There are less than a hundred true Harlequins left in existence, they cannot breed because the Angels that first created them to entertain did not comprehend them as a race and their abrupt departure from reality left all their work in progress to fall into ruin.
The pilgrim clowns that left the sterile safety of the abandoned Angel cities absorbed the vibrations/culture of the entities they came in contact with. Many that adapted to living in Godhead courts or Demon Pulpits brought those energies back to the pure Harlequins when they returned from their pilgrimages with new knowledge. The Jesters who treated in Infernal courts were heavily tainted with predatory schemes; they introduced painful slapstick punishment and torture of fools to the Harlequin vernacular. This era sparked the first hunter clowns who sharpened their teeth and cackled for the RICTUS REX cult.