The Race of Tieflings

Ahh, the Tiefling species. Some say they are demons, other angels. I say they are a fascinating species with a rich culture. Tieflings are a hardy race, possibly due to a supernatural heritage, and can be found living in environments considered too hostile to support life. Deserts and Volcanic terrain are their prefered locales.

On Culture: The Tiefling way of life is based around passion. Passion for the arts, passion for war, and passion for life. Their beliefs are harsh, yet compassionate at the same time. They have been known to throw decadent galas and debaucherous events that would make a Drow or High Elf blush. They value wealth and pleasure in a spiritual way, seeing the living of their lives to the limit and in luxury is proof of a life well led. This isn’t to say that they don’t have a more traditional spirituality. What other races see as Daemons and Malevolent Spirits are seen as noble and misunderstood to the Tieflings. They, once being a spurned and feared race, see these beings as kindred spirits. Tiefling dancers and escorts are seen as exotic and worth their weight in platinum. This led to slavery at the hands of the Drow species many centuries ago, resulting in an incredibly defensive mindset that bled into the Tiefling culture.

On Tiefling cities: Most Tiefling cities are made up of stone, and appear exotic, almost daemonic in architecture. Some compare the architecture to a cross between an the human Ancient Egyptian and traditional Elvish motifs. They prefer ringed city layouts, with the different classes and industries having their own rings. Their cultural home, the volcanic shelter-city of Lokelech, is built in a descending manner, similar to the description of Hell found in Dante Alighieri's ‘Inferno’, with the ruling class and high society being found in the center. The black stone used to build the city could tell the story of the entire Tiefling species, should it be able to speak, as some legends suggest it was once able to.

On magic: Tieflings, due to their demonic heritage, have an incredible knack for pyromancy and illusionary magecraft. They have exceptional reserves of mana. During wars, Tiefling armies have been known to completely incinerate cities, turning once thriving centers of life into empty fields of ash and rubble. Making enemy armies hallucinate monsters in their own ranks, tearing themselves apart. Tieflings seem to have a small reserve of Demonic energy within them, a holdover of their heritage. Occasionally, a Tiefling is born with a massive reserve of Demonic energy.

On Biology: Tiefling biology is similar to that of elves, suggesting a relation to the elves of old. Tieflings mature at twice the rate of humans, and live as long as elves, due to a combination of elven and demonic heritage. At around the physical age of sixteen, their salivary glands begin to produce an aphrodisiac in low amounts. Their horns also grow for a long as they live, and make up a large amount of their mana pathways. Depending on the size of their demonic energy reserves, they may grow additional pairs of horns. Damage to their horns will hinder mana production and reserves. Their tails contain many nerve endings, and, alongside the skin between their horns, are erogenous zones. Depending on the purity of their demonic blood, they may have goat like hooves, with black fur running down their calves. Some are born with forked tails, or even multiple tails. Their internal body temperature is much higher than would be expected, another holdover of their demonic blood. Their blood also carries certain healing properties when ingested by living beings. Inside their body, they have an extra organ which can serve as an auxiliary heart, as well as an extra set of adrenal glands. The gestation period for a Tiefling is six months, and they undergo ovulation once every two months. Tieflings usually attract partners through several factors. Physically speaking, the more decorated and healthy their horns are, the more attractive they are, alongside the usual proportion preferences found in other humanoid species. The color of their skin is also a contributing factor to attraction. The brighter and clearer the skin tone, usually a shade of vermillion or crimson, the healthier the Tiefling. There are theories on tail length and thickness playing a part, but those claims seem completely unfounded.