Titans: 101

[UltimaGabe]

Hey, everyone. I'm planning on playing a character with the Titan bloodline in an upcoming campaign, and it got me interested in Titans. Being not quite satisfied with the two-paragraph blurb about them in the Monster Manual, I was hoping to find some information online about them- actual titans in mythology, roleplaying resources regarding titans, or so on. Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction?

Any help would be most appreciated.

 

[Imperialus]

not sure of any actual resources but Titans according to greek mythology were sort of primal forces of nature who gave birth to and were eventually fought and defeated by the gods being cast into a pit of some sort Zeus. Oh... and with very few exceptions they were all evil... possible exceptions being Atlas and a smattering of others. All and all they don't quite jive with D&D's concept of the titans. IIRC there was a 2nd ed book that went into some deatail on them though I can't remember the title.

 

[Breakstone]

Yup... Imperialus is correct. The current D&D titans don't exactly jive with the mythological Titans. However, those old Titans did give birth to the Olympians (Zeus, Hera, etc), so you could even further your Titan bloodline by saying that you come from one of the particular Titans.

Here's a web page listing them: http://www.hol.gr/greece/titans.htm

 

[Ry]

Prometheus and Epimetheus are two examples of apparently good titans; Prometheus representing forethought, and Epimetheus representing afterthought. One of the most popular versions of the two involves Epimetheus making mankind in the image of the gods. Since that involves no teeth, horns, etc, Prometheus ends up correcting Epimetheus' mistake by stealing Fire from Mount Olympus. For this, Zeus chains him to a rock and has an eagle (sometimes a vulture) eat his regenerating liver every day for eternity.

If you're looking to make your own Titans, they seem to have coalesced in modern fantasy as "humans writ large" - almost like the characters in Shakespearean tragedy.

For evil titans, the Scarred Lands mythology is an excellent resource.

 

[Nifft]

The Manual of the Planes also lists a certain area of Carceri as being the prison of the Titans... not exactly the abode of the Chaotic Good.

-- N

 

[Tonguez]

Unfortunately Good and Evil don't really apply

Look at it thus

The Titans were the original divnie powers who became corrupted by their power and desire to maintain the status quo - it drove many insane (cue Kronos eating his babies)

The Olympians then come of age and must strike down their own parents for the good of the World

Now use that tension as the basis of your character - are you doomed to become corrupted (and go insane) as you are consumed by your own lust for power, do you sorrow at Zeus having to strike down those who he was suppose to love (his parents), do you feel a burning need to avenge your ancestor and destroy Olympus!

Then again DnD titans don't really fit the Greek model - what they remindme most of is the image of 'Khan' (Star Trek 'Wrath of Khan') ie the perfect human specimen (they too become consumed by their lust for power so there you go...)

 

[Ry]

The Chaotic-Good Titans often seem just like Gods; again, humans writ large. In my campaign, Titans are the gods - humans are level capped at 6 (sometimes stretched to 10), and level 9 magic is definitely enough to be godlike (so long as you allow them to grant spells to clerics, narr).

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

In my campaign, I've arranged for the Titans to be beings of a former Time. By Time (with a capital 'T') I mean before this Time began. I got this Time idea from some board here before and ran with it, integrating the Hindu notion of death and rebirth (and they believe that the universe itself dies and is reborn...I simply fed this over to the notion of Time).

I'm not trying to be confusing, but I pictured an entity (a Titan) during the previous Time in which Time itself was bestowed upon him (as many other qualities and traits were bestowed upon others). When they left or did certain things, these attributes of the world/Time suffered. However, when the Time Titan decided to leave, it caused a massive rupturing in the space-time continuim that spilled the two realms (heaven and earth) into a near infinite set of realms. In this apocalypse, most were killed. However a few Titans managed to survive, including the Time Titan...

...and he's just been unintentionally released by the PCs...

...and the new God of Time isn't too happy that the Time Titan (pardon the bad names) is now free. And no one is sure of the consequences that two entities with power over time are free.

There are plenty of other little odds and ends, but for me, the Titans are the races of the previous Time.

 

[Voadam]

Originally there was Gaea and Uranus, Earth and Sky. Gaea gave birth to the titans but Uranus swallowed them one by one after they were born so they could not overthrow him. When Gaea bore the titan Kronos she gave Uranus a stone instead of the new titan and in his haste Uranus swallowed the stone and did not notice the switch. Kronos gained a sickle castrated his father, and split his belly, letting out the other titans. Then Kronos as ruler started the cycle again, swallowing his children, the gods, as they were born so they would not rise up against him. The same stone trick was used to save Zeus and he rescued his siblings, allied with cyclopes who forged weapons for the gods, cast lots for dominion spheres, and overthrew the titans throwing them into tarterus as a prison except for a rare few who aided the gods.

 

[Tonguez]

Zeus overthrew the titans throwing them into tarterus as a prison except for a rare few who aided the gods.

Don't forget Atlas who lead the Titan forces and was punished by having to bear the weight of the World on his shoulders