The Plane Touched

One might be tempted to say there as many kinds of planetouched as there are planes.

In reality, there are far more kinds of planetouched than there are planes. In a way, each planetouched is a race unto themselves, who simply see themselves as part of larger races because the similarities between, say, various tieflings, largely outnumber the differences. There are those who say that all planetouched are part of one larger race--tieflings, aasimar, genasi, and all the rest together, as they tend to have broadly similar life experiences. Of course, usually the people who say this are pretty high minded aasimars who cannot actually fathom what it is to grow up a tiefling, so it's safe to say that that's not holding water any time soon.

All of that said, there are broadly five types of planetouched:

* **Aasimar:** planetouched whose heritage draws from celestials, inhabitants of the upper planes--Arcadia, Celestia, Bytopia, Elysium, the Beastlands, Arborea, and Ysgard.
* **Genasi:** planetouched who descend from the various inhabitants of the elemental planes and outsiders who embody the elements.
* **Graced**: Strictly, not planetouched in the same way as the others here, but rather these are people, born to one race, who at some point in life had a small measure of planar essence infused into them.
* **Tiefling:** planetouched who come from fiendish stock, the inhabitants of the lower planes-- Pandemonium, the Abyss, Carceri, Hades, Gehenna, the Nine Hells, and Acheron.
* **Transitine:** planetouched whose blood carries the essence of the transitive planes.

Planetouched are the result of outsiders (or elementals) mingling with mortals. Most generally, this is due to outsiders and mortals coupling, but not all planetouched are the result of such marriages. An aasimar might be the descendant of a mortal who was graced with celestial essence at some point--or stole it, or even that very person. While it is broadly much more common for a planetouched to be able to draw their ancestry back to an outsider, it is just as possible that they can draw their ancestry to a mortal who killed one and stole its power. Or they were a normal mortal infant who was gifted a mote of planar power without a single outsider anywhere in their bloodline.

Regardless of how a planetouched was created, each one is their own person. They may be heroic figures of goodness if they were brought up to put others before themselves. Or they might be selfish villains if their life experiences taught them that one can only rely on themselves. It is widely believed that the blood of celestials inclines one to goodness, but that's not the case, especially as many celestials mistake order and the big picture for goodness.

## Personality

### Aasimar

Those who know aasimar well might describe them as "haunted." Or perhaps they would use a word with more positive connotations. Driven, maybe. Either way, every aasimar knows, for a solid fact, that somewhere a being of Pure Goodness was introduced into their bloodline, and that being could well be looking down on them today, literally or figuratively, and judging their actions, and possibly even their innermost thoughts. This leads them to approach life with a vicious cheer and positivity, lest they be caught slipping, or present the wrong example.

Certainly, there are those aasimar who are genuinely cheerful, positive people who are not, usually, beset by such doubts. But they are the minority.

### Genasi

Whereas aasimar occasionally benefit from the reputations of their celestial ancestors or patrons, genasi do not have such a leg up. The draw their power from elementals and jinn, and only those with particular knowledge of the planes have much idea of what to expect from such beings. To everyone else, elementals and djinn are an enigma at best, or cautionary tales of hubris and free lunches at worst. There is a slight inclination to say that genasi children are slightly better off because no one quite knows what to make of them, but only a fool would truly believe that. People all too readily fear what they do not understand, and hate what they fear, and so, the mystery of elemental nature is of no benefit to genasi children. They most frequently live hard lives, always ready to flee, fight, or fawn, lest they freeze in the face of a threat.

That said, many elementals are neutral, and so, genasi feel little of the moral draw that aasimar and tieflings do. Instead, they have a slight tendency to reflect the personalities of their ancestors-- fire genasi might be mischievous and prone to instructional meddling like their efreet ancestors, an air genasi might be loathe to physically risk themselves and prefer to fight with magic or ranged weapons when the need arises. But even so, they are as individual as their mortal parents, and might display personalities more in line with them.

### Tieflings

Whereas aasimar often live under a cloud of the imagined expectations of their ancestors, tieflings say they know nothing. While many fear that an aasimar child might hold some terrible power that might one day bring ruin upon them, they all *know* that a tiefling child is the fruit of evil, and if they're not doing anything wicked at the moment, that's only because they're going to soon. This leads to people who, rather than haunted by their ancestors' legendary deeds, are *hunted* by their fellow townsfolk for their ancestors' fell natures. Every tiefling can tell a tale of a time when they were harassed, abused, or targeted for simply looking demonic, and the least fortunate tell them about their own families. They are often mistrustful of others, and not without good reason.

### Transitines

Fortunate compared to other planetouched, the transitines can live a long time before their heritage becomes known. They frequently look little different from their mortal fellows, perhaps a shade lighter or darker in skintone, leading to suspicions of infidelity, but they don't, generally, display the wild traits of other planetouched, and this means that when they are targeted for their "unnatural" natures, they are generally adults and a bit more able to deal with it. They tend to be more confident and good-natured than other planetouched, as they do not have the deepseated trauma that others frequently do.

## Physical Description

Planetouched are humanoid, and usually about the height and build of their mortal parents.

That is about all that can be applied to the whole of any planetouched race. Everything else is wholly dependent on the planar being they descend from, the mortals they descend from, and how strongly each side of their heritage presents itself. Aasimar who descend from a particularly precocious--or determined--lantern archon, for example, might resemble their mortal parents, but with an internal glow, while those who descend from a leonal or hellcat might resemble a large humanoid lion more than they do their mortal parents.

Planetouched display every possible skin and hair color, including those well outside the mortal spectrum, every possible integument from bare skin to hair to feathers to even scales, may have claws, may have hooves, may have broad pachyderm feet, may have tails, or they may be virtually indistinguishable from humans. It all depends on what kind of planar essence runs in the blood of what kind of mortal.

## Relations

Planetouched are not a monolith. Indeed, they are less of a monolith than any other race. There are areas where aasimar are looked upon as blessings on the community. There are also areas where they are looked upon as yet another thing that "t'ain't normal." And other planetouched have it much worse. Some planetouched grow to adulthood in loving families and never bothered for their heritage. Others grow up in chains, knowing no touch more tender than a boot to the ribs. Planetouched generally feel most safe around others of mixed heritage who can understand their lives.

## Alignment

Many wish to believe that the touch of the planes inclines a being to a corresponding alignment. But it doesn't. Planetouched are outsiders native to the Material Plane, and do not possess an aligned subtype which might shape their personalities and motives. The only generality which can be applied to planetouched alignment is that there is a slight tendency among them to try to live up to the alignment of their ancestor, which is stronger if they are by nature already one part of that ancestor's alignment--a celestial descended from archons who is by nature good, feels an inclination to be lawful as well, while a tiefling descended from demons who is by nature chaotic feels an inclination to be evil as well--but whatever alignment they are, it tends to be the result of a conscious decision based on how they were treated growing up.

## Religion

There is no patron deity of planetouched, and they show as much variation in their religious leanings as humans do. Possibly more so.