Tiamat’s exact functions as a goddess are difficult to establish. As her name indicates (see below), she was a deification of the primordial sea. Our best source of information for Tiamat is the myth Enūma Eliš , and in fact, there are only a handful of references to her outside of it. Enūma Eliš begins with a description of the two primeval seas, the salt … Continue reading The Salt Goddess is Dead. Long Live the Salt Goddess!
So right now it looks like we’ve got (via the demonic offspring of Tiamat, ultimately): Undead, Lesser Corporeal (Gallu) Wights, Ghouls, Zombies, Skeletons (3, 2, 2, 1 HD) Non-Corporeal (Edimmu) Specters, Wraiths, Shadows (6, 4, 2 HD) Undead, Greater (via Rabisu) Liches, Vampires, Banshee (12, 7-9, 7 HD) Chaos Bred (via Kusarikku) Minotaurs, Ogres, Bugbears, Gnolls, Stone Goblins, Goblins (6, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1/2 … Continue reading Monster Genealogy for fun and profit
Bašmu or Bashmu (lit. “Venomous Snake”) was an ancient Mesopotamian mythological creature, a horned snake with two forelegs and wings. It was also the Akkadian name of the Babylonian constellation equivalent to the Greek Hydra. The Sumerian terms ušum (portrayed with feet, see Ninurta’s Dragon) and muš-šà-tùr (“birth goddess snake”, portrayed without feet) may represent differing iconographic types or different demons. Continue reading Bašmu
Mukīl rēš lemutti, meaning “he who holds the head of evil”, was an ancient Mesopotamian winged leonine demon, a harbinger of misfortune associated with benign headaches and wild swings in mood, where the afflicted “continually behaves like an animal caught in a trap.” It was one of the two demons that followed people around, an “evil accomplice” also referred to as rabis lemutti (“he who … Continue reading Mukīl rēš lemutti
He appears in later iconography paired with Kusarikku, “Bull-Man”, a similar anthropomorphic character, as attendants to the god Šamaš. As one of the eleven spawn of Tiamat in the Enûma Eliš vanquished by Marduk, he was displayed as a trophy on doorways to ward off evil and later became an apotropaic figurine buried in buildings for a similar purpose. Continue reading Urudimmu
In the Sumerian myth, Angim or “Ninurta’s return to Nippur”, the god “brought forth the Bison (gud-alim) from his battle dust” and “hung the Bison on the beam”. He is one of Tiāmat’s offspring vanquished by Marduk in the Epic of Creation, Enûma Eliš. Continue reading Kusarikku
On the one hand, this is clearly Dagon. On the other hand, this is clearly how someone trying to pronounce “Cthulhu” underwater would sound. On the other fin… Continue reading Kulullû
Not that I’m saying it will come up in the campaign (necessarily), but given the pulp-inspired changes to alignment in the setting (and the foundational nature of the death of Tiamat), expect Black, Blue, Green, Red, and White dragons to be of Chaos, Golden dragons to be of the Balance, and Sea dragons to be Unaligned. Continue reading Dragons and Alignment
“If a man charge a man with sorcery, and cannot prove it, he who is charged with sorcery shall go to the river; into the river he shall throw himself, and if the river overcome him, his accuser shall take to himself his house. If the river show that man to be innocent, and he come forth unharmed, he who charged him with sorcery shall be put to death.” Continue reading Hammurabi and Sorcery
Before the world was created, there was raw, formless chaos. The god Marduk killed the mother goddess Tiamat and used half her body to create the earth, and the other half to create both the paradise of šamû and the netherworld of irṣitu. There are many, many lesser deities in the pantheon of gods, but they are all the same gods regardless of where on the world you journey amongst human lands. The most popular are Marduk, Anu, Enlil, Ea, and Inanna. Continue reading On Law, Chaos, and The Balance
Perilous Paths 