bred with other races, and the blood was slowly diluted over centuries. The remaining carriers of this bloodline are called Tieflings, products of a dark and accursed past. The blood of the ancient demons appears randomly within the population now, giving away the dark secrets of their family name. Appearance of a tiefling is cause for shame in many an elven or human bloodline.

## Alignments

Though tieflings are descended from demons, they aren’t inherently evil, as many believe. The mistrust, shame, and anger thrust upon them for a young age does tend to make some of them bitter, jaded, and even evil. However, there are a fair number who strive to make up for their blackened name with good deeds. The general wandering nature of the tiefling does leave them with little appreciation for laws and the governments that pass them. Most tieflings fall somewhere on the chaotic spectrum, at least appearing to be neutral or good for the sake of fitting in.

## Society & Culture

Tieflings are the random genetic product of human, elven, or orc parentage. Tieflings are 1 in 100 drow births, 1 in 500 high/wood elf births, 1 in 500 human births, and 1 in 1000 orc births. Most of them either attempt as hard as possible to blend into the society they were born in, or they head off at a fairly young age to wander without a homeland.

In drow culture, a tiefling isn’t quite as much a sign of shame as in others. Tieflings often find that the most welcoming culture is that of the drow, and many of them who weren’t born to drow parents still flock to the Underdark to group up into small “families” where they find a kind of safety and connection with one another. The short-lived tieflings are seen in elf society as a mere “mortal” aberration, just ignore them for about 80 years and they will go away. In orcs they are so rare that they were often killed at birth, though in modern times it is more likely they will be sent away once they come of age. Tieflings will find a kind of uneasy peace in human lands, most humans will treat them with some disdain or condescension, but will not be openly hostile unless the tiefling gives them a reason to.

Most tieflings will bow under the pressure, attempt to disguise themselves and blend with whatever society they were born into. They will attempt to hide their demonic appearance with clothing or even spells. They will study diligently human or elven history often learning more than their own family about the history. On the other hand, those tieflings who feel overly oppressed will often rebel against their family’s wishes, and leave their homes, wandering to try and find somewhere where they can fit in.

When they are with one another, tieflings usually form a fairly solid alliance. Tieflings may not trust other people, but they are quick to join up with others who don’t seem like they will attack them instantly in order to gain the benefits of companionship, namely protection, safety, and to ease some of the loneliness of travel. Because of this, tieflings generally make good traveling companions and team players, however, the rest of the party does need to be aware of the consequences of having a tiefling around when in an urban environment or dealing with farm-dwelling NPCs who aren’t used to seeing tieflings.

## Marriage & Relationships

Tieflings usually grow up with a somewhat unstable view of relationships. While most of them are born to perfectly stable marriages, their presence can often ruin the marriage that they enter, with blame being placed on both parents for having the hidden demonic bloodline.

However, many of them go on to have romantic ties to the people they are around, some of them have cravings for romance because they were neglected as children. Tieflings for whatever reason cannot breed with other tieflings, and they do have a tendency to see one another as siblings, rather than potential romantic partners.

If a tiefling can find a romantic partner they have as much a chance at marriage and settling down as any other race. Their children may not even end up being tiefling, depending on the roll of the dice.