Chainlink #1: The Root of All Evil

I am not posting as regularly as I want to on this thing, so behold, my early new years' resolution: 1 post per month in (and leading into) 2026. I am gonna try and connect my posts sorta, so each post will flow into the next in a cutesy little way, yknow, very quaint. So, we're starting with a nice cool topic today, and that topic is my take on Tiamat. I like to steal bad guy names from D&D because they can be pretty fun, so, while there's not a whole lot of that elsewhere in my setting, expect a lot of that today. Let's get into it.

Tiamat

When the world was young, only two beings truly existed, Athe, and Deyis, two primordial forces respectively representing all that is, and all that is not. They were floating out there doing creation myth stuff, yknow, fighting, reconciling, having children, blah blah blah, all of that stuff, while all the while, something is taking shape that is not of their design. The thing is Tiamat, the Crucible, Mother of All Monsters, the Eldest Evil, who is less of a god and more of a roiling mass of  psychic energy, id, desire, instinct, and teeth, absent greater will and intention. Tiamat, much like the other great primordial beings can sort of be thought of as her own realm, a plane of chaos, turmoil, and again, teeth. By the time the other two notice her she'd grown colossal and hungry, wreaking havoc across the nascent universe, before she is imprisoned by Athe, Deyis, and their new children, the Primordials.

 The Crucible

According to some, Tiamat is the origin of life. Within her chaos, the first living beings were formed and through Struggle, began to proliferate. Some of these creations were deemed useful by the Primordials and kept, others were purged. Some of those who were kept were bestowed with Spirit, making them dualistic creatures of flesh and mind, both of the gods and of Tiamat. Mortals are considered among this group, along with a scant few animals (really, it's mostly dogs). Since flesh is an inherent chaos, it may warp unexpectedly, as seen through the Horned Folk, those among mortalkind who sprout horns and other beastly instruments*. The kingdom of beasts is much more in keeping with Tiamat's nature, representing desire and directionless will. 

Mother of All Monsters

All can agree that Tiamat is the origin of monsters, or at least all of the ones made of meat. Her greatest children are the dragons, monstrous reptilian beasts with hearts full of want. Dragonkind is fierce, covetous, and deeply venomous. The first dragons were the Elder Serpents, birthed during her great battle with the Primordials, who recognized their strength and potential usefulness. Each one was imprisoned, then gifted with an understanding of the First Tongue, the tool which shaped the universe. This turned them into what you and I typically think of as D&D dragons, they are intelligent, six limbed, reptilian monsters. They were smart and powerful, but still intensely covetous, which is said to have been the reason the Primordials did not favor them over their other creations. Some Elder Serpents rejected the knowledge of the First Tongue, their offspring are said to be the unintelligent members of dragonkind, the wyverns, basilisks, hydras, and sea serpents of the world. These dragons do not have the arcane knowledge of their peers, and thus don't get the flashy breath attacks that their cousins do.

Digression: "True" Dragons are born with a limited understanding of the First Tongue, meaning they do not have any substantial sorcerous power beyond their "breath weapon," which is something of a brute force manifestation of a single word. Typically, that word is "Flame," but dragons are a diverse group, so sometimes they will command power over lightning, or ice, or frosting or whatever.

Tiamat has a big role in non-dragon related monsters as well, her invocation is common amongst those who transmute flesh. The construction of monsters is really a whole other thing, but followers of Tiamat welcome many strange creatures into their cults, as a result of her role in their creation.

The Eldest Evil

During her battle with Athe and Deyis, in addition to the Elder Serpents, Tiamat created five entities pretty much by accident, from the coalescence of the humors which ebbed out of her grievous wounds. These beings became known as the Elder Evils, strange and alien entities who were more godlike, harder to contain, and unlike their mother or the Elder Serpents, had wills of their own. These entities are:

Saathi, formed from Tiamat and Athe's blood, she is pain and bloodshed incarnate. Being formed of Athe, she is said to be the most knowing of the Elder Evils, and is always plotting.

Molash, (formerly known as Urus, this name may change again) who rose from Tiamat's coalesced yellow bile, is a ravenous spirit of hunger, no amount of flesh or spirit can sate his hunger.

Bhaal, composed of Tiamat's black bile, the most melancholy of the humors. Bhaal is said to be strange and sullen, and is typically more dormant than the other Evils.

Aboleth, a great serpent which formed from Tiamat's phlegm**, a spirit of terror, animal fear***, guile, and everything that lurks in the depths.

and Kyuss, formed from a mixture of imbalanced humors, the primordial source of all disease and filth.

The Elder Evils are typically thought of as plagues upon all living things, representing pain, hunger, death, fear, and disease respectively, maladies of which we can never truly rid ourselves. The Elder Evils have a lot more going on, of course, but, to most, the easiest way to understand them is as incarnations of their respective maladies. They have a strange relationship with Tiamat's mortal worshippers (more on that in a second), and with dragons (more on that now).

The Elder Evils are separate from their creator, Tiamat, though they bear a great amount of her essence, since they were made from her most fundamental parts. Therefore, they have something of a spiritual connection with dragons, one that can be strengthened through worship. A dragon that devotes themself to an Elder Evil will begin to mutate, their magic and their flesh changing in accordance with their new master. Pain Dragons who worship Saathi command blood and suffering, their breath is purest agony, Hunger Dragons stomachs fill with boiling poison and bile, so on and so forth.

The Apocalypse Serpent

Tiamat worship is something seen in various places throughout the world in various different contexts. There are those that wish to draw power from Tiamat, those who see her as a sort of figure to be emulated philosophically, those who believe their worship keeps her sleeping, so on and so forth. When I talk about Tiamat Cultists in this section, I mean those who are specifically attempting to wake her in some way. Among these groups, there is a consensus that Tiamat's will, should she ever be set free, will manifest in the form of the Apocalypse Serpent, a giant, fiveheaded snake that represents her pure essence. The Serpent would then do...something. Depends on who you ask, but popular answers include serving (insert cult here)'s prophet, wiping out all enemies of the faith, eating the sun and moon, ushering in 1000 years of chaos and/or a worldly paradise for her faithful, etc. It depends a lot on the specific cult, because there are essentially six different types of Tiamat cultist. 

The Elder Evils are thought to be manifestations of Tiamat's will by some of these cults, and so, some of them worship the Elder Evils as beings that embody something of Tiamat's true will, in which case they are typically described as being the five heads of the Apocalypse Serpent. Which head is the central, dominant head is also a matter of debate, and will color a lot of the cult's beliefs, and leads to these cults worshipping specific aspects of Tiamat, ie, there are cults dedicated to Tiamat-Aboleth, Tiamat-Bhaal, etc. These cults are in fact different from cults where only Aboleth or Bhaal are venerated, most of these groups won't care much about Tiamat, ascribing her little to no will. It's important to note all of these groups really hate each other and care very much that you know and understand the difference between their murder-cults, sometimes the best way to deal with them is to foment infighting between two sects that have been living in near proximity to one another and let them stab each other to death. The local lord probably doesn't give a shit what happens to them, he just wants them gone.

Tiamat cultists are either beloved or despised by dragons because while they can be very willing to serve something that they see as a pure representation of their god's form, some Tiamat cultists have a bit more of a murderous relationship with dragons. The Children of Yan Tiamat, for example, embrace the aspect of Hunger, and cannibalize dragonflesh for its' mutagenic properties. They love to kill dragons, because it brings them closer to their god, the only dragons they tolerate are those who embrace their doctrine of consumption and hunt dragons alongside the cult. Other cults might have similar murderous compulsions, so dragons are pretty inclined to torch the lot of them with extreme prejudice. 

That's All She Wrote

No more Tiamat nonsense for now, but next month (or sooner) I'll be back with more lore about monster mages and their creations. Riveting Stuff!

*Phlegm, in the context of the four humors, meant any sort of light colored bodily fluids, if Wikipedia is to be believed. Learning is Fun!

** Animal Fear is an esoteric/old-timey way of saying "instinctual or animal intelligence," within Esemeir. The term comes from a sage who argued that the driver of intellect was fear, there was "man fear" which was associated with existential ponderings and guessing at the beyond, and "animal fear" which drove instinctual behavior and guile. 

Seven Ways to Die in Uraza (Part 2)

 Remember when I said I'd finish this during the summer? Good times, good times.

5: Getting speared with holy lightning by a priest of House Cavradisk.

The biggest driving force behind the crusade that drove House Elbar out of Esemeir was, naturally, the Essian Church. To their order, necromancy is absolutely reviled, an art that damns the spirit, degrades the body, something that has no place in a civilized world. However, the church’s relationship with heretical magics and worship is a bit more complicated than this hardline position might suggest, and there is no better example than that of Alexander Cavradisk. Cavradisk was a priest who Catharine Uraza took under her wing and who became a particularly adept member of her inner circle. He was a well known philosopher amongst certain noble circles, and when Catharine's nature was discovered he argued passionately that she be allowed to stay, and that the laws of the Essian church regarding necromancy be re-examined. His arguments were heard, and rejected, and he was excommunicated along with Catharine and her other apprentices. He did not lose his faith though, nor was he compelled to give it up. He was responsible for establishing the Urazan Church of Essia, and now, that church is a fundamental part of the City of the Dead, managed, of course, by House Cavradisk. 

Urazan Essianism is similar in many ways to Orthodox Essianism, with a few select notable exceptions. Its teachings on necromancy are the obvious point of divergence, Urazan Essianism has far less compunctions about the sanctity of the body after death, being more concerned with what happens to the spirit. Even then, considering the church exists at the pleasure of the Lich Queen, it does not necessarily oppose necromantic arts which prolong the life. The Urazan Church essentially posits that Catharine Elbar is the saint of the dead, all of the dead, and that as such, it is her place to preside over death in Coris. Whether or not this is true is up for some debate, but true Essian saints do hold real, notable divine power, which Queen Catharine seems to be lacking. It is for these reasons that the Orthodox Essian Church mostly likes to pretend Uraza's weird sect of their religion doesn't exist, but the rift between the two religions has mended some over the centuries. Outwardly, they are certainly considered heretical, but there are some aspects of the faith that they find useful, most notably the magic which Uraza classifies as heiromancy. House Cavradisk's branch of necromancy is one of the only two recognized schools of the art within Uraza that deals with the spirit as opposed to the body. They can channel spirits, speaking to them, summoning them as allies, or converting them into destructive energy, blasting their foes with great bolts of multicolored, neon lightning. Such techniques have trickled into usage amongst the mages of the Essian Church, who are naturally a bit slow to express gratitude to their separated brethren.

The House of Cavradisk does valuable work in keeping the undead of Uraza clean. Risen corpses attract stray spirits like flies, so defending against spiritual foes is one of the Urazan Church's utmost important responsibilities. That, and they serve to give the creation of the undead a bit more legitimacy. Those corpses set to become undead are purified in mass funerary ceremonies, held semi-regularly in the public. Others happen behind closed doors, but are far less extravagant and respectful. House Cavradisk also produces the highest number of Lich Knights out of all of the other Houses. The Lich Knights of Queen Catharine are the most skilled warriors in the city state, trained in hand to hand combat and reared to command legions of the undead in Uraza's never-ending conquest. If one is born a member of House Cavradisk, the two acceptable professions tend to be either priest, or Lich Knight, and given the restrictions that are placed upon the clergy, many a noble child has chosen to raise steel and flesh alike in service to the queen.  

6: Freezing to death in a House Friges basement.

Her Majesty Catharine's University of Uraza is a noble and illustrious university, which houses some of the brightest young minds of the world, and like everything else in Uraza is chock full of dead bodies and necromancers. Surprise Surprise. The University of Uraza is one of the only schools in the world that teaches magic (through a few very selective courses, mind), making it partially responsible for the higher than average number of mages in the city. It is one of the most prestigious schools on the continent, serving any who are wealthy enough to gain entry to its unhallowed halls. The University's stewards are none other than the illustrious members of House Friges, one of the most powerful Urazan Houses, politically speaking. House Friges has such a weighty influence because part of the University's job is to screen their students for the best possible mages and find a way to integrate them into the arcane bureaucracy of the City of the Dead. Friges is in many cases directly responsible for teaching the magic of the various houses, to new recruits, which means that in addition to the fundamental magic of House Elbar, the Friges school of necromancy is often widely practiced and adapted by members of other houses. Friges necromancy, also known as gelumancy, is, like the magic of Cavradisk, nearly fully reliant on spirits or spiritual energy. Friges mages channel ghosts like Cavradisk, but whereas that House's magic is focused on turning spiritual energy into large, flashy blasts of holy lightning, gelumancy tends to be very practical and defensive, combat applications tend to be limited to wards and other protective techniques, but the school has definitely proved its usefulness in the hands of the Urazan bureaucrat. Most techniques have to do with the binding and summoning of spirits, using them to walk through the ether, sending them across the city with messages in their mouths, and the like. Ghosts are useful for filing paperwork. Of course, gelumancy does have its offensive capabilities, those that channel the negative energies of spirits, their sorrow, jealousy, and regret, inward, into a magic that burns like frost. 

Spiritual necromancy is perhaps the more dangerous and loathsome variety of the Black Craft when practiced with disregard; those spirits that are harnessed by necromancers, though diminished, are still people, in some sense. People who can think, who have desires, who do not wish to be playthings. Urazan necromancers are hardly respectful folk, though they are perfectly willing to use the dead, there is no reverence for them in their hearts. The exception to this rule used to exist within House Friges. The Houses are not monoliths, each forms its own cliques, has its own internal squabbles and schisms. Within Friges, there were those who practiced the cold necromancies described above, and those who began to dabble in the warm necromancies. They channeled spiritual fire which comes from both love and hatred, too powerful to ignore. These "warm" necromancers began to tap into an older sort of necromancy practiced within Kithe long before Elbar arrived, a communion with spirits, based on understanding and compassion. They began to see the evil in the City of the Dead, and endeavored to burn it to ash. They were ousted when it was discovered many of these rogue Friges mages had begun to cremate bodies; In a city where a corpse is such an important thing, it'd seem like setting fire to farmland. There was a purging of the members of House Friges, which just barely managed to hold onto its place in the Urazan government. 

The height of gelumancy, the goal to which many within Friges aspire to, is to become a ghost themselves. Friges mages have achieved such things in the past, in fact several high up officials within the house are deceased. It is an art similar to that which made the Lich Queen immortal, though more stable. Friges ghostlords do not have to consume souls, at least not as regularly, to maintain their grip on the mortal coil. They are not nearly as resistant as the Ashwraiths, the ghosts of purged "warm" necromancers, still dedicated to the destruction of Uraza. They lurk within the forest of Kithe, building armies of other aggrieved spirits, plotting in preparation for the day the city will finally burn in its entirety.

7: Getting devoured by the living dead of House Stregha.

House Stregha is wholly unique amongst the Urazan houses, owing to the fact that they are the only Great House to be elevated since the initial six were created so many years ago at the city's founding. This addition to the roster of major houses marks, according to some of the city's historians, a turning point in Urazan history, their appointment by the Lich Queen a stunning new precedent that continues to shake the political landscape of the city state. Casela Stregha has only been a high mage of Uraza for 9 years, and her innovations continue to shock and appall the city's elite mages. Another factor which is of particular note to the high mages of the other houses, is that Stregha is the only mage who is not (or never was) human, she is a hobgoblin from the faraway northern lands. Stregha is seen as an utter oddity to the ossifying upper class, the talk of the house's "strange foreign ways" has still not died down nearly a decade since her appointment as a high mage. The house's appointment has increased interest in the north, with "Northern Art" being one notable consequence of the city's increased interest. Most plays you see in Uraza tend to depict goblin warriors with byzantine codes of honor, dressed in mammoth fur and steel, real "noble savage" type stuff. Of more relevance to our topic today, however, is Stregha's unique brand of magic, something the cool kids are calling "vitamancy." See, Casela is what goblins call a Skin Mage, hailing from a circle of mages who manipulate the flesh of others (they are particularly well known for making ogres). Casela is a talented Skin Mage, she is maybe an even more talented necromancer, though, and the intersection between these two philosophies is what truly drew the focus of the Lich Queen in the first place.

Sometimes, rarely, necromancy can aid in the restoration of life to a body, the rejoining of the soul and flesh, and the revitalization of both. This magic is rare because necromancers are selfish bastards and frankly, you are more useful to them dead than alive, so good luck finding a bonified Dark Lord who's willing to resurrect your buddy for a few hundred coins and a shiny rock like some do-gooder priest. Thing is, the revitalization of the flesh is, well, good. Necromancers' minions are hardy, they feel no fear, they are all terrain soldiers, but they are deteriorating, and they lack the biological capability to repair themselves. Calesa Stregha hopes to change this fact. Necromancy is a varied art, it controls the body and the spirit, especially once they have been cleaved in twain, but it is notoriously difficult to de-soul a body without killing it. The soul wishes to be unified with physical form, it cannot be lured away easily or gently, its' removal means biological death. However, Stregha's mastery of biological transmutation opens the way to a remedy of this fact. As the soul is pried away from the body, the body is strengthened, its blood is cycled, its lungs filled with air, then exhaled, its heart is made to beat. At this point, the person is, essentially, brain dead. Their body however is still alive, and ripe for extensive modification. Meanwhile, the soul must be dissolved or imprisoned, lest it attempt to return to the body. Many House Stregha mages will variously use minor demons or Friges designed soul cages for such purposes (it is for this reason that Stregha and Friges have developed something of a symbiotic relationship, aside from the Queen herself, the house has no fiercer allies). From this point onward, the body can be strengthened or altered in any number of ways too dramatic to be performed on a truly living specimen, allowing vitamancers to create truly bizarre monstrosities hyper specialized for a given purpose

Presently, House Stregha's only official responsibility is to research its school of magic, as ordained by the Queen herself. Only in the past few years have their advancements started trickling out of their secluded halls. The main purpose of their work so far has been to perfect their living dead specimens, a goal Casela readily embraced after she was banished from the north for her experiments. The living dead are faster and stronger than skeletons or zombies, and can be made a great deal more deadly, but they are a degree more vulnerable to physical harm, due to their living nature. Word has it that Casela wants to get them approved for use in Uraza's military, and has been advocating for their usage as menial laborers, owing to the fact that they sport improved strength compared to other undead, and improved stamina in comparison to human workers. Either way, it is clear they are encroaching on the territory of House Grey, as such, the two houses have become bitter rivals in recent years, with sabotage attempts between the two being all too common. Vitamancy is a new school of necromantic thought and its limits are still being tested. If it is quite as revolutionary as the Queen and Stregha think it to be, it is possible that many of the Great Houses may risk losing much ground to Stregha, an idea that has fomented no small amount of unrest amongst their number. It would not be the first time in Uraza that one of the houses attempted a coup, and though all have met bloody ends, with so many Houses standing to lose so much influence, the city's elite have grown desperate indeed, and for them, death is eternally cheap.