Blood Moon Tieflings
This clan of Tieflings are of Fiendish and Halfling decent.
Pantheon
Blood Moon Tieflings follow several deities. But they were created by Katinna who, despite being one of the weaker gods, is considered the head of the Blood Moon pantheon.
Katinna - also known as the Lady of Mysteries, is the Goddess of the Halfling underworld
Xan’oni - also known as The Bright Lady, The creator of Halflings
Lore
Long ago, but after the rule of the goblyns, two Goddesses awakened. They watched the squabbling of the gods that existed before them and they were determined to avoid the same path. The two sisters worked together, Xan’oni controlling earth, air, and light, and Katinna controlling fire, water, and darkness. Avoiding the other gods, Xan'oni, the halfling goddess of life, tossed a handful of pebbles into a valley on Earth. She blew winds across the land, that in turn blew dirt to cover the pebbles, creating hills. Katinna, her sister, opened the clouds and it rained down on the hills. Grass soon covered the rolling hills. After awhile, small people dug their way from the hills, and the sisters had created the halfling race. They were a happy race and their goddesses, being benevolent, provided them with abundant food, drink, and opportunity for satisfaction. They lived in a land that was largely ignored by other races for a long time, so when war finally made its way to the halfling lands, they were unprepared. Xan’oni tried to help the halflings to fight but there was only so much she could do, not wanting to taint her perfect creation with bloodlust or rage. She instead watched as many of her halflings left their homelands and integrated into other cultures for protection.
Katinna, as the halfling goddess of the underworld, was often overlooked. For the most part, the halflings only prayed to her when one of their own needed safe passage to the underworld. Even her sister often overlooked her prowess and importance. When war came to the halflings, Katinna saw her sister falter and knew that it was up to her to ensure the future of the halflings, and to prove herself as a valuable leader. She took the blood from fiends in the underworld, stole some blood from demons of other races, and mixed it with the blood of devoted and trusted halfling families who prayed to her for more power and strength. Her experiment caused the affected halflings to become slightly larger and stronger and to live longer. When Katinna sent them back to their villages, she set a blood red crescent moon low in the sky to signal to the halflings that these fiend-bloods were her gift to their society. This became the symbol of their clan.
The halflings welcomed them back and relied on them for a long time to fight off invaders (mostly humans and Elves that saw the halflings as weak). The fiend-bloods defeated many foes, typically while taking minimal casualties. Most armies realized they were severely under-prepared for what they imagined was going to be an assured victory over peaceful nation, and they retreated. Over time the fiend-bloods began to change the halfling reputation, and were needed less and less in the villages as protectors. They began to branch out and explore other lands and teach the halflings about the rest of the world. Some of their numbers were killed in tavern brawls, some were killed by frightened villagers, some had mishaps while smoking pipe weed.
In general, the females took to their newly peaceful lives better than the males. Still, they all could feel a weakness slowly draining them, and as their overall numbers dwindled, the fiend-bloods held a coven to determine what was to be done. The coven determined that the tieflings were losing strength and they were reverting back to their normal halfling selves. They prayed to Katinna for guidance, but the High Priestess determined that they should make pacts with other gods and demons in order to gain more power. Deals were struck up with other gods and demons in order for the tieflings to gain more strength. As more deals were struck, more variations arose. Their appearance began to change more dramatically: they grew horns and tails, and they began to develop fiendish facial markings. A pact with a God of Change allowed for them to slightly change their appearance at will, change of horns, markings, etc.
Katinna was pleased that her creation, when faced with the prospect of becoming weaker, went out and took it upon themselves to gain new strength. She saw their determination and self preservation as their greatest asset. However by others, they were seen as power hungry and evil, and they were no longer trusted by the halflings. They were banished from their homelands and forced to wander into other lands. But their reputation preceded them and most other civilized races did not trust them either. Though they did sometimes find groups to align with. They were more often able to integrate with monster races, such as Goblyns, Orcs, or Lizardfolk, etc.
Heroes
Margeray Blackhill was the first to be called by Katinna and she was the only one in her family to receive such a call.
Her family lived in the hills on the edge of the Black Forest that surrounded her shire, for the most part they ignored Katinna and her teachings and blindly followed Xan’oni.
At a young age, about 6 or 7, Margeray wandered into the Black Forest alone. Katinna, sensing the death of a halfling, appeared near the child, ready to escort her soul to the underworld. Margeray was clever, and managed to avoid the perils of the forest. Katinna was intrigued by the child and asked if she is afraid. Margeray said she is not afraid and that she has always been at home in the dark. Katinna explained who she was and asked Margeray if she were to one day call on her, would she answer the call? Margeray instantly said yes. Katinna walked her back to the edge of the forest and told her to listen for the call. The evening of Margeray’s 16th birthday, after all the guests had gone home and her family had gone to bed, the young halfling felt pulled into the forest. She lit her lantern and once again, went into the forest on her own.
Elementalists
As time wore on, some of the fiend-bloods were able to control certain powers that they have gained from other gods. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, and Darkness. They are known by the clan as Elementalists. Elementalists do not typically gain their strength in the elements from Katinna or Xan’oni. Often it will manifest as a power from one of the pacts with their newer God. Elementalists are also the lore keepers and story-tellers in the clan, as they are able to wield the most power and knowledge. However to become an elementalist a fiend-blood must complete a series of challenges:
- Garb to represent each of the elements
- A staff that has each element represented on it
- Complete a vigil, typically sunset to sunrise, where a demonstration of Elementalist powers can be displayed, challenges can be met, questions can be answered, and lore can be recited
Appearance/Garb
- Blood Moon Tieflings have a pair of horns, pointed ears, and a tail. They have facial markings that they tend to accentuate with warpaint and gemstones.
- Blood Moon Tieflings wear a large belt flag to show off their lineage - black with a red crescent moon with the tips turned up.
- In general, they tend to wear darker colors, but they aren’t restricted to it. Red is a powerful color for them, but they may wear any color that connects them to a particular god.
- Blood Moon Tieflings are cultured, but still monsters. Garb styles may vary in that Blood Moon Tieflings do wear scraps and shreds but materials tend to be rich and opulent.
Known Members
Party like a Halfling, Fight like a Demon.