I finished this @heroforgeminis tiefling bard print + paint commission over the weekend.
Leipone grew up in a small town, a village like any other. Quiet, for the most part. Her mother, Zelia Veltish, was a tiefling, but she was able to pass for human if she tried. Her hair was a bit yellower than Lei's stark white, her skin was a peach color that hid her true heritage, her horns were routinely filed and hid beneath her hair. Her eventual lover didn't know. When she became pregnant the first time, he proposed marriage. She accepted but purposefully waited until her child was born to marry.
He was purple. Purple skin, purple hair, purple horns, the only part of him that wasn't purple was the eyes. Red. Like a reminder of the heritage she tried so hard to hide. She passed him off to a relative and told her husband, who wasn't there when the baby was born, that he had not survived the birth. It wasn't terribly long until she was pregnant again, and worried.
Her daughter, Leipone, was also purple. She looked almost like a pastel drow when she was born - purple skin and snow white hair - to the point Leipone's mother was accused of cheating on her spouse. It was the horns that made him suspect something. Their relationship fell apart, and her mother moved to their relative's village, rejoining the family who had watched her son. Leipone met her brother, Regular "Reggie" Veltish then.
Their mother had given him the virtue name "Regular" before he was born, as a silent prayer, but it was one that he frequently avoided. He was three when his sister was born, but fiercely protective from the start. He made her laugh with his antics, his flair for the dramatic. He ran away with a group of players when she was fourteen. He sent letters but after she too left home things stalled. She hopes to see him again.
She was always mischevious as a child. She wasn't one for pranks so much as positivity towards some and making sure that bullies got their due. Growing up a tiefling was rough. Her mother was entirely self-depricating about their species and the stares of others got her down. She made it her mission in life to try and challenge that image, and in her enthusiasm took on the causes of others. It was how she met Nyx.
On a trip into a nearby city with her mother and brother, an eight year old Leipone had noticed a merchant selling these eggs he described as belonging to a feared creature, one of great terror and evil. It had frustrated Lei so much, having heard the same about herself, that she stole the last remaining egg and ran off. Luckily for her, it was not the beholder they promised but the similar, smaller spectator that hatched later on. Nyx was like a match made in heaven. She was purple too, her large eyes a caramel brown that almost matched her gold. Much to her mother's chagrin, Leipone raised Nyx after that. She frequently had to hide her friend, however, since Nyx was the target of many a daring newcomer who thought she was a menace on the town. Nyx's cave was very secret, and Lei would visit and bring food and chat, though Nyx could fare for herself. When she left town in search of something more, she made sure to stay in touch with her, should she ever need to call on her.
