Editing Tiamat

{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Tiamat
|Symbol = [[File:Tiamat Symbol.jpg|200px]]<br>Five chromatic dragon heads in a circle, or a dragon head with five claw marks
|Alignment = Lawful Evil / Chaotic Evil (depending on edition)
|Divine Rank = Lesser God
|Pantheon = Dawn War, Draconic, Faerûn
|Portfolio = Evil Dragons, Wealth, Greed, Vengeance
|Domains = '''3E:''' Evil, Law, Scalykind, Tyranny<br>'''4E:''' Tyranny, Vengeance<br>'''5E:''' Trickery
|Home Plane = '''[[Great Wheel]]:''' ''Azharul'' ([[Baator]])<br>'''[[World Axis]]:''' Banehold, ''Azharul'' (Tytherion)
|Worshippers = Evil Dragons, Treasure Hunters, Tyrants, The Vengeful, The Avaricious, Merchants
|Favoured Weapon = ''Dragon head'' (Heavy pick)
}}
'''Tiamat''', also known as the Polychromatic Dragon and the Mother of Dragonkind, is the goddess of [[Chromatic Dragon]]s in [[Dungeons and Dragons]], and as such is a centerpiece of the lore.

==Genesis==
Precisely where Tiamat comes from  depends on the cosmology you're using.

In the [[Great Wheel]], Tiamat was one of the first dragons created by [[Io]], the overgod of the [[Dragon Gods]], being spawned at the same time as her brother, [[Bahamut]]. The two took an instant hatred to each other, which is understandable as they're literally polar opposites in terms of morality, and have battled ceaselessly for dominance over dragonkind across the [[multiverse]] ever since.

In the [[World Axis]], she was created alongside her "brother" [[Bahamut]] when the Primordial Erek-Hus slew [[Io]], the Father of Dragons, by chopping him in half lengthways with one stroke of a mountain-sized [[adamantine]] axe. Rising from the corpse of her "father", she and Bahamut destroyed the Primordial, before turning on each other. This is why the two are such polar opposites in this continuity; each is an embodiment of one half of the diverse personality traits of Io. Where Bahamut represents the nobility and sense of justice his father had, Tiamat represents his other characteristics: avarice, pride, arrogance, and the raw power to get away with it. 

Unlike her brother and father, Tiamat has five heads, with each head being of a different color (White, Black, Green, Blue, and Red). She has the abilities of all of the [[Chromatic Dragon]]s, with each head able to use its associated breath weapon, on top of her immense physical size and a massive, sting-tipped tail, like that of a [[wyvern]].

==Domain==
She is a vain, greedy, lustful and arrogant goddess, expressing what would be extreme hubris if she weren't already a god. Though she is a paragon of dragon strengths, she shows few of their weaknesses; she is not impatient, nor overconfident (when dealing with other gods).  Her primary concern is the propagation and well-being of chromatic dragons as a whole, ensuring her children become owners of the world.  She believes this goal necessarily requires overthrowing the rule of Bahamut and establishing supremacy over metallic dragonkind. Like [[Anonymous]], Tiamat never forgets and does not forgive. Although she is not adverse to occasionally burning a village to the ground for the lulz, Tiamat is not exactly an up-front goddess; she is a long-term plotter and schemer, carefully manipulating others in [[Tzeentch|Tzeentchian]] plots that are so subtle and so long-reaching that an enemy would likely find themselves unprepared even if they had foreknowledge of what she had planned years in advance, making her a deity of [[Just as planned]].

==Dwelling==
In the [[Great Wheel]], Tiamat rules over a dominion called ''Azharul'', a swathe of territory found within Nessus, the first layer of [[Baator]] (at least in 5e. prior to that edition she ruled Nessus itself as the lowest Archdevil). Nobody is quite sure why [[Asmodeus]] puts up with her there, but she remains there, and has even created a race of humanoid [[dragon]]-like fiends called [[Abishai]] to aid her in administering to the place.

In the [[World Axis]], Tiamat lives in the [[Astral Sea|astral domain]] of [[Tytherion]], a realm shared with [[Zehir]], God of Murder. Her realm in this shared dominion, still called ''Azharul'', is located in the ravines and hewn out in the rock of Tytherion. Why the goddess of dragons lives underground and the lord of serpents in the highest reaches of the domain is the story of how Tiamat set up her realm. After her defeat at the hands of Bahamut, Tiamat took a liking to Tytherion and set up shop there, chasing Zehir's followers to their bastions and temples, large buildings build above ground, leaving Tiamat with the rest. Though they wage no open war, Tiamat is constantly scheming against Zehir, planning on claiming the domain for herself one day. The [[splatbook]] on the [[Astral Sea]] even admits that both Zehir and Tiamat would be way happier if they just traded which halves of the dominion they inhabit, but they're too greedy and [[Stupid Evil]] to ever think of doing that.

==Servants==
Tiamat's first and foremost servants are the chromatic dragons. About 95% of them serve their goddess in some way. Those who prefer a different deity have a grim fate waiting for them: in the depths of her lair behind a pair of 100' adamantine doors Tiamat has a collection of the souls of those chromatics sworn to other deities, locked up for eternity. Tiamat has recently begun to create the Spawn of Tiamat in notable numbers, who are born from the eggs of dragons instead of the regular wyrmlings, or from two Spawn of the same kind mating. Dragons who sire the Spawn of Tiamat consider it a good omen and a sign of Tiamat's favor to [[grimdark|have part-dragon monsters born instead of their own children born from their eggs]]. These are divided into five groups, based on their color: the Blackspawn who consist of strong raiders (and one type looking like [[Lolth|spiders]] for some reason), the Bluespawn who are mostly unintelligent beasts of war, the Greenspawn who are small(ish) ambushers who work best in forest and swamp environments, the Redspawn who are the Spawn's primary source of magic (fire magic of course), and the Whitespawn who gather in large numbers and excel at fighting in cold environments and clan warfare.

Aside from the Chromatics and Spawn, Tiamat counts a notable number of humanoids amongst her servants, mainly [[Dragonborn]] and other part-dragons, such as [[spellscale]]s, [[dragon-kin]] and [[half-dragon]]s, and [[Human|Humans]]. Most [[Kobold]]s worship individual dragons as gods, but the smarter ones who know about Tiamat might turn a tribe to her worship instead. The Queen of Chromatic Dragons demands reverence, homage, supplication, and tribute from her subjects. As a divine dragon, her hoard is believed to be worth ''trillions''. 

The [[World Axis]] version of Tiamat is particularly focused on her non-draconic worshippers, since all gods of note in that cosmology pursue a broader faith. She is considered the Goddess of Wrath and Greed, and as such appeals to anyone who wants loot or revenge. The [[dragonborn]] of [[Arkhosia]], despite their reverence for [[Io]], had decidedly less positive feelings for Tiamat; her worship was mostly kept at arms length, with the empire officially throwing its faith behind worship of [[Bahamut]] and the Arkhosian Imperial Church (a trinity of [[Kord]], [[Ioun]] and [[Erathis]]). The closest thing to an open worship of Tiamat was the fledgling faith known as the Temple of Io's Children, which worshipped Bahamut and Tiamat side by side as twin incarnations of Io's will, downplaying the moral extremes of both gods and presenting them as polar opposites that point to a middle way, neither good nor evil but striving toward a draconic ideal.

Another thing of note is that Tiamat "likes" to "give audience" to mortals in her "inner sanctum". In other words, Tiamat [[Monstergirl|likes her some non-divine dick]]. Most of the time this means she fucks a chromatic that impressed her, but she's also known to have courted [[Catastrophic Dragon|catastrophic]], [[Metallic Dragon|metallic]], [[Planar Dragon|planar and [[Linnorm|scourge]] [[dragon]]s. Amongst her current fuckbuddies is a Dragonborn, though it's not mentioned if she takes her human shape before [[Furry|having sex with humanoids]]. The climatic adventure for [[Scales of War]] also reveals that, at least in the [[World Axis]], she constantly experiments in producing true godly spawn, and as a result [[/d/|keeps a harem of enormously pregnant female chromatics]], though it's unclear if these merely serve as brood mothers for the eggs that Tiamat conceives with her male lovers, or if she is somehow experimenting with impregnating them herself.

==Depictions==
* In Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Tiamat first appears as a unique boss-monster in the [[Greyhawk]] setting.  Later, she has the first layer of the Nine Hells assigned to her as her 'home plane,' giving her Outsider status and the ability to avoid permanent death.
* In the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, she was powerful enough to kick the shit out of both the [[DM|Dungeon Master]] and the Venger, the show's main antagonist, giving you a general grasp of how goddamned powerful she is.
* When she feels the need to deal with mortals, she typically assumes the form of an exquisitely beautiful dark-haired human sorceress.
* In the [[Dragonlance]] setting, the goddess of evil stuff "[[Takhisis]]" uses a Tiamat form as her avatar and is essentially a slightly tweaked version of her.
* In AD&D 2nd edition, the [[Forgotten Realms]] campaign setting has a religion dedicated to her.
* In D&D 3rd edition, she's pretty much still the same, though she favors her natural, five-headed form.
** Her cult and an avatar appear in [[Red Hand of Doom]]. Pretty much all the dragon themed books have evil dragon stuff related to her.
* [[Eberron]] has a vastly different Tiamat. Tiamat is not a true god but [[Rakshasa|a demon overlord]] that was imprisoned long ago. She has the ability to corrupt dragons, especially chromatic ones, and provide a "blessing" that imbues servants [[Half Dragon|with draconic might]]. Her minions, like those of the other overlords, are attempting to free her. If they succeeded it would be dark times for Khorvaire, not merely because of Tiamat herself but because the dragon armies will go full scorched earth to contain or destroy her (and if you're unlucky, they'll do this just because of the possibility). 
* In D&D 4th edition, she is no longer considered a unique type of dragon, but always referred to as a goddess who happens to have a draconic primary avatar.
* In [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]], her cult in the Forgotten Realms attempts to bring her back to Faerun from the Nine Hells, which is the focus of the first major storyline, "Tyranny of Dragons". If your players ''really'' fuck up, the cult could even succeed. In a lot of ways this version is like the Dragonlance Takhisis, because if she actually succeeds and returns to Faerun, the first thing she does is eat all the Cult of the Dragon cultists and humiliate their leader Severin, who brought her back - despite them worshipping her - just because she feels like being a dick, again.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:TiamatDragon.png|Tiamat, Queen of the Chromatic Dragons, and about to fuck your shit up
File:Tiamat.jpg|Tiamat's humanoid form
Image:Tiamat_actionfigure.jpg|With kung-fu action grip
</gallery>
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[[Category:Awesome]]