Tieflings

Basic Information

Anatomy

Resembling their parent race in part, Tieflings always have obvious manifestations of their fiendish origins- some are subtle, like small horns or tinted skin, whereas others are horrific and complex, like crowns of thorns in their flesh, meandering tentacles, auxillary mouths, and long grasping tails. No two Tieflings are the same, and the taint of their origin stands out, the nature of their deformation arising from whatever fiendish ancestry they have.

Genetics and Reproduction

Unlike most planetouched, Tieflings are by-and-large able to have offspring- a testament to the fecundity of fiendish corruption, perhaps. However, although children of Tieflings are usually not Tieflings, the fiendish traits will reappear seemingly at random in subsequent generations, never fully wiped out from a family legacy. Families descended from Tieflings will show more Tieflings throughout generations, as well as fiendish connection manifesting in the form of sorcerous magic of some kind or another.

Growth Rate & Stages

Childhood for Tieflings is rough and dangerous, even without the ostracization they often receive for their fiendish traits. Childbirth is often fraught, as infant Tieflings disproportionately damage parents in birth, and during infancy the unstable nature of many fiendish legacies often leads to rapid and dangerous growth spurts. As Tieflings reach adolescence, their fiendish features grow more and more complex and visible, with horns splitting skin and bone painfully, talons cracking through nails, and other deformations forming painfully. Much more common than their other planetouched kith, Tieflings nevertheless are rare and often stigmatized for their strange and fiendish properties, leading to additional stresses approaching adulthood.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Like other planetouched, Tieflings are found all across Korthos- wherever there are humanoids, there are likely humanoids who've had close contact with fiends. Not always results of direct pairings or descendants directly from half-fiends, Tieflings can also come about as offspring of those who work much with fiendish magic or those who make ill-advised deals with fiends.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Tieflings often use the names given to them by their parent race, but for many Tieflings, the names of their old communities bring up painful memories of suffering. Due to their often fraught relationships with home, many Tieflings seek to find new names for themselves. Most Tieflings- generally quite neutral of alignment, rather than their typically polarized Aasimar peers- won't name themselves after values but instead flock to names of the natural world or names that they feel an individual connection to.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

From an early age, Tieflings find themselves able to speak one of the two commonly spoken fiendish languages- Abyssal or Infernal (or, in rare cases, other languages like Aklo). However, these fiendish words often bring discomfort to a speaker, even one whose intentions do align with the intent of the fiends of the Tiefling's ancestor. Tiefling language often springs up unasked for, in times of stress, when Tieflings release spurts of cursing and insults in fiendish tongues.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Tieflings have very different cultures to one another, as Tieflings may hail from any cultural or racial group. However, beyond simply just the shared notions of suffering and being scapegoated, Tieflings will often have many other things in common. Tieflings feel a biological insecurity and anxiety in their convictions, as the constant pressure of fiendish and dangerous ancestors and forces make them prone to doubt. Only in service of fiends do many Tieflings feel truly at home or at peace, and yet many Tieflings find the idea of servitude abhorrent- especially so when said servitude is under an evil and violent master. This implicit lack of sureness in themselves or their causes often leads to Tieflings becoming wanderers and adventurers- not committed to any one religious or political cause.

Common Taboos

Many Tieflings have an almost crippling fear of particularly dangerous or close-to-death situations. Many Tieflings fear death not solely for the end of existence but more importantly for the fact that they may be robbed of their soul once it leaves their body- stolen and snatched up by a fiendish relative or an enemy of their ancestor's. Thus, taking rash actions that bring them near death is often taboo for Tieflings, a fear of danger and the death it could bring- many Tieflings feel the desire to flee from great threats to avoid death.

"If we say that we have no sin We deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. Why then, belike, we must sin, And consequently die. Ay, we must die an everlasting death."

Origin/Ancestry

Fiendish, any humanoid race

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Tieflings are much more colorful than many other planetouched. While Aasimar skin is usually normal skin tones or metallic, and even Undine and Ifrit are limited to cool tones or warm tones, respectively, Tieflings can be found in every color possible. Typical body tint varies from subrace to subrace, dependent on ancestry, with demon-blooded Tieflings showing reds and purples, daemon-blooded Tieflings showing greys and sickly greens, and devil-blooded Tieflings commonly being found with alabaster or brilliantly blue skin. Other rarer subraces have even stranger markings and coloration- bestial rakshasa-kin having animalistic markings on their skin, tiger stripes and snake scales, whereas the strange kyton-kin may have markings of chains and needles seemingly tattooed from birth.