Forgotten Realms Lore - Tieflings

Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent. Today we’re discussing the devilishly good looking Tieflings. Tiefling actually describes a large amount of creatures. Anyone that is planetouched from the fiendish planes would be considered a tiefling. Tieflings share some lineage with demons, devils, yugoloths and even some evil deities. Somewhere in their family history is a fiend of sorts and that can manifest in children making them look devilish or demonic themselves. The list of potential monsters that could cause a tiefling is long. Marilith or succubus, pit fiends, or even night hags. A rakshasa could also be the cause of a tiefling. Most tieflings can be identified by their horns, their prehensile tail, and varying shades of skin color anywhere from purple to red. But one can be a tiefling with much smaller details, less noticeable signs. Some might just have pointed teeth, while others have black orbs in place of their eyes. The common tiefling look though is horns of some sort with an attached tail. Tieflings physical appearance often depended on their ancestry. Diabolic or demonic tieflings could have leathery skin, or a forked tongue. They might smell of brimstone or be unable to cast a shadow. It’s kind of fun and open ended for the player to create a tiefling that looks as fiendish as the player desires. They could have no abnormalities except large leathery wings. Perhaps they just have cat like eyes, or you could go the full path and give them cloven hooves for feet. Within the book “races of faerun” there are a list of physical features that are associated with particular monsters. Such as cat eyes for Rakshasa and hooves for devils. Tieflings that have a heritage from an evil deity look different than others. Those with a connection to the goddess Beshaba might have elk horns. Those sired by Mask would cast no reflection. In the Forgotten Realms Tieflings don’t really have a culture to call their own. Because they are born into regular society they do their best to fit into that culture. Some embrace their fiendish heritage and some do not. Does your tiefling enjoy the fact that they are a tiefling? With a foot already in the fiendish planes (or sorts). Tieflings of this sort seeking an arcane path almost always went with becoming a warlock. Making deals with extra planar creatures for power might seem easier when you’re shunned away from traditional paths because of how you look. Or when you discover you could broaden your innate magical skill by making a tiny pact with a devil. Most Faerunian tieflings come from bloodlines originated in Mulhorand and Thay. The result of dalliances with fiends of all kinds. Thayan tieflings are usually the grandchildren of powerful wizards that made some power play and brought about a tiefling. Some embrace the evil that has tainted their bodies, others reject it. Just like any of the civilized races the decision for good and evil is left up to the individual. Because they are shunned, or have been in the past Tieflings are slow to make new friends. Often finding kinship with other tieflings. They’re very slow to trust other races and Half-Orcs are really the only race that tieflings tolerate as they seem to be going through the whole mixed heritage much like themselves. Not surprisingly Tieflings make excellent adventurers. Either embracing the darkness or turning towards the light. They make great warlocks, but could also be faithful paladins. Now we get to Asmodeus and the spellplague. Previously mentioned in my deity videos Asmodeus consumed Azuth and his divine spark to ascend to godhood. Click the link in the top right corner for more information. Also during this time a coven of warlocks known as the Toril Thirteen performed a rite where Asmodeus would be able to claim all tieflings as his own. The Toril Thirteen were thirteen warlocks that were descendants of the original thirteen warlocks Asmodeus made pacts with. This ritual of sorts cursed all tieflings to bear “the blood of Asmodeus.” Marking all tieflings as descendants of the Lord of the Nine Hells. This occurred in 1358 DR and reshaped all of the varied style of tieflings we’ve already talked about. Were you a night hag tiefling or a rakshasas tiefling well now you are a Lord of the Nine Hells tiefling. This forced most tieflings to all have the same devilish appearance. This ritual also enabled Asmodeus to become a racial god, ensuring him enough followers to obtain godly powers. Eventually Azuth become powerful enough to attempt to take control away from Asmodeus. It was during the second sundering that Asmodeus freed Azuth with the deal that he would be able to consume Nanna-Sin’s divine spark. Who was an Untherite god. This deal was made and Asmodeus has been a deity in the Forgotten Realms Pantheon ever since. Despite what some would have you believe Asmodeus exerts no will or power over his quote “children.” Now because of this ritual we have a more uniformed look to tieflings, because their ancestors became tied to that of Asmodeus himself. However since then there have been new tieflings that have popped up who are not descendants of Asmodeus, reverting back to the varied style of tieflings one can find in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide or Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. Tieflings have no native home to call their own. In the North the largest population of Tieflings live in Neverwinter. Within the city is a violent cult of Asmodeus called the Ashmadai so tieflings aren’t trusted very much here either. Still many persist in making good names for themselves and for tieflings everywhere. That’s it for today. Thanks so much for watching. I know it’s typical but I’d love to play a tiefling warlock sometime. I think a tiefling rogue is on my bucket list of characters too, probably an Arcane Trickster who is a descendant of Mammon, the great miser who loves coins above all else. Special thanks to my patrons who make these videos happen, if you’re interested in supporting Forgotten Realms Explained then click the link in the description or at the end of this video. Thanks again for liking and subscribing! I’ll see you all in the next video.

Channel: Jorphdan

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Id: 89dx-1-DfTQ

Length: 5min 20sec (320 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 17 2018