Yeah, but if you look carefully in<em>Unapproachable East</em>you'll notice that ALL of the Tharchs are human, and the Red Wizards not merely human, but also are almost all Mulhorandi by descent. It also notes that Tieflings are judged by their humanity, not their appearance...That's kind of vague. In a human-primary society that can be read as either 'We treat you as humans because you're partly human' (unlikely given the way the rest of Thayan society is set up with such harsh class divides and such a narrowly racial nobility) or it can be read as 'We judge you based on your humanity...You aren't, so even a pretty tiefling without noticeable horns or hooves is still a tiefling.' There's also a very strict caste/class system and again, almost all of the nobility are Mulhorandi. There's reason for this in the history. Whenever forces of power or governance are noted, you read "human and gnoll". Not "Human and half-elf," or "human and tiefling." Most of the Red Wizards are of the noble class (boom, Mulhorandi). Every single Red Wizard NPC is human (well, there's an ex-human lich). The prestige class requirement is very specific "Human arcane spellcasters from Thay." and that has never been errata'd. This is supported by discussion of Thay elsewhere in the FR books. I will note<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"<strong>Thayan tieflings are usually the grandchildren of powerful wizards, birthed as part of some power scheme, and usually spend their lives as slaves or pawns to both sides of the family</strong>...When a true tiefling arises from a latent bloodline, there is often a scramble as the <strong>Red Wizards struggle to collect the planetouched offspring</strong>. Some Red Wizards train these young tieflings with others of their kind, either to work as spies in other households, personal assassins, or as some sort of sacrifice to an evil being. These tieflings can develop a sense of community among their fellows. If they are lucky, they may manage to escape their evil masters, scattering to the four winds to elude pursuit. Some of these <strong>slaves</strong> start revolts to cover their tracks, others return to kill their former owners, and still others leave and never look back." (Races of Faerun p.126)</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>and<br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"Tieflings are bitter folk who expect eventual rejection from even their best friends and easily fall into lives of crime, depravity, and cruelty. Tieflings look upon true fiends and other evil outsiders with envy and fear. Some tieflings reject their tainted blood and seek the light. Not many succeed for long, and far more slide to a comfortable place midway between evil and good. But of the creatures who work to be good, good-aligned tieflings probably work the hardest." (Races of Faerun p.126)</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>There's a lot more on these pages about how Tieflings live as outcasts, are feared, learn to keep people at a distance, etc. but the critical parts are above: Thayan Red Wizards deliberately breed tieflings as powerful, magical<strong><em>slaves</em></strong>. When one is born outside a breeding program, they even fight each other to get hold of it.<br/><br/>The bold segments are mine, just put them in for emphasis. Ghaazala's background is based directly on that first quote. In that regard, her background is NOT unusual or exceptional, except in terms of how high rank the wizard who took her in and used her was. Red Wizards are evil. Thay is a state repeatedly described as "ruthless" in FR literature.<br/><br/>Red Wizards aren't boffing succubi because they think they're sexy. They're breeding servants that they can control or pawns they can sacrifice.<br/><br/>The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting notes that<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"To Faerunians, Thay is a dark and evil empire where cruel Red Wizards endlessly crack whips over screaming, groaning slaves who are spell-transformed into weird monsters as their "reward" for back-breaking service.<br/><br/>The truth is only a little different."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>It also notes that artisans and skilled workers are barely a step above slaves in Thay. Only Red Wizards, bureaucrats, priests, merchants and soldiers aren't near-slaves...And with soldiers, it is arguable, since they follow orders "or else." It also describes the Red Wizards as "notoriously careless and abusive toward their apprentices." also "Thay has a small but growing "middle class" of free folk who are either servant-staff to zulkirs or tharchions, or else merchants and traveling trade-agents. Free Thayans are perhaps the closest to what the folk of Thay would be like without magical oppression."<br/><br/>Thay is an oppressive nation. It's right there in print.<br/><br/>None of the FR books I've read suggest that a tiefling (or any non-human) could be a Red Wizard. None. In Thay, tieflings are valuable property for their demonic/diabolic bloodlines...Useful subjects for the Red Wizards.<br/><br/>So basically, Ghaazala reacts to Adrian the way she does, because she has every reason to believe he'd put Ming the Merciless to shame in a heartbeat the instant he had an edge in power over the people around him...And anyone else from Thay wouldn't be very surprised by her attitude towards him, even without knowing her personal history.