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>Tiefling Bloodlines
>The physical appearance of a tiefling often depended on the exact ancestry that spawned it, a bloodline that might have remained dormant for generations. Diabolic or demonic tieflings could, besides the common horns and tails, possess a forked tongue, leathery or scaly skin, the smell of brimstone, or unusually warm flesh. Some accounts even held these tieflings to cast neither shadows nor reflections. Some diabolic tieflings also sported goat-like legs or hooves. Tieflings descended from rakshasa might have furred skin or feline eyes. Most tieflings had only one or two of these features.
>Some tieflings were not descended from mere fiends at all, but from powerful gods. These tieflings often had their own physical characteristics that set them apart. Tieflings sired by Beshaba, for instance, often had antlers instead of horns and pale, white hair. Those sired by Mask, on the other hand, were known for their tendency to cast no reflection.
>In Mulhorand, the most common tieflings were often those spawned from a union with Set or Sebek. Most tieflings were, however, the grandchildren or even great-grandchildren of fiends and in Mulhorand's neighbor, Thay, most tieflings were spawned deliberately by powerful wizards as part of some elaborate plot for power.
>In 1358 DR, a warlock coven known as the Toril thirteen performed a ritual that cursed most tiefling lineages—those of demons, devils, hags, and rakshasas, among others—with the "blood of Asmodeus", changing their original lineage with that of the archdevil himself. This was done to make Asmodeus a "racial god", ensuring him enough followers to attain godly powers. After the Spellplague of 1385 DR, when Asmodeus became a god, the magic of the ritual took effect across all of Toril and afterwards most tieflings living in the 15th century DR were of the Asmodean lineage, all having a similar devilish appearance.
>Prior to Asmodeus's ascension to godhood, the infernal blood could be diluted through intermarriage, but afterward, the union of a tiefling with another race always produced a tiefling child.
>In the late years of the 15th century, tieflings of other bloodlines began to be born again, but the Asmodean lineage was still the most numerous by a wide margin at the time.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Natives of Abeir-Toril! Mutants from the planes of evil and chaos who defy the natural rules of their "home" plane!
