D&D General The Dragon Queen's Consorts (Lore question)

dave2008

Legend
The five-headed dragon is a bit fickle, so I can see her dropping a consort (HARD) on a whim.

The most detailed lore work on chromatic dragons was done in the Dragonlance setting IMO. I would look to how they characterize the different types to envision consorts. I would think that any consort of Tiamat would be representative of their sort of dragon in general.
Any particular sources you recommend? I am actually surprised none of the draconomicon's have said much on the subject.
 

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ValamirCleaver

Ein Jäger aus Kurpfalz
There is information in the 80s Nine Hells Dragon Magazine articles, #s 75, 76 & 91. The two paragraphs following this paragraph is excerpted from the July 1983 Dragon Magazine #75, page 18, third column, bottom half of the page. I would interpret 'spawn that survive to achieve "huge adult" status serve as replacements for her consorts' (which is obviously for 1st edition AD&D) as a fully advanced chromatic dragon of the largest size with maximum hit points & powers. In the 1st edition AD&D Monster Manual, at the of the "DRAGON" article on page 22, second column, bottom half of the page, '"huge adult" status' is defined. (I greatly prefer the lore from pre-1986 sources or logically extrapolated from those aforementioned sources.)

The Chromatic Dragon spends most (90%) of her time sprawled in her lair, the great caverns known as Azharul, "The Dragonspawn Pits." Here she is attended by her bodyguards, five huge adult male dragons — one white, one black, one green, one blue, and one red (for details,
refer to the Monster Manual). She is constantly guarded by these consorts, and when not plotting, feeding, enjoying cruel sport or facing danger, Tiamat will be found mating with one of them within a protective ring formed by the other four. She bears litters of 1-4 dragonets (or "mewlings": very young dragons born conscious and in control of their feeble powers) after an average gestation period of 6 days. Tiamat occasionally (7% chance at any given time) travels via the Astral Plane or Ethereal Plane, perhaps to give birth to a litter on the Prime Material Plane (or Planes, if the multiverse of your campaign includes "parallel worlds") — sometimes grudgingly, at the behest of Asmodeus, but more often to further some plan of her own.

The scant remainder of her time is spent roaming Avernus; very rarely, she journeys to the palace of Asmodeus. Those of Tiamat's offspring that are born and remain on Avernus occupy themselves with hunting down and bringing back food for Tiamat and her consorts while the Chromatic Dragon is in her lair. These offspring/underlings are of all sizes, types, and ages of evil dragonkind, and all are aggressive, cruel, and in good health. Injured, weak, or disobedient specimens are soon eaten by Tiamat, or by others at her direction; she also dines on slain dragons, including slain consorts who have displeased her, and all newborn spawn who are multi-headed or otherwise chromatic in nature. The few of her spawn that survive to achieve "huge adult" status serve as replacements for her consorts.
 

dave2008

Legend
There is information in the 80s Nine Hells Dragon Magazine articles, #s 75, 76 & 91. The two paragraphs following this paragraph is excerpted from the July 1983 Dragon Magazine #75, page 18, third column, bottom half of the page. I would interpret 'spawn that survive to achieve "huge adult" status serve as replacements for her consorts' (which is obviously for 1st edition AD&D) as a fully advanced chromatic dragon of the largest size with maximum hit points & powers. In the 1st edition AD&D Monster Manual, at the of the "DRAGON" article on page 22, second column, bottom half of the page, '"huge adult" status' is defined. (I greatly prefer the lore from pre-1986 sources or logically extrapolated from those aforementioned sources.)

The Chromatic Dragon spends most (90%) of her time sprawled in her lair, the great caverns known as Azharul, "The Dragonspawn Pits." Here she is attended by her bodyguards, five huge adult male dragons — one white, one black, one green, one blue, and one red (for details,
refer to the Monster Manual). She is constantly guarded by these consorts, and when not plotting, feeding, enjoying cruel sport or facing danger, Tiamat will be found mating with one of them within a protective ring formed by the other four. She bears litters of 1-4 dragonets (or "mewlings": very young dragons born conscious and in control of their feeble powers) after an average gestation period of 6 days. Tiamat occasionally (7% chance at any given time) travels via the Astral Plane or Ethereal Plane, perhaps to give birth to a litter on the Prime Material Plane (or Planes, if the multiverse of your campaign includes "parallel worlds") — sometimes grudgingly, at the behest of Asmodeus, but more often to further some plan of her own.

The scant remainder of her time is spent roaming Avernus; very rarely, she journeys to the palace of Asmodeus. Those of Tiamat's offspring that are born and remain on Avernus occupy themselves with hunting down and bringing back food for Tiamat and her consorts while the Chromatic Dragon is in her lair. These offspring/underlings are of all sizes, types, and ages of evil dragonkind, and all are aggressive, cruel, and in good health. Injured, weak, or disobedient specimens are soon eaten by Tiamat, or by others at her direction; she also dines on slain dragons, including slain consorts who have displeased her, and all newborn spawn who are multi-headed or otherwise chromatic in nature. The few of her spawn that survive to achieve "huge adult" status serve as replacements for her consorts.
Very helpful, I think I have that issue somewhere. I will have to check it out. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to provide much more about her consorts than most other sources :( However, I'm weaving together lore from all editions of D&D for my write up, so this will be helpful too. Thanks again for contributing!
 



ValamirCleaver

Ein Jäger aus Kurpfalz
old babylonian legends... perhaps there is inspiration there
Abzu/Apsu & Kingu/Qingu

"When above the heavens did not yet exist nor the earth below, Apsu the freshwater ocean was there, the first, the begetter, and Tiamat, the saltwater sea, she who bore them all; they were still mixing their waters, and no pasture land had yet been formed, nor even a reed marsh." This resulted in the birth of the younger gods, who later murdered Apsu in order to usurp his lordship of the universe. Enraged, Tiamat gives birth to the first dragons, filling their bodies with "venom instead of blood", and made war upon her treacherous children, only to be slain by Marduk, the god of Storms, who then forms the heavens and earth from her corpse.

Tiamat was the "shining" personification of the sea who roared and smote in the chaos of original creation. She and Abzu filled the cosmic abyss with the primeval waters. She is "Ummu-Hubur who formed all things".

In the myth recorded on cuneiform tablets, the deity Enki (later Ea) believed correctly that Abzu was planning to murder the younger deities, upset with the noisy tumult they created, and so captured him and held him prisoner beneath his temple, the E-Abzu ('temple of Abzu'). This angered Kingu, their son, who reported the event to Tiamat, whereupon she fashioned eleven monsters to battle the deities in order to avenge Abzu's death. These were her own offspring: Bašmu ('Venomous Snake'), Ušumgallu ('Great Dragon'), Mušmaḫḫū ('Exalted Serpent'), Mušḫuššu ('Furious Snake'), Laḫmu (the 'Hairy One'), Ugallu (the 'Big Weather-Beast'), Uridimmu ('Mad Lion'), Girtablullû ('Scorpion-Man'), Umū dabrūtu ('Violent Storms'), Kulullû ('Fish-Man'), and Kusarikku ('Bull-Man').

Tiamat possessed the Tablet of Destinies and in the primordial battle she gave them to Kingu, the deity she had chosen as her lover and the leader of her host, and who was also one of her children. The terrified deities were rescued by Anu, who secured their promise to revere him as "king of the gods". He fought Tiamat with the arrows of the winds, a net, a club, and an invincible spear.


 
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dave2008

Legend
Abzu/Apsu & Kingu/Qingu

"When above the heavens did not yet exist nor the earth below, Apsu the freshwater ocean was there, the first, the begetter, and Tiamat, the saltwater sea, she who bore them all; they were still mixing their waters, and no pasture land had yet been formed, nor even a reed marsh." This resulted in the birth of the younger gods, who later murdered Apsu in order to usurp his lordship of the universe. Enraged, Tiamat gives birth to the first dragons, filling their bodies with "venom instead of blood", and made war upon her treacherous children, only to be slain by Marduk, the god of Storms, who then forms the heavens and earth from her corpse.

Tiamat was the "shining" personification of the sea who roared and smote in the chaos of original creation. She and Abzu filled the cosmic abyss with the primeval waters. She is "Ummu-Hubur who formed all things".

In the myth recorded on cuneiform tablets, the deity Enki (later Ea) believed correctly that Abzu was planning to murder the younger deities, upset with the noisy tumult they created, and so captured him and held him prisoner beneath his temple, the E-Abzu ('temple of Abzu'). This angered Kingu, their son, who reported the event to Tiamat, whereupon she fashioned eleven monsters to battle the deities in order to avenge Abzu's death. These were her own offspring: Bašmu ('Venomous Snake'), Ušumgallu ('Great Dragon'), Mušmaḫḫū ('Exalted Serpent'), Mušḫuššu ('Furious Snake'), Laḫmu (the 'Hairy One'), Ugallu (the 'Big Weather-Beast'), Uridimmu ('Mad Lion'), Girtablullû ('Scorpion-Man'), Umū dabrūtu ('Violent Storms'), Kulullû ('Fish-Man'), and Kusarikku ('Bull-Man').

Tiamat possessed the Tablet of Destinies and in the primordial battle she gave them to Kingu, the deity she had chosen as her lover and the leader of her host, and who was also one of her children. The terrified deities were rescued by Anu, who secured their promise to revere him as "king of the gods". He fought Tiamat with the arrows of the winds, a net, a club, and an invincible spear.


Thank you very much for your response! I was actually already very familiar with Tiamat's RL origins / mythology. If I wasn't clear in the OP, I was specifically asking about her D&D lore.
 

Thank you very much for your response! I was actually already very familiar with Tiamat's RL origins / mythology. If I wasn't clear in the OP, I was specifically asking about her D&D lore.
For what it's worth, Forgotten Realms lore equates D&D Tiamat with the IRL Tiamat through her presence in the Untheric pantheon, who are/were essentially the ancient Babylonian(?) pantheon transplanted to Toril in the same way and for the same reasons as the Mulhorandi/Egyptian pantheon: i.e. ancient Imaskar kidnapping large populations from other world(s) and relocating them to Toril to serve as slaves, unintentionally bringing their gods with them.

So there's both room and precedent to integrate aspects of Tiamat's IRL Babylonian lore into her D&D character, if you so choose.

Unrelated, while not one of Tiamat's consorts in the traditional sense, an article from Dragon #260 states that one of the pit fiends of the Dark Eight spawned a child with Tiamat at some point - the half-fiendish, two-headed dragon Mordukhavar the Reaver. The original article doesn't specify which member of the Dark Eight, but a line from Tiamat's entry in Dragon #359's "1d20 Villains" article assigns fatherhood to Cantrum, the group's one-time leader back before his assassination, when it was known as the Dark Nine.

EDIT: Going over Tiamat's entry in Dragon #359 in more detail, it mentions that Etiol (already named in a wiki entry brought up earlier) was Ephelomon's successor as Tiamat's (presumably red) consort, as well as giving him an epithet: Etiol the Abandoned.

It's admittedly not much more context than we already had - just a single line in the backstory of an artifact associated with Tiamat, gifted by Zariel to Etiol sometime after Ephelomon's death - but I thought I'd mention it.
 
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