Realm
Tiamat's realm, known as the Dragonspawn Pits of Azharul or simply as Tiamat's lair, sprawls in a cluster of tall hills and mountains near a pillar made from the tormented heads of liars and a pit of maggots from which lemures emerge. One must fly (or, heavens forbid, swim) across the maggot pit to reach Tiamat's caves. Tiamat's lair contains the main gate to the second of the Nine Hells, Dis. To reach it, one must pass a chamber known as the Cave of Greed, which is filled with cursed treasure that compels the weak-willed to try to steal it. Tiamat has her own chamber within the complex, as do each of her five consorts, but it is possible to travel to Dis without disturbing her.
In the 4th edition cosmology, Tiamat shares the Astral Dominion of Tytherion, the Endless Night, with Zehir. Zehir was the original ruler, but Tiamat invaded intending to take the entire realm for herself. She successfully drove Zehir and his forces out of the caverns they loved, but she misjudged the strength and determination of the Midnight Serpent. The result is the bizarre allocation of Tytherion today: Tiamat rules the caves of Tytherion far beneath the skies and mountains she prefers, while Zehir rules the mountains above, far above the caverns and trenches his followers prefer. Although both would prefer to exchange their realms, they are too proud to actually do anything about it. In the Forgotten Realms, Tiamat's realm is still located in the Nine Hells.
Read more about this topic: Tiamat (Dungeons & Dragons)
Famous quotes containing the word realm:
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“What is an artist? A provincial who finds himself somewhere between a physical reality and a metaphysical one.... It’s this in-between that I’m calling a province, this frontier country between the tangible world and the intangible one—which is really the realm of the artist.”
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“When we try in good faith to believe in materialism, in the exclusive reality of the physical, we are asking our selves to step aside; we are disavowing the very realm where we exist and where all things precious are kept—the realm of emotion and conscience, of memory and intention and sensation.”
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