The Tieflings: Scars of the Veiled War

The Tieflings of Khassid are not a people born of a land or god, but of consequence—echoes of choices made in shadow, long ago. Though they walk among mortals now as free-willed and flesh-born children of the world, their origins lie in a time of great secrecy and dangerous ambition.

In the final centuries of the First Epoch, the mortal realms grew hungry for power. As the fires of conquest and curiosity spread across Khassid, there were those—scholars, kings, warlords, and cults—who reached beyond the boundaries set by the gods. Forbidden pacts were made in hidden places, and ancient names not spoken since the dawn of time were invoked in whispered tongues. So began the Veiled War—a conflict not of armies, but of covenants, sacrifices, and corruption.

The Lower Planes did not invade Khassid outright. Instead, they seeped in—through bargains, through ritual, through mortal will. Demons offered power for devastation. Devils granted secrets in exchange for lineage. And from these dark liaisons, often generations removed, came the Tieflings: mortals marked by infernal or abyssal heritage, their bodies changed by bloodlines twisted with planar energy.

They were not born evil, but they were born marked—horned, tailed, and with eyes that glowed as though remembering another world. To some, they were omens; to others, weapons. But to themselves, they were something altogether different: a people without origin, shaped not by a single god, but by the shadow cast by mortal desire.

For centuries, Tieflings were scattered across Khassid, often isolated, sometimes hunted, and occasionally revered. In some city-states, they became power-brokers and mystics, bound by oaths not to the gods but to ancestral memories. In rural lands, they were feared and driven away. In the underbellies of great towers and the ruins of old empires, they gathered in secret. And in the heart of the Barazûn records, they were given a name that endures to this day: Zharvenak—“Scorched-Blooded.”

As the Second Epoch dawned, Tieflings no longer merely endured—they persisted. In time, some claimed new heritages not rooted in old sins but in personal will. A Tiefling born in Khassid may know nothing of pacts or rituals, yet they carry the legacy of that ancient Veiled War in their bones.

Some turn to religion, seeking redemption or truth. The priests of Tanaerith, the Argent Grace, are known to shelter Tieflings who seek to temper fire with light. Others find strength in embracing what they are, walking the knife’s edge between fear and respect. A few rise to great heights, their infernal blood granting them unmatched charisma, cunning, or magical prowess.

And still, some fall. The old powers are not gone. The names once spoken in the Veiled War wait in the depths of the world and the silence of dreams.

Yet most Tieflings of Khassid do not serve any hellish master. They serve only themselves and the truth they choose to carry:
“I am not cursed. I am the reminder. That every pact has a price.”