Tieflings are a race in the Dungeons an Dragons fantasy tabletop role-playing game. Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition's Tieflings are no longer planetouched humans with demonic ancestry, but instead are the descendants of humans who made a bargain with devils to increase their power nearly a millennia before their introduction as playable characters. The story of the humans ascension into the Tiefling race is called the story of Emperor Bael Turath. The Empire of Bael Turath was one of the greatest in all of humankind's history. In the Empire the noble class (Kings, Lords, Princes etc.) were completely devoted to the preservation of their power. They were so obsessed with power and glory that they vowed to even give up their humanity for it. Bael Turath made many promises to the nobles of his lands and word reached a realm called the Nine Hells located around the Astral Sea. People of the Nine Hells began having dreams or visions of the promises that Emperor Bael Turath made. They believed these visions would help keep the Emperor and the nobles in power. The visions spoke of an evil month long ritual that each ruling house of the Emperor must participate in to secure their power forever. Some of the houses refused to take part in the ritual because it promoted terrible deeds that all of the participants of all the houses must do. The houses that refused were destroyed and the ritual commenced. During the ritual Demons began to appear and many houses and nobles made pacts with these Demons. These Pacts not only bound the Human nobles but also their descendants forever. Thus began the race known as the Tiefling.