Requiem, the Reluctant Tiefling - Searching for Found Family with Neineyes (D&D 5e)

Hello friends welcome to characters without stories, a TTRPG podcast about the roads not yet traveled. My name is star. If you play tabletop role playing games, you probably have some back pocket characters characters who are just waiting for the right story. Every episode i'll bring in a friend to tell me about their character and their approach to creating characters. This episode I'm joined by Stevie who goes by neineyes on TikTok. Stevie is currently a grad student studying to become a mental health counselor and enjoys DMing and playing d&d and Pathfinder in their little spare time, Stevie, I'll give you a chance to plug your projects at the end. But right now, do you want to tell listeners a little bit about yourself?

Yeah, absolutely. My name is Stevie. I am currently 23 years old and going into grad school. As you said, I have spent a lot of time with actually doing some writing. I'm currently a tutor as well for writing. And I think that definitely spiraled into my love for d&d, just because that is like a collaborative writing experience. So I think, yeah, my passion for writing has definitely led me to where I am with d&d and now just my whole life being consumed by my free time.

It's a great creative outlet.

Absolutely.

Who are you bringing to the table today?

I am bringing to the table today. My character named Requiem. They are a tiefling Warlock sorcerer.

Why are they named Requiem?

I just the name hit me because at first I was kind of workshopping the character with the name Aria, just because I thought it was a really pretty name. But then looking into kind of more their story, it becomes more of a sad, solemn backstory. So I thought Requiem was a more fitting name for them. And I just kind of took that and ran with it. I have always loved music. And I didn't really want to do any traditional kind of name for them. I've had plenty of characters that have had traditional names. So I wanted to try and give them something different. And I thought it was a really pretty name to give for a character that, honestly is my favorite character I've ever created.

Cool. I'm so excited to talk about Requiem then. So this is a character for d&d, five E, correct? Yes. And what level did you build Requiem at?

At the beginning, I think it was more of a low level start. In my mind, I kind of built up the levels and what brought them to where they are. But I think the backstory for them really ended around probably around level five, for them to be a fully playable character to have that backstory fully integrated, because, unfortunately, can't can't toss in a multiclass at level one, and I feel like they wouldn't have all that abilities then. So I would want it to be still a low level start, but not super low level.

Yeah, yeah. So let's actually get into that backstory, because I think it is really interesting is Requiem, starting as a sorcerer, or starting as a warlock?

Yeah, they originally do start as a sorcerer. They are a young adult at a magic Academy where they hadn't met their girlfriend Ravina. And eventually Ravina is overcome by some kind of illness. And all of like the clerics the healers in the area, have no idea how to break this kind of illness, curse whatever is come upon her. So wreck ram took it upon themselves to go and study into what had happened to Ravina. And eventually, this led them to some dark magic and accidentally summoning a kind of vessel of Asmodeus just a temporary one being in the material plane, and cutting a deal with Asmodeus to be able to save Ravina due to the evil kind of illness within her, but at the expense that then Requiem would become a servant of him.

Yeah, what kind of sorcerous origin does Requiem have?

I never really delved too much into that side of them. I never really got too far into that and I've never built a sorcerer so I was gonna delve into that at some point, but since I haven't been able to play them yet, it's still kind of open ended on the whole sorcerer part.

For me, I'm currently playing a sorcerer I love sorcerers. And I think what's interesting about the class is the idea of innate magic. And where does that come from? You know, so I'm kind of curious, do you have any thoughts about where that originated? Or is it inborn? Is it some sort of exposure?

I think that it's something that they were born with. I think that led to the curiosity of wanting to go to that kind of magic Academy later on to try and grow and harness these powers that they were just born with, and really, to have no idea what the heck that they're doing with it. So that kind of led them there.

So you mentioned that Requiem is young, correct? About how young are they?

I would probably put them late teens, early 20s.

For a level five character that's actually pretty young. So when did they kind of get started on their on their adventuring journey.

Their journey actually started then after that pact with Asmodeus. So I think that throughout their younger life, they had worked on studying and trying to harness these powers building up some powers with that. And then once that pact was sealed with Asmodeus, their whole life kind of fell apart. With that whole pact of servitude towards him. They then were transformed from a human into more of a tiefling appearance, which ultimately led them to being shunned from their town and area of home. And then since Ravina, was then healed, Ravina did not recognize Requiem, after that transformation. And ultimately, Ravina was disgusted by Requiem and kind of was like, You need to get out of here view foul fiend and like I don't know who you are, leave me alone, especially from being an area which is definitely a bit more prejudiced towards fiendish creatures. tieflings aren't really welcome in that area where they come from. So with them being shunned from that town, I think that's where their adventure truly begins with setting on their own path to grow stronger to eventually hunt down and kill Asmodeus themselves, just due to the pure anger and rage that had built up from giving them back their true love and what they really wanted in life. And then with that servitude, having that immediately ripped away from them right after gaining that back.

Yeah, that is so tragic. That story just the giving your all for a loved one and then having that break them up. That's so sad.

Gotta give that Warlock tragic backstory.

It's, it's it's definitely a trope, but not a bad one. I mean, the drama, it's delicious. Oh, yeah. I really like this idea of did they start out as an elf?

I think either human or half elf. I haven't gotten down to the nitty gritty yet with that, but something very close to human, if not human, half elf.

I think it's a really interesting idea that they started out as another race and became a tiefling. Through their pact with Asmodeus what interested you in taking that approach?

I wish I remembered the username of the TikTok account from where I saw this. But I remember months ago, seeing someone talking about how customizable a tiefling is. And they were talking about how Yeah, like tieflings don't have to start off as tieflings and I'm like, You're absolutely right. So I kind of took that and ran with that as my inspiration.

Yeah, that's really interesting. What does Requiem look like?

As a tiefling, they have grown into more of like a pinkish light red kind of coloration has curly black horns coming out of their head. Their hair is kind of Taliesin Jaffe. So if you can imagine that, like the shaved sides and then like the slicked back longer top and they kind of have purplish color to their hair. Their eyes are like fully black with yellow kind of pupils in them. They're kind of of average human height. So like probably around like five six and they have heavily pierced ears with becoming a tiefling got those little things going on, and ultimately kind of has like a dark academia kind of aesthetic in both human, half elf and tiefling form.

And does Requiem have a voice? Have you developed a voice for Requiem?

I have experimented a lot. And I think that for Requiem, it would be not my voice, but just kind of re pitching my voice into kind of a more like, serious tone and lower pitched and more urgent serious like business means business. I'm not here to make friends along the way, I need to get this done and try and get my life back together.

Let's delve a little bit into Requiem's backstory, what was their family like?

I kind of imagined that they had an interesting family life where their parents were not magic wielders, they were just normal commoners of a town and one day give birth to this magical child. And they're like, We don't know what to do with this. So then, kind of pointing them towards school. And they're like, Yeah, I want to harness these powers. So they were definitely confused by like, how did this happen? But ultimately, they were there for them, giving them that support as a child. I never delved too much into the idea of siblings. I don't think so. I feel like there's a lot going on with the backstory that just adding like a sibling would just be like, Why is this here? What's the purpose of that? I'd be like, I don't know.

Just giving giving the DM a knife to hold against your throat.

You know, maybe that would be fun, then. It's always fun to give DMS that little little What's this in here? I don't know what it is. So maybe, maybe you can take it DM have fun with it yourself. Right? Because I know I love being given toss those little bits and I'm like, You're gonna regret given that to me.

How do you think Requiem's parents first saw their powers? What was it about Requiem as a baby that made them think oh, this is a magical baby?

I just imagined kind of like, at some point when they were very young, either baby or toddler just these like, basic cantrips like, you know, things lighting up. All that kind of fun stuff being like, Okay, that wasn't me. That wasn't us. That's the baby like, oh my god, like, just like all those weird little quirks going on then eventually realizing, okay, this is our life. Now. This is our child that we love so deeply, but never seen something like this happened before.

You know, I as a parent, the idea of a baby that has the ability to cast prestidigitation is is very appealing. I have to say.

Oh, yeah. Would make life so much easier, right?

Oh, my goodness. Yes. How do you think Requiem's family reacted when Requiem became a tiefling and made that pact with Asmodeus?

I think similarly to the reaction that Ravina had given them, it would be kind of that shock and disgust. And I think that their parents, deep in their hearts would want to believe Requiem in that moment believe that that's them. But the utter shock and terror of them being a tiefling, I think that that would cause them to shun and toss them away too, just because they don't see tieflings really out there. So they're just going to be like, Nope, can't No, that's it's not, that's not our child, like we can't do that.

Yeah, so did Requiem, go to Magic School fairly early on? Do they start as a child or

I think that they probably started off with a normal basic education to kind of learn how to communicate, learn some basic languages, common elvish, all that fun stuff. And then I think probably once they became more of a young teenager going into more of a specialized area. I think, probably in that back story. I imagined them having to move to a larger city from like a small village just due to the nature of magic schools. And those aren't really going to be in those small villages. So that complete change in their life.

No, like one room mage schoolhouse.

It's got like two kids in there and That would be, that'd be a time.

What made Requiem start adventuring? Was it Ravina getting sick, that kind of was the spark that put them on their adventuring path?

Yeah, I think that that sparked that interest in finding more magics and maybe delving into that darker magic to try and find that way to rescue her. But I still think that that kept them very close to home. So I think that they definitely started something there. And that definitely did spiral into more of a traveling but the start of the adventure with researching and ultimately finding Asmodeus that was definitely caused by that, because they did not have an interest in finding any darker magics. Until then, when I love the good pure healers could not do anything to help them. So yeah.

You said that Requiem is on, eventually a path to kill Asmodeus. Right. So that's a very big long term goal does Requiem have any other other goals along the way?

I think ultimately to just finding a place of belonging, just due to being shunned from everyone and everything that they had ever known, just finding that kind of second family and that people that actually show them compassion, because they had that support growing up, but never really had any hardships until, well, they had hardships, but nothing that was like groundbreaking. So like now that this is happening, they never saw someone sticking it out for them like that. So I think finding that secondary family was something that led them to traveling and just trying to find some kind of companionship.

That's a good goal for a d&d character, I think is finding finding that band of misfits that is so quintessentially the adventuring party. Oh, yeah. It's interesting to me, I see parallels and you know, forgive me if I am wrong here. But I see parallels with, you know, kind of coming out stories. And stories were where people find themselves recognizing a difference from what they were growing up, and then being shunned by their community and their family, and having to strike out on their own and having to find their own family, is that part of the inspiration or part of what went into this character for you.

There's always that kind of idea in my subconscious, just as a queer person, I am very fortunate to have a great support system. But I do know plenty of people who don't have that. And so I think that's always a subconscious trope going in to creating different things. But honestly, that didn't really cross my mind when creating them. And I think that that was really cool to see that too, that you could see that because maybe it did slip in there a little bit, but subconsciously,

Doesn't necessarily have to come from any sort of personal experience. But I think that that's a pretty common kind of character arc that I see happening with with characters. And maybe that's why d&d is so attractive to the queer community that is being able to find that found family, both amongst the players, but also, you know, in that fantasy world.

Absolutely. And I love that about it.

Does Requiem have any quirks any kind of funky personality traits?

I don't know, if I've really looked into too many quirks about them. I think a lot of the times those little quirky bits come from within me playing a character. Yeah, I like saving that for playing and just like feeling intuitive in that situation being like, this is them. And this is going to stick with them for the rest of their story and this game.

So much fun developing those kind of little, little bits, little recurring themes and jokes. So Requiem definitely has a quest. But I think what's interesting is there's like some moral ambiguity there. You know, serving Asmodeus and doing it for good cause does Requiem have kind of a personal, ethical moral code that they go by?

I think at the beginning, they definitely do. But I do think with that servitude to Asmodeus because they don't want to break that deal, because they know if they break that deal, Ravina's going to die, there's no way around that so they do have to complete tasks for Asmodeus. And I think eventually because that leads them to being a very morally gray character that just can't really pick what's truly right and what's truly wrong. And they want to choose out of love and kindness, but also that love and kindness does lead them towards a path of destruction. So I think eventually, they really can't tell the difference of what is right and what is wrong. And I'm hoping that if I do get a play as them and they get that found family with the party, I would hope that the party would lead them towards more of a good natured character rather than leaning more evil. But I definitely could see it going either way, depending on how the party they're played with is

Right, right. Depends on the campaign for sure. Oh, yeah. Do they have any flaws that you have thought about at this point?

I think that it's going to be a very deep character flaw that it's a beautiful flaw, it's they would do anything for Ravina. However, a lot of that comes with the cost of serving Asmodeus. So I would love to have a DM that absolutely abuses that power and gives me tasks to do something for Asmodeus that ultimately could be character breaking, because I just, I love a DM that just gives those gut wrenching punches and all that stuff. That's just, I love love a story like that. So yeah, I think that that would be the biggest flaw that I could see with them. Mm hmm.

So not to get too into the weeds. But those Requiem have any kind of feats or unusual builds, or anything that you're kind of thinking mechanically.

I haven't looked too much in the mechanical side of them other than trying to figure out that multiclassing and definitely going The fiend route for that type of Warlock. I think that'd be fun to look into, though. If I do get an opportunity to play them. I think I will have a lot of fun building that.

Yeah, definitely. Why are you excited to play Requiem, eventually?

I think that they were the first character that I made a story of and just fully fleshed out that kind of backstory for them. Because I have played characters after creating the idea for them. But I couldn't visualize them. And it was for Icewind Dale Rime of the Frost Maiden and I just could not see that character being played in there. So I had made a couple of characters after that, that had been fleshed out but not as deep of a story as Requiem had been. So I think just kind of creating that story and running with it got me super excited. And there are definitely pages and pages of backstory for them. And yeah I will make good backstories for my other characters, but I think this was the most in depth I have gone without fully playing a character to so I'm like, I need to play them.

So the spark that initially made you want to build this character is actually that Tiktok about tieflings starting out as a different race?

Yeah, that definitely pushed that into full gear, because I love warlocks. And I really wanted to play one. And then I was like, oh, yeah, seeing that Tiktok and seeing that it could start as something else. I was like, Yes, we're running with that as the warlock. So I don't think I would have made them without seeing that Tiktok

it's like this single spark that led to like a fully developed character. Hmm. Is that something that normally happens for you? I know you have said that you kind of are forever DM and you don't get to play as often as some people. So maybe you don't build a lot of characters. But when you do build characters, is that kind of the way that they start with kind of just a spark of a little idea, or is it coming from somewhere else?

Oh, absolutely. I will find a small speck of detail and then expand upon that. I know some people are like, oh, let's pick out the build and then make a backstory around that build. I wish I could do that because there are so many builds that I would love to try out. But usually the backstory comes first for me after seeing one little bit of inspiration. I just, I can never do it on my own time. It is just whenever something hits me that character starts to develop. I wish I wasn't always creating characters, but I am just for the one hope that maybe I can play them someday but for some of the ones that aren't fully developed characters to play as I just tossed him in as an NPC.

Yeah, that's true. You did get to create a lot of characters as a DM that maybe not very involved.

Oh yeah

Not a multi page backstory for NPCs.

Absolutely.

I definitely feel that creating a bunch of characters. I mean, this is why I started the podcast really is I create a bunch of characters and I never get to play them. And every time I start a new campaign, I create a character with that campaign in mind. And then the other ones just sit there on the shelf. It's like, I'll promise I'll use you someday. I Oh. I think part of it is just it's almost like note taking. It's like, oh, my gosh, I had this idea for a twist on the Cinderella story. So I am going to make a character on that in d&d Beyond and just put her there. Maybe someday.

Then that page hasn't been touched in months and you're like, oh, yeah, that was a fun idea.

What kind of story do you think Requiem needs?

I would love to be in some kind of campaign, whether it's pre written or a homebrew campaign that definitely delves into the abyssal plane. I feel like ultimately, I need something with that, to be able to play with them just because I want to be able to have that connection with the fiends and all that kind of stuff. And I do want them to be able to see that goal. So hopefully, someone with a fun little this kind of thing wants to play with me someday. So

Yeah, I imagine it has to be a long term campaign as well, to get to a level where you could defeat Asmodeus.

My brother had beaten Asmodeus in a campaign before so I'm like it's doable.

I'm currently playing out of the abyss, and we're right at the end of the campaign. So I think we're like level 17 or something. Yeah. never gotten that high in a campaign before. And yeah, it's a different game. Oh, yeah. Very different game. We're fighting demon lords.

Oh, my gosh, that sounds so fun.

I recommend the module. It's it's a fun module. I like it a lot. Oh, yeah. Requiem, tell me about your first kiss.

I think that it would go like this with them saying like, ah, yeah, it was one day after grade school and outside after school, playing tag with all these kids in this. This one boy runs up and like, kisses me. I'm like, Yeah, disgusting. And at first, I thought it was because you know, I was young and not interested in that. But then I realized, I don't like men. I only like women. And that's why I was disgusted by it. So my first kiss. Absolutely terrible. Like, but then my first kiss with a woman. No. That is another story. That was fantastic. absolute bliss.

First kiss with a woman was that with Ravina?

Oh, yeah.

So it was a it was a good first kiss. Huh? Well, Stevie, thank you so much. I really had a lot of fun, discussing Requiem and learning about your methods and your approach.

Thank you so much for having me.

Of course, of course. How can people find you?

As you said, My TikTok is neineyes. I also can be found on twitter at stevietealeaf, those are my two ways of seeing a little bit more of the DND content that I produce.

I found you and I think what I love about your Tiktok is you do all these really great little short videos using the sounds and they're so creative and so much fun.

Thank you so much.

I'm also on Tiktok you can find me at starmamac. You can also listen to the podcast on YouTube. Just search for characters without stories. Please like subscribe, rate, review and share with your friends every little bit helps. I am also currently accepting submissions so if you have a character that you'd like to share, you can email me at characters without stories@gmail.com Thank you so much for listening and may all of your characters find their stories.