VE - Hellspawn - Tiefling

When the influence of a demon, devil, or other fiend infiltrates the bloodline of a mortal family, tieflings are the inevitable result. Tieflings carry the sinister mark of the fiendish planes upon their flesh, and their specific abilities and physical qualities vary according to their heritage. Hellspawn are those who descend from devils, grimspawn hail from daemonic influences, and pitborn bear the influence of demons, though these are only the three most common among a wide variety of tiefling lineages.

Generations might pass between a fiend’s direct influence and the time a tiefling child is born. For those born to ignorant or fearful parents, childhood is particularly hard, but even those whose families accept and nurture them face fear and prejudice from society as a whole. In some cases, this rejection encourages a tiefling to embrace the evil within their heritage, though others carve out a place and live a fulfilling life despite the challenges facing them.

Two tieflings, even siblings or twins, might not look similar at all, for the influence of fiendish lineage manifests in unique and unusual ways. These variations never make a tiefling’s appearance so strange as to obscure their humanoid ancestry, but horns, a forked tongue, vestigial wings, a tail, or a cloven hoof in place of a foot are all common and obvious signs of their heritage.

Tieflings tend to adopt the society and culture they were born into. Since most societies consider them to be untrustworthy or even monstrous, tieflings typically gravitate toward those segments of society willing to overlook them entirely, or where their reputation can assist rather than hinder them. With determination and persistence, however, tieflings can earn respect and prestige despite their heritage, finding people who accept them as they are. In regions where worship of fiends is widespread, tieflings can live more openly and achieve great power and respect, although exceptions exist—in the Asmodean nation of Cheliax, for example, tieflings are seen as shameful proof of a failure to maintain control in the face of fiendish influence, and as such are cast out.

A tiefling's fiendish heritage doesn't force evil or cruelty into their being, and each tiefling ultimately chooses their own faith, goals, and personality. But every tiefling feels their forbear's influence in the back of their mind, always ready to tempt and goad when the world appears cruel and unjust. That so many societies hate and fear tieflings only pushes them further toward evil, and many tieflings gravitate toward religions that value and admire fiends, such as the churches of Asmodeus or Lamashtu. Tieflings who choose a path of good face their own challenges, finding they must be more diplomatic, understanding, and patient than members of other ancestries since they are so often faced with ignorance and suspicion. Such tieflings embrace faiths and philosophies that uphold empathy and eschew judgment, finding that even followers of good faiths sometimes struggle to see past fiendish features.

Abandoned by Faith

Few tieflings have positive relationships with the faiths of good-aligned deities. Sometimes this friction stems from ignorance; experienced priests might know to differentiate a tiefling from a demon, but a random lay follower might not. Sometimes it's just a clash of perspectives—tieflings are more likely to have seen the kind of darkness that makes holy idealism look laughable. Other reasons stem not from divine limitations but earthly ones, such as overstretched churches failing tieflings in need due to a lack of resources.

Family Matters

Powerful raja rakshasas see those beastbrood tieflings who can hide or disguise their fiendish features as potential infiltrators or agents and thus valuable pawns in the games they play to cement their influence. Rakshasas willing to wait for untold time might even seek out old enemies who reincarnated as tieflings and gain their trust so that, once the tieflings regain former status or achieve a new station, there's a debt to be repaid. Very few rajas do anything out of the kindness of their hearts, but some ask less of those they take a liking to— they might even become doting. This special treatment happens most often when they share a familial connection, see something of themselves in a beastbrood, or recognize the potential for greatness.

Tiefling Settlements

Given the nature of fiends, tieflings are among the most common of planar scions, especially in areas where demonic or diabolic corruption is most powerful, such as in the lands of the Sarkoris Scar or under the rule of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune in Cheliax. In such places, it's not unheard of for a few dozen tieflings to form their own small community. These places tend to be paranoid and precarious, sometimes worryingly vulnerable to the cults of dread gods or unholy fiends.