Tiefling w/ non-tiefling siblings.

[Merkuri]

Hmm... I studied sign language in college for a few semesters, and we had a lot of discussion about deaf subculture and how being born a deaf person into a hearing family was kind of like if you were somehow an American born in France to a French family. The language barrier between deaf and speaking people meant that deaf people had their own subculture, even though they could live next to and interact with hearing people all day long.

It's not that defined with tieflings and humans because they will probably share a language, but that might be an interesting thing to explore in a fantasy world if tieflings could be randomly born to two humans. The tiefling child would find more of a connection to other tieflings in a city or region and they would probably develop their own subculture within the human culture of the region. And if somebody came up with a magical "cure" for tiefling-ism (so tieflings who took it became human), what would the tiefling community think of that?

It's not an exact match to real-world issues, but it's just something I thought might be fun to try for groups that don't mind real-world-type problems invading into their fantasy.

 

[Klaus]

Human +Tiefling = Tiefling
Human + Human = Human
Human + Elf = Half Elf

So it's entirely possible for tieflings to have human or half-elf siblings (well, half-siblings, but who's counting).

Anyone doing anything interesting along these lines?

Waaaaay back in a 2e Dragon Magazine, there were suggestions of party "theme". One of those was a family that got together after the patriarch/matriarch died, and it mentioned the possibility of human, half-orc and half-elf siblings.

So, really, you could have human, half-orc, half-elf and tiefling siblings, easily.

 

[Dragonbait]

So it's entirely possible for tieflings to have human or half-elf siblings (well, half-siblings, but who's counting).

Heck, a tiefling could have an assimar or genasi sibling, too, if you are going by 3E versions.

 

[Klaus]

Human +Tiefling = Tiefling
Human + Human = Human
Human + Elf = Half Elf

So it's entirely possible for tieflings to have human or half-elf siblings (well, half-siblings, but who's counting).

Anyone doing anything interesting along these lines?

Waaaaay back in a 2e Dragon Magazine, there were suggestions of party "theme". One of those was a family that got together after the patriarch/matriarch died, and it mentioned the possibility of human, half-orc and half-elf siblings.

So, really, you could have human, half-orc, half-elf and tiefling siblings, easily.

 

[Fifth Element]

Too bad there's no half-dragonborn, half-dwarves, or half-halflings. (Eighthlings?)

Wouldn't that be a quarterling? Or perhaps a three-quarterling, depending on how you look at it.

 

[Dragonbait]

Wouldn't that be a quarterling? Or perhaps a three-quarterling, depending on how you look at it.

threadjack: I wonder how tall a 3E halfling would be if they were born with dwarfism?

 

[Kwalish Kid]

Human +Tiefling = Tiefling
Human + Human = Human
Human + Elf = Half Elf

So it's entirely possible for tieflings to have human or half-elf siblings (well, half-siblings, but who's counting).

Anyone doing anything interesting along these lines?

I have a thread in my campaign where two human parents have a tiefling son.

Of course, something strange must have happened, but so far in the isolated community, few people know the reality of the tiefling bloodline.

 

[The Goblin King]

So the 'Tiefling virus' doen't overwhelm the human race you could say that only humans descended from the royal bloodline show Tiefling traits. After the fall of the empire anyone with royal blood fled the country. They could have settled down anywhere.

 

[Desdichado]

I'm also curious about the whole viral tiefling gene thing.

Huh? Viral? You mean the idea that it's a recessive gene that only occasionally shows up when all the rest of the genetic structure of a given individual lines up just right to allow it to manifest?

That kinda stuff is actually fairly common in the real world.

 

[Nifft]

Huh? Viral?

Presumably this:

Tieflings are the heirs of the surviving noble dynasties that ruled the empire. Their bloodline is tainted by their diabolical connections, passing to their descendants through all generations. In many ways, they are human; they can have children with humans, for example, but their offspring are always tieflings.

Cheers, -- N