Tiamat is a five-headed primordial dragon goddess recorded in two worlds of the archive: in Antiterra as the creator of dragons and a fallen, imprisoned demon queen, and in Vala as the slain goddess of chaos from whose body the world was made.
This name refers to different figures in 2 worlds; the versions are not merged.
In Antiterra
Tiamat is called «Diablo y dragón, demonio y creadora, ser demonio primigenio» (“Devil and dragon, demon and creator, primordial demon being”). The ancient Babylonians worshiped her as “the creator serpent, the She-Devil”. Her servants invoke her as Takishi or Takishis, the Black Artemis (Artemisa Negra), “the lady of the night”, “the queen of darkness”, “the dark queen”. She is a single entity under many names.
Forms
Her primordial form has five dragon heads; nothing more is described. Among mortals she manifests through an avatar, a “good dragon woman, governing” cities. Her soul was held “in a gem the first time”.
Works
- She created the dragons and enslaved them; others deal “with some of them, but to free them again”.
- With an archduke, “one of these titans”, she created the abishai: white, blue, red and green, not all of which fly. This race seeks in hell “the one who will give birth to a male son destined to rule all nations with a center of iron”.
- She “hung the Tablets of Destiny”, and “the tablets of destiny of Tiamat” remain under her control.
After she made the dragons, a deity whose name the speaker did not remember created man “to kill the dragons and the monsters”.
Fall and prison
She was guardian of Avernus and was cast out. Of her judgment it is said: “in the condemnation of Tiamat, who could have been very guilty, there was a cosmic situation”. After her expulsion and death, Barbatos entered Avernus. Under her rule as dark queen “the draining of the worlds began”, and the world’s dual magic is explained by “the death of a goddess of Tiamat”.
In hell she occupies a cavern whose only entrance is a male dragon: “the white consort, the one she favored”.
The rite of her death
A primordial is not killed where she is found: the rite prescribes taking her “to die on the astral plane” so “that she turns to stone”. The alliance with the entities of the Astral Plane depends on her capture: if she is captured, a new world is created; if not, Tiamat enters the primary world.
Other records
- She commands “an army of Tiamat, of Takishis, the goddess”.
- She is called, with doubt, “the queen of Aragón”; whether this Aragón is in Antiterra is not established.
- A stray line, “Your God murdered my husband long ago”, cannot be attributed with certainty.
Conflicting accounts
Three accounts of her state are given with equal certainty:
- She “supposedly does not exist, was devastated, was destroyed”.
- She “was locked in and could not get out” on her own, behind the door that is her consort.
- “Tiamat came out, there were eggs” in Jerusalem.
Open questions
- Whether “the first time” implies a second gem, and where the gem is and who holds it, is unknown.
- How many eggs there were, of what, and who guards them is unknown.
- Whether she speaks the “husband” line, who the husband is, and how it fits the white consort is unknown.
- Which cities the dragon-woman avatar governs, and whether it still does, is unknown.
- The archduke who co-created the abishai is not named.
In Vala
In the night sky of Vala, among the constellations, one is missing: “the constellation of Aragón, that of Tiamat”. “Her constellation no longer exists”; its absence marks her death. She is the Dragon Goddess of primordial chaos, “Lady of dragons”, “the mother of salt”, defeated in the cosmogony and torn apart so that the world could be made from her body.
Nature
“Tiamat with the five colors, the five faces”: a five-headed dragoness and power of the salt waters (hence “mother of salt”), named both as a red dragon and as the one of five colors. All matter of Vala is divine remains, and an oath is sworn on it: “I will prevent the body of Tiamat from being misused.” An “essence of Tiamat”, of unfixed nature, is extracted or invoked from her.
She belongs to the ancient age of Toth and is named with Bemot among the powers of primordial chaos. In the pantheon of Ardis Vala she is one of the three Babylonian gods of creation, and “Tiamat was the first”.
The sky
The monsters Tiamat summoned were defeated and “exiled to the heavens”, where they form the constellations, including the ram, which rules today. Her own figure is missing: “there is an absence of Tiamat”. Some read the absence as a pending grievance, conjecturing that something somewhere seeks revenge.
Kingu and the Tablets
Before her defeat, Tiamat placed the Tablets of Destiny on her lover Kingu, “the ally of destruction”, bearer of her power, through whom her power continues outside her.
Her wrath
Tiamat “was not evil”; malevolence was “the perception of Tiamat” in this world. She is “a goddess who gets very angry with men”, with men “who have screwed up their lives” and who “killed her husband”.
The prophecy of return
«Si aparece Tiamat, se destruye todo. El mundo se va a destruir. Hasta el último objeto mágico. Todo destruido» (“If Tiamat appears, everything is destroyed. The world will be destroyed. Down to the last magic item. All destroyed”).
Rites and remnants
- The New Year rites defeat “the malevos of Tiamat”.
- In the coliseum there are “some local champions who are the heads of Tiamat. There are five.”
- Ancient runes mention a draconic deity of another age, which scholars link to her, though the connection is doubtful.
Conflicting accounts
- One account holds that men killed the goddess’s husband, the crime that kindled her wrath.
- Another holds that she took revenge by killing her husband Absu. The spelling of his name is not fixed.
- Her gender is disputed: the same voices say “the Dragon goddess” and “Lady of dragons”, but also “the lord of monsters” and “Tiamat was defeated” (masculine).
Open questions
- Who defeated and dismembered her, and how, is not recorded.
- Whether “the malevos of Tiamat” are her monsters, her aspects or a plurality of the goddess is unclear.
- Whether her body is the whole world, a locatable remnant or the obtainable essence, what counts as its “misuse” and who watches over it, is not specified.
- Whether the five coliseum champions are a cult, a ritual imitation or creatures bound to her is not established.
- When the constellation disappeared, and who saw it vanish, is not recorded.