Tiamat

Overview

The official state religion of the Empire of Polonia is devoted to the worship of Tiamat.

Background

Tiamat is traditionally depicted as the personification of salt water who was birthed in the chaos of original creation in the form of a sea serpent.  Tiamat is often associated with chaos, but she is better depicted as a force of law and structure that nonetheless causes waves of chaos by overthrowing and reshaping the existing order.  In the standard mythology, an earlier, corrupt era dominated by fire gods was attacked and overthrown by Tiamat and her minions.

The eleven minions of Tiamat, typically depicted as forces of chaos, are her eleven children:

• Basmu, the Venomous Snake
• Usumgallu, the Great Dragon
• Musmahhu, the Exalted Serpent
• Mushussu, the Furious Snake
• Lahmu, the Hairy One
• Ugallu, the Typhoon Beast
• Uridimmu, the Mad Lion
• Girtabullu, the Dread Scorpion
• Dabrutu, the Crushing Waves
• Kulullu, the Dark Beast of the Sea
• Kusarikku, the Minotaur

The Primordial Battle

The Fire Gods had ruled over and pillaged the Unending Lands through The Elemental Age, staging year long feasts in their volcanic palaces.  In response to this depravity, the seas created Tiamat as a champion to overthrow the Fire Gods.  Tiamat emerged from the seas with possession of the Tablet of Destinies that granted her dominion over the world.  

She instigated the primordial battle in which her and her eleven children intended to overthrow all the works of the Fire Gods and create a new age.  The primordial battle was never completely resolved, but in the mythological stories, the primary encounter was a victory for Tiamat that ended the reign of the Fire Gods. Unfortunately, during that battle, Kingu was captured and killed. Tiamat retrieved his body and mixed his blood with the waters of the Forearc Basin and the clay of the Polonian isles to create the first humans.  These men were to be Tiamat's minions in future battles against the forces of corruption.  The priests of the Empire of Polonia claim these men as their direct ancestors and insist that the purity of their lineage is the most important factor in their mandate to rule the world.

The primordial battle is often viewed as the last event of the The Elemental Age.