Building characters is more than rolling statistics and deciding on a class and background. For a good role playing experience it helps if you know who you character is and why they do what they do. This time I decided to explore a marginalized people of the D&D world - the Tiefling. Sometime in the distant past a pact with demons imbued their bloodline with demonic traits. now they are unmistakably demonic in appearance, commonly with horns, a tail and other traits like solid color eyes, hoofs and possibly a different skin color.
Tieflings are used to be greeted with stares and whispers, to suffer violence and insult on the street, to see mistrust and fear in every eye. Some embrace their supposed nature and reach out to the Nine Hells for power to punish all those who hurt them. Some reject the prejudice and try to prove to themselves and the world that they are more than their demonic appearance may imply.
With that in mind I would like to present Irἵtra (Veqsh)
I used this image of Evie Frye from Assassin's Creed: Syndicate with Liara T'soni from Mass effect for the face.
Veqsh was born about 23 years ago. She hardly remembers her first few years. All she can remember are hurried long walks, hiding, crying and running. Lots of running.
She has a vague memory of her mother, another tiefling, carrying her and urging her to be quiet. She’s not sure where they came from, but she does know they somehow ended up in Neverwinter. She was about 3 or 4 years old at that time.
Perhaps her mom thought that in a big city a pair of tieflings will not stand out so much, that they’ll be left in peace. Whatever happened then is not certain but somehow Veqsh found herself wandering the streets alone. She was brave, just like her mom said, and didn’t cry. She was getting worried though when the sky was getting dark and she couldn’t find her mom. Then she turned a corner and saw a tall lady with long white hair, just like her mom. She ran over hugging her… but it wasn’t her mom.
That was how she met Laeral El'haxandria, an elf bard. Laeral took pity on the young child and her interest was further piqued by her blue skin, white hair, horns and silver eyes.
Laeral took Veqsh with her to her inn, fed her and put her to sleep. She tried to help her find her mom but failed. After a few days, when it became clear that Veqsh’s mom was no where to be found she thought of handing the child to a friend in the city and moving on but the sight of the silent tears on Veqsh’s face convinced her to stay.
Laeral found semi regular employment entertaining the patrons of the Driftwood Tavern, an upstanding establishment located in Protector's Enclave on Coriol Street near the city gate.
Veqsh spent a long while looking at Laeral preform and Laeral always told Veqsh wonderful, long stories at bedtime. It was a few weeks before Laeral managed to convince Veqsh to talk to her (she remained silent ever since she lost her mom) and by that time it was clear to them both that they would stay together.
Laeral did have to leave eventually, about 6 months after finding Veqsh, bu she did promise to return. In the meantime, she paid to have Veqsh enrolled in a school hoping to get her education (that appeared severely lacking up to that point) back on track.
Lareal came back as promised a few months later and learned from the School Mistress that Veqsh was particularly bright with a fine memory. She did have constant problems with the other kids who bullied and teased her constantly about her strange looks. She made no fiends so far and kept to herself during brakes.
Lareal tried to help young Veqsh to master some basic social conduct. She knew that most people throughout her life will mistrust her and fear her and learning how to disarm the situation would serve her well. She tried to teach Veqsh some of her bardic magic as well and although she had no knack for it she was obviously magically inclined.
When next Lareal left the city, she took Veqsh with her. They traveled from Neverwinter to Silverymoon where she thought to eventually enroll her in the Lady’s College, one of the first and largest Arcane Schools in Silverymoon, a city known for its love of magic.
Since Veqsh was still very young (about 5 or 6 by Lareal’s reckoning) she placed her in another school until she was old enough to enroll. This one was a bit different than the one in Neverwinter. For one thing it had a lot fewer children, only about 10 or so. For another thing, there were other races present and not just humans.
Veqsh was still the only tiefling. Her only friend was Garr, the half-ork. They shared a bond over the teasing they both got and they both never got over the feeling of not being welcome, of being the outsiders. Compared to them even the half elves were ‘cool’.
When she was 9, Lareal took her to the Lady’s College. They tested her for a full day and by the end of it she was totally exhausted. She was very happy to hear that she was accepted. Veqsh shared one of her rare smiles with Lareal when they found out and they celebrated with a drink over the Moonbridge, a structure built entirely by magic.
Veqsh did well in college and even though she was one of the youngest students she advanced quickly and picked up her first cantrip by the time she was 10. It took her teachers a few months to realize she didn’t just learn one cantrip – she knew two of them.
Although very similar, the Prestidigitation and Thaumaturgy cantrips did have differences. With Prestidigitation she could create harmless sensory effects such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes or an odd odor. She could instantaneously light or snuff out candles, soil or clean small objects, chill or warm small items. She could make a color, a mark or a symbol appear on an object or a surface for an hour.
With Thaumaturgy she could make her voice booms up to three times as loud, make flames flicker or change color, make the ground tremor and make a sound instantly appear around her such as a rumble of thunder, the cry of a raven, or ominous whispers.
She could also use the cantrip to alter the appearance of her eyes briefly, to make it appear like they were glowing or to make them appear almost human (she liked giving herself blue or purple eyes. She liked the colors).
Being a kind of teacher’s pet didn’t much help with her feeling of alienation. A lot of the students were young girls like herself but even in a city as cosmopolitan as Silverymoon tieflings were still rare and there were none others at the school.
Veqsh took long brakes in her schooling twice to travel with Lareal. It quickly became clear to Veqsh that Lareal was more than a simple bard. She traveled with purpose and she was careful about leaving too much information behind. She was much better at asking innocuous questions than at answering them.
When Veqsh asked Lareal about it quietly Lareal told her she’ll tell her back in Silverymoon. In the meantime, she asked her to keep her eyes open and to se what she could remember of the trip and the people they talked to and preformed before.
Back in Silverymoon Lareal told Veqsh she was a Harper. The Harpers are a semi-secret organization dedicated to promoting good, preserving history and maintaining a balance between civilization and nature. Harpers work against villainy and wickedness wherever they find it. They take it upon themselves make sure that civilized rules and laws are just and those who enforce them lenient and understanding. If not, they try to rectify the situation.
Lareal had been an agent of the Harpers for many years and she offered her step daughter the same path – to walk in shadow so that others may walk in light. Veqsh gladly accepted, wanting to help prevent the same hardship she herself has endured from any others, particularly tieflings. Her studies took a more convoluted path with studies in both arcane lore and in more practical spy craft with other young harper agents.
At 18 she graduated with honors from the Lady’s College and was given her first long ranging mission. She came up with her pseudonym herself, with the name Irἵtra [Irr-I-Tra] the sounds she was able to remember from her childhood for her mother and the last name Veqshaxria [Veq-Sha-Xri-A] had the added ‘axria’ to her name in honor of Laeral’s name - El'haxandria.
Veqsh, or Irἵtra as she now called herself, was a good spy. Unfortunately, she was not as good at staying alive without aid. After the first time she almost died on a mission (escaping with the help of a one-use magical item) the Harpers thought it might be a good idea to pair her up with another agent.
Irἵtra was delighted to find that her new partner was Garr who found his own way into the Harpers. Together they made a much more formidable pair, and where Irἵtra’s hypnotic gaze and skilled words failed, Garr’s blade took up the slack.
Irἵtra is not a typical tiefling. Her skin is a pale blueish color darkening to a royal blue at the palms, soles, spine, and the tip of her tail. She has never seen another blue tiefling. Most have variations on red skin. Her white hair is very fine and spills backwards, framing her rear-swept horns, and making her solid silver eyes even more striking.
I used this image of a Qunari inquisitor inspired by Dragon Age: Inquisition
Irἵtra is nearly always dressed in loose-cut, comfortable common clothes in whites or light greys. When outside she will usually wear a cloak with a deep hood. She favors no jewelry or other fancy adornment, with 2 exceptions. She always wears her red crystal spell focus on a thin gold chain around her wrist. When she's not using it, the crystal is hidden in a pocket sawn into her sleeve. She also has a small silver harper pin tucked into the folds of her garment, displayed at need.
Irἵtra’s aware of her beauty but she isn’t as comfortable about displaying it. she remembers vividly her alienation as a young child and girl and finds it hard to trust people, even other tieflings. She can be very charming when she wants to, and she has leaned how to enchant with her eyes and her words with the help of her focus crystal. Behind her charming facade she is rather shy and uncertain and she has never truly opened herself to anyone, with the possible exceptions of Laeral and Garr. She uses her unusual look as an icebreaker to start a conversation and try and diffuse tense situations. “When we’re talking we’re not fighting” is a fond saying of her teacher and she is very much in favor of that.
She much prefers talking over fighting being rather frail and not that fast. She can hold her own in a spell slinging contest if she can keep her distance from the front line. If an adversary gets too close she must trust in Garr’s martial skill to deal with it.
I hope you've enjoyed learning about Irἵtra. Feel free to drop her into your game at any time – I feel she’ll make a fantastic NPC. I promise to present Garr to you soon :)
Images are the property of their rightful owners - I intend no infringement.
Awesome work, I have a friend whose currently playing a Tiefling in his campaign and he'll love this
Thanks. If your friend plays this character I'll be happy to get feedback.
Ill be sure to provide it if he does!
Quite the impressive back story! I like it! I have the feeling you’d be a great player to play with if you role play half as good as you write backstories.
Thanks :) I try, but it's not only up to me. There are the other players and the DM to contend with. In theory, if a PC does something stupid and/or out of character (like insulting the spirits of your dwarven ancestors by urinating on their grave), my character could always choose to leave. But I'd still have to play with that player unless I want to look for a new group.
My only issue with this text is the form. It feels like a description that really wants to become a story. A fragment of a story would do.
Keep writing my love. <3
you know I will :)
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