A Tiefling learns how the people that some disparagingly called "Naga" all but worship Tiefling-kind. And eagerly take in any such children raising them well. -- Anon Guest
[AN: I'm moving this to Alfarell where the devilish children of "darkness" are called Hellkin]
Kala gave up on humanity at age five, when someone tried to chop off their tail for the eighth time in their memory. Having learned to read in the gutter schools, they sought any and all information about places that welcomed a Hellkin with open arms.
The mountains of Whitekeep were too far.
However, the steaming jungles of Brustraynia and the Sserith who dwelled within... They revered their Hellkin, according to the books. Treated them like gods. Kala had their doubts, but it was better than dodging cleavers every time some rich asshole upped the bounty on Hellkin tails.
They stole most of what they needed to get there. Any chance, no matter how slim, was better than no chance at all.
It was a long journey, and knowing what was edible more than once helped save Kala's life. They shared that knowledge with other Hellkin they met along the way. They also stayed away from any Human they saw. Even to the point of hiding in the shrubbery until they moved along.
Ragged, starving, and footworn, Kala made it. The treehouses and stone temples of the Sserith were a far cry from the streets of Nuhaven. For a start, the "barbaric" city of snake-folk was clean.
They had bathhouses, and charity homes. Nothing like the workhouses of the Human world.
Kala knew they had made it when a Sserith dropped everything to scoop them up in comforting arms. "Ssuch luck," said the snakey stranger in the Trading Tongue. "To find a dragon-maker when looking for herbss."
Kala was dizzied by the sudden attention, let alone the rush straight up a tree to a bamboo hut. There, their new benefactor, Essa, gently cleaned Kala and saw to their wounds.
Essa didn't have many spare clothes, but did have a recently-shed skin that became a slightly-transparent coat and a sort of sari. It was creepy, but Kala was grateful for anything that wasn't rags.
There was stew -without herbs- that filled their belly and bread to go with it and no yelling.
Kala cried for the first time in their memory, just out of gratitude.
Then they learned what dragon-maker actually meant.
Hellkin happen to the Sserith and the rest of the reptilline people, but not through becoming Warlocks. The eldritch forces have no interest in any of the lizard folk, for reasons known only to them. However, if a Hellkin bred with them, then their progeny gained Hellkin traits more often than not.
The Haassisha, all the intelligent lizards, claimed kinship to Dragons and worshipped them as gods. The Sserith, especially, granted all manner of favours to the Hellkin in the hopes of spawning Pseudodragons.
Sserith born with devilish horns, claws on their fingers, wings on their backs, and either rattles or spades on their tails.
Those revered children were second only to the gods themselves. They had great power, and often did great things.
Kala heard all of this, as well as promises of silk to wear, gold for their plates, gold for their cutlery, and gemstones to adorn them. It was in their own self-interest for Essa to treat her kindly, all for the possibility of a Pseudodragon in their house.
It was better than watching out for cleavers their whole life.
Like so many others in Kala's position, Kala vowed to do other good things for their kind host.
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