Tiefling

The ‘magic born’ or ‘low magic born’. Perhaps the most misunderstood of all peoples on Awldor.

So, I thought a little background for one of the characters in the Dark Device of the Great Chasm might be in order. Anyone who has bumped into role playing games might have come across these people. But, in Windtracer Tales, they are a good bit different. Now, I won’t say which character but if you’ve been reading the stories in Windtracer Tales, you know who I’m talking about!

With that, let’s get into the nitty gritty about Tieflings!

Tiefling

Everyone notices the horns first, maybe their tails. But it’s that fire in their eyes, like a hint of a magic storm in their blood, that makes you really see them.

— Windtracer Elbrin Keth

Tieflings hold a special place on Awldor, and in its history. Often referred to as ‘magic born’ or ‘low magic born’ in some places, they’re a unique species with a possible tie to the Great Collapse itself. An existence that walks the line between nature and the unpredictable power of wild magic.

But, these beings suffer the weight of controversy and rumor. In many regions, such as Jata and other far-flung kingdoms, tieflings and their origins are misunderstood. At best, it leaves them under an air of constant suspicion, as if they were cursed. But in the worst, these false rumors of infernal pacts and more, make them a scapegoat. People used as pawns in larger, more underhanded dealings in those societies.

Despite the storm of controversy that can surround them, tieflings represent something more. Living evidence of how magic storms can reshape life itself.

Unique Origins of a Unique People

Tieflings were born under unique, and dramatic, circumstances. In the decades and century following the Great Collapse, the few surviving records detail the first appearance of what’s now called a ‘magic storm’. Furious, brief storms where the boundary of reality, magic, and wild magic break down. The result is often chaos and devastation, but in the case of tieflings, it’s creation.

When those magic storms boil and tear at the air, they saturate the region below them with volatile magical energy. Unstable wild magic falls in the hot rain and burning lightning on anything below the storm. Settlements use glowing Schutz Fields, powered by Schutz crystals, to protect themselves from the devastation a magic storm can cause.

This stops the worst, but not all, of the effects that magic storms and Wild Magic Fragments bring to the unwary.

Residual wild magic has uncontrollable transformation abilities, altering newborns into tieflings. This can happen to a child born to parents of any bloodline, such as human, elf, dwarf or otherwise. When it does, the tiefling child always has specific and distinct physical features that set them apart.

In the last 300 years, tieflings have developed into their own unique species. Most today are born to tiefling parents, or even when just one parent is a tiefling. Only a few now are ‘storm-touched’ as was common after the Great Collapse. It’s thought that the lower number of ‘storm-touched’ tieflings born today result from improved spell weaving techniques regarding Schutz Field and magic shield innovations.

But the stories and legends around the ‘magic born’ or ‘storm-touched’ tieflings remain a core part of their collective history in Awldor.

A Distinct Sort of Appearance

All tieflings share a collection of easily recognizable trails that set them apart. Regardless of their parentage, most tieflings have a lean build. Their height ranges between 5 nindel 6 sizu to 6 nindel 1 sizu, or 1.65 m to 1.85 m by Ancient Order measurement. Average tiefling weight can span from 160 to 200 tubik, or 72.57 to 90.72 kg by Ancient Order standards, which includes their tail.

Beyond their natural build, the most recognizable features to mark a tiefling are their horns and tail. Tiefling horns are always a variation of proportionately sized ram-like horns, and perhaps their most striking feature. These horns vary in shape, size, and thickness but are all tough and durable. Many tieflings will polish them or stain them with tattoo-like designs as a mark of pride.

The next most striking feature is their tails. Tieflings have a long, reptilian tail that extends from their lower back. These tails are not simply for looks or even balance. A tiefling’s tail is both strong and prehensile, able to swat away pests, bruise an attacker’s arm, or grab small objects. But prehensile doesn’t mean dexterous. While they can grab small objects like a mug, tieflings cannot use their tails to pick locks, pockets or perform similar activities.

Other than tail and horns, tieflings have vivid, often unnatural skin and eye colors. Their skin tone is various shades of blue, pink, green, or gray. A tiefling’s eyes are also equally striking, with mundane hues found among other species but always mixed with a light green, gold or red. This eye color is more than just heritage from wild magic, but has a practical effect as well. That vivid coloration comes from a second inner eyelid that both protects their eyes from dust when needed and allows clear vision in twilight.

Last of their physical features would be hair. Tieflings have hair like many other species, but the coloration mirrors the same diversity as humans, elves, or others. It has the same texture, and even grays while they age. Tieflings can grow beards, but it’s never more than a thin amount of facial hair. Most tieflings that don’t shave it off, instead trim their facial hair back to a small mustache.

One trait, while not visible, is perhaps the most potent for tieflings. As a strange ‘inheritance’ from their magic storm origins, no matter how long ago in their bloodline, tieflings possess a mild magic resistance. This isn’t armor, but closer to a natural durability, where a tiefling can shrug off some magical effects with ease, such as sleep, trance, or similar enchantments.

A Certain Sensitive Side

That mild magic durability is only part of that enchanted inheritance from magic storms. Tieflings are also more attuned to magic, able to feel the natural ebb and flow of the power through the world. It’s a sensitivity that manifests itself as a natural talent for weaving spells in spellcasting. Many tieflings have used that talent to become skilled magical healers, alchemists, or wizards.

But not all tieflings follow that path. Some view the natural talent as a burden, choosing to follow other paths instead, such as mercenaries, scholars, or artisans.

Cultural Adaptation

There are a few tiefling communities across Awldor, but tieflings aren’t bound to a single culture. The Ancient Order had unified thousands of cultures and peoples across the world. So, after its fall, the societies that rose from the ashes were all cultural melting pots of what came before.

But even with this cultural flexibility, tieflings often still face prejudice and suspicion. Mistrust based on lurid tall tales that have no bearing on reality.

Not So Picky Eaters

Tieflings are omnivorous, and their diet is as varied as their upbringing. They are well suited to adapt to any culinary tradition, from rich roast meats to fresh vegetables and fruits. One small note here is that their magical heritage causes them to need either more food, or more nutritious food. This is doubly true for tieflings during adolescence when their horns and tails grow rapidly.

The Centaur Anomaly

Throughout history and across continents, tieflings have been born to nearly every sapient species on Awldor. All except one. Centaurs. For reasons no one can explain, centaurs seem immune to the transformation effects of magic storms. No matter how large, or destructive, the magic storm has been, there are no records of a centaur having any tiefling offspring.

This mystery has baffled scholars and mages for generations. But also it’s the centaur cultures that hold to the highest amount of stigma and myth about tieflings. A problem that has slowly eased off with recent generations.

No matter what’s said about tieflings, they’re survivors. Born of storms, raised by cultural fire, they hold the line against the scorn of the world. Make no mistake, they’re a noble, admirable people, and deserve respect.

— Myra Barbane, tradeswoman of the Green Ember Merchant Herd

Lorekeeper Notes

I didn’t know that about tieflings and magic storms. Kiyosi never mentioned it. - Lorekeeper Gwelunis Istril

Why would he? It’s a sensitive topic. - Lorekeeper Ihodis Jenro

That makes sense. I’ve never heard of tieflings being treated like monsters in Ishnanor, but still… - Lorekeeper Gwelunis

Oh, never in Ishnanor. Ah, but in Jata… - Lorekeeper Ihodis

Yes. Ki best be careful there. - Lorekeeper Gwelunis

Oh, I was thinking the kingdom of Jata best be careful. After all, where young Ki goes, Tela Kioni won’t be far behind! As we all know, she’ll have words for anyone who mistreats Ki in any way. - Lorekeeper Ihodis

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Until next time!

-Kummer Wolfe