TIEFLINGS
There are basically two sorts of tieflings in the city, those who are of tiefling lineage and those who are of human lineage. Most are the children of other tieflings, a true-breeding race who long ago made a deal with infernal powers for which they and all their descendants will forever pay. In addition, rarely, a human mother will birth a tiefling child when the child has a touch of fiendish ancestry. Only about 2% of tieflings are human-born; these are often shunned by their own families, and many are adopted by tieflings of the other type. There is a substantial tiefling population in Fandelose; they work hard to integrate themselves into larger society, serving in many guild halls or political committees.
Values: Tieflings, being touched by infernal powers on a racial level, appreciate Byzantine schemes and twisted political maneuvering. The infernal influence on the race manifests in many ways, from the subtle physical marks that indicate their race to a preference for written contracts over spoken deals. Typical tieflings see the following as virtues: cunning, keeping one's word, rules and regulations, charity, patronage, civility, wit, strictness, circuitousness, temperance, ambition. They see the following as vices: social disorder, lack of subtlety, rudeness, miserliness, short-sightedness, directness, drunkenness, penury, being of low social class.
Political Savvy: Most tieflings are, to some extent, born manipulators who love and enjoy political maneuvering. Together with their racial tendency toward ambition, this means that many tieflings become powerful politicians; nearly one politician in four in the city is a tiefling, while they make up only about 11% of the population. Tiefling politicians are often willing to aid other tieflings in gaining political positions in return for promises of future aid, and most tieflings have a friend or two in a position of power.
Contemptuous Outsiders: Many tieflings hold themselves apart from other races to some extent. Some even leave the city to find a solitary life, join covens of witches or evil cults, gather evil minions and take over ancient dungeons or link up with roving bands of brigands or bandits. Tieflings who stay in the city know that these distant kinfolk bring prejudice against them from the other civilized races, and some treat such rogue tieflings even more harshly than others would..
Language: Tieflings' native tongue is Imperial. See notes under Human, above.
Names: Tieflings tend to give their children sinister-sounding names, though there are many exceptions. Unlike most races, tieflings tend to use the same names for males and females alike. Some common tiefling names include Clenchkis, Ffash, Hkatha, Molachus, Mordus, Nurgle, Sepia, Serpentis, Thestra, Vextrigan.
Other Races: As always, exceptions apply, but tieflings generally have the following attitudes about the other races:
Dragonborn: Most tieflings feel that Dragonborn are heroes of the city and have truly earned respect and gratitude. However, those tieflings who leave the city and turn to evil often view dragonborn as dangerous threats to be avoided or murdered.
Dwarves: Dwarves are stodgy fool torn apart by the niggling differences between their clans. There is very little difference between one dwarf and another: all are dirty, greedy and constantly drunk.
Eladrin: Eladrin, with their intricate social networks and customs, understand the political arena and are therefore worthy of respect. They are also giften in arcane matters, another trait that tieflings both appreciate and, to some extent, share.
Elves: Elves are eladrin fallen to savagery, having devolved to a lower state. They are too stupid to understand complicated political structures, and many tieflings hold them in contempt. A small minority of tieflings finds elves disgusting to look upon, as if they were deformed.
Gnomes: Gnomes are cunning manipulators who form unseen cabals and dabble in everything from behind the scenes. Of all the other civilized races, only gnomes are so politically capable that they make tieflings feel self-conscious and inferior. A gnome always has a dozen secret agendas at once, and every word might have a double (or triple, or even quadruple!) meaning.
Goliaths: Big, dumb and clumsy, goliaths are basically good-natured oafs who always want to wrestle. They make great hirelings; they are far from clever enough to see any of their master's hidden agenda and are stupid enough to be easily managed. Goliaths have no political acumen at all and are therefore dismissed as a consideration by most tieflings.
Half-Elves: Politically savvy enough to be enjoyable opponents but not so skilled as to be dangerous, half-elves are generally merchants and diplomats. They have potential that they rarely realize. Tieflings appreciate and like half-elves.
Half-Orcs: Possessed of a low cunning and a propensity for violence that comes out at inopportune moments, half-orcs consistently overestimate themselves even as most other races consistently overestimate them. They make poor politicians but good criminals. As henchmen, their tendency to violent outbursts is their primary flaw. Tieflings like half-orcs but view dealings with them with caution.
Halflings: Halflings are much more than they appear. For one thing, they are tightly connected to gnomes, and many tieflings believe that halflings are simply gnomes by another name. Halflings don't favor politics, but their short-term cons, disguises and other chicanery often resemble short-term political moves, and tieflings therefore respect halflings more than they do other non-political creatures.
Humans: Humans are probably the closest thing to an equal that tieflings have. Though many humans lack the character traits required of politicians, those who are talented in such areas rival tieflings in skill. Humans are more devious than they admit and smarter than the other races give them credit for; tieflings like them for this, though they are wary of growing entangled in misguided human plots and being unable to extract themselves.
Warforged: The warforged are marvelous tools possessed of greater subtlety than most recognize. Tieflings appreciate the warforged tendency to predictability, but warforged also make them profoundly uneasy. Surely the creator (or creators) of such marvelous creatures would not make them without implanting secret methods of control- and therefore, warforged doubtless serve secret agendas unknown even to themselves.
