1. Locations

The Venomous Demesne

City

Long ago, a clan of tieflings fled from the Sarlonan nation of Ohr Kaluun and found a home in the desolate marshes south of Blackwater Lake. For over a thousand years, they have practiced dark magic in their domain, all but ignoring the wider world. Sora Katra found their hidden citadel and drew them out into Droaam, making these tiefling warlocks a potent force within the kingdom of monsters. The current ruler of the Venom Lords is Bal Molesh. The tieflings of Droaam are more sophisticated than their cousins in the Demon Wastes, but they remain a cruel and calculating people.

Source: Eberron Campaign Guide


Ten years ago, the tieflings of the Venomous Demesne pledged their allegiance to Droaam. The ruling Venom Lords were approached by Sora Tereza herself, who bypassed the magical wards on the city and convinced the ruling Venom Lords to partake in the experiment that is Droaam.

However, the city itself remains hidden. No other Droaamite has ever set foot into the city and returned, and natives of the demesne are notoriously secretive— perhaps for good reason. Full of sinister wonders, the tieflings of the Venomous Demesne possess powerful magical advances while the ruling lines scheme endlessly in a scramble for control.

The tieflings of the Venomous Demesne are bound to the sins of their ancestors, and the City of Blood always takes its due.

Source: Tiefling Treatise

Keith

The Sarlonan nation of Ohr Kaluun was infamous for delving into dark magics. In the depths of their war labyrinths, the mage-lords of Ohr Kaluun forged pacts with infernal spirits and tapped into the powers of the planes. Over generations this twisted the blood of the nobles, producing the first tieflings. This corruption didn’t go unnoticed. Khaleshite crusaders fought bitterly against Ohr Kaluun, and fear of the demonic taint of Ohr Kaluun spreading across Sarlona was a cornerstone of the civil strife that resulted in the Sundering. The civilization of Ohr Kaluun was wiped out during the Sundering, but a small force of nobles and their retainers escaped across the sea. These refugees created a hidden enclave on the west coast of Khorvaire. Over the course of centuries, they regained a portion of their pride and power. They inspired fear in the savage creatures that lived around them, and their realm became known as the Venomous Demesne. The tiefling lords were largely content in their isolation until the Daughters of Sora Kell rose to power in the region and sought to unify the wilds into the nation of Droaam. Sora Teraza herself came to the Venomous Demesne, bypassing the mystical concealment as if it didn’t exist. She spoke to the Council of Four, and none know what she said. But in the days that followed, the noble lines sent representatives to the Great Crag and joined in the grand experiment of Droaam.

The Venomous Demesne is a tiefling community and culture. It is a small hidden city, whose population includes both humans and tieflings… though many of the humans have minor signs of infernal heritage, even if they don’t have the full racial mechanics. The Demense is ruled by an alliance of four tiefling families, and the members of these families are powerful casters delving into many paths of magic: there are warlocks, clerics, and wizards of all schools. Their powers are vast, but grounded in dark bargains made in the past. To most outsiders, their traditions seem arbitrary and cruel. The price of magic is often paid for in pain and blood. Duels are an important part of their culture – never to the death, as they are still too few in number to squander noble blood so casually, but always with a painful cost for the loser.

If you are a full-blooded tiefling of the Venomous Demense, you are a scion of a noble line – a line that made bargains with malefic powers in the past. Your people have long been extremely insular, shunning all contact with the outside world. Now that they are expanding into Droaam, some are interested in knowing more about Khorvaire and the opportunities it presents. Consider the following options…

  • Your noble house is the weakest of the four lines. You are searching for allies or powers that will allow your house to gain dominance over the Venomous Demesne.
  • You are a lesser heir of your house and will never achieve status in the Demesne. You are seeking personal power that will let you take control of your house. You’re especially interested in the Mourning; it reminds you of stories you’ve heard about the magics of Ohr Kaluun, and you wonder if you could unlock and master its powers.
  • You have discovered a terrible secret about your ancestors and the bargains that they made… a pact that is about to come due. It may be that the cost affects you personally; that it could destroy your house; or that it is a threat to Eberron itself. Perhaps an Overlord is due to be released, or a planar incursion will occur if you can’t stop it. The Council of Four won’t listen to you – so you’re on your own.
  • You have been exiled from the Demesne. This could be because of a duel you lost, a crime you committed, or a crime you WOULDN’T commit. Perhaps you were ordered to participate in a pact that would damn your soul, or to murder someone you cared about. You can never return: what destiny can you find in the outer world?

You are from a hidden city of dark wonders, and the Five Nations seem hopelessly primitive and savage to you. Where is the blood wine? Where is the music of the spheres? Imagine you’re an alien from an advanced civilization, forced to deal with savages.

Source: Dragonmarks: Tieflings


  • The Venom Lords are working on an Eldritch Machine. They’ve sent agents into the wider world acquiring the rare components required for this device. Are they working on behalf of the Daughters of Sora Kell, or does the device have a more sinister purpose?
  • The vaults of the Venomous Demesne hold secrets that date back to the ancient nation of Ohr Kaluun. The player characters could need to acquire Kaluunite lore for an unrelated plot: tied to another Eldritch machine, to a path of the Prophecy, or perhaps to understanding some sort of demonic threat. To get what they need, they’ll have to go to the Venomous Demesne and earn the trust of its lords.
  • A variation of the previous idea is needing something that can only be obtained or acquired in the Venomous Demesne: a particular magic item or artifact, learning a spell, etc.
  • The lords of Ohr Kaluun made pacts with a wide variety of extraplanar and fiendish forces. If you want to do something with some sort of archfiend (such as demon lords from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes), one of the lines of the Demesne could work as its agents (or be opposed to it, but still know its secrets). Personally I’d use such a being as a powerful force in Khyber—below the level of an Overlord, but nonetheless a powerful threat that has recently broken loose from binding and is just starting to rebuild its influence in Eberron.

Source: Q&A 5/18/18: Undead, Sarlona, and More!


The Venemous Demesne is obviously run by tieflings, and tieflings make up the upper class there. How strictly is that enforced? Are there physical or social boundaries preventing say, Lady Pyranica of House Dreygu from taking Nilah the human as a wife?

There’s no PHYSICAL boundaries. Even within the tiefling families, there are children born human sometimes—it’s embarrassing, to be sure, but humanity is in the blood. Beyond the tiefling aspect, a crucial question is POWER. If a human scion proves to be a mighty warlock or wizard, their power proves the worth of their blood. And that POWER is the key here. A noble can take any spouse they wish. But dueling plays an important role in Demesne society… and if other members of the house feel the noble is weakening the house through their choice, they can challenge the prospective spouse to a duel. If the spouse survives, they prove they are a worthy addition to the house. So if Nilah has power in her own right she’ll be fine. If she’s just a cute poet and Pyranica loves her for her sensitivity, she’s going to have a lot of trouble surviving her duels with the three Dreygu wandslingers lined up to fight her…

Source: iFAQ July Roundup: Hektula, Hidden Masterminds, Character Age and More!

Origins

For all that was lost in the Sundering of Sarlona, few are particularly upset about the collapse of Ohr Kaluun. The ruling Shadow Lords were infamous for the prolific use of pact magic. Every island was steeped in fiendish influence, and the war mazes—grand, labyrinthine fortress cities—of Ohr Kaluun were home to the stuff of nightmares.

Ohr Kaluun collapsed into infighting during the Sundering. Many of its inhabitants were slain or fled to other lands. The nobles of Ohr Vel—an island dotted with entrances to Khyber—took a different approach. When Inspired ships assaulted the war maze with the help of traitors, civilians and nobles alike fled into Khyber’s tunnels, hoping to find safe passage through the demiplanes.

As the screams of their kin grew faint, the four surviving noble families joined forces to summon a guide. Sora Kell answered the request, and the primordial night hag was more than happy to make a deal. She gifted the nobles a compass made with a strand of her hair—a magical wayfinder that would guide them to safety. In exchange, once the refugees had made a new home, the compass was never to leave the city.

Arrival in Khorvaire

The survivors eventually emerged into present-day western Droaam and began construction on a new war maze. Houses and secret passages were built into labyrinthine walls, and the noble lines constructed manors close to Khyber’s tunnels. To honor Sora Kell’s deal, the nobles put her compass at the very center of the maze, sealing it behind several layers of wards. They named the maze Veltharak, or the Venomous Demesne in Infernal.

Unwilling to incur more losses, the four noble lines agreed to rule as one, appointing a Venom Lord from each family to the new Council of Four. Their first act of governance was to isolate the city, ensuring its secrecy at any cost.

In an act of powerful blood magic, the council cloaked the walls in illusions and bound the people to the city itself. Citizens would be able to bypass the demesne’s magical defences, and an inner wayfinder would always point them back to the maze. However, the binding also laid a permanent geas on its population—a warning that no one was to betray the city’s secrets.

For the next millennia, the Venomous Demesne rebuilt in isolation, swiftly executing any outsiders who found the city. Sora Tereza’s appearance and subsequent meetings with the council marked the end of this policy. No one outside of the council knows the details, but most suspect that Sora Kell’s wayfinder led the Daughters to their doorstep. Ever since, the citizens of the demesne have been permitted to wander into the wider world.

Source: Tiefling Treatise

Culture

The tieflings of the Venomous Demesne are frighteningly transactional. Every interaction is seen as a way to gain more personal power and to call upon debts both real and perceived. This creates a slippery dance of condescension, passive aggression, and social posturing within the civilians of the war maze.

For all the thinly veiled threats, however, fighting is strictly prohibited. The population of the Venomous Demesne remains stubbornly small, and the Venom Lords do not tolerate unnecessary bloodshed. Grievances are settled with formal duels—never to the death—with the loser bound to a blood debt. The debt is quite literal; those disgraced in the duel pay in either magical aid or in vials of their own blood.

Whether due to their ancestors braving Khyber or continual deals with fiends—or both—everyone within the Venomous Demesne sports fiendish features. Nobles tend to have stronger features, including pronounced horns, thick tails, and skin in shades of pink, purple, and red. Within the Venomous Demesne, the line between ‘full blooded tiefling’ and ‘human’ is more a question of status than appearance, and only nobles are considered true tieflings. All the denizens speak Infernal as their native language.

The hierarchy of the Venomous Demesne can be broken up into three castes. At the bottom, commoners perform the mundane work of the war maze: growing food, serving the nobility, and tying themselves to vitality covenants. These ‘humans’—despite their fiendish features—rarely have access to magic of any kind. The second caste contains pact mages, or commoners who entered contracts for magical power. When not running the city’s day to day magical operations, they vie for the chance to marry into nobility.

At the top, the four noble houses of the Venomous Demesne make up the third and final caste. While each line determines succession independently, stronger magic users always end up higher in the demesne’s social hierarchy.

Source: Tiefling Treatise

Religion

Though every war maze of Ohr Kaluun worshiped the Dark Six, they had no unified religious tradition. Just as the Venomous Demesne preserved Ohr Vel’s magical traditions, they are the last window into how the Kaluunites of old practiced their faith. Some options for the religious practices of the Venomous Demesne are provided below.

  • The Dark Six are bloodthirsty gods whose appetites must be sated before they will listen. Small animals work in a pinch, though they especially favor those who offer mortal blood.
  • There is no difference between the tangible immortal and the intangible god. There are just beings to bargain with, and a god is just one of them.
  • The Dark Six are arbiters of success, aiding the faithful with favorable deals and leaving the doubtful to curses and ruin. Praying to them ensures a bargain will go in your favor.
  • In ancient times, mortals bargained with the gods for power, only to overthrow them and ascend. Someone strong and crafty enough might be able to do the same today

Source: Tiefling Treatise

The Blood City's Geas

The geas laid by the first Venom Lords bound their descendants into the curse as well. If you are a Venomous Demesne native, you always know the exact location of the war maze. You also grew up knowing that spilling the city’s secrets would spell an untimely death. But what does the geas entail, both for a DM and for a player character?

The exact wording of the geas is as follows: To ensure the safety of our realm, the secrets of Veltharak shall never leave these walls, no matter how far our descendants may roam.

‘Secrets’ refers to the location and the military strength of the Venomous Demesne. Even with these restrictions in place, citizens of the war maze can speak on some of the city’s dark wonders, fiendish pacts, and daily life to outsiders.

Ultimately, from the DM’s perspective, the Blood City’s Geas is meant to explain how the Venomous Demesne has enforced its secrecy. Instead of wracking someone with pain, the geas might act as a silence spell, or it might wipe a traitor’s mind with a modify memory. The geas doesn’t need to cause damage or kill someone if that isn’t the story you want to tell.

For a native of the Venomous Demesne, being under the geas could provide unique roleplay opportunities. Do you risk death or something worse to provide information about the war maze? Perhaps your goal in life is to end the compulsion on your people for good.

If you do not want to be bound to the geas, consider how you were able to break it. You might have made a deal with a powerful entity to end the curse—such as an Overlord, a planar figure, or even the Daughters of Sora Kell—and the debt must be paid back. For a faith-based character, a miracle may have broken those mystical chains. If you were a researcher, an awry spell could have accidentally severed your connection to the geas.

Pact Magic

In many parts of Khorvaire, pact magic is considered unreliable compared to modern arcane theory. To the Venomous Demesne, however, pact magic represents magical efficiency. There are existing entities that have access to precious resources—knowledge, power, magical prowess—so why not take advantage of what already exists? This is compounded by the demesne’s hypertransactional culture; many warlocks would rather be indebted to a patron than a family member.

The Infernal word for warlock simply means ‘pact maker’, and this definition applies to many people within the Venomous Demesne. Wizards deal with fiends to learn the secrets of arcane magic. A bard might trade childhood memories to enchant their words. Those gifted in martial combat bargain for stronger muscles. All these people would be considered warlocks in the Venomous Demesne, despite their mechanics suggesting otherwise.

While the city has a reputation for dealing with fiends, warlocks will entreat with any entity that offers sufficient power. This can include neutral or even good entities such as angels, genies, and elemental powers. However, many warlocks traffic with evil powers—dark fey, daelkyr, and fiends especially—because the contract is sinister in nature. No warlock of the Venomous Demesne enjoys being in debt, and many see exploiting loopholes in a fiend’s contract as safer—possibly even expected.

Source: Tiefling Treatise

Sanguineous Artifice

Blood magic and ritual human sacrifice was commonly practiced in pre-Sundering Ohr Kaluun. Those traditions were firmly stamped out by the Inspired, and even the Venomous Demesne does not practice blood magic like their ancestors. Instead, the tieflings have refined bloodbased magic into a sustainable arcane science they call Sanguineous Artifice.

Sanguineous artifice functions on the principle that life is magic, and blood is the conduit for that energy. By mixing refined Khyber dragonshards with fresh blood, artificers produce magical items and infrastructure that matches innovations found on Aerenal—if considerably more macabre. Peach trees grow under magical light, and their fruits are distilled into blood wine—a popular alcoholic beverage. Enchanted weapons and staves convert blood droplets into devastating effects. Localized teleportation circles allow for quick transport throughout the war maze, activated with the prick of a finger.

The backbone of sanguineous artifice lies in the chilling practice of vitality covenants. Commoners who want better status will undergo a ritual that binds their soul to a piece of infrastructure within the city, encompassing everything from harvesting food to driving a rickshaw. Through the covenant, unseen servants perform physical labor—making it appear as if the city runs primarily on its own—while the bound worker has their energy drained as if they were still working. Vitality covenants only drain energy—a worker’s life isn’t shortened by the deal—but the result is nearly constant exhaustion.

Source: Tiefling Treatise

Tiefling Names

Tieflings have given names and family names just as humans do. Also like humans, they might have nicknames. Yet unlike the wide variety of names that humans adopt, traditional tiefling names all hearken back to one empire: Bael Turath. Although the people of that great nation spoke Common, the noble lines of tieflings often used the Infernal tongue to communicate. While some tieflings have names that are words in Infernal, names given to tieflings frequently blend the sounds of both languages. Those rare tieflings who grow up in enclaves populated solely by tieflings certainly have traditional names, but tieflings born to the rough quarters of human towns often take a word that they believe describes themselves or how they wish to be seen and use it as a name.

Female First Names: Affyria, Armillia, Catastrophe, Daela, Domitia, Dorethau, Destamavia, Dispiria, Elchora, Hacari, Helephaestra, Iritra, Kalastryn, Levatra, Malfia, Mecretia, Milvia, Mirel, Nericia, Pyranika, Samantia, Suristryn, Tenerife, Traya, Velavia, Xelestri, Zaidi.

Male First Names: Aethax, Ankhus, Arkadi, Armarius, Archidius, Balmoloch, Bastreth, Calderax, Corynax, Dacian, Daelius, Deimos, Demedor, Grassus, Halius, Incerion, Kalaradian, Kamien, Kazamir, Kzandro, Lachim, Maetheus, Malfias, Marchion, Melech, Nensis, Prismeus, Syken, Theveus, Vaius, Xerek, Zaethian, Zeth.

Family Names: Amarzian, Arychosa, Carnago, Derafan, Domarien, Kaazinar, Khirzan, Lamanthus, Meluzan, Menetrian, Mezelandes, Mizviir, Paradas, Romazi, Sarzan, Serechor, Shadowhorn, Syrkoi, Szarzan, Torzalan, Trelenus, Trevethor, Tryphon, Vadu, Vezzati, Vrago.

Like most last names that have Common roots, the family names of tieflings might once have held meaning. Just as the human last name William might hearken back to “guild helm,” a gilded helmet, so too might Sarzan be an abbreviated form of Sarzaneruss, an ancient name for a lake that no longer exists.

House Names: Achazriel, Anastazhu, Baikanul, Barikdral, Cavian, Dreygu, Kahlir, Kyrandanul, Ravoon, Rennet, Synnaridia, Thavios, Zannifer.

House names often carry an honorific or a descriptive phase that has been associated with the house since the previous age: Baikanul, House of Happiness; Kyrandanul, the Wailing House; Rennet, House of the Last Moon, Synnaridia, the Plague House; Thavios, House of Shadows. Some such houses and the reasons for their honorifics are infamous; others remain a mystery carried on through the generations as tradition.

Honorifics: Cataclysm, Despair, Excellence, Gloom, Innocence, Malice, Mystery, Rain, Suffering, Travesty

Source: Player's Handbook Races — Tieflings